David, you deserve all my esteem for this post.
Keep up the good work.

your comments on this are all you can do! It is the job of a proffesional athlete, and team to fullfill thier obligations to a sponsor. they have chosen not to!

This is the real tragedy of doping in cycling, the innocent people and companies that are damaged by foolish behavior. In the end we can only hope that the public is able to separate the actions of the individual from the working association of companies such as SRAM and Scott.

I hope the good relationship will continue with other teams including Agritubel and Astana, and also their riders. Hopefully this trusting relationship will spread and be established with other teams too.

At the end of the day THIS is what will stop doping. If sponsors drop teams when they are shown to do the wrong thing team mangement will simply have to ensure riders don’t dope and cyclists with performances too good to be believed won’t have a place to ride.

Sorry to see it happen. The fact you as a sponsor stand your ground in regard to your statements and policies — I salute you. Credibility is more important than anything else in this day and age. I’ll continue to buy MORE SRAM products knowing you have the integrity of doing (and building) the right thing.

Ricco’s bike gallery is still posted on this blog. Take that S**t down. Bury the cheaters and move on. I honor SRAM’s commitment and courage to clean up the sport we love so dearly.

Very good post, and SRAM should dump this team immediately. If the sponsers withhold money this mess will get cleaned up sooner. It is so painful to watch, and I can only imagine what it must be like to have the people you sponser treat you this way.

Keep up the good work!

@ Bill:

Thanks for the kind words, we really appreciate it. We can’t change what’s happened but we think that it’s best to look back honestly as we move forward. So we’ve decided to leave the posts up, although we have added a note to them.

@ everyone:

Thank you for the support.

I couldn’t agree more about your post and I agree 100% with not supporting teams who disgrace themselves, the Sram brand and the sport . I pay good money for Tour coverage and it pisses me off when the first thing I here is something about another doper. Down with dopers and may the sport I love get past this BS!!!!

Doping is an issue I am sad to say but is here to stay like in most sports. But that does not mean that we the fans or the sponsors have to put up with it. I know Sram will fined a new team to sponsor and move on. I am just sorry that you as a company who supports cycling in all different ways has to deal with this s%%t.

Mr. Zimberoff, I disagree with your comments. If you think Ricco testing positive somehow sullies SRAM’s image, you’re too full of yourself. When I read your comments on cyclingnews.com, my first thought was “well, if SRAM is going to move on from teams where a rider tests positive, then I will move on from SRAM.” My opinion is you have no place to comment. Well,… I take that back. You have every right to comment personally, but speaking like this for SRAM only damages SRAM. I believe a good sponsor stands by the rest of a team that’s trying to be clean. I can understand the concerns of a title sponsor like Saunier Duval, but you supply parts. Parts! Think how T-Mobile is kicking themselves watching a clean Team Columbia win and win and win. They abandoned their team at it’s lowest hour. But I can understand it a little, as they are beholden to their shareholders wishes. Well, SRAM is private. Their decisions are their own and I hope they don’t listen to you. I mean, c’mon, you think Astana is clean? Look, Contador is my favorite rider since,… forever. But Kloeden? Clean? Maybe, now. Colom, clean? Yeah, right! Levi, clean? Everybody seems to have forgotten his national time trial title being revoked because he tested positive. And his big breakout at the ‘01 Vuelta over his team leader Heras? Heras is busted and gone. Your comments only strengthen the bottom line: get caught… too bad for you. How about SRAM tries sponsoring a team like Garmin-Chipotle, Team Columbia, or CSC? Teams with a commitment to clean sport?

It appears that I’m in the minority here, but I trust my instincts, and my instincts are telling me you’re doing more damage to SRAM with your comments, than good. I hope your bosses read these comments.

In response to John’s comments. The context of the disappointment is that all of those lovely ads that boost product awareness, linked to the Suanier Duval team, are now worthless. Why sponsor a team? Brand awareness. Now that link is gone and Sram is right to move on. I would have sold my Enron stock, or framed it long ago, like I would do with a Saunier Duval jersey.

I’m a consumer seriously considering switching from Shimano to SRAM equipment on my best bike. My decision will be based on the quality and ability of the equipment to perform, not on whether a SRAM sponsored team had a rider test positive. Dumping a whole team because of one rider seems to be the new knee jerk reaction designed to placate a baying media and it doesn’t do anyone any good. Either stop sponsoring pro racing completely or accept that there will be riders who don’t get the whole clean thing and show your team some loyality!

@ Keith. loyalty to your team? Oh come on. Nothing hurts more than voting with your wallet. By pulling sponsorship, companies like Saunier Duval, T-Mobile, SRAM and Barloworld will clean up cycling. Other companies can stay or go as they wish, but bicycling companies almost HAVE to pull out. If you’re complicit with doping as a cyclist, then you’re part of the problem.

Hi David, I will continue to support your products (I’ve owned Force, looking to get a Red gruppo for my Colnago soonish), and the Tour continues to be the best testing ground for equipment. Campag and Shimano have continued to equip pro teams, and like MotoGP, that does trickle down to consumer bikes, but the testing gives us confidence. Regardless of individuals – and remember, this year it is individuals rather than systematic doping – the sponsorship dollars underpin our sport, and as a foundation layer, without it, the events die. I’d prefer you keep sponsoring pro-teams and athletes, and as a result of your support, I will continue to support your business (like I support Nike, Oakley, Colnago, etc etc). Cheers, Mike

I completely support SRAM if they drop their sponsorship immediately. Yes it has been argued in this blog that whole teams shouldn’t suffer from the actions of individual members, but the message doesn’t seem to be getting through, so stronger action is required, such as dropping sponsorship. However I also think the sponsors should be reassured that most people are intelligent enough to separate the sponsors from the actions of individual team members.

Doping sucks I 110% agree, but please dont be so quick to pan the rest of the saunier duval team …….. spare a thought for the honest riders they have as well as the wrenches, massage therapists, drivers and support crew who may loose their jobs over the selfishness of two riders.

yeah yeah yeah, pull out of sponsorship and while your at it stop making cycling products, no one will want to buy them now that you show how unsuppportive of cycling you are (if you actually pull out, that is)

Cheating IS the history of the TdF. Always has been – so why act shocked when ANOTHER participant gets busted? You dump the guy who got busted and move on. Penalizing the rest of the team seems unfairly punitive to folks who are most likely innocent. If Astana was in the race SD might never have gotten popped – and YOU would still be rooting for them – and they would STILL be cheating.

I hope in a year to watch two other teams that are at the pinnacle of the sport sponsored by SRAM… they already ride Zipp.

Good luck with the Astana deal – seem like real. nice, clean cut boys – no really. TICK, TOCK.

Can’t say I blame you for your frustration, but unfortunately, cheating has been part of cycling (and every professional and high-level amateur sport) since the end of time.

I’m one of the leaders of one of the longest-running amateur cycling teams in Colorado, and one that has been ignored for team sponsorship the last two years by SRAM. Clearly can’t offer the kind of world-wide exposure that sponsoring a pro team can, but we provide real value every day to our sponsors in spreading the word among the Colorado cycling community about companies that make great products like SRAM and support the local racing and cycling scene–And I can guarantee you the only thing our weekend warriors are on is fantastic beer from Lefthand Brewing Company and sincere passion for the sport.

Er… the beginning of time…

hi, i can’t blame you for deciding to cut the sponsorship from the team, but it will get better, but it must get worse first, the tour in my opinion will have more doping positives, year after year. I have been around pro cycling a lot, and from my experience its far from clean, what you guys are doing is forcing the riders to be clean, soon all the sponsors will pull out and cycling will have no choice but to clean up most of the cheaters. thanks to sponsors like sram cycling will only get cleaner. and as it is getting clean maybe sram might sponsor some amateur teams that need money to go professional. i am a member of a canadian team based in ontario that competes in races that are uci 2.2in Europe and various pro /1 races in the usa we have world class riders and can provide worldwide exposure,we are on the brink of going pro but have failed to find a title sponsor, if you would like to sponsor us contact me.

I can totally understand any sponsors desire to not be tied to any doping offense, be it cycling or any other sport, but it is not always the entire team that is guilty. I also understand the negative press that can come from any doping violation, but again, if not the entire team, then they should not be penalized if they are doing what is required to stay clean. What I would like to see is the riders that test positive (or Non-Negative) be sued by all involved for lost revenue and etc. Especially in the situation of Barloworld where they are definately pulling their sponsorship due to the issue. Make the rider(s) that cause the issue pay for their screwing up the rest of the team. I do not hold any issue like this against a sponsor unless it could be shown that the sponsor was providing the dope to the riders. I think it just hurts cycling even more if a good team is taken down by one rider with no cares about the other. I think SRAM should stick with the team unless it is shown that the management was somehow involved.

And to those that keep hitting at Astana (Discovery) get over it! So far no one has tested positive until they leave the team. I guess Astana (Discovery) is the only team that has been able to beat every test they have ever had, and it must be due to trickery?! I still believe in innocent until proven guilty and so far no rider or team under Johan has been found positive or proven guilty. Only by those that decide they are guilty until proven innocent, that is!

Heaven forbid that bloody SRAM frog ever tests positive
Maybe with the ASO/UCI split SRAM should pull out of ’sponsoring’ pro teams & step up to the plate & handle ASO’s neutral service in all their events.The way it is going lets say for an extra 10 million dollars you could stipulate only teams that ‘purchase’ SRAM kits can ride ASO events ….sounds a bit silly but works in other sports with tyre brands etc & on a smaller scale in Keirin racing.

Mr. Zimberoff: The third paragraph of your statement shows that you are more concern in your company profits than in our sport, so please let the old boys in this game (Campagnolo and Shimano) to continue with their supports without you. They know how to handle these situations because they never get excited to go anywhere: They are the TdF, Il Giro and La Vuelta and more, they never talks in public about the “family problems” that can scared other sponsors that made the wheel spins. Your words sound me that you are the new kid on the block.

@Guillermo Maybe SRAM is the new kid on the block, as you said, but until today it has been the only cycling manufacturer to give a strong signal to the cycling world. You say that Campagnolo and Shimano ‘never talks in public about the “family problems” ‘. For sure they have their reasons not to do it, but which are the results? 10 years passed from the Festina doping scandal and when you ride a bike in Europe everybody think that you are a drug addict because that’s exactly what mass media tell them all the time.

Components manufacturers are sponsors and sponsors ask for results and results is the reason why athletes get into doping. This means that sponsors are responsible of this situation and it’s up to them to give signals, as SRAM did in this occasion. To pretend nothing happened is not a solution.

@ Francesco: I really appreciate you your strongly answer. It forces me to open a window in my heart that this will be the right signal of the sponsors to begin the solution of the main problem of our sport. Many thanks for your point of view.

@Guillermo: Thanks. I really hope something is gonna change, because I love this sport.
Ciao!

I don’t blame you for dropping Saunier Duval… as long as you also drop Astana, as anyone that has followed cycling knows in their hearts that Bruneel has had blatantly doped teams in the past (and likely does this year too). Thank Heras, Floyd, Tyler, and yes… Mr. Armstrong

[...] the choice that a sponsor faces when their team is involved in a doping scandal, based on what SRAM went through with the Riccardo Ricco [...]

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Nobody likes doping in sport, and if you listen to some self confessed dopers they would rather not do it.

To punish the Team on a whole is at best a Pandora’s box with both sides having a valuable argument. Where do I sit, somewhere in the middle as ’some Teams’ has a open suspicion of doping while ‘other Teams’ openly denounce it. For both camps it still goes on, or rumours will persist that it does. Because of the ‘code of silence’ that engulfs the sport, it is difficult to know who to believe.

Pulling yourself as a sponsor, is the right of the sponsor. Much for the same reason why riders dope, sponsors pull their support – MONEY. This is itself is no bad thing, but to take the moral high ground seems fraught with danger. Maybe some people would believe SRAM more if they said it’s going to effect business and we don’t believe in doping. Either way people will be cynical, so SRAM should do what they feel to be right, as you will never convince everyone of your true actions.