Bianchi Pro Triathlon Team: BMC Era Ends
The most recognisable long-distance triathlon team in the sport is changing colours. After years under the Swiss BMC brand, the team rides into 2026 as the Bianchi Pro Triathlon Team, with an Italian frame, fresh contracts and a loud debutant on the start list.
What happened
Bianchi joins as title sponsor and bike partner, with the agreement running through the 2028 season. The Treviglio-based brand is supplying the team with its triathlon-optimised time-trial model, the Aquila. The Italian apparel brand Alé signed a parallel two-year deal (2026 to 2027) for team kit, extending a partnership that began back in the BMC era.
This is a full restart, not a sticker change: new logo, new identity, new communication approach. BMC steps back from the top of long-distance triathlon after 12 seasons, in which the team built its name through riders like Bart Aernouts, Cameron Wurf and Patrik Nilsson. Bianchi, a road-cycling brand with a long tradition, is moving into a discipline where aerodynamics, frame stiffness and IRONMAN courses matter most.
The 2026 roster: six riders, five countries
The new season’s roster is compact, just six names, smaller than the BMC-era squad but built around specific goals:
- Daisy Davies (UK): 2025 European long-distance champion, and the same year winner of IRONMAN South Africa and Challenge Almere, her full-distance debut. She is 23.
- Finn Grosse-Freese (GER): a team debutant who won IRONMAN Klagenfurt (7:52:55) and IRONMAN Copenhagen in 2025, and a candidate to lead the men’s line-up.
- Miguel Hidalgo (BRA): runner-up in the 2025 WTCS overall standings behind Matt Hauser, the first Brazilian to win a WTCS medal after taking WTCS Alghero on his series debut. The same year he won IRONMAN 70.3 Brasilia on his middle-distance debut.
- Antonio Benito Lopez (ESP): 2024 World Triathlon long-distance world champion, European middle-distance champion, and winner of IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz 2024, a specialist across middle and long distance.
- Laura Madsen (DEN): won IM 70.3 Valencia, IM 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne and Challenge Samarkand in 2024, plus second place at The Championship Samorin.
- Cameron Main (UK): won IRONMAN Western Australia 2025 on his full-distance debut (7:38:26) and already holds a slot for the 2026 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.
Thor Bendix Madsen, Clément Mignon, Sam Dickinson and Lucy Byram have left the team, their contracts expiring at the end of the 2025 season.
What it means for long-distance triathlon
Bianchi is a name synonymous with road racing and tradition in cycling. The move into triathlon is deliberate: the brand wants a presence where aero bikes, time-trial wheels and TT helmets sell, not just classic road bikes. For its full range, the Bianchi Aquila now gets real, multi-hour race-day testing.
From a fan’s perspective, the team pairs a clear group of young talent (Davies, Main, Grosse-Freese) with one WTCS-calibre athlete in Hidalgo, capable of targeting both Kona and T100. It is a more diversified line-up than BMC ran in its final seasons.
What to expect in the 2026 season
The first races under the new banner are just the warm-up. The most interesting test comes at Kona: whether Cameron Main can repeat his Western Australia form against Blummenfelt, Iden and Sanders in Hawaii. The second question is whether Hidalgo keeps a WTCS schedule running alongside 70.3 starts, since his swim and weight profile suits both series.
The change of colours is a reminder that a fully backed long-distance team is now a rarity. Most PRO athletes race individually, without a support system behind them. Bianchi is stepping into the niche BMC built over more than a decade, and doing it with a longer contract, through 2028, than most of the competition.
Read next: Flash News: Kona Rehearsal in Texas, Lanzarote Era Ends. Racelify lists the race calendar, each with a link to the organiser.