Bahrain-McLaren remodeled as Bahrain-Victorious, returns to red kit

The men’s WorldTour has seen several teams change their names for 2021, some unexpectedly, like Sunweb becoming Team DSM and EF Pro Cycling transitioning to EF Education-Nippo, and some announced back in the late summer or early fall, like AG2R-La Mondiale becoming AG2R-Citroën. On Monday the squad that was Bahrain-McLaren for one year before losing the motor sports team as a title sponsor reemerged as Bahrain-Victorious.

The addition of Victorious doesn’t mean the team has a new title sponsor. According to a press release, “the team’s name serves as a constant reminder of its goal to achieve success at the highest level both on and off the bike”.

For its first three years of life, the squad was called Bahrain-Merida, and sported kits of red, dark blue and gold, with perhaps 2019’s uniform its most attractive.

Last season McLaren came on as a title sponsor and the kit took on the motor sports racing team’s orange with light blue flashes.

The Bahrain-Victorious jersey retains the blue sleeve cuffs of 2020, and there are even swirls of orange on the chest, but the kit is mostly red with white print. Black shapes complicate the midriff.

Bahrain-McLaren made up 5/30 or 16.67 percent of the 2020 Grand Tour top-10s via Wout Poels, Hermann Pernsteiner, Mikel Landa, Damiano Caruso and Pello Bilbao. All those fellows will be back for 2021, and the team has added Jack Haig from Mitchelton-Scott, Gino Mäder from NTT and Jonathan Milan from Continental outfit Cycling Team Friuli ASD.