{"id":813922,"date":"2026-07-20T10:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T10:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/813922\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T10:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T10:09:11","slug":"we-keep-hold-of-our-ownership-soudal-quick-step-bank-on-traditional-approach-to-sponsorship-to-fuel-future-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/813922\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We keep hold of our ownership’: Soudal Quick-Step bank on traditional approach to sponsorship to fuel future success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just short of three years ago, the cycling world was stunned into silence by the news that two of the sport\u2019s biggest teams Jumbo-Visma<\/a> and Soudal Quick-Step<\/a> were discussing an astonishing potential merger.<\/a><\/p>\n

A week later, talks fell through, and three years on, both teams remain their own separate outfits, and continue to win stages of the Tour de France<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But the prospect of the teams joining forces was a sobering reminder of the fragile reality of cycling\u2019s economic model, in which teams are almost entirely reliant on sponsorship money just to survive. And with budgets increasing year-on-year, the fight to remain, let alone be competitive, in the WorldTour gets ever harder.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From<\/p>\n

So how, then, to react to the news that from next season, for the first time in 24 years Quick-Step would not be a title sponsor of Soudal Quick-Step<\/a>?<\/p>\n

The flooring company is moving to a smaller sponsorship role that is likely to involve its logo being placed at the back of the team\u2019s bib shorts.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Stepping up to replace Quick-Step in the team\u2019s name will be the Belgian shoes and protective equipment brand Safety Jogger, with the team being renamed to Soudal Safety Jogger from next season until 2028.<\/p>\n

Quick-Step reducing its investment comes just three months after journalist Daniel Benson reported that the team would end its 19-year partnership with Specialized bikes next season, with the Belgian team apparently set to ride Merida bikes.<\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

In just a few months, Jurgen For\u00e9, who took over control of the team from Patrick Lefevere at the beginning of 2025, has essentially lost \u2013 or partially lost in the case of Quick-Step \u2013 two backers who have been inherently linked with the team throughout all or most of its existence.<\/p>\n

But nothing lasts forever. Life moves on, businesses evolve. \u201cIt\u2019s the beginning of something new,\u201d For\u00e9 said, in response to being asked if it was the end of an era.<\/p>\n

Though the optics of losing Quick-Step as a main sponsor may look concerning, it\u2019s also true that under For\u00e9\u2019s guidance, lead title sponsor Soudal, the women\u2019s team\u2019s main sponsor AG Insurance, and Quick-Step, albeit in a more minor role, have all committed to finance the team until 2030.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two companies behind the team are financially in good health and we have some reserves we can survive off in the loss of a particular sponsor for a certain period,” For\u00e9 told Cycling Weekly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur accounts are in a good shape, just like our riders, and that gives us a stable output. The agreements to 2030 with Soudal, AG Insurance and Quick-Step give us a long, stable outlook to build upon for the next four to five years. Zden\u011bk [Bakala, the team’s owner] is also a big supporter of the team so we\u2019re in a good place as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years, big multinational companies like Lidl<\/a>, Decathlon<\/a> and Red Bull<\/a> have invested into cycling and taken controlling stakes of the teams they lend their name to. That has generally been accepted as an indication of cycling\u2019s apparent increase in popularity and attractiveness.<\/p>\n

But For\u00e9 is happy for his team not to go down that path. \u201cIf we compare everything to Red Bull and Lidl, everyone can go home now,\u201d For\u00e9 said, more in reference to both teams\u2019 greater budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look to solid companies, companies who are investing and growing and have an important business to consumer component. If you’re a Belgian-based company operating internationally [like Soudal and Safety Jogger], cycling sponsorship is a relevant way to support or boost your growth. And you can still be a relevant sponsor in cycling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep hold of our ownership which is important for the team\u2019s independence. It\u2019s a good thing that big sponsors enter the sport, but just because there are four big names in the sport right now, it doesn\u2019t mean all the rest of us should go home. We have autonomy to discuss and make choices for ourselves \u2013 and that\u2019s a good situation to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Soudal\n<\/p>\n

Safety Jogger currently sits on the back of the team’s bib shorts<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Cycling Weekly understands that the team is in talks with a bigger company to join Soudal as co-title sponsor from 2028, possibly replacing Safety Jogger ,who may be acting as a placeholder sponsor, though nothing is yet agreed.<\/p>\n

According to financial accounts available online, Safety Jogger is a smaller company than Quick-Step, but its general director, Tom Gybels told Cycling Weekly that the business had quadrupled its output in just four years. It was also hoping to sell 100 million products in the next five-to-10 years, a 400% increase from now.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t underestimate the size of Safety Jogger. We\u2019re quite a big player globally and we can easily manage this investment and sponsorship,\u201d Gybels said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you evolve from selling 6 million pieces to 20 million in a short period of time, it\u2019s not like that growth and momentum is going to stop. We believe this [co-title sponsorship of the team] will be the next extra rocket to catapult us into a top-three place [worldwide in its sector].\u201d<\/p>\n

Less seriously, though Gybels laughed that \u201cI want totally yellow\u201d in reference to the 2027 Soudal Safety Jogger kit, For\u00e9 hinted that the team\u2019s blue, white and black livery won\u2019t change too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext to the Wolfpack [moniker] we have always been team blue and we are a tradition of teams, so blue will always be in the team colour,\u201d For\u00e9 said. \u201cWe will stick to that. We are developing everything for next year and we will look nice and classy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just short of three years ago, the cycling world was stunned into silence by the news that two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-813922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}