Cycle Chic said:
			
		
	
	
		
		
			Now where have we heard this before ?????? Mr Brailsford anywhere ?? and where is that Bradley Wiggins ??
		
		
	 
Outside the traditional cycling nations, what other purpose could there be for a newly formed team? To attract funding you'd need to aim to win medals in the OGs or do well in the Tour, as these are the only cycling events that the masses in non-traditional nations have heard of. (One could add Giro and Vuelta for the less geographically challenged non-traditional cycling nations.)
It wouldn't be a very good marketing strategy in the US to say the objective is to win the Spring Classics or to say the objective is to do moderately well in the Tour, would it?
As to building a team round a specific rider to win the Tour, the traditional cycling nations can't really do this, as there is an expectation that they will race a full programme and/or ride races that are useful to their sponsors, who tend to be relatively small scale, regional operators. I'm sure a lot more teams would be competitive in the Tour if they didn't send a lot of their good riders to wear themselves out in the Giro, but that's another issue.