News

Richard Plugge's WorldTour squad has secured a new title sponsor, with the Norwegian software company Visma signing up to support both Team Jumbo's cycling and speed skating programmes. The squad will race as Team Jumbo-Visma in 2019.

"Thanks to the fruitful cooperation and the development that we have gone together, Jumbo dared to support our vision for a long and indefinite period of time," Plugge said in a press release.

Dutch supermarket brand Jumbo is set to take over primary sponsorship of the LottoNL-Jumbo squad next season, after penning a five-year contract with the WorldTour team. The deal also includes primary sponsorship of the speed skating team of the same name.

The news comes a day after the Dutch Lottery announced that it would end its main sponsorship of the team, which is owned by the umbrella company Team Oranje, at the end of this year.

Elise Christie will consider moving abroad to take up long-track speed skating – where there are far fewer opponents and crashes than in short track – in a bid to end her Winter Olympics jinx.

Christie also revealed her secret plan to retire and switch to another sport had she won gold.