There’s no doubt that cycling is resurgent in Britain. Mark Cavendish has crossed the line first in Le Tour stages a record four times for a Brit and featured regularly on the front pages of our national newspapers. In addition, following regular successes on the world stage in recent years the Team GB cycling team for Beijing looks like the place where many of our medals are going to come from, and this has even prompted talks of creating an all-British team in time for the 2010 Tour de France.

So should there be a sponsor gold rush to hop on-board?

This is where it gets tricky. A high stamina sport, cycling is dogged with drug scandals – of the last two winners of Le Tour one has been stripped of his title while the most recent is missing after his team was banned for doping offences. Just this week, one of the principal sponsors in the sport, Barloworld, announced their premature departure following a drugs offence by one of their team’s riders. Ominously they signed off by stating – “This incident has a negative impact on Barloworld and our brand principles, which our board has a duty to protect”.

Against this background, it would take a brave brand manager to sign a deal. But it could be a gamble worth taking – cycling has an impressive cross-European footprint with huge viewing figures across France, Spain and Germany. The Olympics could take it mainstream in the UK while younger riders and teams such as Garmin, co-owned by British cyclist and converted former doper, David Millar, regularly test themselves in a bid to rid the sport of this image.

Sponsoring a British Tour team could be an inspired (and good value for money) investment, but is always just one needle away from taking your brand PR downhill faster than Mark Cavendish.  

By Dominic Curran on July 22nd, 2008

Tags: Brand marketing, Cycling, Olympics, Public relations, Sponsorship

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