UCI WorldTour cycling team LottoNL-Jumbo is set to remain in its present guise until the end of the 2018 season after the Dutch national lottery confirmed the extension of its innovative title sponsorship deal, which also incorporates a speed skating outfit.
Under the fresh agreement, Lotto will continue as the main sponsor of the speed skating and cycling team LottoNL-Jumbo for the next two years. The company signed the deal with Team Oranje, the management group for the sport teams. Jumbo Supermarkets and the BrandLoyalty group have already extended their contracts with the teams’ managers Jac Orie and Richard Plugge.
Lotto took the initiative to form a combined speed skating and cycling team in the summer of 2014. In 2015, Sven Kramer won six world titles for the speed skating team, while Robert Gesink finished sixth overall in the 2015 Tour de France. Dylan Groenewegen won the Dutch national cycling championship and Steven Kruijswijk wore the pink jersey in the Giro d’Italia for several days.
Arno de Jong, director of brands and portfolio management of the new Dutch combined lottery company, said: “The last years proved that this new concept is a successful one. You can see that through the sports results, but also on a commercial level. That is at least as much as important for Lotto as the title sponsorship.”
Cycling general manager Plugge added: “The collaboration with the speed skaters continues to increase our knowledge and commercial opportunities. Together, we’re able to keep on developing and innovating within our 2018 vision.”
The partnership was first confirmed in September 2014 as World Tour cycling squad Team Belkin revealed it would be renamed under its new sponsorship deals with the Dutch national lottery and retail company BrandLoyalty.
Confirmation of the two-year sponsorship agreements came after deals were agreed in principle back in July 2014 following US consumer electronic company Belkin’s decision to withdraw its backing at the end of the 2014 season.