Fabian Cancellara has announced a partnership with watch brand "Tudor" to create a Swiss professional cycling team for 2023.

Cancellara, a former world time trial champion and classics winner, will be the team owner and will oversee the Swiss Racing Academy, which already races at the continental level. He announced the team hours before the start of the Tour de Romandie.

The team will be known as the Tudor Pro Cycling Team and will race in the new black jersey at the U23 Paris-Roubaix starting May 15. The team will continue to ride BMC bikes, and the development team will remain in 2023 as a structure to scout and train the next generation of Swiss riders.

"Today we announce that we will have a Swiss cycling team in 2023," Cancellara explained in an interview with Cycling News.

"I was already the leader of the Swiss Racing Academy. Next year I will change the name of the team and bring back the Swiss team in the pro peloton."

"I am very happy to announce that I am going to be a member of the Swiss Racing Academy.

Since Team BMC Racing became Team CCC in 2019, the peloton has not had the dominance of a Swiss WorldTour or pro team, which Cancellara believes is a great loss for the country's cycling tradition. The new team intends to register as a professional team in 2023, with the goal of "qualifying for the most famous and prestigious races in the world by the 2024 season."

The best pro teams will be automatically invited to the Grand Tour and the World Tour Classic, while other teams will be invited as wild cards.

"Switzerland needs a cycling team. "The success we have had, especially in the last few years, is fantastic. What the Swiss Federation has done, and the whole system in general, has progressed."

"Everything is needed in Switzerland.

"Everything starts with the base. If you don't work on the base, you can't build a pyramid. For me personally, it's a big sunny day. It's also a big day for Swiss cycling."

Cancellara explained that he will be the owner of the team, but will not take an active role as sport director or manager.

"I am not a trainer, I am not a sporting director. So my role will be owner," Cancellara said. [The experience of the last few years, in my own company and in teaching at the Swiss Racing Academy, makes this role a good fit for me."