Canadian superbike manufacturer Cervelo and oval chainring specialist Rotor will sponsor the MTN-Qhubeka Pro Continental cycling team in 2015. The news of Cervelo’s involvement could tally with unconfirmed rumours that Argon 18 is taking over sponsorship of the Garmin-Sharp team next season.
MTN-Qhubeka will be riding in this year’s Vuelta and is Africa’s first Pro Continental team and is to build on ideas of closer fan interaction developed by the Cervelo Test Team, with this initiative headed up by Cervelo co-founder Gerard Vroomen.
Team Principal, Douglas Ryder, said: “Cervelo has always been synonymous with the highest levels of racing performance.
“The new team will be competitive on the world stage, and Cervelo has already won everything from the world championships to cobbled classics like Paris-Roubaix and Grand Tours including the Tour de France. Who better to give Team MTN-Qhubeka’s riders the best opportunity to succeed?”
The team’s aims are to support talented young African riders and raise money for the Qhubeka Foundation, a charity seeking to bring bicycle mobility to isolated areas of Africa.
As well as supplying the team riders, Cervelo will launch a programme to benefit the Qhubeka Foundation, supplying the charity with a bicycle for each team-replica bike sold.
Cervelo managing director, Robert Reijers, said: “Cervelo is excited at the opportunity to support both the team and the Qhubeka Foundation.
“Not just in terms of high-performance racing, but also because we truly believe that by providing cycling mobility, we can directly benefit people’s lives by increasing the distance they can travel, what they can carry, where they can go, and how fast they can get there.”