• Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 7:44 PM
The riders of both the men’s and women’s teams of the Norwegian Uno-X Mobility will take to the field this winter. And that has everything to do with the brand new Ridley Racing Team project around Joris Nieuwenhuis.
The new Ridley team focuses mainly on the off-road disciplines of gravel and cyclocross, and has no ambitions to set up its own road team. The bicycle manufacturer did sign a ten-year agreement with ProTeam Uno-X Mobiliy this summer. This involves more than just delivering bicycles, says Ridley CEO Jochim Aerts CyclingFlits.
“There will be a very thorough collaboration with Uno-X Mobility. As a sponsor, they represent our own team and the vision of Mr. Reitan and Thor Hushovd matches ours well. When we heard that Thor Hushovd had signed for ten years and Reitan, as owner, was also certain that his team would exist for at least another ten years, I had only one clear message: we also want to participate for ten years!”
“Immediately everyone was surprised. Anyway, in terms of culture and vision they fit us perfectly, and the team’s ambition is to win the Tour de France for men and women. Then we can work together for a few years, until you are halfway with the team at a higher level and a larger company comes to take your place just as quickly. We wanted to avoid that and enter into a long-term collaboration. Of course there are evaluation moments. We’ll have to do what they say, so will they. If they have not made any progress within five years, then you can start discussions. But we don’t assume that.”
This brings interesting advantages for the riders in question. “This winter you will occasionally see the Uno-X Mobility bus in the field and then riders from the team will be racing. This will then be 100% supported logistically by us. The bicycles of course, but everything around it too. Uno-X Mobility riders who want to improve some skills will have that opportunity. It is one ecosystem. We hope that our riders can also ride on the road for Uno-X Mobility in the future, because that is the future of this sport.”
