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Welcome back to Spin Cycle,
As we prepare for the full-on sprint into the Tour de France with a light jog through this pre-Tour lull, it's the time of year when all the brands who pay for pro cyclists' wages begin to extract their pound of marketing flesh (and there isn't that much to go around on account of them all being skinny minnies).
Although, having said that, things appear quite shaky underfoot for a number of cycling teams ...
Sponsorship merry-go-round 🎪
In the same week that Arkéa-B&B Hotels announced that both Arkéa and B&B Hotels would no longer fund the team from 2026, leaving team boss Emmanuel Hubert to say he'd be heading out to try and find new backers, TotalEnergies' sponsorship of Ineos Grenadiers finally became official. Ineos are now set to find some extra room on their jersey for another chemical giant's logo starting at next week's Tour de France.
TotalEnergies also confirmed they would continue as the sponsor of the French team bearing their name into 2026, but a short one-year extension doesn't seem to bode well for the future of that French squad either.
Meanwhile, across the border in Belgium, Lotto CEO Stéphane Heulot managed to plug his money gap with longstanding fuel sponsor CAPS stepping up for the Tour, but saying that his continued search for funders was a fight rather than a game. This was before adding in conversation with Wielerflits that he has "a number of very nice names on the table", which sounds positive at least. With Alpecin-Deceuninck also looking for a replacement for Deceuninck, a significant proportion of the peloton seem to be out looking for money currently.
That's the wrong watch Tadej! 😱
Somewhere, Richard Mille (if he's even a real person) is wiping away his tears with €100 notes, as Tadej Pogačar sports a Breitling Chronomat B01 42 (retailing at the more-affordable €11,400 – Tadej Pogačar, reformed man of the people).
This begs the ginormous and important question: has Pogačar switched watch sponsor?
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