Starting with the Tour Down Under in January, Lapierre racing bikes will once again be rolling in the World Tour peloton. As the French bike manufacturer announced, the men's and women's teams will be equipped in future, as well as the development team. The commitment of Lapierre and its parent company, the Accell Group, is initially for four years until the end of 2028. The French brand will thus replace Scott as the bike sponsor.
The Dutch team, which includes the German professionals John Degenkolb and Franziska Koch will also be given a new name. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL becomes Team Picnic PostNL. Picnic, a Dutch online supermarket, replaces dsm-firmenich as the main name provider. The chemical company DSM and Firmenich, a manufacturer of flavours and fragrances, only merged in 2023. PostNL, the largest mail and parcel delivery company in the Netherlands, has been on board as the name sponsor since this season.
Lapierre Xelius DRS for picnic pros
At the start of the 2025 season, all of the team's pros will be riding the Lapierre Xelius DRS in road races. TOUR has already been able to test the new product in the wind tunnel. Compared to the old Xelius, which was defined almost exclusively by its low weight, the DRS is twelve watts faster. The racing bikes with team livery should only differ slightly from our test model. The riders are also provided with the TT bike Aerostorm DRS for the time trials.
According to Dorian Tabeau, Global Brand Director at Lapierre, the partnership with the World Tour racing team is intended to strengthen internationalisation and make Lapierre a benchmark in competitive cycling.
Lapierre with a long tradition in professional cycling
The new commitment marks the end of Lapierre's one-year absence from the elite echelons of professional cycling. The Dijon-based company had previously supplied Groupama-FDJ and its predecessor teams for more than 20 years before being replaced by Wilier in 2024, albeit initially only for the men. The women's team FDJ-Suez continued to ride Lapierre bikes in 2024, but will switch to Specialized bikes for the coming season with the signing of Demi Vollering.
