'We keep hold of our ownership': Soudal Quick-Step bank on traditional approach to sponsorship to fuel future success
Flooring company Quick-Step will no longer lend its name to one of cycling's most successful teams from next season. Is that a worry?
Just short of three years ago, the cycling world was stunned into silence by the news that two of the sport’s biggest teams Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step were discussing an astonishing potential merger.
A week later, talks fell through, and three years on, both teams remain their own separate outfits, and continue to win stages of the Tour de France.
But the prospect of the teams joining forces was a sobering reminder of the fragile reality of cycling’s economic model, in which teams are almost entirely reliant on sponsorship money just to survive. And with budgets increasing year-on-year, the fight to remain, let alone be competitive, in the WorldTour gets ever harder.
So how, then, to react to the news that from next season, for the first time in 24 years Quick-Step would not be a title sponsor of Soudal Quick-Step?
The flooring company is moving to a smaller sponsorship role that is likely to involve its logo being placed at the back of the team’s bib shorts.
Stepping up to replace Quick-Step in the team’s name will be the Belgian shoes and protective equipment brand Safety Jogger, with the team being renamed to Soudal Safety Jogger from next season until 2028.
Quick-Step reducing its investment comes just three months after journalist Daniel Benson reported that the team would end its 19-year partnership with Specialized bikes next season, with the Belgian team apparently set to ride Merida bikes.
In just a few months, Jurgen Foré, who took over control of the team from Patrick Lefevere at the beginning of 2025, has essentially lost – or partially lost in the case of Quick-Step – two backers who have been inherently linked with the team throughout all or most of its existence.
But nothing lasts forever. Life moves on, businesses evolve. “It’s the beginning of something new,” Foré said, in response to being asked if it was the end of an era.
Though the optics of losing Quick-Step as a main sponsor may look concerning, it’s also true that under Foré’s guidance, lead title sponsor Soudal, the women’s team’s main sponsor AG Insurance, and Quick-Step, albeit in a more minor role, have all committed to finance the team until 2030.
“The two companies behind the team are financially in good health and we have some reserves we can survive off in the loss of a particular sponsor for a certain period," Foré told Cycling Weekly.
“Our accounts are in a good shape, just like our riders, and that gives us a stable output. The agreements to 2030 with Soudal, AG Insurance and Quick-Step give us a long, stable outlook to build upon for the next four to five years. Zdeněk [Bakala, the team's owner] is also a big supporter of the team so we’re in a good place as a team.”
In recent years, big multinational companies like Lidl, Decathlon and Red Bull have invested into cycling and taken controlling stakes of the teams they lend their name to. That has generally been accepted as an indication of cycling’s apparent increase in popularity and attractiveness.
But Foré is happy for his team not to go down that path. “If we compare everything to Red Bull and Lidl, everyone can go home now,” Foré said, more in reference to both teams’ greater budgets.
“We look to solid companies, companies who are investing and growing and have an important business to consumer component. If you're a Belgian-based company operating internationally [like Soudal and Safety Jogger], cycling sponsorship is a relevant way to support or boost your growth. And you can still be a relevant sponsor in cycling.
“We keep hold of our ownership which is important for the team’s independence. It’s a good thing that big sponsors enter the sport, but just because there are four big names in the sport right now, it doesn’t mean all the rest of us should go home. We have autonomy to discuss and make choices for ourselves – and that’s a good situation to be in.”
Safety Jogger currently sits on the back of the team's bib shorts
Cycling Weekly understands that the team is in talks with a bigger company to join Soudal as co-title sponsor from 2028, possibly replacing Safety Jogger ,who may be acting as a placeholder sponsor, though nothing is yet agreed.
According to financial accounts available online, Safety Jogger is a smaller company than Quick-Step, but its general director, Tom Gybels told Cycling Weekly that the business had quadrupled its output in just four years. It was also hoping to sell 100 million products in the next five-to-10 years, a 400% increase from now.
“Don’t underestimate the size of Safety Jogger. We’re quite a big player globally and we can easily manage this investment and sponsorship,” Gybels said.
“If you evolve from selling 6 million pieces to 20 million in a short period of time, it’s not like that growth and momentum is going to stop. We believe this [co-title sponsorship of the team] will be the next extra rocket to catapult us into a top-three place [worldwide in its sector].”
Less seriously, though Gybels laughed that “I want totally yellow” in reference to the 2027 Soudal Safety Jogger kit, Foré hinted that the team’s blue, white and black livery won’t change too much.
“Next to the Wolfpack [moniker] we have always been team blue and we are a tradition of teams, so blue will always be in the team colour,” Foré said. “We will stick to that. We are developing everything for next year and we will look nice and classy.”
