Ribble Pro Cycling announce new headline sponsor amid struggling British scene

Ribble Pro Cycling has announced a new headline sponsor, against a challenging backdrop for British teams.

As a number of domestic outfits will be shutting up shop at the end of the year, Ribble Pro Cycling have announced that bike maintenance product company Weldtite will be getting on board as a main backer.

The team, home to the likes of John Archibald, Dan Bigham and Scott Auld, will be re-branded as Ribble-Weldtite Pro Cycling for the 2020 season.

In 2019 Ribble Pro Cycling, backed by the Lancashire-based bike brand, raced the Tour de Yorkshire, where Alex Luhrs finished 40th overall.

Team principal Tom Timothy said: “We are really thrilled to establish this partnership with Ribble Cycles and Weldtite.

“We had an impactful first year at UCI Continental level and plan to build on that for 2020. The investment and support that Ribble Cycles and Weldtite are providing will be instrumental in allowing the team to continue to develop and progress. It is important to us as a wholly British team, to bring in a British-based company that really reflects our core values."

The British scene has scene been struggling in recent seasons, as this year stalwart team Madison-Genesis announced they would be stopping, while development squad Wiggins-Le Col has also closed down.

Last season, JLT-Condor and One Pro Cycling also shut down.

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Managing director of Weldtite, Paul Davis, said: “Ribble Pro Cycling’s 2019 season was full of excitement and success on the domestic scene and on the world stage.

“Similarly to Weldtite, the team have grown very organically and are well positioned to mount a strong assault on the domestic scene and Internationally in 2020. The Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain are now huge events in the cycling world and are a fantastic platform to increase consumer knowledge of Weldtite products.”