hrotha said:
Where did they get such a large budget if they haven't even confirmed their sponsors yet. This doesn't make sense. Hello Le Groupement.
Check out this pretty good article from velonation:
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/5...rigins-of-the-new-team-out-of-Luxembourg.aspx
The money behind the team is reported to be coming from extremely successful Luxembourg businessman, Flavio Becca. Becca made his fortune in real estate and is now looking to make a splash on the professional cycling scene.
Nygaard contends that he was up in the air as to what to do, but it's difficult to believe, as the team is reported to be working with a nearly 20 million dollar budget. After a closer look at the contract that was sent to him, he was all in on the project.
While Nygaard and Andersen will steer the boat of the new Luxembourg team and Becca will stand in the background as the deep pocketed mastermind, the big question is who will take up title sponsorship of the team in 2011.
L'Equipe hypothesized on July 30th that the fast food chain, Quick, might do the honors as the title sponsor. Supermarket chain, Auchan, has also been linked with the team, but a press statement from the business has denied any involvement with the new outfit. Becca's close relationship with the Auchan boss would suggest the likelihood of such an arrangement, but the press statement seems to put paid to the idea.
So this article speaks of roughly 15 million € budget if my calculations are correct. In my opinion most of the money comes from this investor guy, whatever the sponsor is, they won't chip in all that much. But it is kind of weird that they still haven't announced one, which makes me wonder whether it'll be an Astana-type team.
I'd say that's the most likely, because it has been rumored in the press that the name will likely be "Team Luxembourg", and not the name of any sponsor. I was considering Luxair and Cargolux for a while (since they'd already been a minor sponsor for Saxo Bank), but I don't know if their current economic situation permits them such a big step-up.
As to Cancellara, I think he must have some really, really good offers from other teams, that Riis can't compete with. Which is kind of understandable because Contador and Cancellara's salaries together must be more than AG2R, Cofidis and FDJ's budgets together. I'd say he definitely wants to leave, just doesn't really know where to yet and is still working out how to get rid of Riis. I could very well imagine Flavio Becca paying the 3 millions for Cancellara, if he does only nearly as good as this season, you got your money back in no time.