Cervélo to sponsor Team Sunweb in 2019 with Giant joining BMC Racing, say sources

Cervélo bicycles will supply Tom Dumoulin and his team-mates in 2019 and become co-sponsor, seeing the team race as Sunweb-Cervélo, sources suggest.

Cycling Weekly sources say that Cervélo's owner, The Netherlands's Pon Holdings that distributes car brands Audi and Porsche, wanted a bigger presence in cycling and with one of the country's biggest stars.

The deal would see Cervélo leave Mark Cavendish's Dimension Data team after four years together.

Dutch newspaper De Telegraph reported the Cervélo move this morning as part of a larger article about BMC Racing.

The consulting firm Deloitte, which joined Dimension Data to help pay for Cavendish's arrival in 2016, could leave to become the title sponsor of BMC Racing in 2019.

BMC Racing's founder Andy Rihs died last month, but already the team management had been looking for a new sponsor with the Swiss bike company saying it was planning on leaving.

The team has not commented, but was said to have given an early May deadline to find a new sponsor. After that, the team's stars Greg Van Avermaet, Richie Porte and Tejay van Garderen could look elsewhere. If the deal is confirmed, they should fly the Deloitte-Giant flag in 2019.

Taiwanese manufacturer Giant Bicycles will co-sponsor the team and provide the structure that it gave to Sunweb for nearly the last decade. It remains uncertain how the WorldTour licence for BMC Racing, and any team, would switch hands.

That leaves BMC bikes and Dimension Data. Some insiders say that the Swiss bike company could continue at a lower level, simply as a technical supplier to the South African WorldTour team.

Another possibility is that Bianchi steps in. It is looking for a second team besides LottoNL-Jumbo and Dimension Data could be the perfect fit.