Astana to Ride Trek
 

I was wondering who Trek would sponsor after the breakup of Disco.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/...le_168800.html

Interesting, I highly doubted they would stay out of the game, that gives Astana a nice $$$ advantage now. Say what you want about Trek, as most here do, but they do back up their team with some serious financing and R&D.

beat you to it. :D

http://bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p...53&postcount=7

http://bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p...20&postcount=2

What? No pale blue for 2008? I wonder how the Kazakhs will feel with their team not in national colors? I bet they have Discovery Channel colors!!! :lol:

Based on this "I'm talking, and saying nothing" quote, Contador doesn't seem so thrilled at the news.

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador: “Obviously Trek knows what it is doing. Look at the races they have won. I'm happy to be on a good bike.”

Trek is likely to regret getting involved with this bunch. The "prime" sponsor is a bunch of thugs, pretending to be a national "government"....a "government that is actually just a front for the Russian Mafia which is dominated by former KGB hitmen. This is a nation where the losing candidates for office get a choice between prison or the firing squad.

Trek's new motto "Buy our bike or get a bullet in the back of your head".

I liked the pale blue Astana kit, I hope they keep it.

I thought Astana were part of the Bottecchia group buy.

They wanted them without stickers though.

I wonder which side was holding out for so long - they could've sorted this out a long time ago; SRAM joined up quite a while back. Who got a better deal? Trek or Astana? I'm inclined to think Trek... But then again it would've been mildly embarrassing for them to lack a pro-tour team. But will they use Astana in advertising as much as they used USPS & Discovery?

And I think avoiding the blue is a good idea. New team, new identity (kinda).

But it is vaguely amusing how much of it is just like Disco.

Is BMC now feeling they've got the moral high ground? Or are they bummed they didn't stick with it?

I thought it was going to be:

"Trek, we are number 2 prostitute in all of Kazahkstan."

:D

So long as they're required to listen to one of my rants first!


And: Le site n'est temporairement plus disponible.

Excellent :)

[QUOTE=Treefox;5794279]I wonder which side was holding out for so long - they could've sorted this out a long time ago; SRAM joined up quite a while back. Who got a better deal? Trek or Astana? I'm inclined to think Trek... But then again it would've been mildly embarrassing for them to lack a pro-tour team. But will they use Astana in advertising as much as they used USPS & Discovery?

Wow. How's this going to work? I thought putting anything other than Shimano on a Trek would make the frame explode.

[QUOTE=drbianchi;5794330]The flames will mask the EPO residue.

Probably since it is the same colour of the country's flag

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/f...gs/kzlarge.gif

Some guy who used to live down the street from me had a Kazakh flag hanging out of his window (as in he hung it over the window frame, then shut the window, just leaving it hanging). It ended up absolutely filthy after several months.

He also played bad Kazakh dance music you could hear quite a ways down the street.


Nothing about it on Trek's website yet, it seems... I wonder how much of a deal they'll make of it. They did, tellingly, post this mini-article just a month ago about Leipheimer mucking about at the Trek factory and 'meeting the president.' But no mention of Astana.

Did they ride BMC last year, who will be riding BMC other then the factory team? JB probably got paid well for aiding in this.

Well who knows what exactly they're getting - might be just two stock Madone's and an Equinox per person and nothing more. The article says '08 Madone' - doesn't sound like they're getting ultra-advanced prototype kit.

Disco did get all Trek had to offer, but that doesn't mean that Astana will get the same.

no pro tour for BMC this year.

I think this deal is no different than a private company buying a public company as a shell. Astana has a pro Lic and that is what Johann needed. The Astana name and any connection with Kazakhstan will be eliminated either before the '08 tour or in '09.

Unlikely. Astana is actually a national team, so it's a bit different than most of the trade teams.

Boooooooooo!!

And consumers end up paying very high price for these bikes

Having just finished watching Long Way Round, it amazes me even more than Kazakhstan sponsors a ProTour team. No wonder Vino was a tough guy.