One of the worst-kept secrets in mountain biking: Danny Hart will be riding for Madison Saracen from 2018. Here are the reasons for him being signed.

>>> How to whip like Danny Hart

Madison-Saracen: “As well as his undoubted talents, bringing Danny to the team has given Madison Saracen a formidable final piece to a line-up rammed with talent for 2018. The Redcar Rocket joins exciting young talents Matt Walker and Alex Marin who’ll all be tasked with piloting the Saracen Myst in the World Cup next season.

The team will be under the stewardship of manager Will Longden again in 2018: “It’s fantastic to have Danny joining our team. Madison has worked hard to elevate the level of the team and the support we offer our riders, so this is an exciting next step on our journey.

“Danny is the man to watch on a World Cup weekend and his results speak for themselves. Along with our junior World Champion Matt Walker (moving up to elite) and Alex Marin, I think we have an awesome trio for 2018 and I can’t wait to get stuck in”

Dominic Langan, CEO of Madison: The Madison Saracen Team has been no stranger to the podium over the years thanks mainly to the successes of Manon Carpenter. But for the boys podiums have been more elusive. Danny is a very important signing for the team and a significant step up in our ambitions. Supported by Junior World Champion, Matt Walker in his first year in Elites plus the talented Alex Marin, the 2018 Madison Saracen team is a formidable force to be reckoned with.”

And what of the man himself? Danny Hart: “I’m really happy to be joining the Madison Saracen Factory Team, as I’ve watched the team grow and prosper over the last decade. The success they’ve had over the last few years shows that this team is in the top tier of DH racing teams. It’s going to be an exciting few years!”

Danny Hart was crowned downhill world champion in 2016, after winning on one of the roughest tracks in the world, at Val di Sole, Italy. The Redcar Rocket last wore the rainbow stripes before that back in 2011.

What are the reasons for Madison-Saracen signing Danny Hart?

Because he is capable of putting together runs like these…

1. Val di Sole, Italy, 2016

Danny looked fast. Seriously fast, on a terrifying rocky track that caused carnage, spitting off riders left right and centre, like Aaron Gwin and Manon Carpenter. It looked like Aaron Gwin might challenge him for the win but the American ripped his tyre off on a rock and with it has chances. So there we have it, Danny the champion of the world!

2. Champery, France 2011

DH wins the Worlds for the first time, recording probably the scariest run of all time thanks to a brutal track and muddy, slippy conditions: Look out for the big whip near the bottom of the course. Strangely enough though, the commentary is nearly as famous as the riding, with Rob Warner yelling: “Stay on yer bike, Danny,” half way down.

3. Lenzerheide, Switzerland, 2016

The closest winning margin in downhill? Probably, at 0.096 seconds up over second place Aaron Gwin, and the start of DH’s trio of wins over Aaron Gwin. It was Danny’s first ever World Cup win, but it looked like he’d come second for most of the run, so far back was he on Gwin’s time. He pulled it back on the last half of the track though, and looked really with the win — just check out his fist pumping.

4. Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, 2016

Racing doesn’t come much more precise than this: watch Danny Hart clipping the course tape in a storm of poles and plastic, on the way to winning his second ever World Cup. It was clever riding from the Redcar Rocket too, changing his line in the bottom section where he’d been slow timed training. It worked, and he managed to fend off the late charge from Gwin.

5. Vallnord, Andorra, 2016

Hart versus Gwin part three. Danny wraps up the season with yet another win, and yet again it’s in the rain. There were five riders to go still, and Gwin’s run was ruined somewhat by torrential rain, but Danny still had to record a smooth and near faultless run to win.

6. Lenzerheide, Switzerland, 2017

Last year wasn’t up to Hart’s usual standard. He was perhaps the main victim of the hustle, hurry and hype around 29in wheel downhill bikes as he never quite managed to gel with big wheels when it came to race days. But he still managed to get on the podium a couple of times in 2017.

Pic: Bartek Woliński / Red Bull Content Pool

7. Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, 2017

No-one remembers anything about Mont-Sainte-Anne 2017 other than Aaron Gwin’s legendary winning run. Danny Hart was on the podium again that day. A sign of things to come hopefully.

Those were Danny’s top runs of all time, on video: Champery, Lenzerheide, Vallnord and more. The fastest or most exciting rides of his life – plus here’s one cheeky little bonus ride with mbr mucking about in Whistler…

On holiday with Danny, Whistler, 2015

Our own Danny Milner meets Danny Hart in Whistler and tries to keep up. Was it a coincidence that the auspicious meeting took place just before Hart’s performance increased? Did Milner, former runner up in the Leith Hill enduro, dish out some racing wisdom? We’ll never know, although rumour has it Hart now carries a lock of Milner’s hair as a lucky charm.