Boardman Bikes today announced that they will be sponsoring Podium Ambition Pro Cycling Team for two years.
The fourteen rider squad, including Dame Sarah Storey, Katie Archibald, Jo Rowsell and Sharon Laws, will be riding bikes from the newly rebranded Boardman Elite range, which includes women’s bikes for the first time this year. They’ll choose between the aero AIR model, lightweight SLR Endurance climbing model and ATT and TTE bikes depending upon the event.
The team recently set up a Crowdfunding campaign to help them get closer to a place where they can pay a living wage to all riders. Speaking about the addition of Boardman Bikes as the official bike supplier, Team Director Barney Storey said: “It’s no secret we are a huge fan of Boardman Bikes in our household since Sarah [Storey] won gold in the 2008 Beijing Road Time Trial and 3 successive World Time Trial titles from 2009-2011 using the Boardman ATT.”
“The roster of the Podium Ambition Pro Cycling team, powered by Club La Santa, is an incredibly strong line-up with both Sarah Storey and Joanna Rowsell going in to Rio with titles to defend”.
Storey continued to say “When the opportunity came to discuss our professional team plans with Boardman Bikes it was clear from the start the synergy of our ambitions and work ethic were of the same high standards. Boardman have developed their range of bikes and continued to research and improve them since they started in 2007 and in our short history we have also followed this path of always looking for ways to make our-selves better. Being able to fit our team out with this impressive range of bikes is an exciting prospect and I am looking forward to seeing them in action as we take to the professional peloton for the first time. As a team we will be proud to roll out on a women’s range that is the first we’ve found to show no compromise on the performance qualities of the frameset.”
Boardman currently sponsor professional triathletes the Brownlee Brothers, but no pro cycling teams, so it’s exciting to see them step into the women’s peloton first, especially working with a team so devoted to supporting grassroots UK women’s cycling.
Chris Boardman said: “As acompany we love what Podium Ambition are trying to achieve and we are delighted to be able to do our part to help some very talented riders. I’m looking forward to supporting them and watching the team race. Although this is a 2 year arrangement, we intend this to be only the start of a long term partnership.”
Andy Smallwood MD of Boardman Bikes spoke of their decision to move into the sponsorship of a UCI Professional Women’steam: “We have been looking for a way back into Professional team sponsorship and the professionalism, ambition and rider roster of Podium Ambition made working with Sarah and the team a logical decision, the connection with the team will also give us a valuable resource in our continuous process of product development”.
Read more about the team and their supporting cycling club, which you can join, here.
