Starting January 1, 2022, Decathlon will return to the professional cycling circuit alongside the UCI World Tour Cofidis cycling team. Decathlon's in-house cycling brand, Van Rysel will be the official apparel partner for the Cofidis men, women and para cycling teams.
This partnership was born out of a shared passion for performance cycling. Both Decathlon and the Cofidis cycling team are based in Lille, in the heart of Flanders, a region known for some of the most iconic races in the world.
Cycling has long been an integral part of Decathlon’s core line of products — a bike was Decathlon’s first product made in-house. This partnership with Cofidis offers a sense of pride across the company and is an opportunity for continued growth in the upper echelons of the sport. Supplying the performance cycling apparel and activewear for the Cofidis cycling team will support Van Rysel's ongoing development of its high-performance products.
“This partnership helps us to be in constant contact with the most demanding cyclists. All this allows us to continuously improve the technicality of our equipment by providing cyclists with products benefiting from the latest technologies, as well as to our customers," said Guillaume Pichot, Textile Product Manager at Decathlon’s cycling brand, Van Rysel.
Over the past six months, the Van Rysel team has been designing and prototyping the textiles that will support the team at Decathlon’s cycling headquarters, BTWIN Village in Lille, France. Decathlon will be providing all technical cycling apparel and daily wear for the Cofidis men, women and para cycling teams.
Pierron Nicolas, Leader of Van Rysel, said, “It is with great pride that we come back to the highest level [in cycling] with the Cofidis team, 17 years after our last partnership. We want to build a powerful local project with significant research and development resources to allow the Cofidis team and its riders to benefit from state-of-the-art products.
“We were won over by the team's, both cyclists and the support staff, willingness to invest in the co-creation of our future products. The aim of this partnership is to take another step forward in the excellence of our products, excellence that our customers will find in future Van Rysel product collections.”
Vasseur Cedric, General Manager of the Cofidis Team, said, “We are very happy with this new partnership; all the riders and staff are ready to mobilise alongside the brand which has the will to be a major player in its market. This collaboration makes all the more sense since we are two French companies, from the same Hauts de France region and we share in making our colors shine globally.
“This geographic proximity is a major asset of this new partnership and will help bring our two entities closer together. Van Rysel has a strong ability to develop and design the best products to allow it to shine in the most prestigious competitions on the calendar. It is therefore a winning partnership on all fronts that will contribute to the expansion and future success of the Cofidis Team.”
Lire la version Française: https://www.vanryselcycling.com/vanryselxcofidis
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About Decathlon
Founded on the mission to make sports more accessible, Decathlon designs, innovates, produces and sells its own products for over 80 sports. This vertical integration means that Decathlon is able to ensure the highest value at the best price point with the goal of increasing access to sports.
Founded and headquartered in France and active abroad in 70 countries with more than 1,600 points of sale, the services, brands and store teams have been working since 1976 with a constant ambition: to innovate in all areas to remain the main playing partner of all sports lovers.
Decathlon’s performance cycling brand, Van Rysel, is based at BTWIN Village, a 46-acre sports complex mainly dedicated to cycling in Lille, France. This historic location hosts Decathlon’s design and product teams across all cycling categories, in addition to testing facilities, laboratories, an experiential center, retail store, fitness center and more. It’s also home to Decathlon’s largest owned production facility, where many of Decathlon’s bikes are assembled.
