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BMC is showing that they are serious about triathlon and they partnered with the Belgian Uplace Team that previously rode Ridley bikes. We should see the distinctive green team at events on TM01 machines with the exception of Tine Deckers who is currently pregnant and will sit out most of this year for obvious reasons. But of course BMC also has the Raelert brothers, Greg Bennett, Eduardo Sturla and Ronnie Schildknecht among others in their quiver.



In a somewhat surprising move today Quintana Roo announced the long term signing of popular Canadian triathlete and Olympic champion Simon Whitfield, and that brings the man back to the brand he started with almost 20 years ago.

Blue Competition Cycles signed Dede Griesbauer last month and added Richie Cunningham a few days ago to their roster and these two athletes are thus back with Steve Harad who like them had worked recently with Kestrel.

French Pro Jérémy Jurkiewicz who was left in a lurch after the end of Team Abu Dhabi has now found a home with Look and we will likely see him on a 596 moving forward.

And as we previously mentioned, January has been very busy in terms of switching bike sponsors. Bevan Docherty, Josh Amberger, Terenzo Bozzone, Luke Bell, Heather and Trevor Wurtele, Matt Russell, Timothy O'Donnell, Eduardo Sturla, Leanda Cave, Angela Naeth, Magali Tisseyre and Jodie Swallow will all be on new rides in 2013.

Swallow actually left Team Abu Dhabi before the bottom fell out and moved back to Team TBB. But she told us that she returned to Alex Bok and Co because TBB is her real home and had no idea that Abu Dhabi might be gone. That situation though now leaves several other athletes looking for new sponsors, among them Faris Al-Sultan and Maik Twelsiek. Swallow though cashed in a fast win for new bike (and old) sponsor Cervelo with the victory at Ironman 70.3 South Africa.

There have been changes at Blue Competition Cycles too and Heather and Trevor Wurtele were possibly the first athletes from that brand to move on, and move on they did. The likeable Canadian couple will be riding Cervelo P5 bikes moving forward.



Angela Naeth and Bevan Docherty are new signings at Specialized and they will be on the Specialized Shiv moving forward, and Docherty actually already competed on his at Ironman 70.3 Auckland. Naeth came from BH and Docherty from long time sponsor Avanti.



Timothy O'Donnell announced in mid January that he will be competing on a Trek Speed Concept the next few years and as we had reported previously, has already spent time with fit expert Mat Steinmetz to get dialed in on his new ride.



Maybe the biggest surprise though recently was the signing of Ironman World Champion Leanda Cave by the German fast growing brand Canyon. Canyon also announced the signing of upcoming German Pro Nils Frommhold. Canyon shared an image what the custom painted Speedmax CF frame for Cave should look like, and it is rumored that Cave will be competing on a Canyon at the Escape from Alcatraz.



Also of note, Team Timex signed Iroman Canada champion Matthew Russell and he will thus be on a Quintana Roo. Josh Amberger signed with Felt, Terenzo Bozzone, Magali Tisseyre and Leon Griffin with Argon 18, Jimmy Johnsen with Ceepo, Luke Bell with Giant, Eduardo Sturla with BMC, Dede Griesbauer with Blue and we will most likely add more details here soon.



This is not a listing of what every sponsored Pro rides, this is meant as an update for brand changes. As you can gather there are a variety of reasons why sponsorship changes, ranging from looking for more advanced technology to not having the right current relationship / not being a high priority, and in some cases it is indeed about looking for more money. But that is typically the rarest reason for change even though it seems to be the most obvious. General support is greatly valued, and when you see that your competitor's sponsor uses him/her in ads and takes them to get fitted and to the wind tunnel, that makes some athletes stir crazy. And when whole teams or sponsors go away that actually just forces athletes to make a move.

If there are other distinctive changes we should know about, please share with us.