There will not be a Discovery Channel Cycling Team at next year’s Tour de France, which in essence, means that for the first time since 1999, the Lance Armstrong brand may possibly have no representation in the race.
That’s unless Discovery’s team manager Johan Bruyneel and Armstrong’s agent, Bill Stapleton, can come up with a big corporation to bankroll the team’s 65 personnel.
The Tour de France is not just a bike race; it’s also a trade fair, at which most of the sport’s big deals are done. Discovery, sponsors of the American-owned team since 2005, are pulling out at the end of this season, and as Bruyneel and Stapleton have found out, even the legend of Lance does not guarantee the dollars in these days of anti-doping evangelism.
Armstrong, who retired on the day of his seventh Tour victory in July 2005, is now a board member of Tailwind Sports, the parent company of the team, which finds itself competing in two races this month. One is to achieve a result in Paris that bears comparison with the Texan’s gargantuan achievements; the other is to secure the deal with a new sponsor, something which appears increasingly unlikely given the lateness of the hour and the team’s erratic marketing.
Turn to page 18 of the Discovery Channel Official Guide for 2007. Meet Ivan Basso, banned for “attempted doping” until the end of 2008, as a consequence of his involvement in the Operacion Puerto scandal. “Ivan is arguably the best rider in the world. I am committed to helping him win his first Tour de France,” runs the quote in the booklet, attributed to team boss Bruyneel.
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In a misplaced attempt to fill the void left by Armstrong’s retirement, his old rival Basso had been signed by Discovery last winter, even while he was still under suspicion and against the wishes of the International Cycling Union. That was all before he finally buckled under investigation by the Italian Olympic Committee and admitted to having left blood in Madrid under the care of the figure at the centre of Operacion Puerto, ‘sports doctor’ Euefemiano Fuentes.
Having insisted that Basso had no case to answer only weeks earlier, the Discovery team did a rapid about-turn when it became clear that he was involved with Fuentes. Quicker than you could say DNA, the Italian was jettisoned, by “mutual agreement.”
The gaffe of signing Basso, still perpetuated by the team’s own PR department, continues to haunt Bruyneel and Stapleton as they hunt their new backer. One rumour connected the Starbucks Coffee chain to the team, but Bruyneel, who recently visited Japan, is now said to be focussing his efforts on the Asian market.
Discovery’s recent anxiety has given a frisson of pleasure to those who suffered at the hands of Armstrong and Bruyneel during their domination of the Tour. Jokes at Bruyneel’s expense, highlighting his desperation, have been doing the rounds in the Tour convoy.
“Johan came up to me and said ‘who do you bank with?’”joked one journalist. “So I told him, ‘HSBC’?”
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“ ‘Er, could you talk to them for me please?’ he said.”