After more than 10 years of collaborating, WorldTour team Lotto-Dstny is reportedly ending its collaboration with Belgian bicycle manufacturer Ridley.
According to media reports in Belgium, from 2024, the Belgian pro cycling team will race on bicycles from the Spanish brand Orbea. The matter may, however, be complicated as the team’s current contract with Ridley runs until the end of 2025 – and Ridley has indicated that compensation may be required.
Lotto Dstny CEO Stéphane Heulot told Belgian media outlet Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN) that “Our collaboration with Ridley will indeed end at the end of this year.
“We are switching to a new bicycle brand. Not so much because we are not satisfied with the quality of the Ridley bike. We have had 12 great years with numerous victories. We choose another brand because we want to improve ourselves financially. That is necessary to be able to keep our current core.”
In a statement published by HLN, Ridley’s Jochim Aerts said “A current agreement is unilaterally terminated and 12 years of intensive and positive cooperation are consigned to the wastepaper basket.
“In 2021, we were asked by the then management to break open the current agreement, something that we as a company went along with to please the team and the riders. Two years later, when we are fully investing in optimizing the material for the team, we get a cold shower.
“At the end of May, several shots were fired in the press in which the CEO of the team claimed that Ridley’s bikes would not be Pro Tour worthy.
“It should be clear that it was not the technological aspect that was important in the choice, but a financial contribution. I deeply regret that for financial reasons a long-standing and successful cooperation is being unilaterally terminated.
“This disloyalty and reputational damage and the lost investments will have to be compensated. It is a pity that I also have to end with a financial aspect, but as I said, the future of my company and its employees are sacred to me.
“Ridley is therefore looking forward to the proposals that the management and/or the board of directors of Lotto-Dstny will come up with to repair the damage suffered.”
www.lottodstny.be
www.ridley-bikes.com
