Jumbo-Visma left with €5 million budget shortfall as Gorillas fail to deliver sponsorship
Grocery delivery company reportedly stops payments as Jumbo-Visma look for new title sponsor
Jumbo-Visma have reportedly lost the sponsorship funding of German ultrafast grocery delivery company Gorillas, leaving an estimated €5 million hole in their 2023-2024 budget.
The company, which occupies slots on the sleeves of the Dutch team's jerseys after coming on board as a sponsor partway through last season, has stopped paying their sponsorship contribution, according to WielerFlits.
In a statement issued to the website, Jumbo-Visma said, "There is an agreement, which of course we will honour as agreed," indicating the Gorillas logo would remain on the team's clothing.
Jumbo-Visma told Cyclingnews that "there's nothing more to add."
Gorillas came on board with the team last year shortly after going into partnership with title sponsor Jumbo supermarkets across the Netherlands and Belgium. In December 2022 the company was bought by Turkish competitor Getir for a reported $1.2 billion (£956 million). However the demand for grocery deliveries has faded after the COVID-19 pandemic and due to cutbacks in customer spending.
The loss of Gorillas would leave a significant gap in the Jumbo-Visma's budget at a time when they will be looking to replace title sponsor Jumbo.
The Dutch supermarket chain is set to pull out of all sports sponsorship by the end of next season – including the men's and women's cycling teams, the speedskating squads, and sponsorship of Dutch Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen.
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Jumbo CEO Ton van Veen said that the company will honour obligations through the end of 2024, though said that they would leave cycling earlier should another sponsor want to step in before that point.
"The sponsorship has brought us a lot of brand awareness, but we have now won everything there is to win," Van Veen said. "We annually invest more than €20 million in sports sponsorship, but I can only spend every Euro once. We cannot return that money to the customer or invest it in sustainability or health."
The company has undergone turbulence in recent months, with Dutch authorities launching an investigation into money laundering which saw former CEO Frits van Eerd resign his position. Last December, Jumbo chairman Karel van Eerd passed away at the age of 84.
According to WielerFlits, the Jumbo-Visma team management are in talks with various multinational and Dutch brands to possibly take over the Jumbo title sponsorship slot.
Visma and Cervélo have already indicated they are keen to stay with the team as it tries to grow further and maintain its success at the Tour de France and Classics with Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič, Wout Van Aert, Dylan Van Baarle and Christophe Laporte.
Team manager Richard Plugge has already recently extended the contracts with Vingegaard, Van Aert and Laporte.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, she had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur. She writes and edits at Cyclingnews as well as running newsletter, social media, and how to watch campaigns.