Bye Bye Rabobank

$20 million per year.  That is how much money Rabobank spends on it professional cycling team.  That’s how much they will now save after dropping its sponsorship of the team after 17 years.  Each July cycling fans hear the calls of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin as they enunciate each team and each rider in their perfect English burr during the Tour de France.  No longer is this the case with Rabobank, the Dutch powerhouse with holdings in banking, real estate, insurance and leasing.  This is not a cost cutting move, Rabobank is still growing and expanding; the company has made a significant investment in America with a sizable footprint in California.   Last year Rabobank earned a net profit of EUR 2.6 billion ($3.3 billion USD), they can certainly afford to sponsor the team, many teams actually.  

Rabobank left cycling because they are fed up.  To be succinct, Rabobank’s CFO Bert Bruggink said, “International cycling is rotten.”  With that the money spigot was shut off.  The Lance Armstrong findings by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the subsequent stripping of Armstrong’s seven Tour de France wins by the Union of International Cycling (UIC) was enough for Rabobank to walk away.  

Rabobank began to get serious about doping in 2007 when it fired rider Michael Rasmussen who was in the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.  The company had formed a strict no-doping policy.  Rasmussen would disappear for long periods when not racing which led people to wonder.  Rabobank officials confronted the Danish rider and when he could not account for his whereabouts he was let go.  

Rabobank was good for the sport and to lose their sponsorship is a financial and public relations blow.  Hopefully, the anti-doping policies that are in place along with the strict testing will rid the sport of the bad elements.  The familiar orange of Rabobank will be missed at the 2013 Tour de France but we will still have the green of Skoda, the polka dots of Carrefour and the red of Vittel, for now at least.   Come next season fans will be able to recognize the former Rabobank team members, they will be in all white with no sponsorship.  

Visit our website www.stickybottleteam.teampages.com

Le Tour to Challenge Ancient Aragon?

The Sticky Bottle Team is excited to hear the announcement of the stages of the 2013 Tour de France.  It is the 100^th anniversary of the event and for the first time in ten years each stage will be within France.  The Tour will begin on June 21 in Corsica (more on that later) and will include more mountains and shorter time trials than previous tours.  Stage 18 for example will have the riders climb the fearsome Alpe d’Huez twice.  The riders will have to negotiate the mountain’s 21 twists and turns, turn around, and do it all over again.  The final stage may be the most unique; Stage 21 will begin from inside the Palace of Versailles and for the first time ever the peloton will circle the Arc de Triomphe rather than turn just before the famous structure.  The race will end at approximately 9 pm and will be only Tour to end at night.

Now back to Corsica, the SBT wanted to know more about the island.  It is an island off the French coast but is actually closer to Italy.  Corsica is a rather diverse little island with the highest mountain peaks of all the Mediterranean islands and over 600 miles of coastline.  It is the birthplace of Napoleon and the family home is a museum.  You won’t find any remains there however, they can be found in Paris under the dome of Les Invilades.  Corsica covers about 5,500 square miles and is the third largest island in the Mediterranean.  The mountain range, known as the Corsican Penine bisects the island. Monte Cinto is the island’s highest peak at nearly 9,000 feet.  Corsica has five nature preserves and one international marine preserve. Boaters and hikers abound on the island with 14 marinas with over 8,000 moorings and over 900 miles of footpaths.  

A testa di moru -- "The Moor's Head"

Perhaps the most unique Corsican feature is its flag.   In the 13^th century and for many centuries, Corsica was a part of the Kingdom of Aragon (today Northern Spain).  Aragon was expanded following the defeat of the Moors on the Iberian Peninsula.  Aragon used the symbol of a Moor’s head on its flags to illustrate the Moor’s defeat.  The Moors were Muslim and their defeat pleased the Pope who, in appreciation, awarded Sardinia and Corsica to Aragon.  The Corsicans, noting the flag’s battle toughness, adopted the Moor’s head (“A testa di moru”) during their war with Genoa.  It became flag of Corsica in the 1500s and was officially recognized in 1755.  At one time the Moor’s eyes were blindfolded by the white bandana but the covering was lifted in 1762 to symbolize the freedom of the Corsican people.   Visit our website: www.stickybottleteam.teampages.com

Flat Snakes and More

The Sticky Bottle Team is thinking about flat snakes.  It is amazing how many of the unfortunate critters get run over in the warm weather months--they go flat pretty quick.  In your car snakes go unnoticed; on a bike they are prevalent.  Most riders will even see a live one cross their paths at some point.  The SBT even keeps an unofficial "snake count" following rides with the number of alive and the number of "flat."  Flat usually wins out.  Next time you are riding during snake season keep a lookout for our scaly friends, they would appreciate it.

The SBT looked at some statistics.  According to research conducted by high school students in 25 schools throughout New England, reptiles represent only 3% of all road kill.  Mammals, at 81% are most likely to meet the front end of some heavy Detroit iron followed by birds at 15%.  In the 1% category are former animals that met such a gruesome fate they are determined to be "undeterminable."

To further break this down, the most common road kill animal is the squirrel with over 41 million killed each year by both swerving and non-swerving drivers.  Cats at 26 million are next, followed by rats (22 million), opossums (19 million), raccoons (15 million), dogs (6 million) and finally deer at 350,000.  As luck would have it for our antlered friends, deer are the animal most likely to survive a car collision. 

These statistics show that our reptile friends are pretty lucky when compared to their mammal and bird cousins at dodging bumpers and hoods.  Next time we ride we will indeed encounter some road kill and to show our respect for nature and the world we share we will have a moment of silence.  Visit our website: www.stickybottleteam.teampages.com

Armstrong -- Now it all makes sense

The Sticky Bottle Team weighs in on the Lance Armstrong situation.  Our first thoughts are “now it all makes sense.”  By this we mean now we can see why he won seven tours.  Winning one tour is an outstanding accomplishment for the human body.  The constant pounding day after day and mile after mile is more than the regular human being can withstand.  We also feel it is more than most professional bike riders can withstand, at least not without “help.”  The team noticed last year's Tour de France winner Cadell Evan's struggles this year and suggested that to repeat is maybe beyond the effort of mind and body.   

Armstrong enjoyed his loftiest heights at the time when cheating was rampant and somewhat accepted throughout the sport's world.  In baseball, steroids were the little secret that everyone knew.  The steroid era helped bring baseball back to prominence after the disastrous strike of 1994.  In baseball and in other sports the idea of “if you ain’t cheatin’ you ain’t tryin’” was put to the test far beyond simple gamesmanship.  In cycling, maybe the slogan should have been “better riding through chemistry.”  But, at the heart of is all is something we all know: cheating is cheating.

The Sticky Bottle.com team is sad to see Armstrong fall.  We were convinced in the idea of the investigation being a "witch hunt."  Sadly, our hero has fallen.  We are happy for the Livestrong Foundation and the good work it has done for people all over the world.  We are glad to see that the Foundation will continue its work but we will miss its leader. 

We realize, disappointingly, that sometimes good people do bad things.  Visit our website at www.stickybottleteam.teampages.com