Dave Brailsford is believed to have met with Colombian president to discuss the team’s future earlier this week as Colombian state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol could step in as Team Sky’s main sponsor.
According to the Colombian newspaper El Espectador, Brailsford had a meeting with Ivan Duque and sports minister Ernesto Lucena at the presidential palace in Bogotá.
Former Sky rider Rigoberto Urán reportedly helped organize the meeting. Colombian officials confirmed there was a meeting, but downplayed that any deal is finalized.
The company reportedly offered Dave Brailsford enough cash to fund 70 per cent of the budget for the 2020 and 2021 season, giving him the opportunity to find the remainder from another sponsor.
“It is the dream and the hope that we have,” Coldeportes director Ernesto Lucena told El Espectador.
“The project could cost around $30 million per year, which with the union of three or four multinational companies, we believe could be viable. The market analysis that Sky did shows the remuneration that the brands investing would get,”.
