We kick off our blog for 2025 by introducing our riders and what better way to start than with Theo Sandell racing three European Cyclo-Cross races?...
Returning for 2025, and with more than a decade of CX experience under his belt, Theo has made a successful transition to the Junior category. He’s racing on a pair of bikes which we first built two years ago, and we’ve maintained them ever since. He’s also raced a fully bespoke ÆIGHT HMŔ DËLUX - our light, fast, fully integrated road race bike, but let’s rewind to the 30th of December;
Theo only has a handful of UCI points having only raced Trophy and League races in the UK - he joined us for a trip to a Belgian League race in November to gain some experience, but really, this was his first proper go at this level of race - therefore he was placed 100th, and last, on the grid. On the tight twisty floodlit course at Diegem starting dead last was going to make things hard!
Theo tells us that, “Diegem was a really fun course which was very different to what I was used to, with a lot of tarmac and a huge sand pit. I was gridded last out of the largest field I've ever ridden, so it was super tough to move up. I was moving up well but, towards the end of the race I struggled in the rutted off camber. It was a brilliant atmosphere and a dream race to ride.” Theo moved up 29 places to finish 71st in the end - trust us, that’s a huge result, because making up that many places in Diegem is extremely hard work. A great start to Theo’s Kerst Periode.
Two days later (New Year’s Day), Theo took on his second race in Baal, at the Sven Nys Centre. This time he was promoted to 66th on the grid, out of 93 racers which would help him get into the action a little better. The overnight rain made the course very muddy, favouring the more powerful riders - Theo takes up the story, “I found Baal super hard. The course had quite a large amount of running with some super boggy, energy zapping sections which made it extremely tough”.
“I had a great first lap, but someone went down in front of me on the second lap and I couldn’t avoid them, so I ended up on the ground. Then I crashed a second time on the rollers which made the end of the race a struggle”. What Theo doesn’t say is that he actually made up another 10 places through the race - another great progression, beating his start position by 11%. Things were going in the right direction!
Theo’s third and final race was at the Gullegem Super Prestige on the 4th of January. The course here is a proper old-school Flemish meadow cross - there’s nowhere to hide from the big lanky Dutch and Belgian riders, but the brits did a great job!
“In Gullegem for our practice the ground was frozen, but for the race it had started to thaw! These are not my favourite conditions - super slippy on the top and it took time to adapt to what I’d found in practice. I had another good first three laps, but then I had a complete shocker in the last two, so it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped for.” Theo had once again improved upon his gridding, moving up from 63rd to 40th, which was a progression of around 30%. Overall that’s a huge progression in just three races and something he should be really proud of.
Theo’s sign-off - “Overall a great trip which was made possible by RideForCharlie [which is a charity set up by Nick and Sarah Craig to support young riders racing abroad], and amazing pit help from Kev, Andrew and Sarah of EvoDevo [a company which supports British Youth and Junior riders]. Also thanks to my parents for driving me out there. I gained lots of valuable experience to put into practice at the National Championships, and next year.
Photos by Bruce Sandell
Words by Theo Sandell and Glen Whittington
2025.RIDERS – THEOSANDELL
Theo competes in Cyclocross and Road at National level. He races for SDW Racing. He’s been racing for 10 years and regularly wins at Regional level. You can follow him on IG
GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO RACE WITH US?
We’re always looking for riders to be part of our ÆIGHT CØLLECTIVE. The #aeightbikeco is about doing things a little differently - Rather than a jersey being the common theme, we kit our riders out with bespoke steel bikes and handbuilt wheels made in our Sussex workshops, the ÆIGHT WHEELWØRKS and the ÆIGHT MANUFACTØRY. We then support each other at events and races regionally, nationally and internationally - whether that’s for mountain bike, ‘cross, gravel, crit, road or TT - it’s what we call, the #aeightbikeco
The best part is that we’re not asking you to leave your team or club - that includes racing in your club/team kit. We’ve got certain brands that we work with, mostly so we can standardise shared equipment, but your own sponsors and clubs are almost always welcome. We have some strict qualifying criteria but don’t be put off by this – if you’re interested in being part of the #aeightbikeco then please get in touch by emailing your racing CV to eightbikeco@gmail.com