A Trend Emerges
To understand how it all started we need to rewind time to 2018, when world renowned athletes Henrique Avancini and Manuel Fumic of Cannondale Factory Racing Team were looking for an edge during the upcoming Absa Cape Epic race. Their secret weapon? The USWE Hydration pack. Instead of passing bottles they could bring their hydration on their backs. A game changer that would give them that little extra to press the advantage. What they ended up doing made them able to just paddle past the water stations gaining a lot of time and momentum. The whole MTB-scene was in shock. WTF!? No other elite players did or had done anything like it before.
Daniel Hespeler, team manager of Cannondale Factory Racing commented on the advantages of using hydration packs:
“As a top contender we focus on all key details and keeping our riders hydrated during a marathon race is extremely important. Being able to play with the combination of bottles and hydration packs, gives us more flexibility to dose the right amount of nutrition, without having to stop at every waterpoint. Choosing USWE was a no-brainer, they’re the number one pack on the market offering the perfect race-fit with their harness technology.”
Another advantage during marathon races like Cape Epic is safety. You’re often racing high speed alongside of hundreds of other cyclists and when riding in tricky terrain simple things like reaching for your bottle can be a lot harder and riskier than you might think. With a hydration pack you can drink with both your hands safely on your handlebars, even in tough terrain.
See the start of the trend in the video below with the Cannondale Factory Racing Team from Cape Epic 2018.
