Scicon pulls out of Astana sponsorship amid Mark Cavendish Oakley conflict
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The signing of Mark Cavendish has led to the loss of a sponsor at Astana Qazaqstan, with eyewear supplier Scicon pulling out after the British sprinter brought Oakley with him as a personal sponsor.
Cyclingnews understands the sponsor conflict led to tensions during Cavendish's contract negotiations with the Kazakh team, and now to the termination of Scicon's contract with the team.
Cavendish is no longer the only Astana rider wearing Oakleys, with various others swapping away from Scicon.
Astana Qazaqstan confirmed to Cyclingnews that Scicon is no longer a sponsor, and that they are working on bringing a new partner to the team.
Scicon has yet to respond to a request for comment but Cyclingnews understands that the Italian brand is preparing a legal challenge over breach of contract and is set to pursue damages.
Cavendish has a long-standing relationship with Oakley and declined to give up on it as part of his move to Astana late last year. After being pictured without glasses in the first photos issued by his new team, the 34-time Tour de France stage winner wore a pair of gold Oakley Katos in his first race of the season, the Muscat Classic.
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At the time, his teammates were all wearing Scicon shades. However, many of them are now wearing Oakleys.
It appears that Alexey Lutsenko was the first to make the switch at the UAE Tour in late February. His teammates there were all wearing Scicon but in the March races many more have followed suit; at least 10 Astana riders have been pictured in Oakleys at the likes of Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Milan-San Remo.
Oakley has not replaced Scicon as a team sponsor. Instead, the riders now have personal choice of what they wear, free from sponsor obligations, and most have plumped for the US brand.
However, Fabio Felline was spotted at the Volta a Catalunya in a pair of Matras from Alba Optics, a brand the Italian wore previously at Astana before they brought in Scicon as eyewear sponsor in 2022.
Some riders also appear to be sticking by Scicon, with Cees Bol, Joe Dombrowski, Gleb Syritsa, Vladim Pronskiy, Dmitriy Gruzdev and Yevgeniy Fedorov all wearing Scicon at recent races.
This appears to be a temporary situation, with the team looking to bring in a new eyewear sponsor - although it will clearly have to be one that's happy to sponsor 29 riders while one wears a rival brand.
This isn't the first time Cavendish's personal deal with Oakley has created a sponsor clash. Despite being on Oakley-sponsored teams for most of his career, he found himself at Bahrain McLaren in 2020, although there wasn't the same tension as the team's partnership with Rudy Project continued throughout the season.
Personal sponsorship deals are not uncommon in professional cycling, with Cavendish having another one in the form of Nike. Cavendish also wore Nike shoes at his old HTC team and at Team Sky in 2012 but wore Specialized - another brand he has a strong relationship with - during his two spells at QuickStep, from 2013 to 2015 and 2021 to 2022.
