2011 Cycling Team Sponsors

Who is paying the bills? 

With the big announcement due in 2 days about the sponsorship of the new professional cycling team Leopard (the team presentation will be Thursday, January 6th, in Luxembourg, at 8pm, (2:00pm EST) with The Schlecks and Cancellara and the whole team), I started thinking about who is still interested in sponsoring professional cycling teams. Here is a list of UCI ProTeam names, where the team is based, bicycles the team rides, websites, and sponsors. 

Thank goodness for linoleum flooring, banks, lotteries, phones, TVs, and Governments!  They are keeping this great sport of cycling going for the riders and us fans! 

AG2R La Mondiale – France, Kuota bikes 
Team website: http://www.cyclisme.ag2rlamondiale.fr/ (French)
Sponsor: AG2R a French-based interprofessional insurance and supplementary retirement fund group, and the La Mondiale Group, a French-based international group for supplementary pension and estate planning insurance.

Astana – Kazakhstan, Specialized bikes
Team website: http://www.astana.lu/index_x.php
Sponsor: coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana.

BMC Racing Team – United States, BMC bikes
Team website: http://www.bmc-racing.com/us-en/team/index.html
Sponsor: Swiss-based bicycle frame manufacturer.

Euskaltel-Euskadi – Spain, Orbea bikes
Team website: http://www.fundacioneuskadi.com/ (Spanish)
Team website: http://www.fundacioneuskadi.com/pag/fr_index.asp (French)
Sponsor: Euskaltel, a Basque telecom company, and also partly funded by the Basque Government.

Garmin-Cervélo – United States, Cervélo bikes
Team website: http://www.slipstreamsports.com/ 
Sponsor: Garmin is a maker of global positioning devices (GPS), and Transition Opticals, Inc., and Cervélo bicycles a Canadian bike manufacturer..

Lampre-ISD – Italian, Willier Triestina bikes
Team website: http://www.lampre-farnese.com/home/index.asp (Italian)
Team website: http://www.lampre-ngc.com/home/index_U.asp (English)
Sponsor: Lampre is an Italian manufacturer of prefinished steel sheet materials. ISD is a Ukrainian steel manufacturer.

Leopard-Trek - Luxembourg, Trek bikes
Team website: http://www.leopard.lu/ 
Sponsor: Leopard is financed by Luxembourg businessman (real estate) Flavio Becca, and Trek Bicycles an American manufacturer of bikes.

Liquigas-Cannondale – Italian, Cannondale bikes
Team website: http://www.teamliquigasdoimo.com/2010/ita/main.php (Italian)
Team website: http://www.teamliquigasdoimo.com/2010/eng/main.php (English)
Sponsor: Liquigas, a provider of liquified gas products in Italy, and Cannondale, an American bicycle manufacturing company.

Omega Pharma-Lotto – Belgian, Canyon Bikes
Team website: http://www.omegapharma-lotto.be/ 
Sponsor: Lotto is a Belgian lottery, and Omega Pharma a Belgian Pharmaceutical company.

QuickStep – Belgian, Eddy Merckx bikes
Team website: http://www.quickstepcycling.eu/
Sponsor: QuickStep is a manufacturer of laminate flooring

Rabobank – The Nederlands, Giant bikes
Team website: http://www.rabosport.nl/ (Dutch)
Team website: http://www.rabobank.com/content/about_us/sponsoring/cycling/ 
Sponsor: Rabobank is a financial services provider with offices worldwide. Their main location is in the Netherlands. They are a global leader in Food and Agri financing and in sustainability-oriented banking.

Team HTC-High Road – United States, Specialized bikes
Team website: http://www.highroadsports.com/ 
Sponsor: HTC Corporation is a Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones. High Road Sports is the management company of team manager Bob Stapleton.

Team Katusha – Russia, Ridley bikes
Team website: http://www.katushateam.com/ 
Sponsor: Russian Global Cycling Project foundation, which itself is funded by Russian businesses such as Gazprom, Itera and Rostechnologii.

Team Movistar – Spain, Pinarello bikes (old team name: Caisse d'Epargne)
Team website: http://www.cyclisme-caisse-epargne.fr/ 
Sponsor: a Spanish mobile telephone company Telefónica, with the team riding under the name of the company's brand Movistar.

Team RadioShack – United States, Trek bikes
Team website: http://www.livestrong.com/teamradioshack/ 
Sponsor: Radioshack a chain of electronics retail stores in the United States, as well as parts of North America, Europe, South America and Africa. Lance Armstrong co-owns the team.

Team Saxo Bank-SunGard – Denmark, Specialized bikes
Team website: http://www.saxobanksungard.com/
Sponsor: a Danish investment bank.

Team Sky – United Kingdom, Pinarello bikes
Team website: http://www.teamsky.com/ 
Sponsor: The British Sky Broadcasting Group (a.k.a. BSkyB) is a public satellite broadcasting (pay-TV) company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team – Netherlands, Batavus bikes
Team website: http://www.vacansoleilprocyclingteam.com/ (Dutch)
Sponsor: Vacansoleil is a European company which organizes luxury camping holidays. DCM is a Dutch farm supply company.

Read a previous PedalDancer.com post to view a list of 2010/11 UCI ProTeam rankings
Or who is on what pro cycling team at New ProTeams for 2011 - where is everybody?

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