Team Sunweb have unveiled their new team kit and bikes at an official launch at the Rotterdam Six Day in the Netherlands.
The German WorldTour team has undergone a name change from Giant-Alpecin to Team Sunweb for 2017 to reflect the change in title sponsor.
Holiday company Sunweb has taken over from shampoo manufacturer Alpecin on a three-year deal, although Giant firmly remains as the squad’s bike sponsor alongside component manufacturer Shimano.
>>> Sunweb to become first name sponsor for Giant-Alpecin from 2017
Tom Dumoulin was among the Sunweb riders unveiling the Etxeondo-manufactured kit on Thursday morning, and he will lead the team in its Grand Tour ambitions for 2017. Dumoulin won a stage of the 2016 Giro d’Italia and two stages of the Tour de France before claiming a silver medal in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games time trial.
Team Sunweb in 2017 kit
The team’s kits design harks back to the 2014 version of the Giant-Shimano jersey, with a white background and two bold black stripes running down the front and back.
Both the men’s and women’s WorldTour teams will ride under the Team Sunweb name in 2017, and will wear similar versions of the same jersey, as will the men’s development squad. The women’s kit features ‘Liv’ on the shoulders, while the men’s has Giant’s logo.
Team Sunweb CEO Iwan Spekenbrink said in a statement: “We are proud to present our new kit for 2017 along with our new title sponsor, Sunweb. We’re pleased to have retained our two stripe design as it represents our deeply embedded ‘Keep Challenging’ approach.
“For the team and its members, the meaning of these two iconic stripes goes far beyond an appealing design on a race kit, as one rising stripe represents the continuous development of the athletes and the other represents the continuous development of the team’s science and technology driven sport environment – together they form the ‘Keep Challenging’ strategy to which the team has been committed to as their key growth-driver from day one.”
The team’s 2016 season started with a shock, when a training group was hit by a car in Calpe, Spain last January. Six riders were injured, with John Degenkolb and Chad Haga receiving severe injuries. Subsequently, Degenkolb could not defend his 2015 wins in Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo, with the German now having switched teams to Trek-Segafredo for 2017.
The squad’s 2017 WorldTour campaign will kick off at the Tour Down Under in Australia, running from January 17-22.
