Sustainable cycling – How Team dsm-firmenich is a forerunner in the progression of sustainable sport

Sustainability is a word that is quite rightly heard more frequently across the globe – by businesses both small and large, and ever increasingly is becoming a focus of sports teams worldwide – but what exactly is “sustainability”?

According to the United Nations Bruntland Commission in 1987, they defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” A whole plethora of Sustainable Development Goals, 17 in total, are listed by the UN; from things such as “no poverty”, to “affordable and clean energy”, to “sustainable cities and communities.”

Team dsm-firmenich: a pioneer for change 

Of course, not all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the UN are applicable or possible to achieve as a professional cycling team, but at Team dsm-firmenich the objectives of health, sustainability and inclusivity have been close to our heart since the team’s inception in 2008.

The bike is naturally a symbol for a healthy lifestyle, for sustainability, and our Keep Challenging approach, performed by the collective of a team is a great symbol for inclusivity. Inclusivity is at the very centre of this approach, underlining the strong team culture which we captivate by ‘truly together’; truly committing to and empowering each other.

To zoom in, throughout the years the team has focused on a variety of initiatives to progress towards achieving its sustainability goals, and this has only increased since dsm-firmenich (previously Royal DSM) became a title partner of the team. As a company formed out of two global sustainability leaders (DSM and Firmenich), dsm-firmenich is determined to keep growing their positive impact on the wider world, and bring progress to life for the good of people, climate and nature.

Ground-breaking, literally

Cycling is a sport that sees teams travel to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world which provide incredible natural amphitheatres and cauldrons of noise that echo throughout the valleys, as adoring fans cheer for their heroes at the roadside. It is no surprise then that wanting to do our best to maintain and sustain a “greener world” is a goal that is close to the heart of the team.

Since 2010, the team has been a proud of ambassador of the not-for-profit charity Trees for All, Team dsm-firmenich’s head of operations Marloes Poelman explains:

“We’ve been an ambassador of Trees for All for more than ten years. We now give them a yearly contribution with which they plant trees in in Limburg, the Netherlands, close to our Aqua-Step Keep Challenging Center, where part of our operation takes place – in the past, they have been planted all across the world. This way we contribute towards a greener world.”

Every year, a handful of riders and staff from the team head to the site in Limburg to check up on the growth of the wooded area, but also to break ground themselves and plant even more new trees to help create environments that nature can flourish in over time.

More than just words – sustainable solutions in action

As a team we also undertake several other initiatives alongside partners and of our own accord too, to be as sustainable as possible. From an operational perspective, Poelman continues:

“We travel to countries all over Europe and throughout the world, so flights and car journeys account for the largest share of our pollutant emissions. As mentioned, we contribute towards those emissions with Trees for All, but we also try to be as smart as possible when coordinating our logistics by optimising and limiting our flight movements, and where possible have staff travel to races via other means such as car-sharing or taking public transport.”

Sustainability was also at the forefront of the team’s consideration when constructing the new service course and headquarters building which opened in 2019. On the roof you will find roughly 270 square metres of solar panels, the building itself is gas free, and sustainable materials were also used in the construction. Furthermore, there are charging stations at the front of the building to support staff, partners or any other visitors who use electric vehicles to visit or travel to work.

We also have co-initiatives and help from our wonderful partners, so that we can progress towards reaching our sustainability goals. Team dsm-firmenich’s head of commerce Jente Rijpstra explains more:

“Next to the sustainable innovations and solutions from our title partner dsm-firmenich, we also have other projects that we are involved with together with our partners. For example, we are working alongside Elite to produce a more sustainable bottle that is made from recycled plastics. At the Grand Tours we use Auping’s Evolve Mattress which is circular, meaning that the mattress is returned to Auping at the end of its life cycle and is 100 percent recycled. We also work closely with our partner Weldtite who are working to develop bike care products which use greener materials without compromising on performance. Furthermore, as an international team we also utilise Webex and their platform which allows us to collaborate daily, without the need to travel for in-person meetings.”

More than a fleeting moment

As a team we want to be at the forefront of making the sport more sustainable and an important part of that is our fleet of vehicles. We are one of the first teams in the peloton that has experimented with electric vehicles as part of their fleet in recent years, and this season we have increased our usage even more with two electric vehicles out on the road.

In fact, we recently took our first win as a team with our Volvo XC40 Recharge as the in-race team car of the race coach at the Omloop der Kempen. It’s not just been one day races that the team has used the electric vehicle as a support car, as we’ve used it at the ZLM Tour, Criterium du Dauphine and the Tour de Suisse to name a few – the latter of which it was the in-race team car of the race coach once again. Even more excitingly, it has now arrived in Bilbao where we will use it at the Tour de France – a significant moment for us as a team.

Having an electric car does come with its challenges, particularly in our sport, as the distance of cycling races can often be around 200 kilometres in length and when a long transfer of well over 200 kilometres to both the start and finish is incorporated, plus other various factors such as terrain, weather, passenger and luggage load, then the range of up to 565 kilometres (tested by Volvo in controlled conditions) could potentially be limiting. We caught up with Team dsm-firmenich coach Luke Roberts, who was the driver of the in-race team car at the recent Tour de Suisse, to find out how the car performed and any challenges we faced:

“The range of the vehicle can be quite tight when we have a longer transfer to the start and then finish, if the stage is longer itself. We found that on three quarters of the days we could manage quite easily, when we looked to a transfer of around one hour to the start and the same again to the finish, and with a stage of under 200 kilometres – we could do quite easily with a fully charged battery in the morning of the race. On more challenging days with a longer stage or transfer, then we would plan for the car to leave early and charge near the parking at the start, then we would manage the day easily. Interestingly, we also found that the range on the mountain stages was longer than expected, because we would naturally be driving slowly up the mountains behind the peloton, and then the battery could recharge somewhat on the descents where you used little or no power.”

Roberts continued: “Finding charging stations in Switzerland was straightforward too as most hotels had them in their car parks and if not then we often found them just a few kilometres away with the Shell Recharge app, but of course this can be a challenge in more remote regions or countries that don’t have as good an infrastructure for these things. In general, you obviously work a bit differently than with a vehicle that runs on fuel, but those challenges can be overcome with a well-thought-out logistical plan, for us to then be able to use it in a race in normal circumstances.”

Within the next two to three years, Team dsm-firmenich’s goal is to operate with a fully electric fleet of vehicles. But it is clear that there are still challenges to overcome.

Latest technologies as we pursue net zero
Sustainability is an important value for our title-partner dsm-firmenich and something that they reflect in their partnership with us. Thanks to the encouragement and support of dsm-firmenich, Shell will deploy their expertise and technology to us to help us move towards becoming a net-zero operation. As part of a greener world and to run a highly modern operation we are working on several projects.

Some of our joint projects include:

Telematic analysis – Telemetry devices were placed in both our Volvo’s XC40 Recharge as well as in our Volvo’s with a combustion engine in a wide range of Men, Women and Development races to record all of our movements and what this requires in terms of energy if we are to gradually move our entire fleet of team cars to electric cars. Shell is now analysing the data, with which they will provide ideal logistical plans to allow us with our fleet of electric team cars to perform our race operations in every part of Europe, while being charged in a timely manner.

Shell Recharge – Supporting us with access to around 300,000 recharge stations across Europe, as well as the installation of more charging points at Team dsm-firmenich’s office.

Renewable diesel – Shell Renewable Diesel is an alternative to the current diesel that we use. With Shell Renewable Diesel we are able to reduce our CO₂ emission to up to 90% compared to regular diesel. Over time this will become the new standard in the team’s trucks, buses, and campers, until electrification or hydrogen becomes a feasible zero-emission alternative there too.

Changing now, so we can impact the future

Fully focused on high-performance – and thus on exercise, on health, on rest, on mental wellbeing and on true cooperation with team members – to race our bikes often through the most amazing landscapes, we at Team dsm-firmenich wish to be a real inspiration for a healthy lifestyle, sustainability and inclusivity.

Climate change is a very real issue and is one that has been growing over time as the population increases and industrial expansion grows throughout the planet. With this increased globalisation of life, our rather large world can now feel quite small at times, but it is up to us all to do what we can to minimise our impact on climate change, and ultimately each other.

We know that change needs to happen now, but it doesn’t happen overnight, and things take time to be fully implemented. As a team, and wider population, we need to utilise the expertise of big companies such as dsm-firmenich, Volvo, Shell and so on to allow us to then make the steps towards the right thing to do.

We are aware as a professional cycling team that we are in a very privileged position to have the luxury to race all over the world, enjoy stunning landscapes and embrace beautiful cultures wherever we go; and we are also aware of the double-edged sword of us doing just that – because of the impact that our sport has.

It’s somewhat ironic that the bike is one of the cleanest and most sustainable modes of transport, yet the “peloton circus” and all that surrounds it is not. Therefore, as Team dsm-firmenich, we feel it is only right to try our best with all the various innovations and great partnerships that we have, to continue to set the standard in the world of cycling so that together we can all make steps in the right direction, and we can all continue to love and enjoy this incredible sport for many years to come.