Sky Cycling Team

the tour is business. towns pay and bribe to have the peleton ride through their streets, it's main purpose is to sell pregnacy test kits, processed cheese, farm gates, mobile phones, tile grout, anti snoring medication etc etc.

I've just been thinking about this, and I'm pretty sure that apart from Milram (fairly ubiquitous dairy products in Germany), Telekom (bought a phone and a phone connection from them, but in those days you had no choice), Linda McCartney, and minor, cycling-related sponsors, I've never bought any products that have been advertised in the TdF. OK, I have a LeMond bike, which used to be run by Trek, and I obviously have bits and bobs from lots of other cycling brands, but all of the other companies' products are obscure to me. Obviously not to a lot of other people living, say, in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, or Italy, but Sky will be one of the first recognisable brands for Brits.