Orbea officially announced as Lotto Dstny bike sponsor for 2024

Lotto Dstny announced on Thursday afternoon that the team will be riding on Orbea bikes for the coming season. This comes after news broke in August that the team were looking to break their contract with their current bike sponsor Ridley.

Orbea was rumoured to be the new bike sponsor over the summer, and leaked images of Lotto Dstny-branded Orbea frames seemed to confirm that, with both parties making the official announcement on Thursday.

• Read more: Lotto Dstny set to part ways with Ridley, swap to Orbea

Orbea as a brand has been around for nearly 200 years, but it was only in the 1930s that it began to produce bicycles. Once the first bikes rolled off the production line they immediately started racking up the victories. They have since partnered with Euskaltel, Cofidis and B&B Hotels, and now return to the pro peloton with Lotto Dstny.

The team will have the choice of Orbea’s new lightweight climbing bike the Orca or the more aerodynamically focused Orca Aero. Interestingly, the newly released Orca has bucked the trend of ever more aero-optimised climbing bikes and has instead been produced with the sole purpose of being lightweight.

The team will also be using Orbea's own in-house brand wheels from Oquo. These wheels are a new venture for the brand with the team's use of them being the first outing for them in a professional peloton.

The move to Orbea for 2024 sees the team break its contract with Ridley which was set to run until the end of 2025. However, after 12 years with the Belgium bike brand, the team sought to move on, citing financial reasons as the motivating factor.

• Read more: Ridley hits back at Lotto Dstny 'disloyalty' over early ending of partnership

Back at the end of August when the rumours started to circulate, Lotto Dstny CEO Stéphane Heulot had the following to say to Het Laatste Nieuws: "Our collaboration with Ridley will indeed end at the end of this year [2023]. We are switching to a new bicycle brand. Not so much because we are not satisfied with the quality of the Ridley bike. We have had 12 great years with numerous victories. We chose another brand because we want to improve ourselves financially. That is necessary to be able to keep our current core."

At the time of reporting, a lot remained up in the air to end the partnership with Ridley for the 2024 season legally. With the new season just ahead of us, everything looks to have been squared away.

• Read more: Bora-Hansgrohe confirm switch to SRAM for 2024

Confirming the Basque brand as the team's official new partner, Ander Olariaga, Orbea's brand and communications director said: "Like Lotto Dstny, we are a brand with a strong global presence. Through this collaboration, we aspire to broaden our impact and strengthen our recognition worldwide."

Looking ahead to the new partnership, Heulot added: "Lotto Dstny finds in Orbea an ideal ally to continue improving the performance of our entire structure. The adaptation to the new bikes has been quick and the willingness to continue working on their development is always there. Together, I am certain we can achieve great things."

With the season getting underway in the next few weeks we will be sure to see the team bikes in action where we can see them in the team colours, until then why not head over to our pro bike section to see just what the pros are using?