Australian cycling’s latest bid for a team in the Tour de France had its first baby steps today, complete with Federal Government blessing.
But the Melbourne-based Australian Road Cycling (ARC) operation is still trying to scale the major hurdle – securing the big-name sponsors who will finance the required 15-20 million euros ($A24.71m-$A32.94m) per year budget.
“We would like to get an Australian company, but the reality is there’s a lot of money off-shore, certainly in Asia and North America,” said ARC director Benjamin Fitzmaurice.
“The next big push for cycling is into Asia, North America and Russia.”
As cycling in Australia has boomed over the last decade, there have been several attempts to create a fully-fledged Australian professional team.
ARC’s ambitious goal is to have a team with ProTour status – road cycling’s premier league – in operation by the 2010 season.
The super-team’s main goal would be a start in the Tour de France, which currently operates outside the ProTour calendar
It would aim high for star recruits, targetting Australian cycling stars such as Cadel Evans, Stuart O’Grady, Michael Rogers and Robbie McEwen.
ARC will apply for a ProTour licence in July next year, around the time of the Tour de France, and will receive an answer around September.
ARC had their official launch today at the MCG’s National Sports Museum.
They have deliberately started slowly and their first step was to present the ARC domestic squad, a group of seven youngsters who are emerging junior riders.
To emphasise the enormity of ARC’s main goal, this initial squad’s budget is only around $200,000.
Federal Minister for Sport Kate Ellis and Cycling Australia (CA) chief executive Graham Fredericks were at the launch.
ARC has signed a memorandum of understanding with CA, meaning it can draw on the national governing body’s technical and development expertise.
The close tie with CA led to the federal government’s endorsement, although the government will not directly fund any ARC venture.
CA’s contacts have also made the job easier for ARC in their still-informal, and delicate, discussions with Australian professional riders.
“You have to be surreptitious, you have to be careful, because they’ve got responsibilities under their current contracts with their current teams,” Fitzmaurice said.
“We deal directly with the cyclists, but we do it carefully and respectfully.
“Everyone wants to see an Australian team get up and we’re just facilitating that.
“We have discussed it with a lot of riders and they know of us.”
Fitzmaurice said ARC would want at least 90 per cent of the 25-28 riders on the ProTour team’s roster to be Australian – another ambitious target.
The Queensland-based Roamfree.com bid to create a ProTour team, announced last year, is still in operation.
But their campaign has stalled because of the inability to find a big partner sponsor.
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