Jolanda Neff will join Fenix–Premier Tech for the 2027 season, bringing one of mountain biking’s most accomplished riders into a Women’s WorldTour organisation built around racing across several disciplines. The 33-year-old Swiss rider leaves Cannondale Factory Racing as its current team structure closes at the end of 2026.
Neff won Olympic cross-country gold in Tokyo in 2021, claimed the 2017 mountain bike world title and has three overall World Cup victories to her name. Her move also brings the prospect of a return to major road races, although the balance of road, mountain bike and cyclocross events in her 2027 programme has not yet been confirmed.
Neff joins Puck Pieterse in a multi-discipline squad
Fenix–Premier Tech already support Puck Pieterse, who combines a leading road racing programme with mountain biking and cyclocross. Pieterse won the elite cross-country mountain bike world title in 2024, making the arrival of another former world champion a notable addition to the team’s off-road strength.
Neff is no stranger to the road peloton. She won Swiss national road race titles in 2015 and 2018, finished eighth in the road race at the 2016 Rio Olympics and was third at Trofeo Alfredo Binda that year. She previously raced on the road for Rabobank-Liv and Trek-Segafredo, although mountain biking has been her principal focus in recent seasons.
Cannondale’s decision to close its traditional Factory Racing team for 2027 has prompted several rider moves across mountain biking. Neff’s switch gives her a different option from joining another specialist mountain bike squad, with access to an established WorldTour road structure should she choose to expand that part of her calendar.
Cyclocross results show Neff remains competitive
The move follows an encouraging return to cyclocross last winter. Neff won twice at the North Carolina Grand Prix, then returned to World Cup cyclocross at Namur, where she finished fifth. She went on to place sixth at the 2026 World Championships in Hulst, showing that her technical ability and finishing speed remain useful outside mountain biking.
A move to Fenix–Premier Tech offers the chance to build on that versatility alongside a rider in Pieterse who has already demonstrated how a demanding road programme can coexist with international off-road competition. Neff’s confirmed arrival does not, however, establish which races she will target next season.
For Fenix–Premier Tech, signing an Olympic champion brings experience and another recognised name to a growing multi-discipline roster. For Neff, it is a new team environment as she enters her 2027 season, with the opportunity to explore how much road racing she wants to add to her mountain bike and cyclocross ambitions.
