Businessman Rolf Hess funds a new British women team: "Having women competing on a professional level is a sign of change in society"
Cycling
Rolf Hess has decided the time is right to invest in sport; in women's cycling, to be exact, where the 68-year-old's intention is to make his eponymous squad the first British team in the Women's World Tour, and which he hopes will consistently win the Tour de France Femmes.
"We believe in women's sport, but not only from commercial point of view, although obviously it's going to be huge," Hess tells BBC Sport. "Women's football has caught up in a never expected way during the last five years - women's sport is on the way up. Having women competing on a professional level is a sign of change in society."
"We didn't buy a team - we are building a team," Hess says. "We feel we need to take care of our riders and invite them to take up studies while they race and create their own personalised consumer product. Under one condition - that they are active on social media," Hess says, highlighting the importance of social media.
"I'm not prepared to be the owner of a team who does exactly same as all the others. You have to see that language, that signature, in the way we conduct the business. My time would be wasted unless we have a unique way of doing things," he concludes.
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