Oleg Tinkov backs Bjarne Riis

Bjarne Riis and Oleg Tinkov.

The new partner for Bjarne Riis' cycling team was announced Monday on a press conference and despite rumors of it being a Spanish bank, it's now confirmed that it's in fact is the Russian bank, Tinkoff Bank, who will be the new co-sponsor together with Saxo Bank. The new name is Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank.

"We are proud to return to cycling and to be sponsoring this team and Bjarne Riis who is without a doubt the best manager in the cycling world", Oleg Tinkov told the press.

Oleg Tinkov has been out of the cycling game for a while but is now back starting already from the Tour de France and until 2013 with the proclamed goal of being "the best team in the cycling world already from next year".

New jersey for Tour de France.

The new deal also means that Bjarne Riis finally will be able to increase his budget and thereby strengthen the roster as well. "The team will - for sure - be stronger next year. I won't name any names right now, but I'm working on it", Riis explains.

Last year Saxo Bank opened a representative office in Moscow, but since Bjarne Riis didn't managed to sign Denis Menchov it seemed like the Russian connection was dead. That being untill today. Not only will Tinkoff Bank partner up with Saxo Bank in matters of the cycling team they will also start a project together in Russia  later this year.

Is Santander finally stepping into cycling?

Is Santander Bjarne Riis' new sponsor?

For many years there have been rumors of the Spanish bank Santander wanting to try out cycling as main sponsor of a cycling team with a Spanish star on their roster.

On Friday the 22nd of June, CEO of Saxo Bank – current main sponsor of Bjarne Riis’ cycling team with Alberto Contador – Lars Seier Christensen confirmed they will have a press conference on Monday the 25th together with the cycling team.

According to the Danish financial newspaper Børsen, Saxo Bank will give up half of their sponsorship to a foreign bank (meaning not Danish) and step down as main sponsor for the cycling team. Only a few weeks ago Alberto Contador signed a new contract with Bjarne Riis running to the end of 2015 and knowing that Santander has been trying to find the right time to invest in cycling, Alberto Contador sure is one of the best way to do so.

Santander CEO, Alfredo Saenz, was the man behind Miguel Indurain and the Banesto team back in the 90’s when he single-handedly turned Banesto from bankruptcy to success with Miguel Indurain winning five consecutive Tour de France wins.

Asked if Bjarne Riis will reveal Santander as the new sponsor for the his cycling team, press officer Anders Damgaard simply told me “no comments”

UPDATE @ 17:00 - Riis Cycling confirm press conference on Monday at 13:00 CET stating that "Bjarne Riis has important news about the future of the cycling team".

Possible new cycling sponsors - part I

In the light of HTC’s and GEOX’ goodbye to cycling and the fusion between Radioshack and Leopard, I’ve taken a look at some new potential sponsors who all bring a big bag of money to the table.

Two of the most sold jerseys worldwide, sponsored by Bwin.

First up is the betting industry. Bookmakers all over the world are making tons of money every day on poker, casino and sports betting and are all looking for potential sports to sponsor. Bwin has been sponsoring the entire best Portuguese football league for years and are currently on the chest of worldwide known players like Ronaldo and Kaka. The financial details of the Portuguese league sponsorship haven’t been disclosed, but we do know that that the price for the coveted sponsor deal with Real Madrid gives the Spanish club €20 million a year. And this is only a visual deal. Have you ever mentioned Bwin when you are talking about Real Madrid? I know I haven’t… Imagine if they put just half of that amount into a cycling team where they will get the rights to the entire team name. €10 million is more or less the budget Team Sky (Bradley Wiggins & Mark Cavendish) and Liquigas (Ivan Basso & Vincenzo Nibali) have and a few millions more than Team Saxo Bank (Alberto Contador) and Lampre (Alessandro Petacchi & Damiano Cunego) have.

Team? Unibet weren't allowed shown on the tricot.

It’s a known fact that the bookmakers have plenty of money to spend on marketing so why aren’t any of them throwing their love (and money) at cycling? Well, as you might remember; Swedish bookmaker Unibet tried just that back in 2006. Unibet paid €6-8 million a year for their ProTour team sponsorship but ended up abandoning the sport again after only two years. The different countries’ gambling monopoly prevented Unibet to take part in any of the three Grand Tours and therefore they decided to leave. ”It's too bad that cycling has been troubling a sponsor that invests no less than €25,000,000 in the sport”, team manager Hilaire Van der Schueren said in 2007.

So why should the bookmakers come back and spend €8-10 million on a WorldTour team sponsorship? First of all, it’s important to remember that the very same gambling monopolies that ended up killing Team Unibet now are about to disappear thanks to the EU-wide legalizations on the gambling markets. Denmark, France, Spain etc. will all legalize gambling and public sports betting advertizing in 2012 and that means that the fear of being excluded from ex. the Tour de France due to a bookmaker sponsor is now gone.

Denmark was the first country to legalize gambling and that has had an immediate effect on the best football league which, in 2012, will be co-sponsored by the Scandinavian bookmaker Betsafe while the 2nd division will be renamed to “The Betsafe League”. According to my information Betsafe pays around €1 million for this sponsorship. The thing is that Betsafe is already a well known brand in Denmark. Wouldn’t it be great if they decided to spend their money on the Danish Team Saxo Bank and help securing one of those big names (Thor Husvhod, Tony Martin etc.) that Bjarne Riis didn’t have the money for as well?

Odds on the Tour de France 2012 at Betsafe.

There is one big bridge to cross though and that is the fact that cycling still is an absolute niche sport for the bookmakers. Most bookmakers are making red numbers on their cycling bets and the amount of money placed on the cycling markets are microscopically small compared to big sports like football and tennis. Still we must remember that despite this fact Unibet did think it was a good idea to sponsor a cycling team in the best league.

It might look like a dead end, but personally I believe that we will see bookmakers entering top cycling within the next couple of years. It might be too early – after the end of the gambling monopolies – in 2012 already, but I feel quite confident saying that the Tour de France 2014 will have a least one team sponsored by an online bookmaker on the start list, except for Lotto and FDJ of course.

EXCLUSIVE - No new sponsors to save Gianetti & Matxin

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Mauro Gianetti had at least two concrete offers on the table to save the former Team GEOX. One of these was the deal with President Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan government while the other was with ‘regular’ international company. At the time it seemed like it was only a matter of time before a new sponsor deal would be signed but now the optimism is gone. I just got off the phone with Mauro Gianetti.

“The situation isn’t easy. Right now we are still waiting for a decision from the Venezuelan government. It’s a big, long term project and of course you can’t just rush to a decision, I understand that. I’m in touch with them every day though, but I don’t think it will be possible to continue on the level we would like to next year. Maybe we can make a deal for 2012 to carry on with a smaller budget, but I don’t know. To be honest it’s very complicated right now”, Gianetti explains.

Last Friday the UCI gave Gianetti & Matxin another week to find a new sponsor, but according to Gianetti that’s not enough time.

“Ever since GEOX announced the end of their sponsorship, I have been doing everything I could to secure a new deal. But now we just have to face the reality of modern cycling. It’s extremely difficult to find a new sponsor and if you look around there are really no new sponsors among the big teams. Not even Highroad managed to find a new sponsor. Due to the low economy it’s just not possible right now and we have to face that. Maybe we can sign a deal in one or two months, because I’m really talking with a lot of companies. The opportunity is there but the time isn’t”.

Denis Menchov has already been rumored to Katusha for several months and according to Mauro Gianetti that would indeed be the best solution. “I hope he sign the deal soon. Denis is a good rider and a good person and I think that Katusha should have the best Russian rider on their team”.

Also Juanjo Cobo, who has been faithful to Gianetti & Matxin in this difficult time, is now ‘free to leave’. “He has been approached by some teams. I can’t say which ones, but of course he is not going to stay now, I mean he is the winner of the Vuelta”, Gianetti says. According to my information Cobo will most likely continue on one of the World Tour licensed teams next year.

So unfortunately it really seems like the former GEOX team won’t continue next year and if they do, only on a level much lower than before. Such a shame for cycling!