12th November 2026 - Team AMANI today announced that longtime partner Factor will become a title sponsor from 2027 under a three-year agreement. The team will race as Team AMANI Factor Racing, taking the next step toward its goal of reaching the start line of the 2028 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
For Factor founder Rob Gitelis, the decision is personal. He sees AMANI as a team capable of reaching the highest level of women’s racing, and as a project that can change what is possible for the riders themselves. Bringing Team AMANI under the Factor Racing umbrella reflects that belief: the team will be treated as a performance programme alongside Factor’s other elite racing partnerships, with the same long-term ambition.
Factor’s relationship with Team AMANI is already well established. By 2025, the brand was in its fourth year as the team’s bike sponsor, marking the relationship with AMANI editions of its OSTRO VAM and OSTRO Gravel frames. Its move into title sponsorship builds on that longstanding relationship and strengthens its commitment as the team works toward its 2028 ambition.
The partnership will cover the women’s Continental road programme, the international off-road programme and the Black Mamba Development Squad, with Factor frames and Black Inc wheels included in the agreement.
The expanded partnership brings together AMANI’s commitment to creating opportunities for East African riders and Factor’s experience in developing equipment for elite racing. Factor and Black Inc design, prototypes and manufacture their frames, wheels, and components in-house, with engineering informed by CFD development, wind tunnel testing and professional race feedback. That rider feedback forms the backbone of the Factor Racing loop, which encourages the open communication between riders and Factor engineers that materially impacts and improves Factor and Black Inc products.
What has impressed me most about Factor is that when they say they’re going to do something, they do it. Every commitment they’ve made to this team over the past four years has been planned carefully and delivered in full. That’s rare in this world, and it’s exactly what a team like ours needs. Taking on title sponsorship is the biggest step yet, and I trust it completely because I’ve seen how Factor works. We have a clear goal for 2028, and the right partner to help us get there.Mikel Delagrange - Founder Team AMANI
Of everything we’re doing in racing, AMANI is the project I feel most personally invested in. We’re back in the men’s WorldTour and expanding our racing programme, which is exciting, but I want to devote real time and resources to this over the next three years. I believe this team can compete at the sharp end of the Women’s WorldTour with the right support, experience and time. And beyond racing, I believe the opportunities that creates can change the lives of the women involved. That’s why AMANI belongs within Factor Racing. We see this as a performance project, and we have to back it with the same seriousness as any other team we support.Rob Gitelis, Founder of Factor Bikes
Team AMANI is a competitive cycling project rooted in East Africa, working to level the playing field by giving African riders access to elite competition, resources and visibility. Its programmes span women’s road racing, international off-road competition and rider development through the Black Mamba Development Squad. The project connects emerging talent with opportunities to compete on the international stage.
Factor Bikes is a high-performance bicycle manufacturer and engineering-first brand, building the fastest UCI-legal racing bikes in the world. Founded by former professional cyclist and carbon-engineering pioneer, Rob Gitelis, Factor designs, prototypes, and manufactures its frames in-house, enabling unmatched speed of innovation and uncompromising control over performance.
Black Inc is a performance wheel and component manufacturer known for producing some of the world’s most aerodynamically advanced and structurally precise systems. Developing all its products in-house, Black Inc uses CFD, FEA, prototyping, and real-world validation with WorldTour athletes to deliver class-leading aerodynamic efficiency, stiffness-to-weight performance, and race-proven integration for riders who demand the fastest equipment possible.
