Factor returns to the WorldTour after one-year absence
The American bike brand will become Bahrain Victorious' bike supplier in 2027, just a day after the team and Bianchi announced the immediate end of their partnership.
Favourite us on Google
Factor Bikes will return to the WorldTour next season as the bike supplier to Bahrain Victorious, ending a one-year absence from the top level of the sport.
The deal was announced on Friday, a day after Bahrain and Bianchi confirmed they had agreed to end their partnership with immediate effect. Bianchi only became the team’s bike sponsor at the start of 2026 on a multi-year agreement, replacing Merida after nine seasons, so the split comes after a single year.
Bianchi’s interim CEO Tony Grimaldi thanked the team’s riders and staff “for their commitment and professionalism”, while Bahrain said they valued “the passion for cycling” Bianchi’s people had brought.
Factor has been without a WorldTour team since the end of 2025. The brand had supplied Israel-Premier Tech since 2020 until the end of their partnership. The team rebranded as NSN Cycling for 2026, but Factor left and Scott took over as bike supplier.
“For us, it was important to find a partner that shares the same drive to continuously improve,” Bahrain managing director Milan Eržen said in the team's press release. “We believe that by combining Factor’s engineering expertise with the knowledge and feedback of our riders and performance team, we can push the boundaries of performance together and give our riders every opportunity to win at the very highest level.”
Factor founder Rob Gitelis, pointed to the 2027 Tour de France, which starts in Edinburgh on 2 July. “Personally, I find it fitting that Factor was born in the UK, and next year, in our tenth anniversary year, Factor will be back at the highest level of racing in the UK at the Tour de France,” he said.
Bahrain’s riders will race on Factor bikes in the Grand Tours and the Classics from January 1. The team ends 2026 with Jakob Omrzel’s seventh place and stage win at the Vuelta among its highlights, and Lenny Martinez as its highest-ranked rider in the UCI standings.
