In the last Tour of Oman, Mark Cavendish made his debut with his new colors, those of Astana. His signing was one of the most talked about last winter after Quick Step did not renew his contract. A rider of the stature of the British, the one with the most stage victories in the Tour (34) equaled with Eddy Merckx, He also has several main sponsors… and one of them clashed with the interests of his current team. It is about the Oakley glasses brand.
The Italian brand Scicon is the supplier of this eye utensil for the Astana team and he recently broke his contract with the Kazakh team because Cavendish, one of his big stars, continues to wear a different brand of glasses. “We take a firm stand on this case. and we could not make an exception with a cyclist and we believe that all the sponsors of professional cycling could not either ”said the brand in a statement revealed by cyclingnews. “Scicon has withdrawn its entire sponsorship agreement with the Astana team, which included glasses, luggage and bicycle bags, in the best interest of Scicon and its brand,” they add.
At the moment, the Italian brand has not sued the team chaired by Vinokourov, but it is not ruled out that they take legal action in the near future. “Our brand has grown significantly in the last three seasons. Many of the best cyclists in the world wear Scicon glasses.” explains Scicon CEO Heinrich Dannhauser. Teams like Tadej Pogacar’s UAE use material from this brand.
