Make Your Move
The world's best cyclists, the world's fastest bikes, and the world's biggest cycling event
The challenge
In the high-stakes run-up to the 2023 Tour de France, Cervélo needed a campaign worthy of their partnership with the sport’s most dominant team—Team Jumbo-Visma (now Team Visma Lease a Bike).
The goal: celebrate the relationship between Cervélo’s cutting-edge bike design and Jumbo-Visma’s all-star roster—featuring Wout van Aert, Jonas Vingegaard, and Marianne Vos—while proving that Cervélo has the fastest bike for every type of rider and discipline.
But with limited access to athletes in peak training mode and no time for a large-scale shoot, we needed a bold concept and a razor-sharp execution plan to bring it all to life.
The insight
Cycling fans love performance, but they also love seeing their favourite athletes in unexpected situations. When you pull them out of the race and into something more conceptual, it reveals a new side of their personality and makes them more relatable.
At the same time, Grand Tour racing is about much more than strength—it’s a mental game, a team effort, a three-week chess match on two wheels. That strategic dimension deserved to be at the heart of the story.
The game plan
So, we brought the metaphor to life.
We developed a campaign concept that played on the parallel between road cycling and chess, with riders acting as key pieces on the board and Cervélo supplying the tools to make the winning move.
Wout van Aert, the ultimate all-rounder, led the charge, bringing calm intensity and sharp focus to a film that visualised strategy and precision engineering in action.
Bringing it to life
We took a strategy-first approach, investing in detailed pre-production to map out every beat of the film. Our team created a near shot-for-shot test edit in-house using placeholder footage, providing Cervélo with a clear view of the creative concept before the shoot.
With filming split across two locations and athlete access measured in minutes, we kept things lean and efficient, backed by a tight plan, experienced crew, and a clear vision. Showing the test edit on set helped get athlete buy-in fast, resulting in natural, confident performances from Wout and his teammates.
From creative ideation to final delivery, everything was managed in-house—including filming, post, sound design, and finishing—ensuring a consistent tone and high-end finish.
The results
60-second hero film shared across Cervélo, Jumbo-Visma, and athlete channels
30-second TV spot broadcast during the 2023 Tour de France
A standout campaign that connected the precision of Cervélo bikes with the mental game of Grand Tour racing
Delivered under intense time constraints, with high-profile athletes, across multiple locations, with no compromise on impact
