News
Gates Becomes Official ‘Lifestyle Bike’ Sponsor of BMC Racing Team
January 27, 2012
By Paul Tolme
Tour de France winner Cadel Evans is getting belted, thanks to a new sponsorship between Gates Carbon Drive and the BMC Racing Team. Gates has partnered with the elite pro tour team to provide belt-drive commuter bikes from BMC’s Lifestyle line to Evans and select teammates and staff. The lifestyle bike sponsorship is believed to be a first among pro race teams.
The bikes, equipped with the clean and low-maintenance Gates Carbon Drive, will travel on the team trucks in Europe and the United States and will be available for use by BMC Racing Team members and staff at race venues. Evans, along with teammate George Hincapie and others will get belt-drive BMC bikes for personal use at home. The sponsorship was announced during the BMC Racing Team’s Sponsor Expo and January training camp in Denia, Spain.
“We are honored to have Tour de France winner Cadel Evans and members of the BMC Racing Team riding bikes with Gates Carbon Drive,” says Greg Vigil, VP of Marketing for Gates. “Just like everyday bicycle commuters, pro racers want a clean, visually slick and low-maintenance bike to get on and ride without worrying about chain lube or getting their street clothes dirty.”
The sponsorship provides the team with a stable of 11-speed UC01 “urbanchallenge” bicycles. Evans, Hincapie and select team riders will receive MC01 “masschallenge” singlespeeds. Both bike models were launched in 2012 with the goal of producing the most advanced and appealing transportation bikes. BMC Racing Team owner Jim Ochowicz will also receive a UC01 for pedaling around his hometown. “The BMC Racing Team rides the most high-performance race bikes, and now we also have the most high-performance commuter and lifestyle bikes,” Ochowicz says. “Gates Carbon Drive is an innovative technology that perfectly fits our team image of Swiss precision, speed and compelling aesthetics, and we are pleased to have Gates as an official sponsor.”
The UC01 comes in 11-speed, eight-speed, three-speed and singlespeed versions and is designed for commuting, fitness or leisure rides. The MC01 singlespeed was conceived with the idea of getting Evans onto the lightest and most innovative city bike. Attractive, fast and light, both models are built on a lightweight iSC alloy frame and feature carbon forks, disc brakes and Gates’ new CenterTrack drive train.
For more photos and information about the UC01 click here. For the MC01 click here.
You Might Also Like
- Bicycle Alliance of Washington to Host Open House Thursday, March 1: Join us in celebrating our new office location in Pioneer Square. It's a party! It's a celebration! It's First Thursday Art Walk - rolled into one! Our final First Thursday gathering of 2011 will be a party for Bicycle Alliance members to...
- Superior Morgul Classic Partnership with Pro Challenge Will Foster Next Level of Pro Riders: The 2012 Superior Morgul Classic, the largest amateur race in Colorado, has teamed up with the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, one of the largest professional cycling races in the United States. The partnership, which features special Pro Challenge...
- John Vander Sluis Recognized as a Safe Routes to School Champion: John Vander Sluis of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington received national recognition from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for his strategic thinking and efforts to advance Safe Routes to School policies and programming in South...
- ONE, Alleycat Acres Hold Bike Ride to Raise Awareness of the Poverty-Fighting Power of Agriculture in Africa: Seattle, Wash. – ONE, an advocacy organization with more than 44,000 members in Washington dedicated to poverty-reduction in Africa, is joining with Alleycat Acres, an urban farming collective with three locations in Seattle, to plan the “Streets...
Share on