Bye-Bye, Jumbo-Visma. Hello, ‘Visma-Lease a Bike.’
Who the future title sponsor of the Jumbo-Visma pro cycling team will be for 2024 has been top of mind for bike racing fans ever since it was announced back in June that the Jumbo supermarket chain would no longer be supporting the team after the 2023 season. Jumbo’s move ended a five-year title sponsorship, during which the team ascended to the top level of the sport.
For a hot second it appeared the team was teasing that Apple was going to be throwing its hat in the ring as a possible sponsor for the team. In September, team manager Richard Plugge, told the media that there was “North American interest” and then proceeded to post a photo of himself and Jumbo-Visma rider Riejanne Markus meeting up with Apple CEO Tim Cook on social media.
A couple of weeks after that, it was announced that Amazon had signed on as a sponsor, but surprisingly, not as a title sponsor but rather as a “minor sponsor” to the tune of €15 million. But by that time, the Amazon news was somewhat overshadowed by the as-yet unsettled matter of whether Jumbo-Visma was going to merge with rival team Soudal-QuickStep and cause a tectonic shift in the pro peloton.
Not to mention the weeks of will-he-or-won’t-he-leave questions about whether 2023 Giro d’Italia winner Primož Roglič would end his nine-year run with the team and move to another squad, to effectively challenge his former teammates during the 2024 Tour de France.
After weeks of uncertainty about whether or not a merger would happen, the speculation was put to rest last week. According to Global Cycling Network, multiple European media outlets had reported that the merger was now off the table. Not only that, Amazon had also reportedly taken their sponsorship of the table as well.
See what we mean by drama?
As the beginning of this week rolled around, there was yet another big announcement about the team’s future, and this one may be the conclusion of these last couple of months of “what is going to happen to Jumbo-Visma” hand wringing. On Monday morning the Dutch newspaper Wielerflits reported that the team of Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard officially has a new title sponsor for 2024. Starting next year, the team will go forward as Visma-Lease a Bike.
What is Lease a Bike?
Lease a Bike is a company that leases bikes (hence the name) to corporations and their employees in several European countries and has been a minor sponsor of the team in past seasons. It’s owned by the Dutch conglomerate Pon, a company that already has a large cycling portfolio of which Lease a Bike is just a small part. Pon also owns the cycling bike brands Cannondale, Gazelle, Focus, Kalkhoff, Schwinn and Union, as well as Cervélo, the brand that has been the team’s bike sponsor for years.
However, according to Cyclingnews, a team spokesperson reportedly downplayed the Lease a Bike sponsorship announcement. What that means exactly is uncertain. Perhaps we haven’t seen the end of the biggest sponsorship drama of 2023 just yet. Regardless, over the weekend Jumbo-Visma sports director Merijn Zeeman told the Dutch paper Nieuwsblad, “It is now certain that we can continue to build this team in the coming years.” So at least that much, it seems, is assured.
You Might Also Like
