After a year-long absence, Campagnolo makes a significant comeback to the UCI WorldTour in 2025 through its partnership with Team Cofidis. This iconic Italian component manufacturer, which was notably absent from the pro peloton in 2024 after its deal with Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale concluded at the end of 2023, now has a new four-year deal with the French program. This ensures that Campagnolo's parts will be raced at the sport's highest level at least through the 2025 season, with the contract running until 2028.

Campagnolo's Resurgence in Top-Tier Road Racing

The Component Details

Campagnolo's partnership with Cofidis equips team bikes with the full Campagnolo ecosystem. The brand's Bora Ultra WTO wheels are part of this setup, and premium-level Super Record Wireless components are provided for Team Cofidis' Look road bikes. The squad's time trial bikes are outfitted with previous-generation Super Record EPS parts, which, although 12-speed, are not a fully wireless system like the SWR parts. In the photography provided by Campagnolo and Team Cofidis, we see the team bikes featuring 54/39T chainrings, larger than those currently offered on Super Record Wireless cranksets. For consumers, the largest size ring available on SRW cranks is currently a 50/34T combo. However, given the speed of the modern WorldTour peloton, a 50-tooth ring is not sufficient for top pros. Cofidis will likely use chainrings from the Super Record S Wireless group, which are offered in the 54/39T pairing shown in the photos.

Cofidis team bikes are equipped with larger chainrings than available on current Super Record Wireless cranksets, highlighting the specific requirements of top-level racing.

This showcases Campagnolo's commitment to providing the right components for the most demanding competitions.

A Four-Year Deal…But

While Campy's agreement with Team Cofidis runs through 2028, there is a realistic chance the team will be demoted from the WorldTour in the 2026 relegation/promotion cycle instituted by the UCI. The system ranks teams based on their UCI points hauls from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 seasons. As of this writing, Cofidis is ranked 20th with 7,889.8 points. They must pass Arkéa-B&B Hotels (8,735 points) and Uno-X Mobility (8,938.7 points) to move to 18th and remain in the WorldTour. It is an achievable but difficult goal.

The uncertainty surrounding the team's future in the WorldTour adds an element of excitement and anticipation to this partnership.

It will be interesting to see how Campagnolo navigates this potential challenge and continues to thrive.

Our Analysis

For Campagnolo and its loyal fans, the brand's return to top-tier road racing is excellent news. Racing is the reason for Campagnolo's existence, as an idea that sprang from the heat of competition inspired Tullio Campagnolo to found his eponymous company. The sponsorship also allows Campagnolo to return to its golden rule of proving products in competition before being sold to the public. A top-level team racing and training on Campy's components for four years will surely benefit the brand's product development.

This partnership provides a unique opportunity for Campagnolo to showcase its capabilities and improve its products.

The testing and feedback from a top team can lead to significant advancements in Campagnolo's technology.

A patent application published on October 24, 2024, shows Campagnolo's ideas for a redesigned shift lever, including a return of its iconic thumb shifter. This gives hope that we'll see some new and unreleased prototypes surface at upcoming team camps and early-season races.

Campagnolo thrives most when challenged to make the best products for the world's most demanding competition. Everyone at Campagnolo will be very motivated to prove its capabilities on this visible stage.

While we do not think Super Record Wireless—in its current form—meets the performance standards set by SRAM's Red AXS or Shimano's Dura-Ace Di2 groups, SRW hasn't seen much race-day testing. It only saw minimal use under the Ag2r-Citroën team in 2023, the last year Campagnolo was in the pro peloton. And if anyone demands improved performance from a component group, it is a pro cycling team.

We are curious to see if and how Campagnolo may roll out component changes when the team starts using the parts in competition. In the immediate future, we expect firmware changes to address some shifting speed and smoothness issues we experienced in our test riding. However, the ergonomics of the shift buttons and the brake feel will take longer to address.

Ultimately, only time will tell what direction Campagnolo takes the Super Record Wireless group. Signing a WorldTour team is an important step in the right direction for the iconic brand to regain some of its flagging reputation and product performance.