Visma-Soudal merger to be backed by e-commerce giant Amazon

American company will not be a title sponsor, but will provide substantial investment to the potential superteam

08:50, Friday 29th September 2023

George Poole

Junior Writer

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There will be plenty of staff and riders to be cut if the merger between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step goes ahead

According to news reported by WielerFlits on Thursday evening, the superteam born out of the likely Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step merger has already secured the backing of two high-profile sponsors, American e-commerce hegemon Amazon and Quick-Step's current bike manufacturer, Specialized.

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Amazon have partnered with Jumbo-Visma since last year, producing their original series, 'All-in Team Jumbo Visma,' with a new series to be produced over the winter which focuses on their remarkable triumph of winning all three of this year's Grand Tours.

Such success has clearly garnered the favour of the Seattle-based company, with Dutch marketeer Chris Woerts revealing the likely sponsorship of the new-look team on the television programme Vandaag Inside. He noted that the investment from Amazon would be roughly $15 million per year, which would go some way to filling the hole left by Dutch supermarket Jumbo's impending departure from title sponsorship.

Sources have informed WielerFlits that Amazon will not become a title sponsor, but further manoeuvrability with their budget will seemingly come from the departure of Primož Roglič. GCN understands that Jumbo-Visma have reached a point of acceptance that their time with the Slovenian is coming to a natural end.

Specialized set to become Visma-Soudal's bike manufacturer

One of the biggest points of intrigue around the merger is the impact it will have on the team's current sponsors, with Jumbo-Visma riding Cervélo bikes and Soudal Quick-Step aboard Specialized bikes. Public knowledge is that the Specialized deal is a lengthy one, which will undoubtedly play a role in the negotiations between the two teams.

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Het Laatste Nieuws reported on Thursday that a Jumbo-Visma executive had met with Specialized at the beginning of this week in Breda, a sign that the American company looks likely to provide the bikes for what might be a Visma-Soudal team in 2024.

A Specialized frame was last ridden to Grand Tour success by Remco Evenepoel at last year's Vuelta a España, and with Specialized on board with Visma-Soudal through 2024, the Belgian could be expected to stay and challenge for Grand Tour leadership with the two-time reigning Tour de France champion, Jonas Vingegaard.