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Tech Rumour: Could Team Sunweb switch from Giant to Cervélo next season?Cervelo R5.jpg

Tech Rumour: Could Team Sunweb switch from Giant to Cervélo next season?

Could Tom Dumoulin's team get a new bike sponsor next season?
by David Arthur @davearthur
Wed, May 16, 2018 15:26
7

According to De Telegraaf, Team Sunweb could be set to switch from current bike sponsor Giant Bicycles to Cervélo next season.

The Canadian bike brand currently sponsors Mark Cavendish’s Dimension Data team, so would this replacement of Giant at Sunweb mean a new bike sponsor hunt for Cav’s squad, or would Cervélo sponsor two teams?

Cervélo could probably afford to back both teams. The company was bought by the PON Holdings group back in 2012, a family owned Dutch company that also owns several other bike brands, including Santa Cruz, Focus, Raleigh and Kalkhoff, along with interests in many other markets.

The article on De Telegraaf suggests that the team could be looking for a closer partnership with a bicycle brand up to the challenge of helping it  to develop new products to provide a performance advantage, in a sport where the margins between winning and losing can sometimes be tiny. Cervélo has a pioneering background, being the first company to produce an aerodynamic road bike (the Soloist) and known to work closely with teams to develop new bikes, from CSC to its own Test Team.

“Since the minimal profit of Dumoulin in the prologue of the Giro d'Italia in Apeldoorn in 2016, where the difference was only two-hundredths of a second in favour of Dumoulin versus Primoz Roglic, the team is looking for a close collaboration with a bicycle manufacturer,” says De Telegraaf.

If this rumour is true, we can’t imagine Giant Bicycles would want to leave the professional peloton. The same article also suggests it could link up with the Lotto NL Jumbo team, currently sponsored by Bianchi, which could replace Colnago at UAE-Emirates. It could be a game of musical chairs in the professional peloton next season.

More on this story when we get it, we'll drop a line to Giant and Cervélo to see what they have to say on this rumour.

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David Arthur @davearthur

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes. 

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7 comments

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Jimmy Ray Will | 6 years ago
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Cervelo have sponsored top flight teams for many years, with only a brief hiatus before coming back in with Dimension Data the other year.

I'd imagine Cervelo would prefer tp align themselves with a GC orientated team, than the sprint (Cavendish) focused Dimension Data. if you look at their product range, it has always focused on innovtion and aero performance, which is better showcased by a team looking to win overall grand tours. IMO.

So I don't think this will be Cervelo running two teams, but  Cervelo making a switch.

Its also noteworthy that Specialized are down to two world tour teams, when they used to sponsor three. They have previously had a close relationship with Cavendish, so could they be coming in to support Dimension Data next year? I'd imagine the DD investment would be on a par with Astana of old... so less than that of Quick-Step and potentially Bora. 

 

 

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massive4x4 | 6 years ago
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I doubt that Cervelo are absolutely brimming with money, they are pretty small compared to Giant, Trek or Specialized. They don't for example have a mountain bike or commuter bike division.

I also would not underestimate the attraction of a specific bike manufacturer being involved; Cervelo were able to move the TdF champion to their new team in 2009 after he won it on one of their bikes. Cervelo do have some strong evidence of being a good partner, they were selected by team GB on what was probably an open contest on the basis of their technology and willingness to interate design with the team (hence the T5GB) 

The Cervelo S5 is also a little long in the tooth, we can't rule out the possibility that Cervelo have been working on a disc braked, tubeless, smooth riding aero-bike that weighs 6.8kg.

There is the alternative reading of this which might be the Giant and Sunweb aren't getting on. The riders are choosing to always ride TCR and never the Propel which probably doesn't help with the marketing.

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Simon_MacMichael replied to massive4x4 | 6 years ago
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massive4x4 wrote:

I doubt that Cervelo are absolutely brimming with money, they are pretty small compared to Giant, Trek or Specialized. They don't for example have a mountain bike or commuter bike division.

Worth noting they've been owned since 2012 by Pon Holdings, who across their various brands (Santa Cruz, Focus, Gazelle etc) pretty much have the market covered. Had Pon's bid for Accell gone through last year, they'd have been the world's biggest bicycle manufacturer by turnover.

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massive4x4 replied to Simon_MacMichael | 6 years ago
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Simon_MacMichael wrote:

massive4x4 wrote:

I doubt that Cervelo are absolutely brimming with money, they are pretty small compared to Giant, Trek or Specialized. They don't for example have a mountain bike or commuter bike division.

Worth noting they've been owned since 2012 by Pon Holdings, who across their various brands (Santa Cruz, Focus, Gazelle etc) pretty much have the market covered. Had Pon's bid for Accell gone through last year, they'd have been the world's biggest bicycle manufacturer by turnover.

Reasonable point, but sponsorship from Cervelo doesn't help those brands so any sponsorship would still have to be ballanced against Cervelo's turnover.

The only reason why Pon might be prepared to let Cervelo spend big on advertising would be if they are trying to greatly expand their business.

This might be difficult as it would probably require diverisfication to cheaper bikes, more bike types and lowering the costs of Cervelo's in general. I don't get the feeling that Cervelo has a massive engineeirng organisation capable of carrying this off.

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700c replied to massive4x4 | 6 years ago
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massive4x4 wrote:

 

 

There is the alternative reading of this which might be the Giant and Sunweb aren't getting on. The riders are choosing to always ride TCR and never the Propel which probably doesn't help with the marketing.

Why is it bad for marketing? The TCR is the obvious GC bike. It's 'tecnhnology' isn't that old either, the last major change to frame design being for the 2016 model. And now there are disc versions etc they can flog to those so inclined..

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handlebarcam | 6 years ago
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If Cervélo offers more money, or in other ways would make it financially advantageous for the team, or any other bike company does likewise, or if Giant is looking to sponsor another team because they reckon they would profit from being associated with different riders, who are maybe more popular in key markets for them, then I'm sure a switch will occur. But the idea that it would initiated for technological reasons is pure journalistic fantasy on the part of De Telegraaf. It's really rather silly to repeat it verbatim.

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Kendalred replied to handlebarcam | 6 years ago
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handlebarcam wrote:

If Cervélo offers more money, or in other ways would make it financially advantageous for the team, or any other bike company does likewise, or if Giant is looking to sponsor another team because they reckon they would profit from being associated with different riders, who are maybe more popular in key markets for them, then I'm sure a switch will occur. But the idea that it would initiated for technological reasons is pure journalistic fantasy on the part of De Telegraaf. It's really rather silly to repeat it verbatim.

Amen to that. The difference in performance of any of these high-end World Tour plastic machines is so infintesimal that it doesn't really matter what they ride - it's the organic machine on top that makes the difference.

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