Of the twenty-three teams participating in the Tour this year, six have a sponsor linked to hydrocarbons or the chemical industry. Either by a sponsoring company, such as Total or Ineos, or because they are directly subsidized by a country whose economy is based on the exploitation of fossil resources (Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan). This form of greenwashing is a trend of recent years in the peloton. Oddly, only three teams have a main sponsor linked to the bike (BikeExchange, Trek and Qhubeka).
Team structures can remain the same by changing sponsors over the years. The oldest of the peloton was created in 1980 (Reynolds became Banesto became Savings Bank became Movistar). Four sponsors arrived in 2021 (BikeExchange, DSM, Intermarché, Qhubeka) to finance already existing teams.
The French teams are well established in the landscape, with Cofidis as the oldest main sponsor (since 1996). The two other big French teams, AG2R Citroën and Groupama-FDJ have also existed since the 90s. Particularity of the French teams: they rely mainly on the banking, credit and insurance sectors.
Some sponsors are institutions that indirectly fund some sort of national team. This is the case of the telephone operator Movistar in Spain, the Belgian lottery or the Française des jeux, as was the case for the British Sky. But in recent years, globalization has hit all staff. There is only one mononational team left in the peloton of the Tour 2021: the B&B (even if its full squad includes six foreigners out of twenty-five riders).
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