Gatorade has confirmed that it has made a serious commitment to cycling in Britain through three partnerships that will see the PepsiCo brand at the forefront of the nation’s cycling until December 2013.
The deal aligns Gatorade with professional road cycling team, Team Sky, British Cycling and the Great Britain Cycling Team. Gatorade will also be fuelling Sky Ride, a mass participation event run by Sky and British Cycling, which aims to get one million more people cycling regularly each month.
Gatorade becomes the Official Sports Drink across the three initiatives at a time when the country has seen considerable success in the sport and cycling participation is increasing as a leisure and alternative transport activity. The sports drink will provide scientific support from their team at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) to British Cycling, both at the grassroots and through to its podium programme whilst also directly supporting Team Sky. In addition, Gatorade will be hydrating the many hundreds of thousands of riders across the UK in one of the biggest mass participation sport programmes in the UK – Sky Ride 2010.
Team Sky has already enjoyed success this year with wins in major races in Australia, France, Oman, Qatar, Belgium, Holland and Italy. The team are now competing in their first Tour de France.
After the success of Sky Ride 2009, Sky Ride 2010 has added a further seven locations to the event programme, taking this year’s tally to 12 mass participation bike rides across ten UK cities starting in Ealing, in west London on 18 July and then moving to major towns and cities across the UK: Bath and Southampton (25 July), Manchester (1 August), Middlesbrough and the London Borough of Redbridge both (15 August), Glasgow (22 August), Leicester (29 August), Bradford (29 August), Blackpool (31 August), Mayor of London's Sky Ride in central London (5 September) and Birmingham (12 September).
Last year over 110,000 wheels hit the streets at the free, family-oriented events. Each of these events has traffic-free streets, enabling cyclists to enjoy a day of bike-based entertainment whilst exploring their city on two wheels with family and friends. Sky Ride aims to encourage thousands of people, of all ages and abilities, to get on their bikes. The programme is backed by a line-up of celebrities and pro-cyclists who will be attending the events across the country. Participants will be able to ride alongside the likes of Victoria Pendleton and Bradley Wiggins.
