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news
Giant Alpecin MINI Clubman (source Team Giant Alpecin).jpgGiant Alpecin to drive MINI Clubman team cars
There will be an extra British presence in the pro peloton next year with the news that Giant-Alpecin’s team cars will be supplied by MINI – the iconic marquee based in the Oxford suburb of Cowley.
The team, now registered in Germany, has partnered with MINI Netherlands for the forthcoming season, with riders such as John Degenkolb and Tom Dumoulin supported by MINI Clubman vehicles.
MINI Netherlands brand manager Hidde-Jan Haven said: “The new MINI Clubman offers plenty of space, making it the ideal team car.
“MINI and Team Giant-Alpecin both have a strong focus on innovation and technology. With this partnership we are supporting a successful team with lots of potential.”
Iwan Spekenbrink, CEO of the team which raced under a Dutch licence until the start of the 2015 season, commented: “Our mission is to inspire cyclists around the world and to encourage sporting excellence. A top brand like MINI will certainly contribute to this.”
He added: “In cycling, much is asked of a team car. The MINI Clubman is the perfect reinforcement for our team.
“This partnership fits perfectly with our ‘Keep Challenging’ philosophy based on innovation, cooperation and continuous improvement.”
Giant-Alpecin may not be the only WorldTour team to switch vehicles for the forthcoming season - as we reported earlier this month, there are rumours that Team Sky's partnership with Jaguar is coming to an end, but no replacement has yet been announced.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- Veganpotter 4 hours 1 min ago
He should never be able to drive again.
- Veganpotter 4 hours 9 min ago
He wouldn't have gotten so far with a bent link. He could have hypothetically bent a link on a barrier but that can happen with any chain. This...
- David9694 4 hours 40 min ago
Vauxhall van and Salvatori delivery truck stuck in width restrictions in Church Road, Murston...
- chrisonabike 4 hours 44 min ago
Don't come round 'ere with your "why not fix it so that everyone can use it" nonsense!...
- chrisonabike 4 hours 48 min ago
Thank you for the local knowledge. One out of two ain't bad? And you get the best of both worlds currently... Presumably there are people who...
- Dhill 5 hours 53 min ago
I agree with you. Just enjoy riding a bike. Easy to forget that one simple thing.
- Steve K 6 hours 22 min ago
He also writes articles from there saying that people whom work from home are all skivers who should be back in the office
- Rendel Harris 7 hours 32 min ago
By no means claiming that Armstrong was the only doper in that period but your claim makes no sense: the average speed is taken on the time of the...
- wtjs 8 hours 1 min ago
I suffered a close pass by a BMW driver 2 or 3 years ago. 10 yards later he was stopped by temporary lights. It's all on video: there's no swearing...
- ManicDrummer 8 hours 51 min ago
Electromagnetic pedals you say? Call the witch finder general!
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15 comments
I'm seriously starting to wonder, is this a site for cyclists and cycling, or one about cars? Hard to tell with all those Hyundai over-page ads popping up all over the mobile version of the site.
Hell - who cares? It's the coolest team car I've seen in some time. Enjoy it for what it is.
A car that can take 8+ bicycles on its roof is not a mini. It's a BMW Thing - it's not fit to be called a mini. None of those of BMW Things deserve the name, especially not those ridiculous SUV Things.
What an apt comparison as the British royal family are largely descended from Germans. The royals adopted Windsor as a surname when it should be Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
I think that was a quip.
Mini are as British as the royal family and thats the end of it!
The news does make me sad though. It shows how unnecessarily bloated Mini and other small cars are these days.
EVERYONE knows they are BMW Minis, so they are about as British as bratwurst, Bavaria and Bastian Schweinsteiger...
(sigh) The nationality of a company depends on where its headquarters are registered, not where its owner lives.
So, Jaguar is a british company owned by and Indian firm.
Mini is a little harder to fathom given how it was seperated from Rover while under BMW ownership, but if there is a company called 'Mini' registered in the UK, then its a british company.
I hope that is not to hard for some to understand
I hope the team have more luck with their Minis than my friend, who is a driving instructor. His brand new car spent as much time in the workshop as it did on the road and after only a few months he swapped it for a Mitsubishi, which saw a mechanic only for its annual services.
Oh please. BMW owning Mini is widely known, but it is still very British.
And as for Sky not being British - do elaborate...
Sky may be listed on the LSE but Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox owns a 39 percent controlling stake in the company. To be honest, in these days of global investment in large corporations, trying to tie complex organisations (with a whole multitude of global corporate investors) to a particular country rarely works.
...except that we're talking about cycling teams, not global corporations. In cycling terms, Team Sky are as British as fish & chips.
What Portuguese and Belgian, then....about as 'British' as a cup of tea....
Yepp, bonkers isn't it. Reminds me of the threads about which British cars Sky will drive now that Jaguar is not involved...which neatly overlooks the fact that Jaguar haven't been British for some time now...and Sky are not British either!
"British marque partners with German team"
BMW acquired the Rover Group (formerly British Leyland) in 1994, and sold the greater part of it in 2000, but retained the rights to build cars using the MINI name.