McLaren will enter the world of professional cycling "in a bid to replace Team Sky as the best in the world," according to Tom Cary of the London TELEGRAPH. In a move "which could shake up the peloton," the Woking-based company announced on Wednesday at a training camp in Croatia that it is entering into a joint-venture partnership with Bahrain-Merida, the team of 2014 Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali. Both entities are already Bahraini-owned; McLaren by Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, and Bahrain-Merida by Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, a member of the nation’s royal family. The partnership, which is being described as "open-ended," will be with McLaren’s Applied Technologies and Marketing & Commercial divisions -- which account for almost 700 staff -- "making Bahrain-Merida at a stroke one of the best funded, and certainly one of the best resourced, teams in the sport" (TELEGRAPH, 12/11). CYCLIST's Joe Robinson reported McLaren's relationship with cycling "does not begin with this new venture." British Cycling and Team Sky worked alongside McLaren's Applied Technologies department in the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympics while McLaren also partnered with American bike brand Specialized on the development of the S-Works McLaren Venge which was raced by Mark Cavendish at the 2011 Tour de France. McLaren CMO John Allert said, "Racing, technology and human performance are at the heart of everything we do at McLaren. Cycling is something we have been involved with in the past and have been looking at entering for some time" (CYCLIST, 12/12).
FLOYD'S PRO CYCLING: CYCLING MAGAZINE's Philippe Tremblay reported the new team sponsored by Floyd Landis has a new name, a bike sponsor and its "first roster announcements." The UCI Continental team registered in Canada will be called Floyd's Pro Cycling after legal issues with the Canadian government "prevented the cannabis entrepreneur" from naming the team after his company, Floyd's Of Leadville. Gord Fraser will be the team's director. The team will race using U.S.-based Van Dessel bicycles in '19 (CYCLING MAGAZINE, 12/11).
