If a team has a non-rider for a face it is usually the team manager. In the past we had mangers like Guimard, Peter Post, and Jan Raas that become face for the team. In recent years Saitz, Riis, and to a slightly lesser extent Bruynel are as well known as many of their riders. That is still the exception as most teams it is the riders that you think of first and last when you think of the team. After the team managers the actual people that right the checks are even more invisible. For the most part they are multi-national corporations that the marketing department decided that paying a bike team is good advertising. There have been very few George Steinbrenner or Al Davis type in the cycling world (thank goodness), but now we do have Oleg Tinkov with his new team Tinkoff Credit Systems. There is a short interview with him over at CyclingNews here. The team made waves with the signing of Tyler Hamilton, Danilo Hondo, and Ricardo Serrano all of whom have a past with drug issues.
The only other high profile team owner I can remember is Bernard Tapie that ran the La Vie Claire team of the 1980’s with Hinault, LeMond, Hampsten, and lots of other top riders. Tapie eventually would up with a short jail term in the ‘90s. Donald Trump did lend his name and some money to the Tour de Trump bike race that was eventually picked up the DuPont company for a few years. I doubt there will be a sudden influx of rich people wanting to use cycling for vanity projects, but it is good to see Tinkov. Cycling has notoriously been lacking great personalities in all aspects of the sport, and Tinkov certainly adds some color.
Bonne année à tous and happy new year !!!!
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