It's that time of year again. The one where you've managed to cement all the team names in the men's and women's WorldTours into your memory and they trip off the tongue as if you've been saying them your entire life. If you're really special you'll even manage to get through VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè without hesitation repetition or deviation.
But it's also that time of year again when those very teams come along and shake up that carefully nurtured nomenclature-based equilibrium by signing pesky new sponsors and even – in some cases, as you will see – simply swap title sponsors around.
To paraphrase Tennyson, ours is not to question why – ours is simply to knuckle down and learn them all over again. Thankfully CW is putting together this handy guide – which we'll be adding to as the new names roll in – to help you do just that. Call it a who's who of who was who and who is now who. Simple, right?
Jumbo-Visma is now Team Visma-Lease a Bike
After a four-year stint as the secondary title sponsor in the Dutch team's current guise, software company Visma becomes the main name and is joined by Lease a Bike. The bike hire company was a sub-sponsor during 2023 and is successful across Europe – it now wants to expand to the USA, and no doubt figures that having its name emblazoned across the chests of riders such as Sepp Kuss and Coryn Labecki is no bad way of putting its name about across the pond.
Jayco-Alula [women] is now Liv-Alula-Jayco
After merging with the Liv Racing-TeqFind team, it's all-change at Women's WorldTour team Jayco-Alula. Bike manufacturer Liv is now going to be on first-name terms with the team's followers, while Jayco and Alula swap around so that the ancient Saudi city comes before the RV brand, and the whole shebang follows what is becoming an increasingly popular triple-title-sponsor standard. The men's Jayco-Alula soldiers on as is, which at least means we'll know which team we're talking about when we say 'Jayco-Alula'.
DSM-firmenich is now DSM-firmenich-PostNL
Contrary perhaps to appearances, this is not another triple-whammy sponsor, as DSM-firmenich is one company, dealing with health and beauty. For 2024 it has brought on board PostNL which has, apparently, been delivering the mail in the Netherlands for 225 years. Oh that a cycling team sponsorship deal could last that long. You never know. The sponsor change applies across both men's and women's WorldTour teams.
