Cycling: After its two-year commitment to the German team Giant-Alpecin, the Bielefeld-based shampoo manufacturer Alpecin will switch to Katusha as a sponsor from 2017, which will then start as Katusha-Alpecin. The racing team, which previously drove under a Russian license, is relocating its headquarters to Switzerland next year and intends to promote internationalization within its own ranks.
Rumors of Alpecin's involvement with Katusha's previously Russian team have persisted over the past few weeks and months. The commitment of Tony Martin by the team around team boss Wjatscheslaw Ekimov underpinned assumptions in this regard. Today, Alpecin finally announced the switch to Katusha and at the same time the departure from Giant-Alpecin at a press conference specially arranged in Bielefeld. "Joining Katusha-Alpecin, which will in future be an international cycling project based in Switzerland, opens up great opportunities for us in implementing our global brand communication," says Eduard R. Dörrenberg, Managing Director at Alpecin.
Alpecin says they are very proud of the progress that has been made in German cycling since they started their own commitment in 2014. The great successes of drivers like John Degenkolb, Marcel Kittel and Simon Geschke are not least due to the Bielefeld sponsor. There are several reasons for the step away from Giant-Alpecin - one of them will certainly be John Degenkolb's move to Trek-Segafredo. But the end of Giant's sponsorship also played a role, says Dörrenberg. It was decided that it was time to take a new path.
[blog style=”def” cols=”2″ display=”specific” specific=”52885″ posts_per_page=”0″ offset=”0″ pagination=”no” ad_id=”0″ ad_count=”3″ ad_repeat=”yes”]Even though Katusha-Alpecin will start under a Swiss license from now on, the team change is definitely a small step away from German cycling. However, that does not mean that there will be less commitment in this regard in the future, explains Dörrenberg. “We will compete with at least three German drivers and with Tony Martin as the German figurehead. In addition, we will continue to focus intensively on cycling in Germany," according to the manager.
What will become of Team Giant-Alpecin?
[blog style=”def” cols=”2″ display=”specific” specific=”51350″ posts_per_page=”0″ offset=”0″ pagination=”no” ad_id=”0″ ad_count=”3″ ad_repeat=”yes”]With the withdrawal of the two previous main sponsors, the German WorldTour team is at a crossroads. It was already reported a few months ago that the tour operator Sunweb would like to further expand its previous involvement in the team. It is therefore quite conceivable that Sunweb will act as the sole eponymous sponsor from 2017 onwards. A few weeks ago, team boss Iwan Spekenbrink confirmed to the dpa that they would (still?) drive with a German license in the coming season - despite the departure of John Degenkolb and the loss of Alpecin.