Trek Bicycle Corporation signed a long-term licensing agreement with Greg LeMond, the 3-time Tour de France champion and the first American to win the Tour—to design, build, and distribute LeMond Racing Cycles. 1995 was also the year Trek opened a state-of-the-art assembly facility in Whitewater, Wisconsin, leaving the Waterloo location free to focus solely on frame production. In 1997, Trek helped sign former world road race champion (1993) Lance Armstrong to the Trek-sponsored United States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. Armstrong won his first Tour de France in 1999 aboard a Trek 5500, becoming the first American to win the Tour on an
Specialized Bicycle Components ASI and the Canadian shop owner was resolved in December 2013, and Specialized vowed to be more cautious in its pursuit of trademark violators going forward. In 2014, Specialized forced bicycle builder Neil Pryde to change the name of their Alize bike model. Many riders in recent years have used Specialized bicycles in the North American and European professional cycling circuits. In 2016, the professional road teams sponsored by Specialized are Etixx–Quick-Step, Astana Pro Team, Tinkoff, Boels–Dolmans and Axeon–Hagens Berman. Mountain bike riders sponsored by Specialized include the downhill world champion Loïc Bruni, who rides for the Specialized Gravity Team,