Team Astana Sponsership
 

They are making an announcment Thursday according to Lances Twitter.

Going to be called Team Istanbul instead..

I heard it caught Contador by surprise.

seriously I wonder who's going to be on this new Nike-Livestrong team

Lance, Levi, Horner, Popovich, and Zubeldia for starters, probably bring up Taylor Phinney too.

Kloden?

I'm confused, what did Lance's twitter say? What's the implication? Is he planning on dropping Astana 4 days before the end of the Tour to do Nike/Livestrong, or will Nike sponsor Astana? Or an announcement of a team for next year's tour when this one isn't even over? Seems odd.

what? no. Its for next year. come on now

lancearmstong via twitter "making a very cool announcement on Thursday re: a new American partner for our team in 2010 (and beyond). Stay tuned!"

This has been brewing for awhile though right? I swear I heard he had been looking for a US sponsor and had some potential ones lined up at the start of the tour

incorrect.

Geeez, I have to keep going around and stamping out the little fires you keep setting!

From Velo News:

By Agence France Presse
Published: Jul. 21, 2009

Lance Armstrong said on Tuesday he would definitely ride in next year's race a reliable source told AFP.

Armstrong plans to announce a new sponsor on Thursday, although he refused to say if it would replace his present team Astana.

However, his close friend and mentor Johan Bruyneel announced earlier on Tuesday that he is set to quit the Astana team as their team manager and rumors are rife that he is due to start up a new team with Armstrong the likely leader.

geez, i have to keep correcting your inability to comprehend what's written.

Astana is not making the announcement, Armstrong is. duh.

So Astana is no longer? Armstrong and JB are working for Astana. You are so wrong again!

What's wrong with this botto poster and his whitening out of other people's posts? He does this in every thread.

Well, the information above wasn't exactly very clear. It would seem odd for a company of Nike's stature to become a sponsor to Astana instead of just forming their own team. And it would be tacky for Lance to announce he is leaving Astana to form a new team while the 2009 Tour is still ongoing. Not that it is really in Lance's personality to give a crap if other people think his actions are tacky:).

how should i know.

incorrect.

incorrect. again, mr. 99er.

Botto, nice to see I can disappear for a few years and you can keep the forums on the right track.

next year, with the exception of whoever renegotiates their contracts, the team will retain the same riders. What will happen though is that it will no longer be this "Astana team." With the change in sponsorship it will instead become "team nike" or whoever the sponsor is going to be. It is going to be annouced by Lance because he has put the work into creating this new sponsorship and not by Astana, since they will no longer be the sponsors of said team.

Does that work for everyone?

you should get your facts straight and then you'll know why some of us think the actions of lance and bruyneel are despicable.

ed rader

Astana will continue as a team led by Vino, and, probably not get an invite to Le Tour. Armstrong and JB have contracts to a team that is sponsored by and named Astana. Both have indicated that they probably won't be associated with Astana next year. Lance's announcement was with regards to "a new partner for our team in 2010". That's not Astana, unless they(Astana) pull out as sponsor and gift their protour license to JB and LA.

I'm sorry but,..........between you and Botto,.......Botto has a much better grasp on the facts. You just jumped to an unwarranted conclussion that "our team in 2010" would be Team Astana. Which it won't.

Ed you are such a Lance *****. Hey they weren't even making payroll, so what is the big deal? I guess Vinny will be so much better for Astana? Ya, right.

:thumb:

You are as mistaken as Botto.

incorrect, sparky. :thumb:

Whadever............