Columbia Sportswear Sponsors Pro Cycling Team

I’m a fan of both cycling and Portland, so when I heard that a Portland-based company would be sponsoring a major pro cycling team, that was cause for celebration.

Columbia Sportswear is to be the new main sponsor of the artist formerly known as the T-Mobile Team, more recently known as Team High Road. The new team will be called Team Columbia, and the sponsorship is effectively almost immediately – the riders will be wearing their Team Columbia kit at this year’s Tour de France which begins next month.

The High Road squad has been having a stellar season, so this is no low-profile sponsorship for Columbia Sportswear. Personally, I’d love to see Gert Boyle in the team car at the Tour de France, willing her boys on to victory. Based on what she puts her son through (at least in the Columbia commercials that air around here), she seems like the kind of boss you don’t want to have to apologize to.

For more on the sponsorship announcement, see the High Road team’s press release on their website, and this story in VeloNews.