From relief to ambition: Roodhooft on landing Premier Tech as co-title sponsor

There was no hiding the sense of release when Roodhooft was asked how it felt to finally present Premier Tech as new sponsor.

“There is definitely relief,” he admitted to Wielerflits, “but above all happiness and pride that we have once again managed to connect an important company to our team for the long term.”

The search for a replacement partner was far from straightforward. Roodhooft described a long process of talks with multiple prospects that forced the team to think in different timeframes. “Everybody knows it is not easy, and not just for us. That is the case for several teams,” he said. 

“Over the past months, almost the past year, we have had many conversations, including some very interesting ones. Because it started to take a bit longer at one point, some talks were held more with an eye on 2027, and we were looking at an interim solution for 2026 with Deceuninck and Canyon.”

The arrival of Premier Tech changes that picture completely. Instead of a stopgap for one season, Alpecin have secured a company willing to commit for several years and to buy into the way the team works.

The difficulty of the search naturally raises questions about the wider health of professional cycling. Roodhooft is reluctant to paint a bleak picture, pointing instead to the major brands that have entered the sport in recent years.

“I do not know if it says much about the state of cycling,” he said. “In the past it was never really easy either. People also tend to overlook that in recent years companies like Tudor have come in, that Decathlon is now in the WorldTour, that Lidl is making big steps. Red Bull has joined in recent years too. So I do not think everything is going badly as a whole. The fact remains that the model is not always very straightforward. It never has been, and it still is not.”

At the same time, Roodhooft is aware that Alpecin operate in a different universe to the very richest teams in the peloton, many of which are backed by states or billionaires. “That is true, and people can have their opinions about it, but it is also a model,” he said. 

With budgets inflating across the sport, that traditional approach becomes harder to sustain. “With budgets constantly rising, our role becomes a bit more difficult, simply because the financial risks get bigger if you do not find the necessary funding,” Roodhooft said. “But we have always had confidence that it would work out, and that has been confirmed again now.”

He is clear that this does not mean the privately owned model is doomed, nor that alternative ideas should be ignored. “I still believe it can work this way,” he said. “At the same time, all initiatives and at least all ideas that are out there to make the business model of a cycling team more stable, we should look at them, embrace them and work together as a sport to create that stability.”

The Premier Tech agreement is the clearest expression yet of that search for stability. It brings a modest immediate uplift in resources but, more importantly, a clear upward curve in the years to come. “We will move a little bit forward in terms of budget next year,” Roodhooft said. 

“More importantly, in the coming years there is an upward trend built into the contract, and that is crucial for us to stay competitive.”