It’s September 1st and Richard Plugge is apparently lost in thought at Oslo Airport. The director’s bag with the Jumbo Visma logo on it is tucked between his legs. He thinks about what his team will look like in the future. Where will the money come from since Jumbo no longer wants to be the main sponsor?
Will there really still be a team after 2024?
The answers to all these questions were given at the “Visma – Rent a Bike” presentation held in Amsterdam yesterday. Plugge’s Dutch cycling formation will respond to the names of these two companies, which will join the team indefinitely from 2024.
A two-year notice period also applies here. In short: Once again a mega deal has been reached.
None of this was certain in Norway at the beginning of September. Jumbo’s name would no longer be mentioned, but what about Visma?
Plugge needed to learn this. Sander Kruis, the team’s commercial manager, also traveled with him. The man in charge of sponsorship, partnerships and hospitality: English terms that may seem a bit vague to an outsider, but they are all additional money makers when organized correctly. This means “an additional training camp can be booked or a driver can be hired,” says Kruis.
He was closely involved in all discussions and negotiations after Jumbo announced that it would end its role as main sponsor at the end of 2022. And he remembers the year at NOS when he and his team management faced the challenge of changing the supermarket chain.
“Did we feel pressure? Naturally. But it doesn’t mean we’re in any rush. “We still had until the end of 2024 and there were so many discussions that we knew immediately: Everything was going to be fine.” The pressure was mostly because we wanted the perfect result for our team.”
The meeting held in Norway on September 1 was important in this respect. “That was one of those conversations where the deal was essentially closed.”
Evenepoel, Amazon?
However, other options were also considered. “Fine boundaries were explored” and a merger was considered that left the cycling world in suspense for weeks. “The Belgian market was an interesting option to explore as the sport is very popular there. “We have already had this experience with Wout van Aert in our team.”
In hindsight this was just one of many options on the table, but it received widespread media coverage. “There were a lot of messages written very hastily. Sometimes wrong connections were made. “For us, it was as if this process with Soudal-QuickStep was all about Remco Evenepoel.”
An American sponsor was also checked. “I won’t deny that we talked to Amazon. This could be interesting.”
The team currently receives most of its product orders from the United States. “We realized this shortly after the Netflix Tour de France documentary, especially after the victory at the Vuelta with Sepp Kuss. “We deliver more to the US than to our home markets of the Netherlands and Belgium.”
Lotto balls and jumbo
After all the discussions, it turned out that the best choice was with the parties that had already reached an agreement. Pon has previously stated that he wants to contribute ideas and possibly take things a step further. When Visma became the main sponsor and Plugge reunited with Pon, Lease a Bike, a company owned by Pon that was looking for more brand awareness, became the logical second sponsor.
Kruis also had this trump card in mind: Identity should be guaranteed as much as possible. That’s why the yellow-blacks had to stay. It’s the same colors the team once adopted because of its yellow-black lottery balls and Jumbo’s yellow home color.
It was important to protect these colors and this identity, especially in the year when 69 victories were achieved and the team stood out in all major tours. “At the same time, we wholeheartedly believe that we are our own brand. And there is value in building them. Recognizability by fans and companies. Sales models can be built on this.”
“This is important given that we do not have a stadium of our own to compare with football and we cannot earn a fixed income from tickets. “As a cycling team you are currently 95 per cent dependent on sponsorship but we are working hard to ensure this becomes less important in the future.”
It is common practice in cycling for new sponsors to tailor jerseys to the fans’ corporate identity. “But then people immediately think: Who are they again?”
sports history
This also fits with the big target the team has set for itself after 2022, when winning the Tour is marked. “We asked ourselves: What do we want now? The answer to this question was: We want to make history in sports. This goal inspires us.”
It was left to Kruis and marketing chief Jasper Saeijs to think about it: “If you want to build a legacy and play in the same league as teams like the All Blacks, FC Barcelona and the Chicago Bulls, there’s no point in that. “You are wasting.” You are green for a long time, initially for three years, then yellow for years, and then red again for seven years.
The question posed to the Norwegian software company and the Dutch company Pon was clear: “Whether we will be able to preserve our corporate identity.”
Both lenders agreed. “They may have said that it is our request that the team be purple. If we hadn’t done this then, I wouldn’t have put my hand in the fire. Because we need to be realistic: This is it.” Currently, 95 percent of the budget comes from sponsorships.”
Yellow B
The recognition category also included an adjustment to the team’s official name. “Our company name is no longer Blanco Pro Cycling, but Yellow B. With this we want to reinforce our yellow and black colors. B stands for Black, Blank, Bike and our nickname in the peloton is ‘Bees’. Well.” “We will not use this name as a team name, it is just the license holder’s name.”
“Who knows if in ten years we will have a cycling team with our own name and no sponsor name? But there are still many steps to be taken to make this happen.”
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
