Velo Bavarian, women’s cycling, and sponsorship: Actions meet outcomes

In the current print edition of CI.N you’ll find the Velo Bavarian profile feature. Reading it its clear Luke Frixou is not your typical bike shop owner, and Velo Bavarian is not your typical bike shop.

Here we’ll explore why having a purpose bigger than selling product is what drives Luke, and how that led the Derby based bike shop to attract an international business – Contiki – as the 2023 sponsor of its race team.

Coming from an elite level team sports background Luke knows first hand how performance outcomes are a result of collective actions. In business, as in life, relationships matter.

Your values shape your tribe. Your actions build your reputation. Your reputation wins you new fans.

2022 was the first year of competition for the Velo Bavarian Race Team, yet it already had a sponsor. How did this come about? Customer Experience. The Velo Bavarian in-store experience resulted in a conversation with a customer who asked if they could sponsor the fledgling race team. Hats off to Luke and mechanic Paul for making one hell of an impression on their customers.

Now the first season for VBRT was very much a pilot season, focused on proving they could build and operate an open, competitive, enjoyable, and, above all, sustainable team, centred around shared values of opportunity and community.

Luke, a former GB athlete and professional rugby player, drew support for his vision from non-other than John Vicars (ex-Raleigh GAC Pro Cycling and Derby County Football Club) working as General Manager VBRT, and the foundations for something meaningful were quickly laid.

Here we should look at what connects VBRT and the Velo Bavarian shop. In simple words, the shop is a community hub. It does all that a bike shop does, and much more. Customers are community. There is a vibe, a friendliness, a welcome, which makes this so much more than just a transactional retail space. That energy is powerful. Just ask the customer who initiated the 2022 Team sponsorship.

Now the Contiki VBRT sponsored team of 2023 has one clear focus: increasing the participation of women in the sport of cycling.

Women remain dramatically underrepresented, and supported, in the sport at all levels. Both John and Luke share the view that seeing elite level sport taking place directly impacts upon mass participation at all levels, from grass roots up.

At the highest level, it took 33 years to see the return of the Tour de France Femmes, providing elite female cyclists with the opportunity to race arguably the most prestigious cycling event in the world. Given the massive viewing figures it makes something of a mockery of the negative words from Christian Prudhomme when announcing the events return. “It’s surprising that it took so long to get such a prestige women’s event back up and running and it was patently clear from the response that the world wanted it”, comments John. “Given the right environment and continued investment there is every chance now that the profile of women’s cycling can become significant on the world stage”.

Female participation is a big subject to tackle, and as a Team owner, Luke observes, “we are fully aware that competitive cycling is an increasingly expensive sport, so being able to offer financial support through team kit etc is important, but it is much deeper than that. The sense of belonging, the support from other riders and the camaraderie are what set us apart, and why we were successful in our first season, with most of our riders having never raced before. Our culture is that of a proper team; both our men and women support one another, on and off the bike”.

The team development is timely. UK government has set its own targets to increase levels of walking and cycling around Britain. Here, rider safety is paramount. With this in mind, John says: “Cycling can offer women a safe and convenient mode of transport, so long as they feel confident on a bike. It is part of our mission to use the team to raise awareness of cycling for good, not just competition. We want to run various courses to increase road safety on bikes such as bike handling sessions on closed roads, supported by Contiki. Contiki VBRT is setting itself up to shine a light on and be able to focus on all elements of cycling’.

Contiki VBRT is designed to be seen and inspire many more to jump on a bike and have a go. Luke doesn’t expect everyone to want to race but he does want everyone to feel they have the opportunity to enjoy the many benefits of cycling and that’s where the wider cycling club of Velo Bavarian comes in. “The race team sits alongside the Velo Bavarian Cycling Club (VBCC). The VBCC is great way to try cycling, group rides, races or just to come along and socialise totally for free, no memberships or subscriptions. It really is a social community built around a shared passion for riding bikes” states Luke.

A survey of female VBCC members highlighted that, despite wanting to, 75% of women found it difficult to integrate into new groups especially when it related to mixed gender sport pursuits. This would likely lead them to not try.

Luke and John recognised this as an essential element to tackle if they were to be successful. And tackle it they are, with the VBCC now comprising of more than 552 members, of which 20% are female.

They put this early success down to a supportive environment, running women only events, and early confidence courses. It’s a job that’s never done though and they have a target to grow this by a further 10% over the next 3 years. “We put on our first, ladies only, group ride on a freezing day in March 2022 and had over 20 women attend. Since then, we have seen over 50 different, local women attend our rides which is huge growth in a short space of time. If this doesn’t indicate that there is a need for what we are doing, then I don’t know what would’ says Luke.

It’s not just Velo Bavarian that feel this passionately. The development of women in the sport of cycling is something very close to the heart of team supporter Cherie Pridham, Sports Director for Team Lotto Dstny, and the first woman, on the men’s professional World Cycling Tour to have this role.

On the work being done by Contiki VBRT Cherie said ‘….there is clear support for female cycling in the upper echelons of the sport, you can see this now in the women’s calendar with increased visibility in spectators, media, and television coverage. The sport now has its own role models such as Annemiek Van Vleuten and the UK’s Lizzie Deignan and it’s great to see the steps being made. The investment and attention must equally be at the bottom of the pyramid though, to ensure we have new talent coming through’. Pridham feels more can be done to increase the confidence and participation of women at grassroots level and that programs such as this from Contiki VBRT can only be a good thing for women’s cycling’.

So, to the 2023 season and Contiki joins Velo Bavarian to create Contiki VBRT. Of the partnership, Contiki CMO Simon Llanos states, “when we heard about the mission and vision of the team we were only too happy to get involved and offer our support”. Contiki’s involvement mean the team can offer more spots and support more riders at every level of performance. Llanos stated “Contiki seeks to actively open opportunities to those who ordinarily wouldn’t have them and to realise the amazing benefits in every setting of a community, travelling together or riding together. It felt so aligned. Not to mention, the more confident riders setting an example for more sustainable modes of transport. Something really close to our heart as we move to Net Zero trips”.

With a roster of 34 riders (23 men and 11 women), Contiki VBRT have already successfully kicked off their 23-race calendar with an inaugural podium place for rider Melissa Denman at a race in Darlington. The start of many, Contiki VBRT hopes.

Contiki VBRT still has open roster spots available for women who are either experienced racers or looking to get into the sport. Luke and John encourage interested riders to contact them to discuss how Contiki VBRT can support them.

Riders can contact Luke via email, or call Velo Bavarian on 01332 841950

https://velobavarian.co.uk/vb-race-team/