The 2026 Tour de France start in Barcelona this Saturday is drawing ever closer, a special moment for bike racing fans everywhere, but particularly those from that city. Even as the lights prepare to go up on the first-ever Grand Départ from the capital of Catalunya, this week there were stark reminders, too, that a sponsorship red alert is flashing ever more ominously for one of Spain's top ProTeams.
Kern Pharma, for seven years the main backer of the team, announced earlier this year that they would be ending their sponsorship. The team's three stage victories in the 2024 Vuelta España are the major sporting achievement of that period, but the team have already racked up six wins this year, most recently a bronze medal in the Spanish National Championships road race thanks to 2024 Vuelta stage winner Urko Berrade.
