Russian UCI WorldTour cycling outfit Team Katusha has agreed a new sponsorship deal with German hair products manufacturer Alpecin that will result in it being renamed and registered as a Swiss squad.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but from the 2017 season the team will be known as Katusha-Alpecin.
Alpecin in 2015 commenced a four-year deal to become a co-naming sponsor of Giant-Alpecin. However, the German-registered team in July signed a partnership with European online holiday tour operator Sunweb. The three-year deal will begin in 2017, with Sunweb becoming main sponsor of the team and granted first name partnership rights.
Eduard Dörrenberg, managing partner of Alpecin, said: “Two years ago we started our involvement in cycling. Many people were initially very critical but in the end it was a great success. Now we see major opportunities for the new approach of Katusha. We want to drive the project forward together from 2017 onwards and to gain the benefits for Alpecin.
“This will be an exciting task and it is the next logical step. In addition to possible sporting successes, we will continue to support German cyclists and positively change cycling as a whole.”
In recent weeks Katusha has contracted nine new riders. Its 2017 roster is set to have 25 riders from 14 different countries.
Alexis Schoeb, board member of Katusha-Alpecin, said: “As we are now a real international team, it was logical to change the team nationality to the neutral Swiss nationality. Moreover, all Katusha company offices have always have been located in Switzerland for the past eight years. Our move to Switzerland is especially symbolically important.”