We’ll have to wait a little longer before the racing season begins in 2021 but, in the first week of the year, teams are showcasing their new colours and equipment. Here is a gallery of images supplied by Team DSM (formerly known as ‘Team Sunweb’).

The Scott Addict in Team DSM colours. Expect to see a lot more of this once the racing action (eventually) gets underway. (Photos via Team DSM)

This is a team that has steadily worked its way up the WorldTour rankings over the years and there are some dramatic changes for the 2021 season; a key difference being the team’s title and its bike supplier. But there is also a glut of new recruits and, only yesterday, one particularly prominent absence from the official roster.

Overnight it was announced that Marc Hirschi, one of the breakthrough stars of the 2020 season, has “reached a settlement agreement” – meaning that the 22-year-old Swiss rider is no longer on the roster of Team DSM. It is something of a surprise and the UCI’s official team lists for 2021 still has Hirschi listed as part of the German-registered team.

Another rider to depart after 2020 is Michael Matthews, the winner of the green jersey at the Tour de France in 2017, who returns to GreenEdge (ie. Team BikeExchange) for 2021.Still, three Aussies remain part of the squad that is managed by Iwan Spekenbrink: another revelation of last year, Jai Hindley (runner-up in the Giro d’Italia), as well as Chris Hamilton and Michael Storer.

One of the tacticians of the team, Luke Roberts, remains part of the management group but he’s not referenced as ‘directeur sportif’. Rather, Team DSM likes to call him (and others) ‘coach’. Whatever title he has, Roberts is a pragmatist who knows how to get results out of his riders and this will be his sixth season with the squad.

Vittoria will be the tyre supplier for Team DSM. Going on current trends, we can assume that most bikes (if not all) will be set up with a tubeless arrangement… that’s what UAE Team Emirates – another Vittoria backed squad – planned to do last year and we can expect the same in 2021.

Bikes: from Cervélo to Scott

There have been a range of brand allegiances over the years (and various iterations) of this team. When it first began rising to prominence, as Skill-Shimano, the bike supplier was Koga (up until 2011), then came Felt (2012-2013), Giant (2014-2017) and, most recently, there was Cervélo (2018-2020).

Now, as part of the bike brand merry-go-round of 2021, we see Team DSM on Scott bikes (while Cervélo goes from red tones to yellow ones at Jumbo-Visma).

Ordinarily, we get to see the new colours unveiled in January when the WorldTour comes to Australia and the Tour Down Under, but this year the bikes and kit are being revealed in online bursts by the teams.

The new jersey (and title sponsor) was revealed early in the year and we now know what the colourway of the bikes will be: dark blue (almost black) with flecks of light blue in the frame.

As has always been the case for this team, Shimano is the groupset supplier / sponsor.

 

Below are some photos of the bikes and kit as supplied by Team DSM.