HTC

RobFowl

Just saw on twitter all HTC riders are free to seek contracts elsewhere for next year

Looks like the team is finishing....

Chips Lovell

Wow. I didn't think it would come to this. Just goes to show that success doesn't automatically result in sponsors breaking down your door.

ednwireland

looks like bob stapelton wanted too much money

Captain Havoc

All aboard:

ColSheehan

I think it's sad when one of the best mens and womans teams in the sport has to stop because of no sponsers, I would have thought it would have been the complete opposite with sponsers fighting to sponser them. With the talent HTC have had as well it's crazy to think it's the end for them.

Such a sad day if this is true

Edit: Jacky Durand (french commentator) tweeted this Click

Bad news from Poland .. Htc is about to announce to all their riders that they are free for next year ..

Junior

RobFowl wrote: »

Just saw on twitter all HTC riders are free to seek contracts elsewhere for next year

Looks like the team is finishing....

Have you a link for that ? I had heard they had secured a major sponsor, but that wasn't backed up by the rumoured exodus of riders.. and here's the exodus as I've been made aware

Cav, Eisel and Renshaw = Sky
Veltis Brothers = Quickstep
T Martin = Saxo Bank
Goss = GreenEDGE
Van Garderen = BMC

Hungrycol

Yeah I heard they were looking for a new sponsor. Cav is saying nothing about his new sponsor last I heard, is he confirmed to go to Sky (the most over hyped team going, them and RadioSlack)?

RobFowl

Junior wrote: »

Have you a link for that ? I had heard they had secured a major sponsor, but that wasn't backed up by the rumoured exodus of riders.. and here's the exodus as I've been made aware

Cav, Eisel and Renshaw = Sky
Veltis Brothers = Quickstep
T Martin = Saxo Bank
Goss = GreenEDGE
Van Garderen = BMC

JackyDurand Jacky Durand



Mauvaises nouvelles de Pologne..Htc serait sur le point d'annoncer a tous leurs coureurs qu'ils sont libres pour l'année prochaine..

53 minutes ago

Inquitus

Hungrycol wrote: »

Yeah I heard they were looking for a new sponsor. Cav is saying nothing about his new sponsor last I heard, is he confirmed to go to Sky (the most over hyped team going, them and RadioSlack)?

Sky, for their sins, had a pretty good tour, and I think Wiggins would have perhaps made the podium but for this fall. Sky have actually begun to deliver a bit now after last seasons failure.

kenmc

Inquitus wrote: »

Sky, for their sins, had a pretty good tour, and I think Wiggins would have perhaps made the podium but for this fall. Sky have actually begun to deliver a bit now after last seasons failure.

That's cos they've finally seen the light and are riding green bikes this year; green is the fastest. Unfortunately, if it's true that Cav is going there, I'll now have to find a new favourite color than I've had for 30+ years :mad:, or hope they find a new faster color than green.

ColSheehan

Shane Stokes posted this on Twitter

Folks, HTC news is not confirmed. Just spoke to someone with the team - said 'next couple of days' when asked when there would be news

Click

They seemed surprised to hear what was being said. Best to wait till there's something concrete, good or bad..

Click

Certainly Bob Stapleton sounded pretty optimistic when I spoke to him at the Tour - had several options

Click
and last but not least

I've honestly no idea what will happen with HTC, but let's not rush to bury it either, based on a rumour.. I hope for the sake of riders

bcmf

I think we are going into an eras of a few 'superteams'.
With the merge of Omega-Quick Step, BMC and now Sky will be a very dominant force.

jiffybag

Thats the national RR champion out of a job too!

Hail 2 Da Thief

If true, Sky have saved themselves a fair few quid!

goldencleric

confirmed:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/htc-highroad-disbands-after-failed-sponsor-search

TinyExplosions

Crazy news... one of the most successful teams, and a clean one at that and they can't find a new sponsor, terribly sad

goldencleric

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Crazy news... one of the most successful teams, and a clean one at that and they can't find a new sponsor, terribly sad

very sad, and quite worrying for the future.

Raam

I wonder why they couldn't get a sponsor. Too expensive maybe?

Inquitus

Raam wrote: »

I wonder why they couldn't get a sponsor. Too expensive maybe?

Loss of Cav to Sky perhaps?

thebouldwhacker

Mods, any chance Boards.ie could pick up their sponsorship? Cav in a boards jersey... we could remake chasing legends and get them posting here.

Raam

Inquitus wrote: »

Loss of Cav to Sky perhaps?

Was he defo heading before the sponsor search started?

Khannie

What's the approximate wallet damage to sponsor a pro cycling team?

TinyExplosions

Raam wrote: »

Was he defo heading before the sponsor search started?

I don't think Stapleton was particularly looking for too much money -it was said on a number of occasions that he ran a fairly tight ship, and indeed a lot of the riders (Cav in particular) were paid a lot less than they would have got (and indeed were offered) in other teams, but the set up and treatment of the riders was what got them to stay.

I think if they'd got a good title sponsor, and could have offered Cav what he is worth, he would have stayed with them, but we'll never know now...

TinyExplosions

Khannie wrote: »

What's the approximate wallet damage to sponsor a pro cycling team?

I read somewhere in the region of 10-12 million a year at a minimum

Raam

Khannie wrote: »

What's the approximate wallet damage to sponsor a pro cycling team?

This gives a bit of info...
http://www.pbkblog.com/money-money-money-the-cost-of-cycling/2011/

TinyExplosions

Raam wrote: »

This gives a bit of info...
http://www.pbkblog.com/money-money-money-the-cost-of-cycling/2011/

I was way off!

RobFowl

Khannie wrote: »

What's the approximate wallet damage to sponsor a pro cycling team?

The cost ranges from 8 Million per year to 15-16 million. Katusha are I believe the best funded team.
(these figures are for Pro-Tour teams)
Europcar which is a pro continental team has a budget of 4 Million
Continental teams exist on shoestring budgets as most of the riders are not paid or only paid very small salaries.

Khannie

Raam wrote: »

This gives a bit of info...
http://www.pbkblog.com/money-money-money-the-cost-of-cycling/2011/

decent read that. Surprising really given the popularity of the sport that they had such difficulty getting sponsorship.

Beasty

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Mods, any chance Boards.ie could pick up their sponsorship? Cav in a boards jersey... we could remake chasing legends and get them posting here.

OK Dav says they'll stump up a tenner. I'll put another 50 in. It's all conditional on Cav not being released.

Anyone else before we finalise the bid?

Captain Havoc

Beasty wrote: »

OK Dav says they'll stump up a tenner. I'll put another 50 in. It's all conditional on Cav not being released.

Anyone else before we finalise the bid?

*counts change in pocket*€2.43 and a buy one get one free voucher for Brylcream (only redeemable at Dunnes Stores).

Hail 2 Da Thief

Sure just auction off your fleet of bikes Beasty & we'll have enough left over to sign up Gilbert aswell!

ednwireland

Inquitus wrote: »

Loss of Cav to Sky perhaps?

well his contract was up this year i think, and stapleton didnt nail down his prime asset. considering that ther is rumours of more american tours and the success of the amgen toc, looks like american companies would rather throw their dollars outside of cycling, sems in europe you have rich benefactors or large companies with people at the top with a love of the sport sponsoring

C3PO

Khannie wrote: »

Surprising really given the popularity of the sport that they had such difficulty getting sponsorship.

Funny, I would have thought that, given the appalling reputation of professional cycling, it's not surprising at all! Many companies would be extremely slow to be associated with a sport that could explode at any time with yet another drug scandal! How many big brands have suffered from their association with professional cycling?

Inquitus

RPL1 wrote: »

Funny, I would have thought that, given the appalling reputation of professional cycling, it's not surprising at all! Many companies would be extremely slow to be associated with a sport that could explode at any time with yet another drug scandal! How many big brands have suffered from their association with professional cycling?

HTC have done well out of it, and their results have gone through the roof this last while on the back of their excellent Android handset sales. HTC Highroad have been drug and scandal free, not even any smoke of note, so it's surprising a company that's at its zenith financially pulls the rug from under arguably cycling's most successful team.

TinyExplosions

RPL1 wrote: »

How many big brands have suffered from their association with professional cycling?

I dunno, Festina and T-Mobile seem to be doing well for themselves, and Discovery Channel make a fair amount of cash... must be Tinkoff who've suffered?

Murph100

What a pity, and I HATE to see Cav & Renshaw going to Sky, now we'll have to put up with endless sh1te on Sky News/Sports next season :mad:

On the upside though,does this mean there will be some cheap Scott bikes up for grabs ?

JacksonHeightsOwn

Murph100 wrote: »

What a pity, and I HATE to see Cav & Renshaw going to Sky, now we'll have to put up with endless sh1te on Sky News/Sports next season :mad:

On the upside though,does this mean there will be some cheap Scott bikes up for grabs ?

specilized this year bud

Murph100

DOH ! That'll be a 'NO' then ...

michael196

Murph100 wrote: »

What a pity, and I HATE to see Cav & Renshaw going to Sky, now we'll have to put up with endless sh1te on Sky News/Sports next season :mad:

On the upside though,does this mean there will be some cheap Scott bikes up for grabs ?

yep the Scott sponsor ship eneded in 2010, look what HTC did for Scott Bikes

and for those of us who do not have a smart phone, I had not heard of HTC before......

michael196

@ euro 10 million : on the top shelf, but not the most well funded........



http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/07/le-tour-diary-stage-8-team-budgets/

ontheditch2

michael196 wrote: »

@ euro 10 million : on the top shelf, but not the most well funded........



http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/07/le-tour-diary-stage-8-team-budgets/

Good to see the lesser lights came out good from the tour.
Of the last 5, i think 4 of the sponsors would be delighted with the exposure they got.
Its an expensive business indeed. Everyone in Ireland to give €2 and get Failte Ireland to stump up €3m and name the team "Visit Ireland" or some ****e like that, and that will definitly bring us out of the recession, won't it??

el tel

Would you buy Lampre steel products or would boardsies be more Agritubel guys? It's pretty hard to know what to do these days. Though when it comes to steam vacuum cleaners id only have a Polti.

GT_TDI_150

where ever CAV ends up, that team will not have a real GC contender as the team is expected to ride itself into the ground for CAVs sprints. Look at Tony Martin, he suffered from the work HTC had to do for CAV this year

Junior

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

where ever CAV ends up, that team will not have a real GC contender as the team is expected to ride itself into the ground for CAVs sprints. Look at Tony Martin, he suffered from the work HTC had to do for CAV this year

where did he suffer ?

TinyExplosions

Junior wrote: »

where did he suffer ?

Must have been when he was winning stage 20... I'd say he suffered then...

RobFowl

Junior wrote: »

where did he suffer ?

At the TDF !!

GC was an aim for him. Didn't happen and leading out Cav certainly didn't help that.

Junior

RobFowl wrote: »

At the TDF !!

GC was an aim for him. Didn't happen and leading out Cav certainly didn't help that.

I don't think so, he maybe capable of challenging eventually at the TdF but to say his GC ambitions suffered this year are wide of the mark, I don't think he had the form and his aim was for that TT Stage. He hadn't gone on record anywhere saying he was challenging for the GC at the TdF ?

RobFowl

Junior wrote: »

I don't think so, he maybe capable of challenging eventually at the TdF but to say his GC ambitions suffered this year are wide of the mark, I don't think he had the form and his aim was for that TT Stage. He hadn't gone on record anywhere saying he was challenging for the GC at the TdF ?

Apology awaited

“From year to year I got stronger. I saw this in the spring when I won Algarve and Paris-Nice. I hope I can also go up in the Tour de France and get a good place in GC,” he told VeloNation in a video interview conducted in the buildup towards his summer campaign.

Read more: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/8692/Video-Tony-Martin-Interview-Aiming-for-a-high-GC-finish-in-Tour-de-France.aspx#ixzz1U9VqDvIi

ROK ON

Junior wrote: »

where did he suffer ?

Junior wrote: »

I don't think so, he maybe capable of challenging eventually at the TdF but to say his GC ambitions suffered this year are wide of the mark, I don't think he had the form and his aim was for that TT Stage. He hadn't gone on record anywhere saying he was challenging for the GC at the TdF ?

Junior,

I think the issue is not whether he would have done well this year, he did well enough. But that he is a very talented rider that maybe capable of much much more if he wasnt part of a lead out train. There are some guys in that train that need Cav - it puts them on a winning team. They are strong but probably not big time great (say Renshaw and Eisel maybe). But Martin, well he is capable of 'big time' great. He will simply have to prove it now.

The way EBH has recovered recently, if I was him, I'd be p1ssed if (and when) Cav joins Sky.

Chips Lovell

If I was Boasson Hagen I wouldn't be. They're completely different animals. Boasson Hagen is the next Cancellera.

TinyExplosions

ROK ON wrote: »

Junior,

I think the issue is not whether he would have done well this year, he did well enough. But that he is a very talented rider that maybe capable of much much more if he wasnt part of a lead out train. There are some guys in that train that need Cav - it puts them on a winning team. They are strong but probably not big time great (say Renshaw and Eisel maybe). But Martin, well he is capable of 'big time' great. He will simply have to prove it now.

The way EBH has recovered recently, if I was him, I'd be p1ssed if (and when) Cav joins Sky.

I think you also have to look to see if he would achieve much more in another team -is Martin good enough to be a protected rider with someone else, or is he lucky to get some support due to the fact that he's the best GC man in a team built around CAV. Maybe when he moves he'll be a domestique with a breakaway chance at best?

It's undeniable that HTC was built around sprints and Cav, but I don't think too many riders got short changed because of it