Col de la Madeleine, Col du Mollard and Col de la Croix de Fer on the menu of #Dauphine stage 7. It’s going to be a crucial day for the general classification.
"Only the INEOS of this world who have room to put aside a nest egg" - Patrick Lefevere sympathizes with Jumbo-Visma's sponsor issues
CyclingSaturday, 10 June 2023 at 11:29
Main title sponsor Jumbo is set to pull out of Jumbo-Visma, as will key sponsor Gorillas. Into the 2024 season Jumbo-Visma, widely regarded as one of the (if not the) most successful team in current pro cycling, is set for a big task of obtaining new sponsors to keep the team's high budget. Patrick Lefevere assures that is ultimately the same with almost the entire pro cycling field.
“It makes me somewhat gloomy when one of the most successful cycling teams of the moment is in the news twice with sponsorship problems. I sympathize with colleague Richard Plugge (manager of Jumbo-Visma, ed.), because in the current context it is not easy to fill budgetary gaps," Lefevere told Het Nieuwsblad.
The manager of Soudal - Quick-Step has been on that end of the spectrum as well, and with perhaps more similarities than most other teams could face due to the team's extensive and long-standing success. Currently as it stands Jumbo-Visma have been having a wildly successful season, coming off the back of a 2022 Tour de France that would've satisfied any sponsor.
However money is rarely put in the long-term in the sport, and sustaining a large budget can be an even more difficult task. “In cycling, all teams are budget-wise on the tip of their saddle. It is only the INEOS of this world who have room to put aside a nest egg. The rest will be in trouble as soon as one sponsor drops out," Lefevere explains.
“A cycling team does not live apart from the world: as a traveling circus, we feel the rising prices very much. And in an organization in which eighty percent of the budget goes to the wages of riders and staff, wage indexation has also cut into it," the veteran details. "Even if all sponsors continue to pay properly, there will be little budget everywhere.”
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