2011 Tour of Qinghai Lake (2.HC) 1st July - 10th July

[Ryo Hazuki]

they screwed uci by bankgarantiees which were fake, the team still exists though with cannondale as sponsor, instead of scott, not as big as they used to be.

 

[Fus087]

tpt have incredible budget so that's not the problem.

Any idea how much?

 

[Michele]

Last stage's gallery.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

they screwed uci by bankgarantiees which were fake, the team still exists though with cannondale as sponsor, instead of scott, not as big as they used to be.

That's the São José dos Campos team, right? Marcondés César as sponsors switched to Funvic, the 'other' big Brazilian team (who for my money are better anyway).

 

[Libertine Seguros]

How on earth did Scott-Marcondés César ever get a Pro Continental licence? At least that CEP actually race in Europe and they get invites to WorldTour events like the Volta Catalunya and hopefully in the next year or two they are given a wildcard for the Giro or Vuelta. Hey if Skil Shimano can get a ride...

I think the idea was partly that they would be able to do more South American races outside of their home country (a lot of the teams and scenes are pretty self-sufficient), and they did get to do quite a lot of races in Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and elsewhere. But of course they didn't need ProConti for that, just Conti.

I think there may have been a level of putting in the money predicated on getting the invites, and the invites simply weren't forthcoming, as they had some pretty good riders like Medici, Chamorro and Giacinti, but none with any name value outside South America, and they couldn't afford to do long bouts of travelling without enough races to justify it (as opposed to how EPM got a veritable mini-calendar with Rioja, Castilla y León and Asturias, and CEP of course got more with eg Catalunya). Maybe they were hoping for a Volta a Portugal show after Barbot did some Brazilian races in 2009, and as until last year it was .HC they needed ProConti to do it (or thought they did), but by the time August rolled around their funds had been exposed.