German ProContinental cycling outfit Team NetApp – Endura has agreed a five-year deal for cooktops and cooktop extractor systems manufacturer Bora to become its new title sponsor from the 2015 season as it targets a place in the elite WorldTour.
Team NetApp – Endura is currently the only German professional cycling team, with Bavarian firm Bora set to enhance its ongoing sponsorship deal to assume naming rights from next season. The agreement will mean that from 2015 there will be a German professional team with a main German sponsor for the first time since 2010.
Team manager Ralph Denk said: “In Bora we have acquired a title sponsor that is entrepreneur-led, growing healthy, commercially well established and not afraid to compete with its innovations against the big companies. I can see clear parallels with our team. The commitment of Bora demonstrates that we have been on the right path for the last five years.
“With Bora, we intend to become further established as one of the best ProContinental teams, so that we can get into the new WorldTour in 2017. Only this will enable us to offer Bora the world's biggest races as a platform for its brand.”
Team NetApp – Endura is currently competing at the Tour de France for the first time as a wildcard entry. Its new partnership with Bora will commence on January 1 and run through 2019.
Willi Bruckbauer, owner of Bora, said: “We are a healthy growing company. We now want to present our innovative products to a wider public and we want to support our export offensive. The naming right in professional cycling is an ideal tool for this project. We have established our plan step-by-step in recent years, initially as a partner to the team and now including TV advertising at cycling races in many European countries. Now is exactly the right moment to become the title sponsor.”