Astana director Johan Bruyneel gets the word out: 'I'm confident, but sponsor us, please!'

May 15, 1:02 AMCycling ExaminerJames Raia

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Johan Bruyneel was a smart and fast pro cyclist. And he's a smart, savvy team director with a bankable, aging star in Lance Armstrong who may or may not have the ability to win the Tour de France one more time.

So with what appears to be about two weeks left in the tenure of Astana, the team whose younger star, Alberto Contador, has won the past three Grand Tours, Bruyneel has taken off his team director's hat and put on a marketing executive's beret.

"I am confident that this team will be at the start of the Tour de France 2009 in Monaco,” Bruyneel writes in his blog. “Maybe under another flag or with another sponsor name, but we will be there.

"Just before the Tour de France, the biggest sporting event of the year, companies have the unique possibility to link their name to cycling and to jump into the middle of the season with Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and many others as their ambassadors. What an opportunity."

To read the entire blog, visit: Johan Bruyneel

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