S-Racing Enduro – finally, Specialized have a team to go with the bike!

Enduro racing′s been touted as the next big thing for a while now but, events like the Megavalanche and Mountain of Hell aside, it hasn’t quite grabbed the public’s attention in the same way it’s appealed to ageing downhillers! Well that could be about to change, with the news that MTB big guns Specialized are launching a dedicated team, S-Racing Enduro.

We say ‘team’ but it’s more of a duo than a squad at the moment, with just two riders – the Netherlands’ Anneke Beerten, making the move from four-cross racing after two back-to-back World Championships victories, and former Specialized Racing USA Gravity Team downhiller Curtis Keene.

They’ll have two bikes at their disposal – the S-Works Enduro and S-Works Stumpjumper FSR – and will be competing in the new Enduro World Series, Big Mountain Enduro events in the US and the North American Enduro Tour, which Curtis won last year.

With Trek World Racing announcing that Justin Leov will be racing enduro for them this year, Canyon launching a new team, GT Factory Racing bolstering their line-up and the sport suffering its first doping scandal, could this be the year that enduro goes mainstream?

Check out Curtis in action in the video below – he’s the guy on the 26in bike…

Source: 2013 Specialized Stumpjumper Carbon EVO 26 & 29. Which is Faster? from VitalMTB

Anneke Beerten talking tyres – she and Curtis will be running Specialized’s own rubber, Roval wheels and Command Post BlackLite dropper seatposts this year

More info at www.iamspecialized.com.