How Many Teams Are Going Out of Business?

[riobonito92]

The second rest day has come and gone without any major new sponsorship announcements. How many teams are in danger of not having sufficient sponsorship for 2011. Here's my list:

Bbox
Euskaltel
Milram
Caisse
Saxobank

 

[nvpacchi]

I was under the impression that Euskaltel was cutting back its budget, not completely closing up shop. They may drop down to continental status as a result.

I guess it is plausible that Radioshack may be gone next year too.

 

[SpartacusRox]

The second rest day has come and gone without any major new sponsorship announcements. How many teams are in danger of not having sufficient sponsorship for 2011. Here's my list:

Bbox
Euskaltel
Milram
Caisse
Saxobank

Hmm, didn't realise Euskatel were in that boat. I thought Riis was going to make a sponsorship announcement at the Tour.

 

[bjaelkesex]

Saxo Bank has SunGuard + another sponsor (Specialized?) from the next season.

 

[Clemson Cycling]

Any rumors of new big teams in the planing stages

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Euskaltel are cutting back sponsorship but still contributing. They may lose Samuel Sánchez and have to drop to ProConti, but that's all.

 

[Anonymous]

Radio Shack.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

The second rest day has come and gone without any major new sponsorship announcements. How many teams are in danger of not having sufficient sponsorship for 2011. Here's my list:

Bbox
Euskaltel
Milram
Caisse
Saxobank

wrong

bbox continues, euskaltel as well but smaller budget, milram seems 99% gone, caisse 90% gone and saxo continues under different sponsor, with riis

 

[riobonito92]

I thought Bouygues Telecom were ending their sponsorship at the end of this year. I haven't heard about a replacement.

 

[al_pacino]

I thought Bouygues Telecom were ending their sponsorship at the end of this year. I haven't heard about a replacement.

Paul Sherwin said in commentry that the team owner/manager(?) told him they have backing for a few more seasons at least.

 

[Ramira]

wrong

bbox continues, euskaltel as well but smaller budget, milram seems 99% gone, caisse 90% gone and saxo continues under different sponsor, with riis

I seem to recall that Milram had found a new sponsor at least that's what the team manager said earlier. Bbox might be taken over by the region that organizes the next tour start from what I recall. Caisse is simply stopping though from what I know.

 

[Lyds97]

Yeah I thought I'd heard/read that BBox had decided to continue their sponsorship. They've had a pretty great Tour this year which surely helped.

Can't find it right now but the cyclingnews article said that Euskaltel will continue at Pro-Conti level if they can't find enough sponsorship. Could risk losing Sammy (and others? Anton? Intxausti?) if this happens as he won't want to possibly miss out on invites to the big races.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I thought Bouygues Telecom were ending their sponsorship at the end of this year. I haven't heard about a replacement.

They have a replacement until 2015 (!!)

 

[riobonito92]

They have a replacement until 2015 (!!)

More info please.

 

[ingsve]

I seem to recall that Milram had found a new sponsor at least that's what the team manager said earlier. Bbox might be taken over by the region that organizes the next tour start from what I recall. Caisse is simply stopping though from what I know.

As of yesterday Milram still has no sponsor but they are still hopeful: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/team-milram-still-has-no-new-sponsor-for-2011

 

[Roude Leiw]

They have a replacement until 2015 (!!)

I don't know where this info comes from, but I read in a french newspaper that JR Bernadeau should continue at least through 2011 with political (and probably financial) support from his region. In fact de TdF starts next year in the Vendee where the BBox team is actually from and local authorities would like the team to continue until then at least. Indeed the region of the Vendee is already a sponsor (at the back on the shorts)

 

[nvpacchi]

Euskaltel are cutting back sponsorship but still contributing. They may lose Samuel Sánchez and have to drop to ProConti, but that's all.

Intxausti may be out too. There's gotta be some other Basque company willing to fork over some sponsorship money??

I dunno what I would do if Samu left Euskaltel.

 

[md2020]

I don't know if it's true but I thought the problem with Bbox is that they are going to have problems re-signing Voekler and Fedrigo after their performances this year in the tour.

 

[riobonito92]

And it does seem now that Euskaltel are considering remaining ProTour but on a smaller budget rather than droppping to Pro Conti. They are saying being Pro Tour is more about the admin than the money.

 

[movingtarget]

Milram in doubt. Can't see RadioShack going out of business when they are developing younger riders like Phinney.

 

[El Imbatido]

This was posted by Bala Verde in the Rumours thread:

Eusebio Unzue is reported to have found a new sponsor for Caisse, namely Telefonica or Banco Santander. They'd be willing to put 6m on the table. He is looking for a second, minor sponsor to ncrease the budget to 7-8m.

Dutch Source

Google Translated Source

These are the same sponsors that were supposably with Alonso. So maybe Alonso will just take over from Caisse, and would therefor not have to start from scratch?

 

[craig1985]

Euskaltel are cutting back sponsorship but still contributing. They may lose Samuel Sánchez and have to drop to ProConti, but that's all.

That's probably not a bad thing from their perspective. I mean they will still get invites for the Tour and the Vuelta (they have to be invited, as per the agreement signed), Tour of the Basque Country, San Sebastian etc. I don't see much point in them having to travel to Australia to do the Tour Down Under when the race is only for neo-pros. I know they have been doing some smaller stage races in Germany, I assume that must be something that Euskadi (AFAIK is the tourism department) to try and attract people to the Basque region. Otherwise I don't see the point in them racing there.

 

[Moondance]

I think after the EU bank stress test results from yesterday we can unfortunately add Andalucia-CajaSur to the list of team going out of business

 

[Galic Ho]

This was posted by Bala Verde in the Rumours thread:

Eusebio Unzue is reported to have found a new sponsor for Caisse, namely Telefonica or Banco Santander. They'd be willing to put 6m on the table. He is looking for a second, minor sponsor to ncrease the budget to 7-8m.

Dutch Source

Google Translated Source

These are the same sponsors that were supposably with Alonso. So maybe Alonso will just take over from Caisse, and would therefor not have to start from scratch?

Fernando Alonso's move to Ferrari was backed by a Spanish Bank. That was where he came up with the notion of his own Pro Cycling team. They were going to lay down the financial outlay and Alonso was going to throw in some of his own cash. He does earn 20 million Euro a year so he has some spare dosh. Which of those listed above is a Spanish bank? This is old news. You only needed to follow the money trail. It is all linked to Alonso's contract with Ferrari and his third party financial backers.

 

[craig1985]

I thought Santander (the Spanish Bank) and Alonso were going to get involved if they could get Contador?