The right sponsors don’t just show up. They change the game

Women’s sport is no longer an underdog story. It is a growth story.

Nowhere is that more evident than in cycling. The Tour de France Femmes has not just drawn new audiences but captured them, creating a momentum that feels impossible to ignore. The demand is real, the appetite undeniable, and the pace of change relentless.

The question now is which sponsors will help us build what comes next.

I divide my time between assessing tech startups and riding as a professional cyclist, and from both vantage points the pattern is unmistakable. This is an inflection point, a moment when a market is ready to take off but still needs the right catalyst. Startups have taught me that the partners who matter most are rarely the ones who spend the most. They are the ones whose growth depends directly on yours.

Zwift understood that from the beginning. More women on bikes means more people on their platform. When the Tour succeeds, their engagement spikes. In that sense, they did not simply sponsor the Tour de France Femmes. They built it into their business model.

Zwift gets this. When more women ride bikes, their platform grows. When the Tour succeeds, their engagement soars. This alignment creates a genuine partnership rather than a traditional sponsorship.

Traditional cycling sponsorship has too often been little more than a rolling billboard, with logos on jerseys, hospitality tents and the occasional press release. Zwift chose a different path. Their partnership with the Tour de France Femmes was designed not as a marketing exercise but as a driver of growth within their core product, and the numbers show the impact:

• Female subscribers rose from 18% to 23% of new users
• Women under 35 on Zwift grew by 20%
• Virtual Tour stages created year-round fan engagement that extended well beyond the eight days of racing
• The platform now runs virtual versions of major women’s races across the season

It was, in their own words, “an undeniable success,” but more importantly it was a success that flowed in both directions. Zwift grew because the sport grew. Every new rider was a potential subscriber. Every Tour stage became content.

While other sponsors measured their return in impressions, Zwift measured it in engagement and subscribers. That is the difference between sponsorship and partnership, and it is why their approach has become a model for others to study.

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift delivered 80 million global viewing hours, surpassing many men’s races and demonstrating beyond doubt that the audience exists. Sponsorship in women’s sport is growing 50% faster than in men’s, while advertising spend more than doubled in 2024. 

Fans themselves engage differently too, showing 57% greater trust in athlete endorsements and being 27% more likely to purchase from brands that support women athletes. This is not simply about reach. It is about trust, loyalty and return.

And yet, a number of women’s teams have ceased operations in recent years. While the reasons for this are complex, many teams still rely almost entirely on a single sponsor. One bad quarter for a corporate backer and an entire roster can vanish

That’s the paradox of progress. Headline numbers show growth, but too often progress in women’s sport gets reduced to the same scoreboard as men’s: bigger deals, higher rights fees, more eyeballs on screens. 

Those numbers matter, but they don’t keep riders on salaries, fund mechanics, or build the next generation of talent. Real progress has to show up in the foundations: athlete pay, contract security, youth pipelines, and infrastructure that keeps the sport sustainable long after the headlines fade.

Cycling does not need more sponsors chasing impressions. It needs partners willing to invest in riders, pathways and communities.

The most successful partnerships will be those that move beyond traditional logo placement to create genuine value exchange. When sponsors integrate teams into product development, content creation, or technology testing, both sides benefit from shared success rather than one-way investment.

That’s why who we bring into the sport matters more than ever.

Women’s football shows what real infrastructure investment looks like. When Barclays took on the Women's Super League, they went beyond naming rights to fund grassroots programmes, academy development, and broadcast quality improvements. The result was rapid professionalisation and a league less dependent on men’s clubs for survival.

The NWSL in the United States tells a similar story, but with an even sharper trajectory. Franchise valuations rose from $3.5 million to $35 million in just three years. Expansion fees jumped from $2 million to more than $20 million. Angel City FC went further still, building community into their model by giving 10% of sponsorship revenue back to local projects. That approach created ties that went deeper than marketing and reshaped what a sports franchise could look like.

Cycling has yet to experience that kind of Barclays or Angel City moment. Too often brands still come seeking visibility without commitment, the photo opportunity without the follow-through.

Women’s cycling is past the point of “if.” The audience is here, the momentum is here and the market opportunity is inevitable.

What we need now are sponsors who understand that the next phase requires thinking bigger:

• Revenue-sharing partnerships that give teams ongoing income, not just one-time payments
• Media rights ownership that allows teams to build direct fan relationships and content revenue
• Fan engagement platforms that create direct income streams through subscriptions, merchandise, and experiences
• Equity stakes that give teams long-term financial stability instead of year-to-year uncertainty

This might sound radical, but it’s exactly what women’s cycling needs to avoid repeating the financial fragility that keeps talented riders on the sidelines.

From evaluating startups, I've learned that the best time to invest is when something is inevitable but not yet obvious.

Women's cycling is inevitable. The brands that recognise this now, before it becomes obvious to everyone, will shape the future and own the relationships with the most engaged, loyal fanbase in sport.

Because the future of this sport will be built on shared upside and aligned incentives, not charity. 

Zwift proved values-aligned partnerships work by integrating women’s cycling into their core business model.

Now it’s time for more sponsors to follow their lead by creating genuine value exchanges rather than traditional sponsorship deals.

The peloton is accelerating. The only question is who will come with us.

Isabella Bertold is a professional cyclist and sailor who captained Team Canada in the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup in 2024. When not racing, she works as a startup advisor with a focus on impact investing and emerging technologies. Isabella also writes a weekly Substack newsletter, The Coffee Shop Download, where she shares personal reflections from her life as an athlete and sustainability advocate.