After much anticipation, Trek Bicycle Corporation officially announced today that it has entered into a "multiple year" agreement with Johan Bruyneel's Astana team. According to the arrangement, Trek will provide the Astana riders with Madone 6.9 framesets and a healthy selection from the company's Bontrager parts bin, including wheels, tires, saddles, handlebars, stems, bar tape, cages, and bottles. "We have a relatively standard agreement with the team," said Trek Road Brand Manager Scott Daubert. "We provide them with bikes; they provide us with race results and bike development and access to the riders. It's very similar to what we had with Discovery and US Postal. It's a partnership that helps us both."
The 2008 Astana team is quickly shaping up to look like last year's Discovery Channel team reborn with Bruyneel at the helm, several key Discovery riders moving over (including Levi Leipheimer and 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador), and now the same bike sponsor. From an equipment standpoint, though, Astana will be more akin to a startup than a veteran team and can use little from Bruyneel's Discovery stores.
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