Agritubel quit cycling

GroupOfOne MkII
GroupOfOne MkII Posts: 1,289
edited March 2009 in Pro race
...at the end of the year though, so don't panic yet!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/mar09/mar25news2

Read something the other day that hinted that the Agritubel sponsorship may finish at the end of the season, and sadly that's true.

As for their reasons:
The team told Cyclingnews that José Fornes, CEO of Agritubel, has reached his goals, which was to make his brand known on a bigger scale and receive some reputation. Fornes indicated that it is time to turn the page, despite the passion that he still has for cycling. Fornes added that France is going through a financial crisis "that doesn't quite help."

Real shame, as I like the team, some good riders and nice people involved, so hopefully they'll find a replacement sponsor, but it shows what difficult times are ahead, particularly for the 'smaller' sponsors.

Anyway I hope they bow out on a high by getting a hattrick at The Tour of Britain 8)

Comments

  • dccok
    dccok Posts: 28
    now that is a shame - mingled around the start area of the tour of france and britain when they were here and they appear a good honest - one of my favourite teams ...hope a new sponsor appears
  • kickerbri
    kickerbri Posts: 53
    Terrible news for their riders, hope a new sponsor can be found for them although in the current climate that could be an awfully difficult task. Seemed to be a team willing to get involved in every race and always put someone in the breaks, raced the right way.
  • GroupOfOne MkII
    GroupOfOne MkII Posts: 1,289
    In one way though I'd imagine they may find a new sponsor because of a) their size and b) their relative strength from such a small squad and investment.

    I'm guessing that finding a sponsor is potentially easier for a reasonably successfull Pro-Conti team who are almost a shoe-in for a Tour invite every year, over a mid-size, expensive Pro-Tour set up like Gerolsteiner or CA.
  • kickerbri
    kickerbri Posts: 53
    True. I cant imagine that there budget is overly big either so would not need the biggest company to carry them on. They also have some good young riders coming through especially Kevin Iste the young belgium.

Categories