Cycling: Merida will equip the newly founded professional team from Bahrain around Prince Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa with bikes and act as name sponsor. The project, controversial among cycling fans, will officially start as the BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team. There is no information yet regarding driver transfers, but Vincenzo Nibali's signing seems only a matter of form.
After the news in the morning about the German team BORA - hansgrohe, another bang follows - the cycling team from Bahrain, who will be starting in 2017, will start with bikes from the bicycle giant Merida. The Taiwanese company is also becoming the name sponsor of the newly founded project, which will officially be called the BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team.
“We are excited about this new chapter in our cycling history. As a global bicycle manufacturer, we are always looking for opportunities to enter new markets and we are highly motivated to support Bahrain's goals; namely to bring sport in general and cycling in particular closer to the own population," comments William Jeng, Vice President of Merida on the new collaboration. In addition to Lampre-Merida, which was founded in 2013, Merida will equip two professional teams in the coming year.
Although the UCI will only announce the distribution of the WorldTour licenses in early autumn, it can be assumed that the new BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team and Bora - hansgrohe will take over the two licenses that will become available from Tinkoff and IAM. The rumor mill regarding possible driver commitments has been simmering for a long time - numerous media had unanimously reported on the commitment of Grand Tour specialist Vincenzo Nibali. The team does not want to comment on this yet, but has already announced that the first names will be announced in the next few weeks.
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