Panasonic is to make a tentative return to European cycling for the first time since the 1980s and early 1990s, when it sponsored the fabled top-tier team led by Dutchman Peter Post.
The blue and white jersey bearing the name of the Japanese electronics giant was worn by riders including Phil Anderson, Philippa York and Eddy Plankaert and was first across the line in many of the biggest Classics and Grand Tour stages.
Now the brand is to dip a cautious toe back into the cycling waters of Northern Europe as title sponsor of the Dutch elite-level one-day race, Omloop van den Houtse Linies on May 19. This time it is the heating and cooling branch of the company – one of eight company verticals – that puts its name to the sport, alongside local retailer Zerogas, whose director Peter van der Wulp is a longtime cyclist himself.
Post – who had been a very successful six-day rider – inaugurated the Panasonic-Raleigh team alongside fellow team boss Jules De Wever in 1984, out of the ashes of the TI-Raleigh team that had begun 10 years earlier.
The pair took a number of riders with them, but built what was a largely new roster containing burgeoning riders who would go on to be major stars under the Panasonic banner.
That first year saw Aussie Anderson on the in the team – already a winner of the Amstel Gold Race – as well as Belgian sprinter Eddy Plankaert and young Dutch duo Steven Rooks and Gert-Jan Theunisse. York would go on to join the squad two years later.
Under the guidance of the notoriously authoritarian Post, the team began life in promising style, with 23-year-old Dutch rider Johan Lammerts scooping the biggest win of his career at the Tour of Flanders.
The following year the team built on their success, scoring a one-two at Flanders thanks to Eric Vanderaerden and Phil Anderson, with the latter going on to finish fifth overall at the Tour de France.
By the time Post retired from leading Panasonic in 1990 there were few Classics that the team – by now called Panasonic-Sportlife – had not won. It never did win a Grand Tour though, despite reaching the podium on more than one occasion with Millar and Eric Breukink (Vuelta España 1986, Giro d'Italia 1987, 88).
It lasted two more years before finally being disbanded at the end of 1992 after Panasonic withdrew its sponsorship.
The brand made a brief reappearance in the southern hemisphere in 2008 when it sponsored an Australian Continental-ranked team for a season.
This isn't the first time Panasonic has made the cycling headlines this year – Eddy Merckx bikes relaunched with the 'Retrosonic' tribute colourway to the team back in January.
Whether this latest foray into the cycling world will lead to it reestablishing itself as a key cycling brand again remains to be seen, but it is certainly likely to jog a few nostalgic memories of bike racing fans in their 40s and beyond.
