The Cannondale MTB Professional Team line-up is starting to form: bringing into the team an established and expert biker like the 30-year-old from Gjerdrum will represent an important element in the development process of the team which has high expectations for next year.
Source: press release
Ole Hem has already been Martino Tronconi's teammate for three seasons in the Wilier team and is the first official for the Tuscan stable in which the Norwegian rider aims to demonstrate his level again.
I met Martino in Wilier, we ran for three years together and we became great friends. I was really happy for him when he was able to follow his dream of having his own team and now I'm very excited to be part of this project. When a new team is born, when a new reality arrives in cycling, one always pays attention to see how they are organized, I was immediately impressed by the hard work and energy that Martino puts into his project. Martino and I have always had many points in common on how to train and balance our lives as athletes, we know each other's potential well and I guess that's also why he wanted to bring me to his team. My gratitude for this opportunity increases my esteem for him even more, I am sure that we will have the best bikes, the best equipment and above all the right people behind us. Now it's just up to me to work hard to be ready on March 5th – Ole Hem
For Ole Hem, 2023 will be the fifth season in an Italian professional team. After playing soccer, basketball, Nordic skiing and free skiing at a young age, Hem started mountain bike racing at the age of 13, then being part of Norwegian semi-professional teams until 2018. In Norway he worked and studied at OsloMet –Oslo Metropolitan University.
Until 2016 Hem predominantly competed in competitions cross country, then with a move to one of the leading Norwegian teams, Swix Hard Rock, he started with XC marathons. The tenth place at the Auronzo di Cadore 2018 World Championship, where Ole was the youngest rider in the top ten, translated into the first professional contract in Italy with Massimo De Bertolis' structure in which he obtained many excellent results both nationally and internationally.
A two-time XCO Junior National Champion (2009 and 2010), Hem also captured gold at the 2018 and 2019 Marathon National Championships, but his résumé also includes 12 National Championship medals and more than 30 career victories. Among the high quality results the victory at the Vuelta a Ibiza MTB 2019 paired with Johnny Cattaneo, the final third place in the Bike Transalp with two stage victories.
Since 2009, Ole Hem has played for the Norwegian national team 14 times, seven in cross country and seven in the marathon, experiencing his best moments in 2018 in Auronzo di Cadore, in Grächen, Switzerland (2019) and in the 2021 iridated edition of Capoliveri where he secured 13th place in both races.
His 2022 season has been brilliant, among the most recent results two victories in Norway, at Grenserittet and Birkebeinerrittet, the biggest race in the country, second place in the Marahon National Championship and in Italy D'Annunzio also finished in second position Bike, Lignano Bike Marathon and Lessinia Legend and in third place the Granfondo Costa degli Etruschi and the Tremalzo Bike.
The results obtained in this last season are the best reflection of how far he can go, now he has to enjoy the opportunities offered by the busy schedule of the Cannondale MTB Professional Team.
