Team High Road will start the Tour de France in a new uniform featuring the U.S.-based team's new title sponsor: Columbia Sportswear Company.

High Road Sports, Inc., the team’s owner, announced the deal Monday. The team will don its new kit at the start of the Tour on July 5.

“We’re very pleased to welcome Columbia to Team High Road and to cycling,” said Bob Stapleton, High Road’s owner. “This is a positive sign for the sport itself.”

Stapleton said the sponsorship agreement, which runs through 2010 and includes both the men’s and women’s professional teams, has its roots in a 2005 conversation he had with the company about sponsoring the women’s team he ran at the time. Then, Stapleton had recently sold his company VoiceStream Wireless, a Northwest-based company, and was familiar with people inside Columbia, an international company based in Portland, Oregon.

“I really didn’t intend to start looking [for a title sponsor for High Road] until after the Tour,” Stapleton said. “I was looking for someone whose brand would fit with this outdoor active brand image that I think cycling can deliver. We casually approached them, we had good connections to the company. It was a little bit of luck, having some visibly in front of the company. It was just a good fit.”

For its part, Columbia, a $1.5 billion company, is looking to expand its reach in Europe and grow its outdoor brand into more technical products. With operations in 70 countries, the majority of the company’s 4,000 employees are already based outside the United States. Columbia has offices in France and Switzerland.

“Columbia Sportswear Company’s sponsorship of Team Columbia provides an ideal opportunity to elevate the positioning of Columbia in multiple European markets by communicating our authentic, outdoor, active, American brand to our target demographic,” said Tim Boyle, president and chief executive officer of Columbia Sportswear Company. “By sponsoring one of the top men’s and women’s cycling teams in the world, we leverage the international popularity and broad media reach of the cycling sport among enthusiast and recreational audiences, promote Columbia’s outdoor brand leadership in Europe and the U.S., and support our seasonal product initiatives, such as Omni-Shade apparel and accessories for sun protection.”

When T-Mobile ended its contract with the team, the German telecommunications giant bought out the remainder of its title sponsorship agreement with High Road. The Columbia deal does not negate that deal, Stapleton said. Additionally, Stapleton said he has the option to add other sponsors.

“I can’t tell you ultimately how much Columbia will be paying of the total,” he said. “They are no doubt a primary and major funder of the team. But I have the flexibility to layer in other sponsors over time. I think this is the start of good things.”

While the words High Road will no longer be the primary logo of the team, Stapleton said the name won’t be pulled entirely.

“You’ll still see High Road,” he said. “It’s my company, and I never intended to build a brand out of it, but I’m kind of fond of seeing it on the jersey.

With the Tour rapidly approaching, High Road management is hustling to overhaul the graphics on the team’s clothing and vehicles.

“We signed this agreement last week,” Stapleton said. “And we’re manufacturing new kits for the team starting tomorrow. It was all a whirlwind. We had a meeting of the minds, and now we’re literally off to the races.”