Euskaltel rejected Ridley to stay with Orbea
Despite being in advanced discussions with Belgian bike brand Ridley, Euskaltel Euskadi opted to stick with local producer Orbea for next year.
So reports the knowledgeable guys over at Cobbles & Hills. According to the website, General Manager Igor González de Galdeano and co. asked Orbea for more money if they were to remain Euskaltel's bike supplier, threatening to sign a deal with Ridley if they weren't willing to cough up. Apparently, Galdeano had been negotiating with Ridley for a number of weeks, but eventually the traditional Mallabia-based company came through and will thus continue their long-standing relationship with Euskaltel for another three years.
On the flip side though, and in a sorry turn of events, it appears Euskaltel asking for more money has directly contributed to Orbea's mountain bike team folding. Their increased outlay on Euskaltel, coupled with team icon and MTB legend Julien Absalon leaving for BMC, has resulted in leaving the likes of Iñaki Lejarreta and Rubén Ruzafa being left without a team.
3 comments:
Boy, Igor is just out to alienate everyone isn't he?
It seems so...
He already got a lot more money and as far as I can work out nothing changed yet, so why does he need yet more?
Good work by the way, upsetting long-standing relationships. It will undoubtedly hurt them in the long run.
Jesus, first Euskaltel without Basques and now we almost have Euskaltel without Orbea.
This is taking all the fun out of supporting a team....a new shirt is one thing but a new bike is quite different.....then again, you can never have too many bikes ;-)
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