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Re: Cannondale-Drapac

Just saw the information that Bettiol joins BMC. I'm sad. I thought he was one of the guys that Cannondale had a good chance to stick with. He was making a good progress, there was a niche in which he had an undisputed leadership in the team (those which require both rolling/sprinting and punchuer's ability) and generally seemed to be positive about the team.

Now with Formolo and Villella being rumoured to join other teams as well and Uran also receiving some interest, it might turn out to be a bad transfer period for the Slipstream team. Just when there are rumours that they are about to increase their budget. Ironic, how they have been able not to lose the quality of their roster over years despite tiny budget but they're now at risk of losing it when things are rumoured to get better financially.
But we'll see. I had thought that 2015-->2016 transfer period was going to be very painful for Cannondale, but Vaughters managed to sign riders like Uran, Rolland and Clarke out of nowhere (they were rumoured to join other teams, then bang, there's a confirmation that they join Cannondale) and I hope something like this happens this year too.

And I've realised there is a general trend over years that they come quite good in 2nd part of the summer. This year it seems to be the case again, with riders like Wippert and Slagter (shame he was involved in crash yesterday in Poland) suddenly being able to compete at a WT level out of nowhere.
 
Re: Cannondale-Drapac

biketheroad said:
If the existing sponsors are staying, what's the additional $7M for in 2018 ?

New sponsor pulled out. Ellis has been underwriting the loses for some time now. Sounds like he can no longer do that.

Outside of Sky, QuickStep & MoviStar, cycling teams are run by oil rich nations (Astana, UAE) or wealthy individuals (BMC, Cannodnale). French teams will always remain. If you can't get revenue from TV rights then you beholden to your backer. Cycling needs a way that teams can fund themselves.
 
For what it is worth I understand four other teams are hanging on by a thread with enough for 2018 but 2019 is not clear. The budgets for the french pro-conti teams is much lower than the WT teams - so it is not easy to think someone is waiting in the wings.

Ultimately the ASO problem is coming home to roost in the next couple of years.
 
Re:

nedhill said:
For what it is worth I understand four other teams are hanging on by a thread with enough for 2018 but 2019 is not clear. The budgets for the french pro-conti teams is much lower than the WT teams - so it is not easy to think someone is waiting in the wings.

Ultimately the ASO problem is coming home to roost in the next couple of years.

Yep. What seems to be widening is the gap between cost to field a full team and actual growth of the sport. Sure the big races draw lots of fans live, but outside of the GTs and a few classics who really cares about the tours of (insert developing or Scandinavian country here) or the Three Days of Semi-Obscure Walloonian Region? Yet the pro tour teams still send squads to those races.

Re Cannondale: I'm not a Vaughters hater. He's been hustling for sponsorship since he started the team and he clearly loves the sport. He's put himself out there and on the spot and gotten a lot of blowback (some completely justified) while others stay in the shadows with a "see no evil, hear no evil..." attitude.
 
Apr 22, 2017
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Re: Cannondale-Drapac

....... withdrawal of an expected sponsorship partner for 2018.

"We want to be clear. All of our current sponsors and partners (Cannondale, Drapac, Oath, POC) have remained committed to support our team in 2018. "
" These sponsors have lived up to their promises; however, without additional financial backing, the numbers simply don't add up."

Sounds like the $7M would have been "New" money . Puzzling to me why or how they survived this year without it. Unless there's massive dept..??
 
Re: Re:

Bolder said:
nedhill said:
For what it is worth I understand four other teams are hanging on by a thread with enough for 2018 but 2019 is not clear. The budgets for the french pro-conti teams is much lower than the WT teams - so it is not easy to think someone is waiting in the wings.

Ultimately the ASO problem is coming home to roost in the next couple of years.

Yep. What seems to be widening is the gap between cost to field a full team and actual growth of the sport. Sure the big races draw lots of fans live, but outside of the GTs and a few classics who really cares about the tours of (insert developing or Scandinavian country here) or the Three Days of Semi-Obscure Walloonian Region? Yet the pro tour teams still send squads to those races.

Re Cannondale: I'm not a Vaughters hater. He's been hustling for sponsorship since he started the team and he clearly loves the sport. He's put himself out there and on the spot and gotten a lot of blowback (some completely justified) while others stay in the shadows with a "see no evil, hear no evil..." attitude.

Well, races are disappearing all the time.
 
Re: Cannondale-Drapac

biketheroad said:
....... withdrawal of an expected sponsorship partner for 2018.

"We want to be clear. All of our current sponsors and partners (Cannondale, Drapac, Oath, POC) have remained committed to support our team in 2018. "
" These sponsors have lived up to their promises; however, without additional financial backing, the numbers simply don't add up."

Sounds like the $7M would have been "New" money . Puzzling to me why or how they survived this year without it. Unless there's massive dept..??

Doug Ellis and his wife had been picking up the shortfall each year. Sounds like he won't be doing that any longer.
 
Re: Re:

Escarabajo said:
staubsauger said:
I'm sorry for the riders and stuff. But sadly enough I have to admit that I'm quite pleased if Vaughters finally disappears from cycling!
The other managers are OK?
I always refer to Bjarne Riis as the cancer of cycling...

Vaughters simply is a major goof, a pure showboater and a hypocrite. I strongly dislike him as a character. That's it. Eventually I would prefer Armstrong as a team owner over JV. So my point has very little to do with his history. It's about JV talking crap all day and only being in cycling for good food and wine. Just like Tinkov rightfully accused him of.

Apparently there never has been an officially guaranteed sponsorship. Yet, Vaughters prolonged contracts. Hopefully he finally pays the check for his incompetence and disappears from the world of cycling!
 
Vaughters sounded pretty upbeat in finding the $7M shortfall. Given how taken aback he was with the crowdfunding support, I think we might even see the first WT team partially funded by its fans, which is an interesting development from all this.