Who’s riding what? Teams swap bike sponsors for 2021

With just a handful of weeks remaining in the compressed and re-jiggered 2020 road cycling season, teams are looking toward the coming year, as are their sponsors.

Mitchelton-Scott has signed a multi-year partnership with Bianchi for both the men’s and women’s teams. The Australian-based teams will be racing on the Specialissima, the Oltre, and Aquila time trial bikes. Notably, Jumbo-Visma riders chose not to ride disc brake versions of these bikes during the team’s successful 2020 season.

Mitchelton-Scott has been racing on Scott bikes since 2012, but with the change to Bianchi, it seems that a change in the team’s name will happen, too.

GreenEdge Cycling — the owner of the Mitchelton-Scott men’s and women’s teams — owner Gerry Ryan expressed excitement about the new partnership.

“As we approach our tenth season at the top level of world cycling, we are invigorated by the opportunity to partner with Bianchi, a proven brand with a long and proud history, as we look towards the upcoming seasons. We have witnessed the incredible success of riders using Bianchi equipment and are inspired by their plans for the future,” Ryan said.

Jumbo-Visma to Cervélo

Jumbo-Visma, which had much success with Bianchi over the past several seasons, is moving to Cervélo as the team’s bike sponsor.

The Cervélo R5 disc, Cervélo S5, Cervélo P5, and Caledonia will be under the likes of Sepp Kuss, Primož Roglič, Wout van Aert, and Tom Dumoulin.

Cervélo will also be the bike sponsor of the newly-formed Jumbo-Visma women’s team, which includes multidisciplinary superstar Marianne Vos.

Thanking Sunweb for the past two seasons of successes — highlighted by the recent successes of Wilco Kelderman in the Giro d’Italia and Marc Hirschi at the Tour de France — Cervélo’s Managing Director Nick McAdams said, “We are very proud to partner with Team Jumbo-Visma. We’ve been involved in WorldTour racing for a long time, and with that comes access to the best athletes and testing for our bikes. As one of the best teams in the world, [Team Jumbo-Visma] are made up of world-class riders racing at the sport’s highest levels.”

The Cervelo spokesman went on, “I also want to use this opportunity to thank Team Sunweb for inviting Cervélo to be part of their program and delivering some exciting moments and great results these past two seasons.”

Richard Plugge, managing director of Team Jumbo-Visma commented that, “This is a great step for our team. Cervélo is a fantastic brand and an industry leader by technology. We are very happy that our cycling teams will be riding on Cervélo from next year.”

Cervélo had been seen under Team Sunweb over the past several seasons, but starting in the 2021 season, the German squad will be racing on Scott brand bikes.

Sunweb to Scott

The Sunweb men’s and women’s WorldTour and development squads will be racing on the Swiss-owned brand Scott, outfitted with Syncros components.

Sunweb will have access to the Scott Addict RC for climbing and rolling races, the Scott Foil for sprints and flat routes, and the Scott Plasma for time trails — and Scott road helmets to top it all off.

Pascal Ducrot, vice-president of Scott Sports said, “We are confident that this partnership will deliver from the start some fast, exciting and successful racing with both the men and women programs. Our engineering team is looking forward to work closely with Team Sunweb’s engineering and biomechanic specialists to integrate their input and feedback in the development of the next generation of our road bikes.”