Skintstana

[mondobongo]

Its not looking too clever for Astana being at the Tour, as the UCI get ready to pull their Pro Licence due to them having spent their reserve.

More here

So is armstrong going to get a team up and running in quick time with Bruyneel sourcing some backers or is it going to fragment with Contador and others going to another Team?

 

[yello]

Hmmmm, so that is what Noodley was refering to.

Can't see the team folding myself. Not this side of the TdF anyway. I reckon the money will appear from somewhere; Kazakhstan, oil revenues, LA interest.... I dunno. The sum talked about (US$2m) is hardly huge in some companies advertising budgets.

 

[andy_wrx]

Here's the original Kazakh website it refers to, kind-of translated by Google
http://translate.google.ca/translat...st=0000000026&nd=1&sl=ru&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Astana was of course originally founded as a vehicle for Vino, so it's not really surprising that Kazakh sponsors don't really want to pay for LA and the Disco boys to go racing and I'm kind-of surprised it's lasted this long.

The question is who, in the current financial climate, would want to put their hands in their pockets to replace them as sponsors.
They will be guaranteed lots of coverage - LA's comeback at the Tour will be bigtime news for all media organisations, but so will doping stories and that's how Disco failed to get a sponsor last time.