It was a rare occasion when a cycle club had sponsored a pro team.Īcqua & Sapone: Italian chain of 700 retail store specialiazing in beauty and health products. In 1960 it was a co-sponsor of Jacques Anquetil's team Helyett-Leroux-Fynsec-Hutchinson-ACBB. For years it acted almost as a farm team for Peugeot.
CYCLING TEAM Z PROFESSIONAL
Here is a sampling of the thousands of companies that have made our sport of professional cycling possible.ĪCBB: L'Athlétic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt is a Parisian sports club that has enjoyed particular success in cycling. Various purveyors of alcoholic drinks as well as cigarette and cigar makers sponsored pro teams through the 1960s, but European laws now forbid their advertising in sports. Bicycle makers no longer had enough money to finance the sport.
Both signings of extra-sportif companies were fought by entrenched interests (for instance, Tour co-manager Félix Lévitan didn't want the advertising dollars diverted from the pages of the sports daily L'Equipe to the teams), but there was no turning back. Raphaël (French aperitif) to back his team. When Magni (odd that the rough-hewn, bald Italian strongman would be a cosmetics spokesman) signed the cosmetic company as his team's title sponsor, he changed cycling. Magni was familiar with the German Nivea firm because the riders had been using Nivea face cream to soften the chamois in their cycling shorts. Late in 1953 the Ganna bike company told its top rider Fiorenzo Magni that it would be unable to meet its obligations to the team in the following season. The great European post-war bike boom had ended and bike companies all over Europe found themselves under financial stress. The first crack in the wall occurred in 1947 when ITP, a football pool, sponsored a British team that was, admittedly, run under the BLRC, an organizing outfit outside the UCI. Until the mid-1950s professional cycling sponsorship was limited to companies in the bicycle business. For the print and Kindle eBook versions, just click on the Amason link on the right.Įver wonder what the mysterious names on pro team jerseys mean? What's Frisol or Groene Leeuw or Sidermec? I don't have anywhere near all of the answers, but here are some. Les Woodland's book Dirty Feet: How the great unwashed created the Tour de France is available as an audiobook here. Sign up for our Email Newsletter A Directory of Pro Cycling Team Sponsors,Ĭycling Terms Glossary | Cyclist Nicknames | Back to rider histories