Quick-Step Floors will be Deceuninck-Quick-Step in 2019
After a lengthy search, Quick-Step has found a new sponsor in Belgian company Deceuninck
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After a lengthy search, the Quick-Step Floors team has found a new title sponsorship partner. The squad will be known as Deceuninck-Quick-Step in 2019.
According to a Monday press release from the team, Belgian-based window profile manufacturer Deceuninck has come on board in a multi-year agreement.
“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Deceuninck on board for the next seasons,” team CEO Patrick Lefevre said. “Thanks to their commitment and that of the other partners, the team can think of the future and build on what we have achieved during this outstanding season.”
Despite the team’s consistent success all year, Lefevre has spent months hunting for a new team sponsor to keep the high-budget team afloat, with Quick-Step Floors planning to move into a secondary sponsor role after this season. Although the top-ranked team on the WorldTour was able to secure a number of smaller non-title sponsors over the course of the year, concerns of maintaining a hefty payroll into 2019 began to mount.
Only a few months after his terrific spring campaign at the helm of a powerful Quick-Step classics squad, Niki Terpstra decided to sign with French Pro Continental team Direct Energie for next season. Star sprinter Fernando Gaviria, meanwhile, was rumored to be in talks for an early exit from his contract to join UAE Team Emirates.
The arrival of Deceuninck, a sizable company with a global imprint, should help address those budgetary concerns, taking some of the burden off of Quick-Step and team owner Zdenek Bakala.
“This high-valued sponsorship offers plenty of commercial opportunities for Deceuninck and all our customers,” Deceuninck CEO Francis Van Eeckhout said. “I’m confident this is a new milestone for the company.”
