Could Apple be Jumbo-Visma's sponsorship saviour?

With the Jumbo supermarket chain reportedly keen to draw back their sponsorship, Richard Plugge and the rest of the Jumbo-Visma bosses have been searching for a new lead sponsor. Have they now found one in an unlikely place?

“We are here to stay. We have a plan until 2030,” Plugge recently told Velo, unconcerned by the lack of hard updates to report. After Sepp Kuss completed Jumbo-Visma's Grand Tour hattrick in 2023, Plugge admitted players from the American market were beginning to show an interest.

In an update to his X (Twitter) account, Plugge recently posted a picture of himself, Jumbo-Visma women's team rider Riejanne Markus and the CEO of tech giant Apple, Tim Cook.

"Today Riejanne Markus and me got to meet Apple CEO and cycling fan Tim Cook," Plugges captions the picture. "We talked about our season and the way we use technology in cycling and our Foodcoach app. Next time on the bike!"

With Cook having a reported net worth of 1.9 billion US dollars, money would clearly not be an issue if he were to get involved with Jumbo-Visma. Also, as previously mentioned, given Sepp Kuss' Vuelta a Espana victory - becoming the first American Grand Tour winner in a decade - the time could be right for Apple to get a bite of the potential cycling boom.