Tour de France organizer ASO is looking for new sponsors for the race’s green jersey, "as French betting company PMU announced it was pulling out of the partnership after almost a quarter of a century of being associated with the race," according to Richard Windsor of CYCLING WEEKLY. PMU Communications Dir Benoit Cornu said that the "company was moving its focus away from the world’s biggest bike race to
focus on building publicity in other sports." PMU "has had an official partnership" with Ligue 1 side Paris
St. Germain since '11 and "extended its contract with the club earlier
in 2014 for another four years." Deals with the French Cup and the
French Football Federation "are part of the company’s move away from
cycling towards football." ASO "is yet to announce a new partner" for the
€1.5M ($1.8M) sponsorship of the "maillot vert." Tour organizers "are looking for a company who would be in the deal for the long term." ASO Commercial & Partnerships Dir Laurent Lachaux said, "We’re not getting too carried away with this, because our vision is
for the long term. [The ideal sponsor would be] a great French company that wants to
raise its international profile or a foreign company that wants to boost
its image thanks to the Tour" (
CYCLING WEEKLY, 11/24).
