Astana Qazaqstan Team lose sponsor due to Mark Cavendish's 'unfortunate' use of sunglasses

Astana Qazaqstan has come under fire from Scicon, the eyewear supplier, for allowing Mark Cavendish to wear Oakley glasses. The company has cancelled its contract with the team and is contemplating legal action to seek compensation.

"It is unfortunate that individual riders can compromise sponsorship agreements in this way” Scicon's CEO, Heinrich Dannhauser, told Cyclingnews. He was referring to Cavendish being allowed to wear glass from a different brand.

He continues, "It is even more unfortunate that a team would not stand up for what is ethically the right thing to do - honoring the agreement and recognizing the significant investments that were made by Scicon.”

The company released a statement stating that, "Scicon Sports, a leading cycling eyewear brand on the UCI Tour for the past three seasons, have parted ways with Team Astana after two years. This is due to one of their riders, Mark Cavendish using a personal eyewear sponsor brand instead of the team-sponsored brand. Scicon has withdrawn its entire sponsorship agreement with Team Astana which included eyewear, luggage, and bike bags, in the best interest of Scicon and its brand."

Following the publication, Astana Qazaqstan provided their side of the story. "The team declares with full responsibility that there were no violations of our contractual obligations respect to Scicon and we fully respected this agreement until the moment it has been terminated," Alexandr Vinokourov, general manager of the team told Cyclingnews.

They maintain that it was their decision to terminate the contract and provide financial compensation to the company. "At a certain point, we did not find common ground with the company and, as a result, the team decided to exercise its right, prescribed in the contract, to terminate the agreement with Scicon with the payment of appropriate monetary compensation.”