What Are They Riding Now?
The 2015 triathlon season is on and the new year also means many Pros on other bike brands. Who swapped and who stayed? Every year this is a very popular topic as it also brings up conspiracy theories.
Compared to other years, this season appears relatively quiet in terms of Pros switching bike sponsors, but a few brands have stepped up to the plate and snagged a few better known athletes. Interestingly enough the biggest movers and shakers this year are newer brands Dimond, Falco and Ventum.
Here now is the list of bike sponsor changes of some of the better known Pros, at least as far as we have been able to learn or deduce.
| Previous ride | New ride | Date of change | |
| Brent McMahon (CAN) | Swift | Specialized Shiv Tri | January 2015 |
| Jordan Rapp (USA) | Specialized Shiv Tri | Dimond | January 2015 |
| Jesse Thomas (USA) | Specialized Shiv Tri | Dimond | January 2015 |
| Eric Limkemann (USA) | Specialized Shiv Tri | Dimond | January 2015 |
| Jan Frodeno (GER) | Specialized Shiv Tri | Canyon | January 2015 |
| Franz Löschke (GER) | n/a | Canyon Aeroad | January 2015 |
| Andreas Dreitz (GER) | Cube | Cannondale Slice | January 2015 |
| Matt Chrabot (USA) | Blue | Cannondale Slice | January 2015 |
| Maurice Clavel (GER) | n/a | Scott Plasma 5 | January 2015 |
| Paul Matthews (AUS) | Blue | Falco | January 2015 |
| Timo Bracht (GER) | Giant | Quintana Roo PR6 | January 2015 |
| Matt Hanson (USA) | Argon 18 | Quintana Roo PR6 | January 2014 |
| Andrew Yoder (USA) | Cervelo P5 | Falco V | January 2015 |
| Clayton Fettell (AUS) | Giant | Falco V | January 2015 |
| Michael Weiss (AUT) | BMC | Falco V | January 2015 |
| Todd Skipworth (AUS) | Cervelo | Falco V | January 2015 |
| Matt Trautman (RSA) | Specialized Shiv Tri | Falco V | January 2015 |
| Jimmy Seear (AUS) | Cervelo P5 | Ventum One | 2015 |
| Courtney Atkinson (AUS) | Orbea | n/a | January 2015 |
| Paula Findlay (CAN) | Specialized Alias | Scott Foil | January 2015 |
| Barbara Riveros Diaz (CHI) | Specialized | n/a | January 2015 |
| Nikki Butterfield (BER) | Specialized | n/a | January 2015 |
| Radka Vodickova (CZE) | Culprit | n/a | January 2015 |
| Leanda Cave (GBR) | Canyon | Ventum One | 2015 |
| Eimear Mullan (IRE) | Viner | Dassi | January 2015 |
| Alicia Kaye (USA) | Scott | Ventum One | 2015 |
| Angela Naeth (CAN) | Specialized Shiv Tri | Scott Plasma 5 | February 2015 |
This is not a listing of what every sponsored Pro rides, this is meant as an update for brand changes. As you can gather there are a variety of reasons why sponsorship changes, ranging from looking for more advanced technology to not having the right current relationship or not being a high priority, and in some cases it is indeed about looking for more money. But that is typically not the reason for change even though it seems to be the most obvious. General support is greatly valued, and when you see that your competitor's sponsor uses him/her in ads and takes them to get fitted and to the wind tunnel, that makes some athletes stir crazy.
But there are plenty Pros who have stayed with the bike brand and here is a sampling of some of those.
| bike brand | since | |
| Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) | Felt | 2011 |
| Daniela Ryf (SUI) | Felt | 2011 |
| Josh Amberger (AUS) | Felt | 2013 |
| Tim Reed (AUS) | Felt | 2014 |
| Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) | Felt | 2014 |
| Kelly Williamson (USA) | Felt | 2014 |
| Emma Kate Lidbury (GBR) | Felt | 2014 |
| Luke McKenzie (AUS) | Scott | 2008 |
| Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) | Scott | 2009 |
| Sebastian Kienle (GER) | Scott | 2011 |
| Cyril Viennot (FRA) | Scott | 2011 |
| Jan Van Berkel (SUI) | Scott | 2013 |
| Jodie Swallow (GBR) | Scott | 2013 |
| Lesley Paterson (GBR) | Scott | 2013 |
| Annabel Luxford (AUS) | Scott | 2014 |
| Flora Duffy (BER) | Scott | 2014 |
| Heather Jackson (USA) | Cannondale | 2013 |
| Victor Del Corral (ESP) | Cannondale | 2013 |
| Ashley Clifford (USA) | Cannondale | 2013 |
| Michelle Vesterby (DEN) | Cannondale | 2014 |
| Bertrand Billard (FRA) | Cannondale | 2014 |
| Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) | Boardman | 2007 |
| Alistair Brownlee (GBR) | Boardman | 2007 |
| Pete Jacobs (AUS) | Boardman | 2011 |
| Meredith Kessler (USA) | Boardman | 2014 |
| Amanda Stevens (USA) | Boardman | 2014 |
| TJ Tollakson (USA) | Dimond | 2013 |
| Maik Twelsiek (GER) | Dimond | 2014 |
| Conrad Stoltz (RSA) | Specialized | 2001 |
| Chris McCormack (AUS) | Specialized | 2006 |
| Ben Hoffman (USA) | Specialized | 2008 |
| Javier Gomez (ESP) | Specialized | 2010 |
| Lisa Norden (SWE) | Specialized | 2010 |
| Craig Alexander (AUS) | Specialized | 2011 |
| Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) | Specialized | 2011 |
| Tim Don (GBR) | Specialized | 2011 |
| Gwen Jorgensen (USA) | Specialized | 2011 |
| Richard Murray (RSA) | Specialized | 2012 |
| Non Stanford (GBR) | Specialized | 2013 |
| Ruben Ruzafa (ESP) | Specialized | 2013 |
| Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) | Giant | 2005 |
| Tim Berkel (AUS) | Giant | 2012 |
| Aaron Royle (AUS) | Giant | 2013 |
| Charlotte McShane (AUS) | Giant | 2013 |
| Andrew Starykowicz (USA) | Orbea | 2009 |
| Asa Lundstrom (SWE) | Orbea | 2012 |
| Timothy O’Donnell (USA) | Trek | 2013 |
| Joe Gambles (AUS) | Trek | 2010 |
| Linsey Corbin (USA) | Trek | 2012 |
| Julie Dibens (GBR) | Trek | n/a |
| Matt Lieto (USA) | Trek | 2007 |
| Melanie McQuaid (CAN) | Trek | 2013 |
| Ben Kanute (USA) | Trek | 2013 |
| James Hodge (AUS) | Trek | 2013 |
| Mathias Hecht (SUI) | Trek | 2014 |
| Lauren Goss (USA) | Trek | 2014 |
| Laura Bennett (USA) | Trek | 2014 |
| Greg Bennett (USA) | Trek | 2014 |
| Caitlin Snow (USA) | QR | 2012 |
| Haley Chura (USA) | QR | 2014 |
| Kristin Moeller (GER) | QR | 2013 |
| Anja Beranek (GER) | QR | 2013 |
| Julia Gajer (GER) | QR | 2014 |
| Chris McDonald (AUS) | QR | 2014 |
| Callum Millward (NZL) | QR | 2014 |
| Ivan Rana (ESP) | Argon 18 | 2013 |
| Leon Griffin (AUS) | Argon 18 | 2012 |
| Jeff Symonds (CAN) | Argon 18 | 2014 |
| Eneko Llanos (ESP) | BH Bikes | 2005 |
| Mario Mola (ESP) | BH Bikes | 2013 |
| Joao Silva (POR) | BH Bikes | 2013 |
| Miquel Blanchart (ESP) | BH Bikes | 2014 |
| James Cunnama (RSA) | Cervelo | 2009 |
| Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) | Cervelo | 2009 |
| Caroline Steffen (SUI) | Cervelo | 2010 |
| Mary Beth Ellis (USA) | Cervelo | 2011 |
| Rachel Joyce (GBR) | Cervelo | 2012 |
| Nicola Spirig (SUI) | Cervelo | n/a |
| Jodie Stimpson (GBR) | Cervelo | n/a |
| Tyler Butterfield (BER) | Cervelo | 2012 |
| Trevor Wurtele (CAN) | Cervelo | 2013 |
| Heather Wurtele (CAN) | Cervelo | 2013 |
| Amy Marsh (USA) | Cervelo | 2013 |
| Markus Fachbach (GER) | Canyon | 2011 |
| Nils Frommhold (GER) | Canyon | 2012 |
| Anne Haug (GER) | Canyon | 2013 |
| Boris Stein (GER) | Canyon | 2013 |
| Michael Rünz (GER) | Canyon | 2014 |
| Daniela Sämmler (GER) | Cube | 2012 |
| Andreas Raelert (GER) | Cube | 2014 |
| Michael Raelert (GER) | Cube | 2014 |
| Sara McLarty (USA) | Fuji | 2008 |
| Sarah Haskins (USA) | Fuji | 2012 |
| Cameron Dye (USA) | Fuji | 2013 |
| Manuel Huerta (USA) | Fuji | 2014 |
| Ronnie Schildknecht (SUI) | BMC | 2012 |
| Corinne Abraham (GBR) | BMC | 2013 |
| Kevin Collington (USA) | BMC | 2013 |
| Liz Blatchford (GBR) | BMC | 2014 |
| Sofie Goos (BEL) | BMC | 2014 |
| Helle Frederiksen (DEN) | BMC | 2014 |
| Bart Aernouts (BEL) | BMC | 2014 |
| Will Clarke (GBR) | BMC | 2014 |
| Dirk Bockel (LUX) | BMC | 2014 |
| Romain Guillaume (FRA) | BMC | 2014 |
Again this does not cover all Pros or every brand, after all there are almost 1,000 Pros registered with Ironman alone.
But if there are other distinctive changes of major Pros we should know about, please let us know. The same is true for dates of athletes with brands. We could not always get conclusive information.
