French team manager says he has a replacement sponsor ready to sign as next ProTour application deadline approaches
Bbox Bouygues Telecom manager Jean-René Bernadeau has just a week left to secure the future of the turquoise and white team. The team name, contracts with riders and a bank guarantee must be with the International Cycling Union (UCI) by next Tuesday, September 28, if the team’s application for a ProTour license for 2011 is to continue.
The former lieutenant to five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault has known that his current sponsor, the French telecoms company, would not be continuing to support his team past the end of the year; finding a replacement though, has not been easy.
“I’ve lost a lot of sleep,” Bernadeau told newspaper Ouest France, “I didn’t want anybody to know the true situation.”
Finally though, after his year-long search, Bernadeau claims to have found a replacement; reportedly a large French multinational company, which has been seduced by the prospect of the cycling team, is poised to sign a contract after multiple meetings in the past three weeks.
“The team likes the project also,” he said, I’m very optimistic and a press conference will be held before the weekend; probably Friday.”
Bernadeau’s team has been in its current form since 2000, when it was sponsored by French free-paper Bonjour. In 2003 it switched to Brioches La Boulanger, a French bakery, before the telecoms company took over in 2005. The organisation itself can trace its origins back to the System U team of the 1980s though, for whom the late Laurent Fignon rode on his way to that famous Tour de France second place in 1989.
The team has taken 18 victories this season, in one of its most successful years, including a Tour de France stage each for Thomas Voeckler and Pierrick Fédrigo, the French championship and the GP de Québec for Voeckler, a Giro d’Italia stage for Johann Tschopp and the polka-dot mountains jersey in the Tour for Anthony Charteau.
With the uncertainty over the team’s future though, many of the team’s top riders have already elected to look elsewhere. Fédrigo, William Bonnet and Steve Chainel have signed for FDJ, Yury Trofimov has signed for Katusha, Tschopp has signed for BMC Racing and Nicolas Vogondy has signed for Cofidis.
To date, the only stars to be confirmed with the team are Voeckler and Charteau, although the rest are yet to confirmed.
“My riders trust me and they know that I’m working for them,” he concluded.