Factor today announces the 2026 evolution of Factor Racing Gravel, a racing programme built deliberately around privateers, not a factory team.
As gravel racing continues to professionalise, rather than responding by importing a traditional road-team structure into the discipline, Factor has chosen a different path.
For 2026, Factor Racing will support 16 competitive gravel racers as Factor Racing privateers: independent athletes racing on their own terms, with full responsibility for their decisions, preparation, race program, and outcomes.
Gravel racing strips things back. There are fewer instructions, fewer safety nets, and more moments where the rider alone decides what happens next. Factor believes that’s where the discipline finds its meaning, and why it’s best tested outside the confines of rigid team hierarchies.
Factor sees these conditions not as limitations, but as essential performance inputs. Rather than centralising control through a managed team, Factor has chosen to work with riders who already embody the privateer mindset, racers who value autonomy, engage deeply with their equipment, and understand that responsibility cannot be outsourced.
These riders are not ambassadors, influencers, or employees. They are competitors and development participants.
Each Factor Racing privateer will compete on Factor gravel platforms, including OSTRO Gravel and ALUTO, across a wide range of international events and conditions.
But these riders are not only racing finished products. They are part of Factor’s development process. Throughout the season, Factor Racing privateers will work directly with Factor’s engineering team, racing prototypes, testing new configurations, and providing detailed, experience-driven feedback under real competitive pressure. These are not controlled test sessions. They are race days, with consequences.
This structure allows Factor to expose its gravel bikes to a level of variability no single team could replicate: different terrains, riding styles, race formats, and decision-making approaches, all feeding back into development. What works, what fails, and what changes at race pace, or when fatigue sets in, becomes immediately visible.
The result is broader insight, harder testing, and more honest performance data. For Factor, this diversity is not a compromise, it is the point.
Factor Racing Gravel is not designed to mirror traditional racing programmes, because gravel racing itself doesn’t operate that way.
Factor has chosen not to centralise gravel racing into a single managed team. There is no prescribed way to race, prepare, or compete. There is no attempt to standardise identity or individuality.
Instead, Factor supports riders who are willing to take full ownership of their racing, and provides them with equipment built for speed, control, and endurance when conditions are unpredictable and support is limited. Gravel does not need to be organised to be meaningful. It needs to be raced. It is a sentiment that defines Factor’s philosophy. And developing the most appropriate and capable gravel bikes for our athletes at every level is at the core of our mission.
Riding events like Migration Gravel in Kenya and Unbound changed how I understand gravel racing. What stood out wasn’t structure or organisation, it was how much responsibility sits with the rider, how often decisions are made alone, and how equipment is judged under fatigue and uncertainty. Factor Racing Gravel is our way of engaging with the discipline, by supporting independent racers and using their experience to inform how our gravel bikes are developed and raced.Rob Gitelis, Factor founder
The Factor Racing Gravel privateers represent a wide spectrum of racing backgrounds, geographies, and approaches, united by seriousness, independence, and technical understanding. These riders race on their own terms, bringing diverse experience, terrain, and perspectives into Factor’s gravel development programme.
Because we don’t believe that’s the most honest or effective way to race gravel. Gravel racing is defined by independence, self-reliance, and decision-making under pressure. Importing a highly managed team structure from road racing risks removing those qualities. Factor has chosen to support privateers instead, riders who already race with full ownership of their decisions.
No. It’s a reflection of how we believe gravel works best. Factor isn’t interested in replicating existing models. We’re interested in placing our bikes in the conditions where gravel performance is actually decided, long distances, variable terrain, limited support, and real consequences for equipment choices.
Independent racers. Factor Racing Privateers are not employees or ambassadors. They are competitive riders who race on their own terms and take full responsibility for preparation, setup, and execution, with Factor providing equipment and engineering support, not control.
Based on racing seriousness, technical understanding, and willingness to engage deeply with equipment. We look for riders who can articulate feedback clearly, understand trade-offs, and race with intent. Popularity or follower count is not a selection criterion.
Diversity. Fifteen independent riders across different regions, terrains, and race formats expose our gravel platforms to more variables than a single managed team ever could. That variability generates more honest feedback and more robust development insight.