I forgot to point out the announcement that Lance Armstrong and PowerBar have renewed their endorsement deal for another three years. PowerBar (which is “indirectly owned” by Nestle) is covering the waterfront in this deal. They are sponsoring:
- Lance Armstrong,
- The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team,
- Chris Carmichael and Carmichael Training Systems, and
- The Lance Armstrong Foundation.
They’re also sponsoring “hundreds of up-and-coming cyclists” in the PowerBar Team Elite grassroots athlete sponsorship program and the Tour de France itself.
It’s great to see a multi-national food company step up and make such a major advertising buy. This says a lot about confidence in the sport of cycling. I find it hard to imagine that PowerBar and Nestle would make a deal like this if they thought that pro cycling was significantly tarnished by the use of drugs or other illegal performance enhancements.