McLaren is pulling out of headline sponsorship at Bahrain-McLaren, team confirms 

McLaren is pulling out of Bahrain-McLaren at the end of 2020, after just one season in cycling.

The British supercar maker and Formula One team joined as headline sponsor of the WorldTour team at the start of 2020, but will now return its focus to motorsport. 

McLaren came on board at the start of the season with the aim of "developing the human performance and technology aspects" of the cycling team, while also increasing the British influence in the Bahrain-sponsored outfit with the involvement of Rod Ellingworth and Mark Cavendish. 

But after just one season, McLaren is pulling out of cycling to focus on motorsport after 2020 was a hugely uncertain year due to coronavirus.

A statement from Bahrain-McLaren, released on Wednesday (August 26), said: “Bahrain World Tour Cycling Team and McLaren, the British super car maker and F1 team, today confirm that McLaren will conclude its title partnership of Team Bahrain McLaren at the end of the 2020 season.”

Bahrain-McLaren has looked like a reinvigorated team under Ellingworth, starting the season with two stage wins and the overall at the Saudi Tour and a stage of Paris-Nice. 

Now the outfit is now heading into the Tour de France with a general classification focus, with Mikel Landa leading the squad. 

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The team’s statement continued: “Team Bahrain McLaren has worked together with the team’s partners to maintain the team at the top level of pro cycling – both on and off the bike. The distinctive Team Bahrain McLaren colours have been ridden to a number of memorable victories so far in this Covid-19 interrupted season, including at the Saudi Tour, Paris-Nice, Circuito de Getxo and Route d’Occitanie. The team thanks McLaren for its contribution to the partnership, and wishes it well as it returns its focus to four wheeled racing.”