[JRogers]

Kinda strange. I figured if he was going to jump ship, it'd be to lend some Commonwealth power to Sky- give them a real GC contender and a place to put the buckets of money I keep hearing about while Wiggins is still at Garmin.

But BMC? Maybe he was just done with Lotto given that the GTs are not their focus. And BMC isn't terrible with Kroon, Hincapie, Morabito and a few others. But, still, sort of a strange pick if winning a grand tour is his main goal. My guess is that Cadel wants to be on a team that would prioritize him and BMC wants some (probably expensive) signings that will increase their chances of a wild card GT invite.

That brings me to my next question: where does BMC get the money to run a legit team without outside sponsors?

 

[ire]

That brings me to my next question: where does BMC get the money to run a legit team without outside sponsors?

It doesn't cost as much as you think. Eskuetel has a ridiculously small budget and they are a Pro Tour team. This should seal the deal for some GT invites. I bet he does better on BMC than he did on Silence. I thought he should have jumped ship after 2007.

 

[Cant Climb]

BMC isn't going to help him when the groups get small and the air gets thin.....as he Fades off the back with his chin hanging low.....

 

[JRogers]

It doesn't cost as much as you think. Eskuetel has a ridiculously small budget and they are a Pro Tour team. This should seal the deal for some GT invites. I bet he does better on BMC than he did on Silence. I thought he should have jumped ship after 2007.

I just looked at a few team budget numbers that I could find. One figure I saw said the average for a ProTour team was 8.6 million Euros in 2009. Figures I saw from 2007 and other years are similar if a little lower. Euskaltel was on the lower side, but not too far down the chain- still at least a few million, high single digits.

Not a huge amount, but not pocket change. I know BMC will have lower salaries and costs (though from what I've seen and heard costs of a high-level pro continental team aren't too far off ProTour level), but I just find it really surprising that it's still "Team BMC." I can't even think of a ProTour, Pro Continental or even a decent Continental team whose title sponsor is a bike company. Some have joint sponsorship (Fuji, for example, and I think now DeRosa does), but that's about it. It wouldn't be that strange to me if it were Trek or Giant or another big company...but BMC?

 

[ire]

I just looked at a few team budget numbers that I could find. One figure I saw said the average for a ProTour team was 8.6 million Euros in 2009. Figures I saw from 2007 and other years are similar if a little lower. Euskaltel was on the lower side, but not too far down the chain- still at least a few million, high single digits.

Not a huge amount, but not pocket change. I know BMC will have lower salaries and costs (though from what I've seen and heard costs of a high-level pro continental team aren't too far off ProTour level), but I just find it really surprising that it's still "Team BMC." I can't even think of a ProTour, Pro Continental or even a decent Continental team whose title sponsor is a bike company. Some have joint sponsorship (Fuji, for example, and I think now DeRosa does), but that's about it. It wouldn't be that strange to me if it were Trek or Giant or another big company...but BMC?

Cervelo Test Team and the Bianchi team when the main sponsor pulled out (Ulrich was riding for them). Do you have the link to the budgets? I could have swore Euskaltel was a very small budget, like a couple million Euros.

 

[James]

Kinda strange. I figured if he was going to jump ship, it'd be to lend some Commonwealth power to Sky- give them a real GC contender and a place to put the buckets of money I keep hearing about while Wiggins is still at Garmin.

But BMC? Maybe he was just done with Lotto given that the GTs are not their focus. And BMC isn't terrible with Kroon, Hincapie, Morabito and a few others. But, still, sort of a strange pick if winning a grand tour is his main goal. My guess is that Cadel wants to be on a team that would prioritize him and BMC wants some (probably expensive) signings that will increase their chances of a wild card GT invite.

That brings me to my next question: where does BMC get the money to run a legit team without outside sponsors?

I think you'll hear pretty soon that Sky has their British TdF contender...

I just looked at a few team budget numbers that I could find. One figure I saw said the average for a ProTour team was 8.6 million Euros in 2009. Figures I saw from 2007 and other years are similar if a little lower. Euskaltel was on the lower side, but not too far down the chain- still at least a few million, high single digits.

Not a huge amount, but not pocket change. I know BMC will have lower salaries and costs (though from what I've seen and heard costs of a high-level pro continental team aren't too far off ProTour level), but I just find it really surprising that it's still "Team BMC." I can't even think of a ProTour, Pro Continental or even a decent Continental team whose title sponsor is a bike company. Some have joint sponsorship (Fuji, for example, and I think now DeRosa does), but that's about it. It wouldn't be that strange to me if it were Trek or Giant or another big company...but BMC?

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but the guy backing the team who owns BMC, also owns Phonak, and is a pretty (read: very) rich dude. It appears to me that they were building somewhat of a classics team for '10, and then the current WC kind of fell into their plate, so it'll be a LOT of work for them to build up enough to back him up. But maybe they're thinking more of '11 than '10 with the TdF goal. Sounds like they have a Giro invite in the bag, so maybe Cuddles will make a push to win that one instead of the Tour next year?

 

[JRogers]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but the guy backing the team who owns BMC, also owns Phonak, and is a pretty (read: very) rich dude.

I thought I had read something about that. Makes more sense.

 

[JRogers]

Cervelo Test Team and the Bianchi team when the main sponsor pulled out (Ulrich was riding for them). Do you have the link to the budgets? I could have swore Euskaltel was a very small budget, like a couple million Euros.

Good point with Cervelo; skipped my mind. Bianchi seems to me a bit different story becaus Coast (I think) pulled out unexpectedly.

As for the team budgets, Euskaltel does have a smaller budget than most of the other teams; sources vary as to the actual numbers in different years and in comparison to other teams. But it seems like the budget is still bigger than or close to the same as some other teams (e.g. Saunier Duval, Milram, Lampre, Liquigas, FdJ) in most years according to various sources.

Seems like the most recent numbers are around 6-6.5 million.
http://www.velonews.com/article/99663/andrew-hood-euskaltel-euskadi-reshapes-following-doping
http://www.velonews.com/article/96256/astarloza-case-puts-pressure-on-euskaltel
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/2040/Good-news-not-bad-required-of-Euskaltel-Euskadi-riders.aspx


So that is less than the average, supposing the numbers these places are giving are comparable:
http://www.uciprotour.com/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails.asp?id=NjQzOQ&MenuId=MTY5Mw&LangId=1&BackLink=/templates/UCI/UCI5/layout.asp?MenuId=MTY5Mw&LangId=1
http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/TourdeFrance/tour-de-france-demystified-part-3.html
(this source seems legitimate, but its numbers are not the same as I get dividing the number in the UCI link)

Info on other years from possibly more questionable sources...but they all seem to suggest that the Euskaltel budget is low-ish but not out of line with other teams:
http://www.wiwi.uni-hannover.de/Forschung/Diskussionspapiere/dp-345.pdf
http://forum.team-csc.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3813
http://www.bicycle.net/2007/tour-de-france-team-lineup-line-up-sponsor-rank-profile
http://forum.team-saxobank.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7925&whichpage=5

Sorry, went a little nuts there....

 

[oldfart]

The thing I wonder about is why Evans seems to go to teams that are not really GT contenders. Not like Disco, Astana, Euskatel, Caisse Depargne etc. I always thought of Lotto as a classics team being Belgian and all. Is Evams really as prickly as he seems to be from various media accounts and thus, undesirable on a "proper" Tour team? I don't think Lotta was a good team for a true GT contender and a team change is probably a smart move for him. Having him on the team will certainly help get them a wildcard invite. But you have to think that Evans has the palmares to get on a Pro Tour team. Columbia? Garmin? (Garmin's already got some good riders for that actually) but Sky? Maybe an English speaking team is not good as too many teamates will know what he's saying.

 

[James]

Cervelo Test Team and the Bianchi team when the main sponsor pulled out (Ulrich was riding for them). Do you have the link to the budgets? I could have swore Euskaltel was a very small budget, like a couple million Euros.

Don't forget Fuji-Servetto, which came out of the Saunier Duval-Scott team, which was to be renamed Scott-American Beef after the sponsors pulled out.

It seems that it's mostly when a sponsor backs out, and the companies want/need the team to continue, I'm sure they get them at fire-sale prices.

That said, Fuji-Servetto is Footon-Servetto for next year.
It seems that these companies (excluding Cervelo) are mostly a one-year deal.

 

[maddog17]

i'm so far behind i didn't even know Hincapie left Columbia. or maybe i did but just dont remember. not sure if Evans will have the team he's been crying for. while i like GH, i'm just not sure how much he has left in the tank to get Evans where he (evans) wants to be. i read somewhere that they hope to do the Giro and if they do well, hope to get a TdF invite. should be an interesting season next year.

 

[Silver]

The thing I wonder about is why Evans seems to go to teams that are not really GT contenders.

Because Evans will never win a GT...