I like how they dance around the issue of Discovery’s sponsorship - my view is, and Discovery wouldn’t want to admit this, is that Discovery signed on because of Armstrong. Sure, they sponsor the entire team, and it’s good that they still got a winner (not exactly hard considering how many teams lost their stars to doping this Tour) but let’s be blunt, they were after Armstrong’s celebrity, and now that he’s retired, and American interest has dropped, their continued investment is not worth the rewards (or lack thereof).
You’re probably right. And if they were looking for an excuse they surely got one to dump Lance-less cycling - in spades.
From what I’ve read in other sources, Discovery’s leadership changed. Simply put, the new ruling junta did not want to sponsor Armstrong’s team while the outgoing president did.
I have to wonder if the Versus channel will continue to cover the TdF next year? Versus viewership for this year’s Tdf was in the 21-22 million range. Not too bad and certainly more than the barbaric so called mixed martial arts matches. I wish Versus would also cover the Tour of California or Georgia.