Disco’s dead…or do thine eyes deceive?
Months ago, Tailwind sports dropped the bomb that it couldn’t secure appropriate sponsorship to replace Discovery Channel, though LA himself said they were 90% along the way to doing so. But rather than pursue that last slice of, say $1-2m/year, it made more sense to simply, and dramatically, fold the tent and send the riders and staff packing.
Maybe we’re starting to see the situation more clearly.
Today, Velonews reported that Johan Bruyneel was close to signing with Astana to take over management of the team - a rumor that surfaced almost the same moment Bruyneel suggested he was “retiring.” And while Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador remain mysteriously unemployed, press reports have Leipheimer already committed in writing to follow Bruyneel to Astana, and Contador has said publicly he would prefer to stay with Bruyneel in the future – and, by the way, he’d like pals Sergio Paulinho and Benjamin Noval to come with him. Other reports have Tomas Vaitkus and Janez Brajkovic also waiting in the wings for to a Bruyneel/Astana deal to get inked. And then there’s the backoffice…Both Dirk Demol and Russian Viatchelsav Ekimov (who retired from riding in 2006 and then moved into a sports director post), have said they prefer to stay with Bruyneel. Ditto a number of former Discovery Team mechanics, soigneurs and support staff, who would likely follow the move versus opting for their own early retirement from a sport suddenly glutted with “help” looking for jobs.
Back to the original point, though.
So why would Tailwind, Bruyneel and LA have walked away from closing a sponsorship deal and retaining the Disco team, which sounded like a job that could have gotten done? Perhaps because they weren’t walking away at all — but rather performing a beauty contest to see whcih components they would want to retain, and merging them with Astana and its generous financing package.
A Merger Of Powerhouses…
Notwithstanding those who disqualified themselves from consideration by getting cross with Doping Controls (Vinokourov comes to mind), and others who’ve committed to other teams (George Hincapie, most notably), the 2007 rosters for the two teams offer up 54 total riders and quite a lot to like if you’re putting together your fantasy team. Starting with Disco, you’ve got Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, then Levi Leipheimer who was on the podium there also and won the Tour of California to kick the season off, and we can’t forget Jani Brajkovic, the young rider who took the Tour de Georgia by storm this year and walked away with its yellow jersey. On the Astana balance sheet are Paolo Salvoldelli, former Giro winner and former Disco rider in past years, and Thomas Kloeden, whose long list of palmares from his T-Mobile days needs no introduction.
And the shopping ain’t done yet…
Aside from the list of riders with big wins to their names, are many others offering promise if not a C.V. full of wins, such as Tom Danielson, Benjamin Noval, Benoit Joachim, Rene Haselbacher, Daniele Navarro, and dozens of others. So you can envision Johan and Lance, sitting around the coffee table and mulling whether to, a) keep riding into a stiff headwind of nasty doping scandals to secure a title sponsor for an expensive U.S. team in a decidedly still Euro-centric sport, and possibly have to put in some of their own dough to close the deal, or…b) playing the white night to a desparate Kazakh government and business group with a pile of money and a decent herd of riders being trusted to the wrong management.
You can almost see them putting the 54 face cards down on the table and choosing a fantasy cycling team from among them. They bicker over this one and that, but it doesn’t take long and there’s a squad that starts to look really, really good. Soon, they’ve got a team they can’t imagine not winning the Tour de France and any other tour that comes to mind. They’ve got seasoned vets and bright young foals; guys reaching their prime, and a bumper crop of up and comers. And not only do they not have to cough up their own dough, but someone wants to pay a king’s ransom for Johan to bring it all together.
You do the math…
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