Cycling Australia name Argon 18 as new bike supplier

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Cycling Australia announced their new bike supplier on Tuesday, following the announcement last week that they would no longer be partnering with bicycle manufacturer BT.

Canadian brand Argon 18, perhaps best known as being the bike supplier to the Astana pro road team, have signed a deal to supply machines to the Australian governing body until the end of 2020, and say that they're keen to be as well known on the track as they are for their road bikes.

"Even though track cycling is a niche market in the cycling industry, we at Argon 18 think it is important that we establish ourselves as the leader in the sport, with the best products, and be number one in track cycling," said Argon 18 founder and CEO Gervais Rioux. "Partnering with a clearly results-driven team will allow us to bring new technology, and our deeper aerodynamic knowledge, to future products. Look for some surprising results in Tokyo 2020."

As Cycling Australia ramp up their focus on the 2020 Olympic Games, the new collaboration is intended to cover the technology side of improving results following a review last year of the national federation's performances at the highest level, which coincided with the arrival of new Performance Director Simon Jones from the role of Head of Innovation at Team Sky.

"This partnership with Argon 18 is really exciting for the Australian Cycling Team, and fits perfectly with our stated direction and ambition for ongoing world-class success in the future," said Jones. "We felt as a team we needed to seek new and innovative technology solutions.

"We conducted a thorough worldwide search, and carefully considered our options. We knew this was a big decision, and we gave it a massive amount of thought and research. We're taking a broader approach to how we produce results, and Argon 18 are our partner. This is more than 'just the bikes': this is a partnership with shared goals."

"Our partnership with Cycling Australia for Tokyo 2020 will see us fully utilise Argon 18's engineering prowess and cutting-edge technical expertise," added Argon 18's R&D Director Martin Faubert. "Working in collaboration with Cycling Australia, our goals are precise, and we're targeting nothing less than the fastest bike in the world. We're already hard at work with their engineers and mechanics, and we want to bring home Olympic gold as much as they do."

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