Lagardere / ASO purchase

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited April 2010 in Pro race
What a web!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lagarde ... aury-group
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.

Comments

  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    What would change? I'm not sure if anything would change. The Tour is already run on an intensely commercial basis and this has been so from the start, it was created to sell newspapers and today this has translated into the sale of TV rights.

    That analysis and more is at http://theinnerring.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... -sale.html
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    "a powerful holding company in the sectors of defence and media"
    Someone here won't be happy.

    I'll get the defibrilator ready, shall I? Though if it turns out that Lagardère also owns the Readers Digest Condensed Edition of the "Fountainhead", I fear we may be entering into unchartered cardiac territory.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • BikingBernie
    BikingBernie Posts: 2,163
    LangerDan wrote:
    "a powerful holding company in the sectors of defence and media" Someone here won't be happy.
    The ASO lost all credibility in my eyes when, after 'discussions' with Sarkozy, Pat McQuaid and Armstrong they apparently decided that getting rid of Patrice Clerc and returning to the days of the 'omerta' was the best way to protect their business interests.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    ASO has always acted in its own commercial interests. Whilst the Tour de France is a national institution, it's relentlessly commercial.
  • BikingBernie
    BikingBernie Posts: 2,163
    Kléber wrote:
    ASO has always acted in its own commercial interests. Whilst the Tour de France is a national institution, it's relentlessly commercial.
    True enough, but for a short while it seemed that they believed it was in their long-term interest to tackle doping in a robust manner, so doing something to salvage the battered credibility of the Tour. That now seems to have changed.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    I think the doping issue affected the race's credibility and its ability to attract sponsors. I was supportive of Clerc's moral stance and agree it was a real shame he was dispatched. Similarly Prudhomme is quickly dropping his journalistic instincts in favour of commercialism.
  • OFOAB
    OFOAB Posts: 905
    "Lagardère hasn’t been involved in cycling yet but he paid a visit at the Tour of Murcia in early March. He was a special guest of Lance Armstrong in the RadioShack team car. Two weeks later Armstrong visited French president Nicolas Sarkozy and offered him a Trek bicycle, but riding a “Madone” was probably not the only subject they talked about. Lagardère is publicly known as a close friend of Sarkozy."

    ASO = Armstrong Sports Organisation? Now that would be interesting!
    I wish I was any place but the someplace I\'m in
  • BikingBernie
    BikingBernie Posts: 2,163
    OFOAB wrote:
    ASO = Armstrong Sports Organisation? Now that would be interesting!
    Actually, only a couple of years ago Armstrong was seriously investigating the possibility of buying the Tour...

    According to his agent, Bill Stapleton, Mr. Armstrong has discussed the idea of buying the Tour with investors and remains interested in creating an organization that would run professional cycling and include the Tour.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1238111 ... 3043.html#

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