Stinkoff gets the brush-off -yay!

Excellent news today for those of us who were horrified at the ranting, unpleasant tweets of nasty Mr Tinkoff, deeply disappointed at the way he dropped SaxoBank like a hot potato just because he didn't think they had won enough, and seriously worried at the idea of him transferring his lack of understanding of cycling over to the Cannondale Chipmunks.

Dorel, the company who own Cannondale, have increased their share of Cannondale, and negotiations with Stinkoff have apparently ceased.

Yay!

Yes, I realise that at a time like this, cycling needs all the sponsors it can get, but I really think that there is no place for sponsors like Mr Tinkoff and Mr Becca, who clearly don't know the difference between Investment (all together now - "money in, money out, hope to get more out than you put in") and Sponsorship ("money in, gone without a trace, but you get publicity in return").

In  my opinion, based on what we've seen over the past couple of years, there really is no point in individuals sponsoring teams - unless your "name" is getting the benefit, your "brand" is getting  the return in advertising/product placement, then eventually they are going to tire of just pouring in their own money. And, as we have seen repeatedly, they seem to think that they "own" the team and can therefore dictate who runs it, who rides, where they go, and what they do.

At a lower level, personal sponsorship can be a lovely philanthropic gesture, as seen in Nigel Mansell, who for several years has sponsored UK Youth, the British domestic professional team (as opposed to Pro-Team, that is). However, an individual will eventually come to the end of their budget, which is now happening, and although we are very grateful to Nigel Mansell for all his money, it's a bit disappointing that now they are closing down the team, unless a sponsor steps in at the last minute *hopeful look*

So, it's good news that Cannondale will continue to be professionally-sponsored, not individually-sponsored, and I hope they have a great year next year.