Current Articles    |   Archives    |   RSS Feeds    |   Search

Monday, August 10, 2009 Barloworld ends sponsorship by VeloNation Press at 6:49 PM EST   comments Categories: Pro Cycling   After seven years in the sport, South African company Barloworld has announced they will be ending its sponsorship of the cycling team at the end of 2009. This means that team boss Claudio Corti will have to find a replacement in these tough economic times. "The riders know that Barloworld will stop their sponsorship and I will need to find a replacement to continue," said Corti. He added: "I remain calm because I don't have the pressure to keep riders such as [Mark] Cavendish or [Alberto] Contador." With the formation of the new Team Sky, cycling has been on the up in Britain where the team is registered. This brings good and bad news for the Italian. The good is that other companies might want to get in on the action, the bad is that Team Sky is likely to sign his core of riders including Britons Stephen Cummings, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas along with South African sprinter Robbie Hunter. Over the years Barloworld has been extremely supportive of cycling, staying with the sport through the turbulent air of doping controversy. When Spaniard Moisés Dueñas tested positive for EPO in last year's Tour de France, the South African company did the team a major service by not ending their sponsorship and continuing until now. Bianchi has indicated they will continue to work with Corti if he can pick up the pieces.       comments Follow @Pro_Cycling Tweet Subscribe via RSS or daily email Contact the editor about this article Related Articles Dueñas cleared for racing by UCI Another Spanish doping network uncovered? UCI chief calls for Spanish to clean up cycling