Ribble has set up the Collective, its new athlete support model, months on from the end of the Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling team. "Rather than a traditional cycling team," Ribble explained. "This new multi-discipline, multi-gender, community of riders sees each member of the Ribble Collective compete as a privateer, albeit within the foundations of a traditional team structure.
"Each rider gains the support of their fellow cyclists, and the Ribble brand, yet is given complete flexibility to craft their own season."
"For 2023, we had the vision to look at the cycling landscape creatively and introduce this model, allowing us to work in close collaboration with each individual rider and support them to achieve their own riding goals. We are really excited about the future of the Ribble Collective and we feel we have built a strong, diverse and varied roster of riders for the 2023 season," Neil Pinkawa, Ribble's head of brand marketing said.
Riders can choose their own calendar and their own personal sponsorships but will be aboard the respective Ribble bikes, Ultra SL R, Endurance SL R, Gravel SL and Ultra Tri with a flash new colourway and in Collective-coloured kit.
Writing on his blog, one of the riders involved, Joe Laverick, sought to address if his new 'team', which includes former Ribble Weldtite pro and YouTuber Cameron Jeffers, is "just a bunch of influencers, or a group of privateers who are racing to win?" and quite amusingly said it's not just another gravel group trying to sound cool.
"Away from kit, wheels are another area where the Collective has 'partners', not sponsors," he explained. "I will be riding Mavic wheels this year, who are a partner of the Collective. However, Cam Jeffers is using Halo Wheels, Maddy Nutt is using Parcours.
"The freedom that this project gives us riders is refreshing. Ribble could quite easily have contractually obliged us to use company X, Y or Z and locked us into those deals. Yet, they wanted to do it different and give us freedom."