Focus Bikes

FOCUS will be represented again at the World Tour in the coming season. On 21 September the German cycle brand signed a three-year contract as technical sponsor of the French ProTeam AG2R LA MONDIALE. FOCUS is equipping the team, which is even more international this year, with a special model of the Izalco Team SL for the new season.

FOCUS is thus continuing its World Tour sponsoring activities, where in previous years it has already successfully supported the Milram and Katusha teams. With its new collaboration with AG2R LA MONDIALE, FOCUS is building on those positive experiences and supporting a leading World Team with lots of young talent, but also proven experience. So, once again, FOCUS is centre stage at the most important cycling races in the world. A powerful argument for the sponsorship decision: “As a premium supplier it is very important for us to work with leading professional teams and allow their feedback to flow directly into development of our new bikes”, says Mathias Seidler, CEO of Derby Cycle AG, owners of the FOCUS brand. “Our long-term collaboration with AG2R LA MONDIALE also offers us an ideal opportunity for permanent international placement of our FOCUS brand.”

French at heart, international in outlook

With the experience gained from countless grand tours, team AG2R LA MONDIALE has one very particular goal: to achieve stage victories at the grand tours and also a TOP-5 placing in the overall classification of a grand tour. To achieve this, team manager Vincent Lavenu is relying on an increasingly international team with young talent such as promising German newcomer Julian Kern, Columbian Carlos Betancur, who already enjoyed success at Acqua & Sapone, fellow climbing specialist Domenico Pozzovivo from Italy and Belarusian sprinter Yauheni Hutarovich. The team 2013 will be made up of 26 to 29 riders with at least seven nationalities and a majority of French riders. Good qualifications with which to dominate the race with the new FOCUS race bikes. In Lavenu’s view: “I am very proud of the future collaboration with FOCUS. FOCUS is an internationally renowned manufacturer of high-end bikes and leaders in development and in terms of new technologies. That’s why we are very pleased to have the opportunity to work under optimal conditions with very competitive equipment. That is an inestimable advantage in our quest to achieve major wins at top world level.”

The racing machine for winners – Izalco Team SL

As from the coming season, AG2R LA MONDIALE will ride its one-day and stage races on the Izalco Team SL. Based on the latest evolution of the FOCUS Izalco frame, reworked layups in conjunction with carbon bearing seats ensure an average weight of 960 g. Besides the Izalco Team SL, the ProTeam will also receive the fastest series time-trial bike Izalco Chrono and in the cyclocross season the classic FOCUS Mares.