Press

The German cycling accessories specialist is beefing up its brand ambassador team. Effective immediately, Marcel Kittel will join Karl Platt, Anne Terpstra, and Salim Kipkemboi to guide the brand into the future.

Neustadt an der Weinstraße, 16 April 2021 – Marcel Kittel, winner of 14 Tour de France stages, is joining the SIGMA brand ambassador team. “We are excited to have Marcel Kittel with us. His passion for biking fits perfectly with what we do,” says Thomas Seifert, SIGMA’s managing director. “He stands for all the things we love about cycling: freedom, security, sustainability, and the joy of biking. Marcel’s likeable, open manner makes him the perfect SIGMA brand ambassador and will enable us to reach an even broader segment of the public.”

“Biking is the greatest hobby in the world”
His long professional cycling career (19 grand tour stage victories and many cycle race successes all over the world) has won Kittel a place in the heart of the cycling community. Kittel, who was born in Thuringia, Germany, finished his professional career in 2019. But biking remains an important part of his life.
“Now that my career is over, cycling means more to me than just riding around on a racing bike. Biking is the greatest hobby in the world. You’re outside, you get to spend time on your bike with friends or family, and you can leave the daily grind behind,” he says.
Over the next several years, he will support the SIGMA brand with his cycling expertise and represent the brand in public. “I want to work with SIGMA to motivate people to exercise more and enjoy cycling,” Kittel says. “I have spent half of my life on a bicycle in road traffic, and those years have given me the impression that things out there are getting rougher. That is why it is very important to address bike safety. That is the issue I want to join SIGMA in tackling.”
The cycling pro considers good, reliable equipment to be an integral part of cycling. “What I like about SIGMA is that it gives everyone access to cycling with high-performance, affordable products that give bikers great support in daily bike use and in training. To me, that spells a great foundation for a successful partnership, and I am looking forward to many joint projects.”

The ladies step up: Anne Terpstra
Anne Terpstra, the Dutch cross-country specialist, has been a SIGMA brand ambassador for six years. At 30 years of age, she is a starter for the GHOST Factory Racing Team and one of the most successful mountain bikers in the world. “I am looking forward to closer cooperation with SIGMA. In my daily
routine and in training, I benefit from the good, reliable products and fully support the values the brand represents. That is important to me not only as an athlete, but as a person. I can count on SIGMA products, and I recommend them to recreational athletes. They make it even easier to get on your bike and enjoy cycling and experience it as a break from your routine.”

A fixture in the SIGMA family: Karl Platt
German biker Karl Platt has been a SIGMA brand ambassador for 14 years. The five-time Cape Epic winner has become a fixture in mountain biking. He lives with his family very near the SIGMA headquarters and rides his favourite trails in the Palatinate Forest almost every day. But that is not the only reason he feels close ties to SIGMA: “To me, SIGMA represents the original. It has shaped the bicycle computer market for almost 40 years. My very first bike computer was a wired SIGMA speedometer which served me for many years,” says Platt, who is 42.
Platt has ended his professional career, but remains active in cycling: He races the Masters and can now spend even more time collaborating with SIGMA. “As a brand ambassador, I want to actively promote the SIGMA brand,” says Platt, whose nickname in the cycling community is “King Karl”. “I have done a lot of cycling in my day and have lots of ideas for how we can improve biking for pros and amateurs. I am looking forward to integrating those ideas into new SIGMA products.”

Exceptional talent: Salim Kipkemboi
The brand ambassador team is rounded off by 22-year-old Salim Kipkemboi. He has been on the German UCI Continental Bike Aid Team for four years and has already achieved a great deal. In 2018, he became the first Kenyan to win an international bike race. “For me, cycling is absolute freedom, not just on the bike,” Kipkemboi says. “Professional cycling changed my life completely. I can travel the world, I can support my family, and I can engineer my own future.”
As a member of the Bike Aid Team, Kipkemboi enjoys the freedom of ideal training and pro races all over the world. “It’s great to be a SIGMA brand ambassador. SIGMA stands for the joy and freedom of cycling. This fits very well with me and my story.”
Kipkemboi will soon get a look behind the scenes at SIGMA. In the next few months, he will participate in a number of workshops at the SIGMA headquarters which will familiarise him with the work processes there.
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