Moving on

Tour sponsors put drug scandal behind them

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Posted: Tuesday July 27, 1999 12:01 PM

After last year's controversy-filled Tour, organizers are happy that this year's Tour de France was a clean race. Doug Pensinger/Allsport

PARIS (Reuters) -- French bank Credit Lyonnais, whose 20-year sponsorship of the Tour de France was threatened by last year's doping scandal, has decided it will continue to back the race.

Race organizers tried to ensure this year's Tour, won by American Lance Armstrong on Sunday, was "clean."

"They did not score 20 out of 20. This Tour was not a catastrophe but not all the problems have been resolved. We are giving them the benefit of the doubt and we think we should continue to back them," the bank's communications director Nicolas Chaine told Reuters.

Chaine had said in June that Credit Lyonnais, which invests some 25 million francs ($4.06 million) a year in the race, would pull out if the Tour de France did not sort itself out.

A spokeswoman at Coca-Cola, the other main sponsor of the race, said the company was satisfied with this year's event but declined to give further details.

This year's Tour also won back some television viewers it lost last year, according to public television group France Television, which broadcasts the event.

It achieved an average market share of 51 percent or 3.85 million viewers, up from 1998's average of 47 percent of those watching television during the event or 3.650 million viewers, France Television said in a statement.

This fell short of 1997's record, when an average of 57 percent or 4.420 million viewers watched the event.

"Despite there being little suspense in this year's race... and the mediocre performances of French riders, these results confirm the dominant position of the Tour de France in the ranking of sporting events," France Television said.

 

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