Miranda Factory Team / Our storyFrom downhill.
To world firsts.
A Portuguese factory team. A shared racing ambition.
A story that runs from the workshop to the world stage.
The factory
is in our name.
Miranda Factory Team grew from downhill racing into a pioneering force in electric enduro. Its foundations are the people, engineering and ambition of Miranda Bike Parts.
The team is owned and managed entirely by Miranda Bike Parts, with staff from the company running the project. The same organisation that develops and manufactures the components stands behind the riders, the preparation and the decisions that shape each season.
From its Portuguese base to international race paddocks, that connection has remained central to the team’s identity. It became Portugal’s first UCI Elite MTB team and, in 2020, won the team title in the very first Enduro World Series for electric mountain bikes.
Downhill was the starting line.
The factory downhill structure was announced in February 2018 with three Portuguese riders: Vasco Bica, Tiago Ladeira and Gonçalo Bandeira. Its competition debut followed on 24–25 February at the Portuguese Downhill Cup in Tarouca, on the Serra de Santa Helena track.
The project combined an experienced national champion with young riders taking their next steps internationally. A programme of European competition and World Cup racing gave that ambition a practical shape. The bikes carried Miranda’s XMOD components, bringing the company’s engineering directly into the demands of downhill.
Miranda had already supported international enduro through BH–Miranda in 2017. Creating its own downhill team in 2018 extended that commitment: support riders, build an international presence and use racing to learn about the products in real conditions.
UCI MTB Team status followed in 2019 and was renewed for the 2020 season. That registration marked an important stage in the growth of a project rooted in Portugal and built to compete abroad.
The same racecraft.
A new kind of challenge.
Electric mountain bikes opened up a different form of racing. Descending speed remained essential, while technical climbing, power stages and the management of a full race day added new demands. The team’s downhill background became a foundation for this next chapter.
By 2019, Emanuel Pombo was already on the podium at the WES event in Barcelona. The 2020 team presentation in Águeda brought the off-road disciplines together under the Miranda Factory Team name and made the commitment to e-enduro clear.
That direction became more focused in 2022. Pombo and Ladeira were joined by Laura Charles and André Francisco, racing KTM bikes with Bosch systems. The calendar centred on EWS-E alongside Bosch eMTB challenges and mass-start events such as the Avalanches and MegaAvalanche.
The transition grew out of the team’s existing experience and its close relationship with component development. Pombo brought race knowledge and leadership; Ladeira brought the progression of a rider who had developed inside the Miranda structure since its downhill launch.
The first edition.
The first team title.
In 2020, electric enduro had its first Enduro World Series. Miranda Factory Team finished that inaugural edition as team champions.
The title was secured at the final round in Pietra Ligure, Italy, over the weekend of 19–20 September. The course covered around 60 kilometres and nine stages, including two uphill power stages.
Emanuel Pombo’s second place, José Borges’s third and Maaris Meier’s third place in the women’s race delivered the points needed for the collective victory. It was a team achievement across the men’s and women’s fields, and a defining moment for the Portuguese project.
The results continued beyond that first season. Miranda finished third in the 2021 EWS-E team standings and second in 2022, keeping the team on the series podium through the opening years of international electric enduro.
Run by Miranda.
Raced for progress.
Miranda Bike Parts manages the whole team, with company staff carrying the project from one season to the next. That gives the racing programme a direct connection to the factory and to the people responsible for its components.
The riders are part of that work. Pombo and Ladeira contribute to the development of the Miranda component range, carrying feedback from training and racing into the product conversation. Steep terrain, repeated impacts, technical climbs and long race days make that feedback specific and demanding.
The relationship works in both directions: the factory supports the riders with engineering knowledge and components; the riders help the company understand how those components behave at competition pace. The result is an ongoing exchange between the workshop and the trail.
Supporting talent has also been part of the project. The 2021 downhill roster included Jackson Goldstone (reigning UCI Elite Downhill World Champion, 2025 & 2026; source: UCI, opens in a new tab) and Nuno Reis alongside Pombo and Ladeira.
Goldstone joined Miranda for his first Junior World Cup season and won both the 2021 Junior Downhill World Championship and the overall Junior World Cup title that year.
As Miranda Factory Team increasingly focused on e-bike racing, Jackson continued his career in downhill. Miranda is proud to have been part of the reigning UCI Elite Downhill World Champion’s journey.
Archive photograph and season report: Cycling Canada (opens in a new tab).
The following season’s e-enduro line-up brought together experienced riders and a young Portuguese prospect, continuing that mix of knowledge and opportunity.
A team.
A moving story.
- 2018
The downhill beginning.
Vasco Bica, Tiago Ladeira and Gonçalo Bandeira form the new Miranda Factory Team. The first race weekend is Tarouca, Portugal, on 24–25 February.
- 2019
Onto the UCI stage.
UCI MTB Team registration gives the project a formal international platform. Electric racing is already part of the journey, with Pombo on the WES podium in Barcelona.
- 2020
The first EWS-E team champions.
Miranda wins the team title in the inaugural electric Enduro World Series. The decisive celebration comes in Pietra Ligure, Italy.
- 2021
Two worlds. One team.
Third in the EWS-E team standings, while Jackson Goldstone wins the Junior Downhill World Championship and the overall Junior World Cup title for Miranda.
- 2022
An electric focus.
Second in the EWS-E team standings. Laura Charles and André Francisco join Pombo and Ladeira as the programme concentrates on e-enduro.
- 2023–26
The story keeps moving.
Pombo and Ladeira carry the factory identity into World Cup racing, national titles, Bosch eMTB challenges and World Championship top-five finishes.
The next start lineThe story
rides on.
Today, Emanuel Pombo and Tiago “Yaio” Ladeira carry that history forward.
National championship victories, Bosch eMTB wins and international podiums continue the story on new courses. Ladeira’s World Championship top-five finishes and Pombo’s race experience connect the current team to the ambition behind its creation.
Meet the riders, explore their careers and follow the results from the latest seasons.
Read the original stories.
Launch reports and race coverage from the team’s journey.