In the world of elite cycling, every detail matters. From the intensity of training sessions to the strategy on race day, success hinges on seamless collaboration between riders and their gear. This is where GripGrab enters the race, ensuring that pro Teams Visma | Lease A Bike and Uno-X Mobility have the performance edge they need to achieve greatness in 2025.

We spoke with Martin Krøyer, CEO of GripGrab, to gain insight into what these alliances means for the company.

Q: Did GripGrab reach out to the teams, or how did the sponsorships work out?

A: The stories behind the sponsorship agreements are actually quite similar although the underlying circumstances are a bit different. For both teams, it was initially them reaching out to us because they wanted to give their riders access to train and race with our range of gloves and shoe covers. With Uno-X Mobility I recieved a friendly phone call from one of their Directeur Sportiefs and with Team Visma | Lease A Bike it was an inquiry through our Dutch sales manager Joost. The inquiries came in almost at the same time, and we did not hesitate to say yes. It felt a bit like opportunities of a life-time for us as a brand and something which we could not miss.

Q: How will GripGrab make a difference for the riders?

A: Both teams have the same approach to kit - they want to offer only the best of the best for their riders, and our gloves and shoe covers will allow them to train and race under the best possible conditions regardless of the weather. As a specialist brand known for making the best shoe covers and gloves, we felt that we could actually offer both teams something which provides value for their riders in training and in racing, and that's why we said yes. We would not have done that if we did not believe our products would actually deliver better performance and function than where they came from. Then it would have been just another sponsorhip and that would not have been for us. Let's face it - professional cyclists can win races without wearing gloves, so for the riders of both teams, it is the ability to wear products that enable them to ride and race with confidence no matter the weather conditions that will make the difference. Getting those important base miles in during the harsh Scandinavian winters is only possible if you dress for the every occasion, and can keep your hands and feet relatively warm and dry. Taking on the Spring Classics without having access to the right waterproof shoe covers and gloves is bound to get you in trouble and in summary we deliver exactly that confidence for the riders. It might sound funny, but our main success criteria is actually that the riders don't pay attention to the gloves and shoe covers which they are wearing. They pay attention to racing.

Q: The Scandinavian connection is strong. UNO-X Mobility being a Nordic based Team, and Team Visma | Lease A Bike with Jonas Vingegaard. Is that a factor that is important to GripGrab?

A: Both teams represent something unique with Uno-X Mobility being the young, hungry, up and coming team with lots of Scandinavian talents, while Team Visma - Lease A Bike represents the pinnacle of professional cycling teams. There are many professional cycling teams out there, but the fact that both teams have a strong Scandinavian connection definently influenced our decision process. Like most Danes, we have loved watching Jonas Vingegaard battle with the best of the best in the Tour de France, and I think all Danish cycling fans remember Magnus Cort's legendary 130k polka-dottet solo break away in The Tour in 2022. The outlook of getting to support some of the best Danish riders definently was a plus for us.

Q: The GripGrab mantra, Ride All Year, what does that stand for? Is that to be taken literally?

A: Ride All Year is more than a mantra for us - it's a way of life. My brother and I ride our bikes to work every day. We live in the same suburb north of Copenhagen and have a great 15k commute each way and we never let the weather stop us. We also ride on weekends and are into both racing and other fun stuff where having the right kit can make it or break it. In a broader and much more important perspective, we believe that the bicycle offers a great alternative to commuting by car as it brings benefits for both health and climate, but we realize that the weather can be a show stopper and a total motivation killer if you don't have the right equipment to keep you protected. That's why Ride All Year is such a powerful statement for us as it guides everything we do in both product development and in making inspirational content. It is our ultimate goal to create products and inspiration that enables people to Ride All Year. It's that simple.

Q: GripGrab is a family-run business, so as co-founder and CEO there must be an emotional part of you that reacts to this development. Can you share some of your thoughts on this?

A: I'll turn 44 years next year, and by then I will have been full time in the business for more than half my life. As CEO I often pinch my arm realizing how fortunate I am to spend my time developing and growing a company that my brother and I built from scratch. Besides my wife and two girls, GripGrab is the love of my life and lifetime passion so when something as significant comes along, I cannot help but feel emotional. I'm a bit of a sob, and when I was writing personal greetings to +100 riders from the two teams, I often had to pause because I got emotional and felt an immense pride. 

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GripGrab’s commitment to quality and functionality aligns perfectly with our team’s values. Having reliable gear during training is crucial for maintaining focus and performing at our best, and we’re confident that GripGrab’s products will give us an edge in all aspects of the sport.

Thor Hushovd, Team Uno-X Mobility

Q: You are an avid cyclist yourself. Can you tell us about what riding means to you, and how much you ride?

A: I've been passionate about riding bikes ever since I borrowed Kristian's Cannondale Scalpel and experienced the thrill of riding on the local mountainbike trails. Since then I've been discovering cycling on all sorts of bikes and terrains and it's turned into a life long passion. I'm quite competitive by nature and am actively racing in the Danish Master Category as well as several gravel races each year. I really love to go fast and race against other like minded cyclists, but I also love long rides in solitude where I often find myself not thinking about anything but the road in front of me. We have a Danish expression called "Balsam for sjælen" (balm for the soul) and I could not describe what cycling does to me more accurately.  I don't have an annual target in regards to how many kilometers I want to ride, but I like to be active every day of the week and typically clock about 330 active days in a year including commuting, training and racing. That takes me up to approximately 10-12k/year but to me the distance is not so important. 

Q: Was the fitting session with UNO-X Mobility the first face-to-face meeting you had with the team and their leaders? How did that go?

A: Yes, we we're invited to a big kick-off in Ballerup some weeks back. The entire Uno-X Mobility team plus staff were gathered, and I was fortunate enough to spend time with Thor Hushovd who's the manager of the team, as well as lots of other good people. I even got a chance to speak in front of all the riders and felt a strong connection to them when I told about our brand story and overall vision. It felt great to meet them in person and I know our internal product development team learned a lot from the fitting session with all the riders.  


Q: GripGrab has sponsored Pro Teams before, back in the days. What is different now? What has changed? 

A: That's true, we've been glove sponsor for Lotto Belisol/Soudal and Alpecin-Fenix some years ago. Back then it was great fun to witness Andrei Greipel win several stages in the Tour de France and watch Mathieu Van der Poel dominate in CX and Spring classics, but we did not have the organization, the experience, the money or the brand position to leverage the sponsorships so we ended up being a very passive sponsor and that meant that the value created was limited for us. It was very much an internal thing. Today, we stand much stronger I sense and feel a very strong internal readiness and excitement to take on the sponsorships and elevate our brand and distribution into new territories.

Q: What are key elements for GripGrab, in order to consider these sponsorships a success?

A: First and foremost it is about making a positive difference for the riders. If they're not happy with our products and believe in us, we have no place in pro cycling. Period. Commercially it is about us leveraging the potential of both sponsorships which will take GripGrab to the next level as a brand and product specialist and open up new horizons and markets. On a personal level, I dream of playing an active role in our collaboration with the team and the riders. I plan to ride the gran fondo edition of The Tour of Flanders this year, and maybe there will be a chance to watch the race and feel the action from within one of the team cars. 

Q: Thanks Martin, we look forward to a great 2025.

A: Thank you. 2025 is going to be a pretty exciting year in many ways!

By GripGrab
Photos by Emil Borg
© GripGrab 2024