Team Saxo-Tinkoff has invited the press to attend a press conference which will be held on Monday in Google's office in London, stating that they will present important news about the future of the team. Danish public broadcaster DR reports that Google will sponsor the Danish team in 2014.
Will Oleg Tinkov buy the Saxo-Tinkoff team? And will Google be a major sponsor of the Danish team in 2014? The speculation about the future for the Danish team is rife after an eventful Friday that opened several potential paths for the team owned by Bjarne Riis.
It all started earlier today when Oleg Tinkov confirmed to Velonews that he would reveal the identity of his future team on Monday at a press conference in London. Since announcing that he would end his sponsorship of the Danish team, the Russian has made it clear that he plans to increase his involvement in cycling by taking ownership of a top level team. His spokesman Stefano Feltrin recently reported that he had narrow down the number of potential projects down to just a short list and that a decision would be made in early December.
Tinkov and Russian riders Nikolay Trusov and Ivan Rovny had both been spotted at the recent Saxo-Tinkoff training camp, thus adding fuel to speculation that the Russian would buy the team from owner Bjarne Riis. It follows on from reports in Gazzetta dello Sport in early November that the Russian had already reached bought the team - a rumour that was denied by both parties. This week Irish riders Matthew Brammeier - who was in negotiations with the Danish team - and Nicolas Roche - who is a current team member - confirmed that the team was discussing the future with the Russian businessman.
This evening Saxo-Tinkoff invited the press to attend a press conference on Monday in Google's office in London, thus adding further fuel to the speculation that the parties will join forces in the future. Riis and key riders Alberto Contador and Roche will all be present and important news about the future of the team will be revealed.
Danish public broadcaster DR reports that Google will in fact become a sponsor of the team. In October, the team revealed that main sponsor Saxo Bank had increased its commitment to cover the shortfall left by Tinkov but the team made it clear that the search for a co-sponsor will continue. Google could fill the gap or could take over the main sponsorship from Saxo Bank.
The press conference will be broadcast by GCN which is the result of a collaboration between Google and Shift Active Media. Whether this indicates that Google will up its involvement in cycling remains to be seen. And which role Tinkov will play is another open question.
On Monday, we will know a lot more.
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