Doping and steroids crash T-Mobile pro cycling sponsorship

``This is a disaster,'' said Daniel Malbranque, general secretary of the Aigle, Switzerland-based Cyclistes Professionels Associes, which represents most top-level riders. ``If we don't put out the fire within two or three years there will be no more professional cycling,'' he said in a phone interview.

Succinctly and bluntly, the above statement lays it out.   Perhaps a bit extreme in tone, but certainly pro cycling is losing stature quicker than a flat tire in the Pyrenees.   We would doubt pro cycling disappears from the scene; however the purses and the support would dramatically change.  Rich corporations do not want doping athletes turning their products into steroid punch-lines.

The announcement from Bloomberg:

Deutsche Telekom AG ended its $18 million annual sponsorship of the T-Mobile team after cycling became tarnished by repeated doping scandals. The Astana team said it will drug test its own riders.  ``We arrived at this decision to separate our brand from further exposure to doping in sport,'' T-Mobile International Chief Executive Officer Hamid Akhavan said in a statement today.

The big money sponsors -- that allow the cycling teams great equipment, top notch training, and access to state of the art sports medicine -- slashed budgets or abandoned sponsorship.  Those big corporations enter into the fray for public relations, not for humanitarian purposes.   When the publicity originates in doping scandals and disqualifications for cheating, the negative PR doesn't sell products.

Quick, how many product endorsements feature Barry Bonds?  About as many as Bonds failed dope tests.   Like a circus, fans continue to attend MLB games to boo Bonds; however the Bonds name would be poison to a product.  'Welch's Grape Juice, Barry Bonds own juice':  A no-starter.   'Pump up your SUV with Barry Bonds and BP': is that ethanol or regular?