Team anxiously awaits sponsorship decision

Team Bonitas’s long standing contract with the medical aid provider expires next month and, as yet, no agreement had been reached for it to continue.

“At this point we are still waiting on a reply from the sponsor. We have ticked all the boxes and I’m confident the process will go well,” said Malcolm Lange who established the team in 2009.

“They play a big role and it would be sad if they pulled out.”

Lange said talks, regarding the sponsor’s involvement beyond the 2014 season, had been going on for some time.

“The negotiations have taken longer than I would have hoped for, going on for over a year now.

“Our contract ends December 31 and, hopefully, by then we would have had a reply from them.”

Bonitas first came on board as a co-sponsor in 2011 and upgraded to full sponsorship in 2012, backing the team as the title sponsor ever since.

Over the years, the team has dominated the local cycling scene, winning titles at the Bestmed Satellite Classic, Dischem Ride for Sight and several other high profile races in South Africa.

While the consequences of losing their main sponsor would be devastating to the team, Lange was reluctant to elaborate on any details and did not want to negatively affect the current negotiations.

He said the sponsorship they had also received from smaller partners had paved the way for developing local talent.

“We have a link in Europe with French team La Pomme Marseille where we get our local riders into a bigger setup and that development structure has been good.

“It’s too expensive to run this independently and the merger with the French team has made it cost effective for us.

“We use this platform to play a supporting role for guys to be noticed.”

Bonitas were not immediately available to comment.

– Sapa