BigMat pulls itself out of the FDJ sponsorship
The French building materials distributor BigMat has decided not to renew its sponsorship with the UCI World Tour side, Team FDJ for the season ahead.
The organisation sponsored the French team in 2012 and has noted that the firm’s decision to pull itself out of the sponsorship is because of the global financial crisis and has nothing to do with the sport’s doping problems.
“This contract was signed with BigMat International and not with BigMat France, and it wasn’t able to be renewed due to the current economic situation of its foreign subsidiaries,” said Frédéric Riou.
“The recent scandals in cycling have nothing to do with this decision”.
The French National Lottery, Francaise des Jeux signed a four-year deal with Marc Madiot’s team in 2011 and he stated that BigMat’s exit will not influence the team’s future in any form.
“In concrete terms, this won’t have any effect on the cycling team, which will continue next season under the sole name of FDJ, while remaining open to finding another co-sponsor for 2014”.
Earlier, the news of Rabobank ending its link with the sport came as the biggest shock of 2012 after the Dutch bank announced that the sponsorship of both its Elite Men and Elite Women teams will end on 31 December 2012.
Rabobank has a long history with the sports and it goes as back as 1996 when it first came into the scene, replacing World Perfect as Jan Raas title sponsor and has continued its support throughout the past 17 years.
Team Big Mat was founded back by Marc Madiot in 1997 with its headquarters in France and it has worked with several different sponsors over the years.
It started operating as Team La Francaise des Jeux through 1997-2002 and was known as Team FDJeux.com from 2003-04.
The team’s old sponsor La Francaise des Jeux joined the team back in 2005 and stayed with the side by the end of June 2010.
The French squad rode without any sponsor through July 2010 till the end of 2011 season and was supported by FDJ all through the 2012 season.
It will be interesting to see, if the team manages to find a new backer to continue its professional requirements for the season ahead.
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