RoadCyclingUK: What were yours and Nikki’s reasons for launching the Mudiiita project?

Matt Brammeier: We always asked ourselves why there wasn’t a bigger pool of talent coming through to the elite level, going out to Belgium and in the bigger races.

• Mudita (definition): a pure joy unadulterated by self-interest; taking joy from the happiness and success of others

There was a handful that used to head over and get their heads kicked in, just to get round, and we always asked ourselves why – what could be done, and what could we do?

People need to be more aware of the sport, I guess, and what’s available. We just need to get people interested – that’s what it’s about: make the younger generation want to do it and give them a bit of inspiration so there’s more kids knocking on the door.

How important was it to the two of you to have both an academy and a pro team?

In truth, originally it was just the academy in our thoughts, but then we had the idea of trying to set something up for Nikki and get that next step on the ladder – a bit of a pathway for riders, and maybe even from there moving on to bigger teams, such as Sven Nys’ team (Telenet-Fidea Lions).

It can be just another stepping stone, but you never know maybe it could also become one of the bigger teams one day. You never know. At the moment though, it all made sense and fitted well with what Nikki wanted to do at the time. It’s worked out well.

That character would be especially important in cyclo-cross, wouldn’t it? Whereas road cycling has boomed in the UK, cyclo-cross is a sport which still very much has its heart in Belgium.

It does – and that’s our challenge, really. We want cyclo-cross in the UK to be like it is in Belgium. If you look down to the end of the line – not our end goal, but the end goal for cyclo-cross – it has to be the Olympics. Once it has ticked that box it will explode.

If they were to get an Olympic spot next year, for example, it would look after itself. The funding would come in, and a lot of sponsors would get involved.

So we want to do our bit to put the UK on the map – because the biggest challenge is to make cyclo-cross a global sport. Maybe we’ll be out there doing it by ourselves, or maybe someone else will come out and do something similar – we just don’t know – but we want to get the ball rolling, see what happens, rattle the cage, you know?

What’s your role going to be in the project, particularly with your road commitments?

Well I’m still trying to be a pro bike rider! Obviously I’ve been helping getting things set up but, from here, going forward it’s just about giving Nikki a hand.

“It’s our thing, we’re not tied down to being told what to do by anyone. We can do what we want and go in any direction we want, which is pretty cool”

It is still just the two of us working on it – it might look like a big project on the outside, but it is just the two of us with a little bit of help here and there.

We can’t aspire to do anything crazy; with the academy, for example, our initial thoughts were to give the kids what they need – equipment, coaching, mentoring – but that could even go one step further now because we have had messages from people who want to get involved.

But I’d like to put as much time into it as I can. It’s still all very fluid. It’s our thing, we’re not tied down to being told what to do by anyone. We can do what we want and go in any direction we want, which is pretty cool.

How does the Mudiiita project fit with Nikki’s ambitions as a rider for the next few years?

It’s perfect. From the last few years with Boels-Dolmans, I know she’s really enjoyed it and loved being with the team and racing with the girls, but on a purely professional level, Mudiiita will be perfect for her and that’s what we wanted.

“It’s her goal to become world champion in the next few years and so we looked at how to best do that”

It’s her goal to become world champion in the next few years and so we looked at how to best do that. Being on a road team and having people pulling from that direction wasn’t necessarily the best thing for her. There were training camps and the odd race that just didn’t fit perfectly with what she wanted to do.

Road racing was always something she really wanted to do, to complement her cyclo-cross racing. She wanted to go to the Olympics and she did, which is great, but now her focus is purely on the world Championships.

With what she’s doing now, she can do what she wants – she can go on training camps when she wants, she can train in Girona, she can race when she wants. It’s absolutely perfect really.

You say sponsorship is only a small part of what you are doing, but how big a boost is it to have a company such as Canyon backing you?

To have such a big company like that wanting to invest in not just our project but ‘cross in general, shows where it’s going.

For a lot of the companies we’ve spoken to, we had that boom in 2012, when Brad won the Tour and the Olympics too. But from that, bike sales, while not starting to fall, I think have peaked. Now, people are moving on to something different. They’re getting a little bored of riding on the road, or perhaps don’t feel safe.

A lot of people are looking for something different – a bit more fun, something you can do with the kids.

People are starting to buy the likes of gravel bikes to go off-road. That’s what we’re hoping – and a lot of big companies are banking on – is that they’ll go from gravel to cyclo-cross. We really hope it can prompt a transition to ‘cross.