Credit Agricole Left Without Sponsor
The Credit Agricole professional cycling team has released riders to sign elsewhere for 2009 as they have failed to find a new sponsor.
Credit Agricole is ending its sponsorship at the end of this season, having supported the team since 1998.
Team manager Roger Legay had set 1st August as the deadline for sponsors to come forward, but negotiations with several companies broke down. His riders have assured him they will wait to look elsewhere, however.
‘The leading riders in the team such as Thor Hushovd, Simon Gerrans, Pierre Rolland, Remi Pauriol and Mark Renshaw have told me they won’t make a decision about their future before ringing me,’ Legay told Reuters.
‘They’ve given me until 15th August and that gives me a bit of hope. Perhaps this announcement will cause something to happen.’
The Gerolsteiner team, who performed well at the Tour de France with two stage wins by Stefan Schumacher and a third-place finish from Bernhard Kohl, is also looking for a sponsor to replace the German watre company for 2009.
