So the Tour de France is over and Alberto Contador is the winner. Or is he?
Yes , he podiumed on the Champs-Élysées on Sunday. But, the real winner is Lance again . When Lance Armstrong rides in the Tour de France next year in contention for his eighth Tour victory, it won’t be for Kazakh-based Team Astana (who?). His new team, Team RadioShack, announced their partnership, which includes the Livestrong Foundation, early last week.
This is big news for the sport, particularly because the U.S. has yet to fully commercialize Cycling. Not only has the sport continued to peak interest in the U.S., it only seems to do so when Lance is competing. USA Cycling has seen a 5.5% growth this year, the same as it was when Lance won seven back-to-back Tour titles. It dropped to 4% when Lance was in retirement. More large brands need to take advantage of this great audience. They are passionate and a very attractive demographic, loyal to the brands that support their THING.
I was fortunate this year to attend a stage of the tour (Thank you ASO) and I was shocked by the Lance factor. In every stop along the tour’s 21 days there is one area that is jammed with fans. Yes, it was the Astana team bus area, actually no it was the Lance area. Every other team bus was quiet. Think about that. Can anyone tell me what Astana is? Tried to Google it but couldn’t find a company tied to it. Yet the Lance factor is global and we in the United State still haven’t taken advantage of its power with exception of Nike/Livestrong.
The time is now for us to connect with this passionate audience. There are so many great U.S. events, and now with Lance and RadioShack in the mix, the opportunity is ours to grow.
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