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TECH NEWS
team sky rapha collection1.jpgWill Team Sky replace Rapha with Castelli for 2017 season?
There is a strong rumour swirling around the internet that Castelli will replace Rapha as the new Team Sky clothing sponsor in 2017. An announcement could be made in days if a teaser video on Team Sky’s Twitter feed is anything to go by.
The rumour is being fuelled by several factors. First, we know Rapha won’t be supplying the team with clothing beyond the end of 2016 because the London-based company announced the end of its four-year deal back in 2015, which would have provided Team Sky with plenty of time to line up a new clothing sponsor.
Secondly, just this week Swedish company POC confirmed it has signed a three-year deal with Cannondale-Drapac to replace Castelli as clothing sponsor (the new team kit will be unveiled at the Rouleur Classic this week) which leaves the Italian clothing company without a WorldTour team in 2017. POC was already supplying the Cannondale team with helmets, but it'll now also supply jerseys and shorts.
Any brand wanting to be involved with Team Sky needs deep pockets. Castelli would surely be able to meet the financial commitment necessary to be involved with the most well-funded team in professional cycling. The inrng blog, in its detailed analysis of the Team Sky finances, revealed the “performance sponsorship revenue of the team (from the likes of Pinarello, Shimano etc) to be £2.9 million in 2015, but how much of that is contributed by Rapha we simply don’t know.
Castelli is also a company at the cutting edge of fabric and clothing design which will appease Sky’s quest for ever smaller marginal gains. We've seen Rapha's Pro Team range expand hugely in the time it has been involved with the team and it has benefited from arguably the most demanding team in the peloton. It could be a match made in heaven.
Interestingly, when we ran a poll at the end of last year, most votes came in for Assos (34.54%) to replace Rapha as Team Sky sponsor. Castelli was second with 18.5% of the votes.
Which clothing brand will sponsor Team Sky in 2017? - Your votes are in…
Anyhoo, it's all speculation at the moment. But what do you think? Would you be happy to see Team Sky wearing Castelli next year?
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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33 comments
Guess there will be lots of Rapha Sky kit bargains coming up then, oh hang on it will still be over my budget.
dup post.
Guessing is over- officially confirmed as Castelli
http://www.teamsky.com/teamsky/home/article/93493#HWtxuqMGx3VDjdPh.97
But only for the 'performance kit'
That leaves someone else with their 'leisure kit'
Ah, but what about the accompanying Under Armour rumour?
Oh please God no.
I'm afraid that God might not be listening....
I don't think it would just be urine thrown at them if they wore Under Armour.
As a UK based team I think Sky should follow the British tradition of wearing unmatched jerseys and shorts, perhaps with woolly socks. Far better than the continental way of trying to look good.
I like Castelli and now a bunch of bell-ends are going to start wearing it just cos the one team they can name wears it. Oh well, might have to switch to Sportful in future.
If Castelli keeps the sizing the same most of the Rapha guys won't be able to fit.
The fact that Castelli make their climbers jersey in an xxl size make me laugh so much.
Why? That's good for about a 39" chest
Don't think I believe that I have lots of rapha and castelli kit. all in size medium. tightest garment is rapha winter jersey.
Ahh Sportful, Castelli's brother ( the company that own Castelli own Sportful)
https://cyclingtips.com/2014/12/a-tour-of-the-castelli-sportful-factory/
I currently have Castelli kit for the good bike and Sportful for the work/winter bike
The Castelli kit is coming to the end of its life and ive started looking at other Italian brands like Le Col
http://lecol.net/
99% sure that Le Col are English but made in Italy. Owned by Yanto Barker if i'm not mistaken.
Castelli and Sportful are both owned by Manifattura Valcismon... so basically they are the same company.
I really hope not, I like castelli and don't want to have to find a new brand to avoid the Team Sky link.
At least Castelli is a bit more afforable to us followers than Rapha
And Sky are probably aware of that, cue more revenue and advertising from the fanboys and MAMILs.
Jog on. High end castelli is more expensive than high end Rapha. Unless you think they'll be wearing the badly made low/mid range stuff you find discounted everywhere in the sales?
You say that as though they won't think to print "Sky" on the cheap stuff.
Anyway, this would fit with recent talk of Rapha experiencing a bit of a downturn. Sponsoring a pro team maybe isn't as lucrative as they'd hoped.
Can't imagine Team SKY jerseys being on everyone's want list, regardless of their success (that said, Team SKY kit is the most popular Tour kit to see other guys wearing where I am. Rare to see any other World Tour jersey).
On top of that of course, you have people who just won't wear any World Tour jersey on principle. I actually think I could be tempted if it was related to a charity that I believed in. If Rapha did MTN-Qhubeka/Dimension Data for example, I'd quite proudly wear that. Like what they're doing a lot.
If I was a woman, I'd wear the Canyon/SRAM, just to show support for women's cycling. But I ain't. And I'm too cheap to buy one for the missus.
[/quote]
Can't imagine Team SKY jerseys being on everyone's want list, regardless of their success (that said, Team SKY kit is the most popular Tour kit to see other guys wearing where I am. Rare to see any other World Tour jersey).
On top of that of course, you have people who just won't wear any World Tour jersey on principle. I actually think I could be tempted if it was related to a charity that I believed in. If Rapha did MTN-Qhubeka/Dimension Data for example, I'd quite proudly wear that. Like what they're doing a lot.
If I was a woman, I'd wear the Canyon/SRAM, just to show support for women's cycling. But I ain't. And I'm too cheap to buy one for the missus.
[/quote]
I wish I had got the Juventus style MTN top when Castelli did it. The Canyon/SRAM is great but I ride Felt/Shimano so I can't bring myself to wear it on that basis
quite a few people round my area wear Cannondale green but they do seem to fit the MAMIL stereotype for want of a better description.
Can't imagine Team SKY jerseys being on everyone's want list, regardless of their success (that said, Team SKY kit is the most popular Tour kit to see other guys wearing where I am. Rare to see any other World Tour jersey).
On top of that of course, you have people who just won't wear any World Tour jersey on principle. I actually think I could be tempted if it was related to a charity that I believed in. If Rapha did MTN-Qhubeka/Dimension Data for example, I'd quite proudly wear that. Like what they're doing a lot.
If I was a woman, I'd wear the Canyon/SRAM, just to show support for women's cycling. But I ain't. And I'm too cheap to buy one for the missus.
[/quote]
I wish I had got the Juventus style MTN top when Castelli did it. The Canyon/SRAM is great but I ride Felt/Shimano so I can't bring myself to wear it on that basis
quite a few people round my area wear Cannondale green but they do seem to fit the MAMIL stereotype for want of a better description.
[/quote]
Super cool that jersey, and has the type of collar I like. Would wear
http://www.rapha.cc/gb/en/shop/men%27s-canyon-sram-core-jersey/product/C...
many, many people wear non-Sky kits. But foreigners though, particularly Belgian children and Italian men in my experience, so they probably don't count
I'll only wear kit for defunct teams. Belkin is as recent as I get, apart from the Ian Stannard/Sky jersey commemorating his Quick-Step takedown, which gives a Yogi bear illustratation higher billing than the Sky logo ...
From what I read they sponsored Sky to raise awareness of the brand...which they've now done. They apparently made no profit for the period they were/are sponsoring them due to the high cost so thats the reason they no longer sponsor them - may or may not be true
I read that most sponsorship is 4 years, after which the marginal awareness gain, so to speak, drops off. Jaguar left for the same reason. Sponsorship deals by their very nature don't make a profit, I would have thought all the equipment sponsorship was in kind ...
You just made that up. Total nonsense.
No, I remember an article on here about it... unless I'm misremembering.
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