The Tour de France resumed yesterday, but not before it
lost two more teams "in its widening drug scandal,"
according to the AP's Jocelyn Noveck. The teams withdrew to
protest police behavior over the recent drug raids, and
Noveck writes that only 15 of the 21 teams who began the
race are still remaining (AP/PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/31).
AND NOW A WORD FROM...: In the WALL STREET JOURNAL,
Fleming & Bonte-Friedheim report that corporate sponsors of
the Tour "are taking a tough stance" during the drug
scandal. Spanish watch company Festina, whose team was
disqualified, has invested around $6.6M a year to sponsor
the squad and is now "exploring escape clauses in its
contract." Festina Commercial Marketing Manager Gines
Gorriz said the company "will never accept that the brand of
Festina is associated with doping or other practices that
are against the spirit of the sport." Nicolas Chaine,
Marketing Dir for French bank Credit Lyonnais, which has
paid about $4.2M a year since '81 in a "broad sponsorship
deal" with the Tour, said the event's organizers "will have
to give us serious reassurances this won't happen again,
otherwise we will be breaking our contract." While some
sponsors, such as Spain's Banco Espanol de Credito, which
sponsors a team which withdrew in protest on Wednesday, have
"said little," others "don't appear as relaxed." Frank van
der Meiden, Dir of Sponsorship for Rabobank, a $6M Tour
sponsor, said while the scandal "hurts today ... this could
be healthy for the sport because it could help clean up the
mess." And Deutsche Telekom AG spokesperson Stephan Althoff
said that his company is "among sponsors calling for a
crackdown." Althoff: "We must as sponsors of bicycle racing
create a clean image. We need greater controls" (WALL
STREET JOURNAL, 7/31). A spokesperson for the Spanish
National Organization For The Blind (ONCE) which, along with
Deutsche Bank, co-sponsors one of the teams that withdrew,
said the organization "fully support[s]" the team's
decision. Although ONCE said that "it was clear" that the
scandal had brought "some disrepute" to the sport, it added
that it has "no plans to abandon its sponsorship" (Barry
James, INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, 7/31).
