Earlier this month, I wrote an article titled “What Professional Cycling Gets Wrong, About Generating Revenue.” Where I went into the surface level of team finances, and how they are leaving money on the table by changing sponsors every few years, and with that, their brand.

Similar to how Team Sky, and all of their legacy and the dynasty they created, are now Ineos Grenadiers. After a couple of seasons and personnel change, the old Team Sky seems to just disappear. Ineos Grenadiers, trying to brand themselves off of the accomplishments of Team Sky would ultimately fall short. As Team Sky is shelved with the history books, and a fresh slate is provided.

Well, I’m glad to see that Jumbo-Visma is not making the same mistake. With the introduction of their new sponsors, and new kit in last weeks team introduction, we saw a theme emerge. Even with rumors going around of a drastic color change for the team, maybe the Visma Red or a Red and White combination. They bucked that trend, and are keeping with the bright yellow and black. While adding an amazing honeycomb design to the bottom of the kit, to match the more modern and artistic honeycomb running on the toptube. The Killer Bees are here!

Photo(WielerFlits.nl)

It started in the 2020 Critérium du Dauphiné when Richie Porte dubbed the team “The Killer Wasps”. Which…. okay! On a recent cycling podcast, I heard Visma-LAB is leaning towards “The Yellow Bees”. We can all agree that The Killer Bees, is the best choice they could go with, but at least we’re making progress.

Photo:(Visma)

Similar to Soudal-Quickstep “The Wolfpack”, this is an identity that they will build off of and create a fanbase to follow. This is how the teams can generate their own revenue, since they don’t get ticket sales to their races, they don’t own the streaming content of the races they participate in. It’s a complete shock to me, that professional cycling teams are able to succeed at all! (In the referenced article, we learn Jumbo-Visma will not turn a profit in 2024.)

I am picking on Jumbo-Visma right now, only because they are the ones making the news with these changes. They are the team that had to admit they wanted to merge with another institution of a team, just so they can get their sponsorship money. While also leaving PON high and dry! Pon Holdings owns Lease-a-Bike and Cervélo, among other brands. And Jumbo-Visma were going to allegedly switch bikes (Specialized) to accommodate the sponsor money, after the success they’ve had on the S5, R5, P5 and Soloist platforms.

Pon (Lease-A-Bike) ended up bailing Jumbo-Visma out at the end, and nothing else was made of that, but it made me wonder how badly they really needed that money.

To try and reel this back in and more on topic, teams need to build a brand and they need to sell the brand to their fans. Being fans of riders is great and some of my favorite riders, aren’t even on my favorite team. Which happens in most if not all sports. But a team needs a product and the product cannot be “You will be on the backs of our riders kits in the grand tours.” Because, sponsorships come and go, but making fans stick to the history, legacy, future, and colors, requires a flag to rally behind. Sell us that flag.