Merida Europe GmbH will provide its bikes to a UCI World Tour team for the first time beginning Jan. 1, 2013. The successfully established UCI Pro Team Lampre have agreed to ride Merida’s high-end equipment for the next three seasons and to compete under the official name “Team Lampre-Merida”.
Taiwan’s second-largest bicycle manufacturer has been supporting one of the world’s most successful mountain bike racing teams since 2004, the Multivan Merida biking team. Entering the UCI World Tour will showcase the brand’s premium road products.
As per 2013, the new Team Lampre-Merida will be competing on state-of-the-art equipment: The Scultura SL is setting benchmarks in terms of stiffness, agility and vertical compliance, thus making sure that Team Lampre-Merida can participate not only at big races such as the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta a Espana and the Tour de France with legitimate aspirations.
Merida is the private brand of Merida Industry Co., Ltd, Taiwan’s second-largest bicycle manufacturer. The company was founded in 1972 by Ike D.H. Tseng in Yuanlin, Taiwan. After the founder’s death in January 2012, his son Michael Tseng took over. At its three production facilities in Yuanlin, Shenzen and Shandong (the latter two based in the People’s Republic of China), about 3,500 employees produce about 2.5 million bicycles per year that are being distributed in 70 countries around the world. Merida’s world-wide workforce totals about 52,000 people. Merida has been participating in international competitions since 2004 with great success with the “Mutlivan Merida biking team”, a team that has Olympic and World champions in its line-up with riders such as Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesja, Ralph Näf and José Hermida.