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The Giro: Astana's Final Act

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I hate to say I told you so, yesterday, but I think this news, which is now all over the net, confirms Astana's end.

Unfortunately, this decision comes, as much out of necessity, as choice.

However, things aren't a simple as they appear.
Getting a sponsor, even for Big Tex, isn't easy.
Remember, he struggled to get Discovery to commit, only with a false promise that he would ride until the sponsorship contract ended.
He retired after one season. leaving the "Channel" with egg on it's face.
Will a new sponsor trust him with $20 million of their credit crunched dollars?
Bruyneel? Well, he failed miserably.

Then there's the question of aquiring a PT licence. Bruyneel has "borrowed" the one he is currently using, from the Kazakhs.

Enter Mr McQuaid and his formidable rule bending abilities.....
 
Apr 12, 2009
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well I'm still not sure but if it is true then it's not like the team is going to disband like discovery did, my recommendation is that they sack the Kazakh riders they don't want and infuse the u-23 team with the big boys, they probably get rid of kloden sadly although I think he is a classy rider and then have a Trek-Livestrong maybe SRAM team.
 
Alpe d'Huez said:
Amgen is not going to sponsor a cycling team and a race. Might as well call it Team EPO. And after the lack of testing at this year's TOC...

I know it's not a big pro team like you're talking about but Amgen does sponsor a cycling team. I used to ride with a bunch of the guys. I don't know what kit they ride in now, but they used to ride in these white kits with big red "polka dot" blood cells, and one of the products listed on the jersey was EPO. We used to always get a kick out of that.
 
jaylew said:
I know it's not a big pro team like you're talking about but Amgen does sponsor a cycling team. I used to ride with a bunch of the guys. I don't know what kit they ride in now, but they used to ride in these white kits with big red "polka dot" blood cells, and one of the products listed on the jersey was EPO. We used to always get a kick out of that.

Dude, I want one of those jerseys. Frickin awesome.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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hulkgogan said:
Dude, I want one of those jerseys. Frickin awesome.

I only found this one

241.full.jpg


It seems like it does contain RNA strings...
 
Mar 10, 2009
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jaylew said:
Here's the one I'm talking about. They had sweet matching shorts and on the back of the jersey, erythropoietin(EPO) was one of the products listed.

jg5rop.jpg

HA, hilarious... If only I found a dealer, it would be mine... A kit dealer i mean ;)
 
I didn't know about that polka dot jersey, that's sweet! I still can't see Amgen sponsoring something as big as Astana. And I can't see Trek-SRAM-Armstrong with enough liquid cash to do it. Keep in mind that Astana is the most expensive team in the sport, I called them the NY Yankees of cycling with their big payroll of big stars. They'd need to shed Kloden of course, but also AC, Zubeldia, Popo, and possibly Levi. And afford JB's salary. But then Lance won't ride for a team like that, he's kind of like the A-Rod of cycling and not interested in being on a small team.

However, he did say the Giro and Tour weren't a necessity with this new team, leaving me to think there is a chance he'll just create a US based continental team and race against the likes of Rock, Ouch, TT1, etc. which could actually do wonders for US cycling, and give him (and Levi and Horner?) a way to ease into retirement after he realizes after this year's Giro and Tour he doesn't have it anymore.