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标题: 探索找不到赞助商，解散！！ [打印本页]

作者: 559 时间: 2007-8-10 21:55
标题: 探索找不到赞助商，解散！！
Tailwind Sports has announced the end of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team today, confirming rumours that cropped up when the team failed to announce a new sponsor after winning the Tour de France. The team was given notice that the Discovery Channel would not renew its sponsorship back in February, leading to a long and intensive search for a replacement sponsor.

Despite having won eight Tours de France, the team will fold at the end of this season, leaving 27 riders looking for new jobs, including 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador, third place finisher Levi Leipheimer, and eighth place finisher Yaroslav Popovych. American George Hincapie is rumoured to have already signed with T-Mobile for the upcoming year, a team whose sponsor was uncertain to continue in the sport until rigorous talks led to a renewal of commitment from the sponsor with plenty of conditions.

General Manager Bill Stapleton admitted in the organisation's press release that the search for a new sponsor had gone nowhere. "We were in talks with a number of companies about the opportunity and were confident a new sponsor was imminent. We have chosen, however, to end those discussions."

The team was said to have been close to signing a deal in March, but no announcement followed the news. As the season wore on, Bruyneel had gone as far as China to search for a replacement sponsor, but by June, the team had still failed to ink a deal. The team was rumoured to be asking $45 million for three years - a difficult sell in the current climate of doping scandals in the sport.

That the team which won eight Tours can not find a sponsor bodes poorly for the sport in general. "Tailwind has had an amazing ten years of success with U.S. Postal and more recently Discovery Channel as its title sponsor. This is arguably the most successful sports franchise in the history of sport," stated Stapleton. "This was a difficult decision, not made any easier by our recent Tour de France success."

Directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel built the team from a fledgling squad of Americans to a Tour powerhouse starting in 1999. With Lance Armstrong, the team went on to win seven Tours. While the squad struggled in the wake of Armstrong's retirement in 2005, it found its footing once again in this year's Tour and came out with it's best performance ever with two men on the podium. "When I came to direct this team in 1999 I never would have imagined that we could achieve this level of success. It was an amazing time in my life and the lives of all the staff and riders associated with this team," commented Bruyneel.

While successful, the team was not without its share of controversy. Lance Armstrong was hounded by doping allegations throughout his career as Tour champion, and the signing of Italian Ivan Basso to the squad last fall created a firestorm of criticism from the other ProTour teams who viewed the move as a violation of the ProTour code of ethics. Basso was implicated in Operación Puerto, but was cleared by the Italian Federation when the Spanish judge in charge of the investigation shelved the case. Basso was free to race when the Discovery Channel signed him, but the scandal continued to haunt the Giro d'Italia winner, and he was finally suspended by the team and subsequently admitted to his involvement with the blood doping clinic.

Bruyneel's future in the sport is now in question, with Rabobank being the only ProTour team in search of a directeur sportif. "I'm going to miss the staff, riders and the excitement of the races, but not all the in fighting between the teams. This Team has become my family and it is very sad to think that we will not be together next season. 2007 has been our most successful season ever and I expect the remainder of the season to continue on that same path."

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, a co-owner of the team, took a more optimistic view. "I do not think you have seen the last of this organisation in the sport, but clearly things need to improve on many levels, with a more unified front, before you would see us venture back into cycling," Armstrong added. The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team will continue to race its full calendar of Pro Tour races including the final grand tour of the season, the Tour of Spain, as well as the upcoming Tour of Missouri.

作者: 寒夜梦飞 时间: 2007-8-10 21:57
不是吧

作者: 黑暗皇帝 时间: 2007-8-10 22:43
汗.............

作者: 贝多芬 时间: 2007-8-10 22:53
自行车运动完蛋了。。。

作者: 野蛮小子 时间: 2007-8-11 00:14
老李怎么办?/???

作者: 光光 时间: 2007-8-11 01:20
主赞助商赛季末终止合同探索频道车队面临解散2007年08月10日23:41 [我来说两句] [字号：大中小] 来源：搜狐体育作者：Firewall   搜狐体育讯本周五，自行车界再爆惊人新闻，美国探索频道车队在本赛季结束后将面临解散危机。由于赞助商Tailwind体育（顺风体育）决定在本赛季结束后终止合作关系，因此美国探索频道车队如果找不到新的赞助商，那么车队只能解散。

　　美国探索频道车队可谓是自行车界最为成功的车队之一，就在刚刚结束的环法大赛中，他们不但夺得车队冠军，并且独揽总冠军和新人王的西班牙车手康塔多也是出自探索频道车队，而在环法赛上创造了七连冠壮举的阿姆斯特朗也来自美国探索频道车队。不过在阿姆斯特朗退役后，自行车界禁药丑闻又始终挥之不去，这多少打击了赞助商的投资信心。

　　车队总经理比尔-斯塔普莱顿表示“这是一个很难的决定，做出终止合同的决定不比我们最近在环法赛上取得的优异成绩容易。顺风体育与车队的合作在近10年里创造了令人振奋的成绩，之前有美国邮政资助，但最近几年更多是顺风资助的探索频道车队。毋庸置疑，那也是体育史上最成功的一段时间。”

　　与此同时，阿姆斯特朗的恩师、老板布鲁伊尼尔也对外宣布即将退休。“我选择离开体育并不是一件容易的选择。我在体育界已经完成了所有我能做到的事情，我以前一直说我想激流勇退，我认为现在正是时候。当我1999年来到这个车队时，我从来没有想过我们会取得如此辉煌的成绩，这是我生命中最灿烂的一段日子，和车队所有工作人员和车手一起生活的日子让人难忘。我会怀念他们，还有比赛中那令人激动的时刻，但记忆里不会有车队之间的勾心斗角。这个车队（的人员）已经变成了我的家人，一想到我们下个赛季不能再在一起的确让人感到非常悲伤。”

　　对于未来的赞助商现在出现了两种不同版本的言论，之前顺风体育在探索频道车队上的投资是每年1400万美元。斯塔普莱顿表示“我们正在和几个有可能的赞助商谈判，我们有信心会有个新的赞助商即将出现，我们已经选择了，但谈判还没有结束。”而目前正在荷兰的布鲁伊尼尔在接受比利时VRT电视台采访时则说“我已经与几个候选新赞助商有过接触，但目前体育界的环境太糟，没人想与我们携手。”美国探索频道车队将何去何从，现在或许没人能给出一个确切的答案。（Firewall）

作者: glorysky 时间: 2007-8-11 01:24

我晕。这是最大的玩笑。。。。

作者: 559 时间: 2007-8-11 09:46

引用第5楼光光于2007-08-11 01:20发表的:
主赞助商赛季末终止合同探索频道车队面临解散2007年08月10日23:41 [我来说两句] [字号：大中小] 来源：搜狐体育作者：Firewall   搜狐体育讯本周五，自行车界再爆惊人新闻，美国探索频道车队在本赛季结束后将面临解散危机。由于赞助商Tailwind体育（顺风体育）决定在本赛季结束后终止合作关系，因此美国探索频道车队如果找不到新的赞助商，那么车队只能解散。

.......

sohu的英语翻译能力真差，竟然把disco和tailwind写反了。。。

作者: 559 时间: 2007-8-11 09:57
Bruyneel退休
Trek可能去赞助Slipstream
个人感觉是不是Contador的问题和车队解散是一个交换

作者: 贝多芬 时间: 2007-8-12 11:05
探索频道车队和探索频道是啥关系？顺风体育是最大的赞助商为什么不叫顺风体育车队啊？

作者: 爱骑车的小孩 时间: 2007-8-12 20:42
召唤中国的大赞助商~~~~

作者: kevin126 时间: 2007-8-12 21:42
如果探索解散了,看来我的准备再买一套骑行服了~~~~

作者: 张伯伦 时间: 2007-8-14 12:05
那明年美国怎么办啊我想美国应该不会罢休的不然以后还有脸做老大啊

作者: 559 时间: 2007-8-14 12:09

引用第12楼张伯伦于2007-08-14 12:05发表的:
那明年美国怎么办啊我想美国应该不会罢休的不然以后还有脸做老大啊

Slipstream

作者: pengyou 时间: 2007-8-14 12:38
今年的环法成为黄衫车队的黑洞 ASTANA RABO DSC，没一个好结果。

作者: 猪唐唐912 时间: 2007-8-14 13:00
愚人节不早过了嘛

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