Next season an international cycling club will be in the peloton for the first time. It is a project of Geert Broekhuizen, former press officer at Giant-Alpecin, and Edwin Gulickx who announced his ideas in March. It is planned that the initiative will be known as Beat Cycling Club and will debut in the professional peloton in 2018 with an innovative business model.

According to the people behind the project, the current structure of cycling teams is extremely fragile. They are dependent on sponsors. Once a sponsor closes the money tap, the survival of the team is in danger. That has to change, says Broekhuizen, and so he has come up with what he hopes will be a sustainable business model.

"We have come to realize that sustainability of cycling team will only succeed if it is based on several sources of income," says Broekhuizen. "Therefore, we have developed an alternative in recent months. Wi will have a club with a fixed identity and with the involvement of the members, where we allow the members and partners of the club to experience cycling at the highest level from the inside. The club is generating revenue from various sources. "

Such clubs already exist in sports like football, hockey and basketball, but not yet in cycling. Gulickx hopes to change the mindset within the sport of cycling. "It is unprecedented for cycling fans to take control and set up a professional cycling team," he says. "By having influence in the club, you can contribute with ideas, participation and money to the first cycling club in history to participate in the Tour de France."

Through the website beatcycling.club, cycling fans can register to further develop the club. "Scout cycling talent, represent BEAT at cycling shows, make a team strategy together with Bobbie Traksel, participate in the first BEAT club championships or tell others how they can realize their cycling dream," the club states on the website.