hansgrohe Pools Sport Sponsorships
While there has been immense speculation in recent weeks, Ralph Denk never ceases to surprise. At a press conference on 30th June before the start of the Tour de France at Mont-Saint-Michel, he unveils a second title sponsor for the 2017 season: Hansgrohe will appear as a second title sponsor alongside BORA starting in the 2017 season. The team will then be cycling under the "BORA – hansgrohe" banner.
The Hansgrohe Group has been engaged in athletic sponsoring for many years now, endorsing and supporting numerous athletes on a regional scale. These activities are now to be pooled in the "BORA – hansgrohe" cycling team. The company was already actively engaged in competitive cycling before, as sponsor of the "Hansgrohe Superprestige" in Belgium. The Belgian success story clearly shows that an extension of this commitment is a sensible approach to follow for the Hansgrohe Group.
"hansgrohe is a traditional brand – a hallmark that epitomizes highest quality and best design. I am extremely proud to continue underscoring the path and values of the team, which has its roots and identity in Germany." – Ralph Denk, Team Manager.
"The hansgrohe brand stands for water – Innovating Life with Water – and is therefore inseparably linked to athletics. Competitive cycling is highly dynamic and enthuses the masses. This is exactly what we’re doing with our bathroom and kitchen products. The aim of this commitment is to boost our brand awareness. International large-scale events like the Tour de France are what actually make the sport of cycling highly attractive. Within this we see a further opportunity to engage with our customer target groups across the globe." – Thorsten Klapproth, Chairman of the Executive Board of Hansgrohe SE.
BORA Reinforces its Commitment
As already announced last week, BORA plans to further extend its commitment to the team in 2017, remaining the first title sponsor. Not only has the stage therefore been clearly set to point the team in the direction of the WorldTour; but it also shows that the team plans to compete for winning WorldTour positions.
"It’s been proven that the route we have embarked on with Ralph Denk’s team is highly successful. The combination of sponsorship and activation has enabled us to generate immense sales growth, especially in the countries of real cycling aficionados. This is why we have now decided to continue reinforcing our level of commitment even further. Our extended activities will enable us to further popularize BORA across the world and bring our vision of the end of the extractor hood for kitchens closer, step by step. Uniting with hansgrohe, who I can only congratulate on their decision to invest in German cycling, is absolutely ideal for us. Heat and water play a key role in kitchens. In addition, the similarity of our customer target groups, both in the specialist segment, as well as in the end consumer segment, supports this decision." – Willi Bruckbauer, Managing Director of BORA.
"Both hansgrohe and BORA are German companies that stand for innovative products, new approaches and uncompromising quality. We look forward to a successful cooperative venture with BORA and the team and hope to also be able to further reinforce hansgrohe’s presence vis-à-vis end consumers in the kitchen segment." – Thorsten Klapproth, Chairman of the Executive of Hansgrohe SE.
BORA – hansgrohe Sets Ambitious Targets
Even though Ralph Denk refuses to comment on speculations concerning the names of team members and his scouting policy, the targets of the team are already clearly formulated.
"Thanks to the two strong partners, BORA and hansgrohe, and the budgets that will be available to us as of 2017, we will be part of the action in competing for winning positions in the WorldTour. The team will be focusing on National Tours on the one hand, as well as on the Classic Tours. To achieve our objectives, we will build up our team in a targeted fashion and further reinforce it in a number of positions." – Ralph Denk, Team Manager.
Special Tour de France Jersey with hansgrohe
At the Dusseldorf Town Hall last month, the members of the Tour de France team were presented along with a special jersey for the tour. And to enable the German team to draw attention to the Grand Départ in Dusseldorf 2017, a proprietary visual was created and prominently placed on the sleeves and backs of the specially developed Tour de France jerseys. The team and its cyclists will thus become something like "ambassadors" for the 2017 Grand Départ in Dusseldorf. The logo of the new sponsor, hansgrohe, will additionally adorn this jersey. On the cyclists’ chest region, a logo placed on the jerseys at this year’s Tour de France will draw everyone’s attention to the 2017 partnership.
