I was a little surprised by this too - they lost Kate Courtney a couple of years ago and I was shocked by that one as mountain biking is exploding.

I get that they would want to invest less in tri given the participation trajectory of the sport currently. Even having highly marketable person like Lucy Charles did not make Specialized desirable to people like us given how the brand polled on the last iteration of "what bike are you most likely to buy?" poll here on Slowtwitch.

I also wonder what will happen to Sarah True.

It could be that Canyon has stupid money to spend because of their recent new private equity rounds, or maybe Specialized thinks they are going to sell every bike they make in the next two years anyway because of current industry shortages, although that would certainly be short term thinking.

Yeah, more pure speculation: I wonder if Argon 18 made a pitch to her and Eric. They’d sponsor their videos. Have both of them on the same bike. Argon has a new high-end bike coming out, and they’d probably love the advertising...

I recall that it was Courtney's decision to go to Scott. And speaking of their MTB team, Simon Andreassen just announced his parting ways with Specialized too.

Specialized also dealt their other MTB athletes (Chris Blevins and Haley Batten) to a Specialized sponsored team- Trinity Racing.

What makes you think specialized is ending the relationship?

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Most importantly: what about Stanley Lemieux-Jorgensen???

More and more companies are trying to move to one-year contracts. For obvious reasons. Multi-year contracts are great until they aren't. I think you'll see fewer multi-year contracts post-COVID. While, ultimately, COVID has proved to be a boon to the bike industry overall, it was pretty tough early on. I imagine that many of these companies are rethinking their overall investment strategy. In particular, *race* bikes - and elite sport (both triathlon and cycling) more generally - were shown to be relatively fragile this year.


THIS!

I agree 100% with Jordan.

Bike brands had there BEST year ever for general bike sales with NO extraordinary spending on marketing or promotion.

I think the whole "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" premise of Sponsorship for the brands in the bike business, is more or less done now - accelerated along by COVID19 - there were NO races (almost) so no wins to tout anyway. Content Marketing and Social Media engagement is now firmly routed as the key driver to a brands marketing efforts.

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I agree, but why then would Specialized allow these two racers to leave the fold - Lucy Charles I assume to be the #1 most followed triathlete on Instagram (338K followers) and the #1 most followed mountain biker (Kate Courtney- 475K). Are you suggestigng that the bike industry would be better served by sponsoring other non sport related bicycle influencers? People who appeal to a much broader audience than just the lung crowd?

Well, Mark Wahlberg recently posted a pic of himself and the new Specialized Epic (he even tagged Specialized so it was clearly arranged). I think Jason Mamoa (Aquaman) also did the same thing earlier in the year. Both struck me as super random putting aside the marketing aspect. I mean, who looks at Aquaman and thinks of bikes? Specialized may have made more off those two posts than from Lucy Charles entire tenure with Specialized.

If you read into Lucy’s insta post, I think you can infer that she signed a less than lucrative deal with specialized in 2017 before she was triathlon household name. Her contract is now up where she can finally capitalize on her success. A pro like Lucy should be getting a salary near 6 figures (maybe more) from a major sponsor. She likely had multiple offers to choose from and my money is on specialized didn’t offer the most money.

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Vincent Luis just announced that he’s staying with Specialized for a few more years

Most sponsors probably overpaid in 2020. When they were setting up those deals, it was an olympic year, so guys like KB and VL could probably command an extra premium. What they ended up with was: a year of almost no racing, zero visibility for athletes who lacked a big social media presence (ex. Ryf), and brisk sales that had nothing to do with sponsorship. All of that probably has many of the brands rethinking their overall marketing strategies, so lots of flux is to be expected.

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Generally speaking seeing Lucy and Josh Amberger move onto other bikes is interesting. More with Amberger. Josh has been on a Felt for the majority of his professional, so the length of the relationship and then the move away is just interesting.

But for Lucy to move away from Specialized, I don't get why they'd move away from her. If anything she's done enough on her "prove it" side of the relationship that she NEEDs to be the face of their brand.

The Blummenfelt one is also interesting for me as he's done a lot more long course stuff. I don't see the ITU racers that Specialized sponsors really moving the needle for bike sales more than supplying/sponsoring a grand tour team would. Generally road bike is a road bike here.

But going back to Lucy, as far as a face is concerned and how much of a great ambassador she's been I don't get the move at all.

For Paula, I don't think it's a Trek moving away from her as much as her contract was up and she has other offers on the table with her Daytona win. She may well remain with Trek.

Rappstar saying bike companies wanting to move to year to year deals will be the norm, perhaps, but that also creates issues on its own.

Really weird time in the triathlon world when it comes to partnerships.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

 A pro like Lucy should be getting a salary near 6 figures (maybe more) from a major sponsor. She likely had multiple offers to choose from and my money is on specialized didn’t offer the most money.


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For some fun context. I was speaking with an non industry sponsor a few years back that approached an american female itu athlete to sponsor her. Let's just say the bottom line and suggested value went something like "low 6 figure sponsorship money won't get your logo on the racing kit". Taking a look at all things social media savy + results, it made sense.

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Braden Currie appears to be still sponsored by Specialized for long course.

It’s funny to hear Lagerstrom make jokes about the Trek compared to his bike. Argon18 makes sense for Findlay, especially with their recurring guest star on their videos, Heather Jackson.
Tim Don and Sarah True may not cost as much as a Lucy Charles and have the security of the Zwift Academy tie-ins.
Why wouldn’t Ventum offer Charles big money as a presence in Europe?

Please no. I hope she rides something faster and cooler!

I dunno, I doubt they’re going to sell less bikes or gear without her as a sponsored athlete. Take the six figure salary (as others have suggested) that it would have taken to keep her and put that towards a growing arm of the cycling market such as ebikes or gravel instead. Probably a better ROI.

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The brand's that can and will pay Lucy has to be very few! Canyon are extremely strong in the men's side, but a Lucy could be great on the women's side, but hey just sponser so many already.

Scott has kienle, maybe Lucy on the women's side.

Or Cervelo making s real comeback?

I just really hope it is not some niche brand, splashing all their cash on her and maybe can't give her windtunnel etc.

Not any more! Check Specialized's instagram...

Was just about to say, now Currie gone too!

Look like Tim Don is staying based on his Instagram story today.

Well if they’re keeping Tim Don and Sara True, they may actually have resources to sign new contracts for athletes changing sponsors. We’ve been focusing on athletes leaving Spesh but maybe some will join?

And idk who commented about this being normal turnover post Olympic year (post 2020 at least) but I think this is right. For instance Leo Bergère (French ITU guy) also left his 5-year sponsor - French boutique brand Leon Cycles.

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Jordan I was actually wondering: what would IM/ITU look like without sponsorships from bike companies?

The reason brands are sponsoring athletes is mainly to increase their visual presence and thus trigger consumer sales. At least that’s how I see it. Do you believe athletes would all ride the “best possible gear” in a no-sponsorship world? Would that affect general sales for tri bikes or the break-up between brands would remain similar for AGers?

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Certainly for the UK, I'd argue Tim Don is a far bigger 'ambassador' than LC. Whilst unquestionably LC is an amazing athlete at the top of her game, i just see Tim Don as being (even) more loved in the UK scene - the combination of his huge time at the top level first in ITU and then long course. And also his overall persona. His recovery from being nearly killed in Kona has elevated his standing too over here further too (not that you'd ever wish that on anyone of course).

But again I say that Specialized has no TT product for most amateur completer types to buy, as I'm not dropping $11.5k (£8500) on the base model Shiv, even though I AM in the market for a new TT bike, and bought an SL6 Tarmac 12 months ago so certainly have no problem with Specialized as a bike maker (and have a Stumpjumper in the garage too for mtb).