3 major cycling teams have announced new title sponsors in the last few days as big name corporate sponsors return to cycling. This is a welcome development for raod cycling after a number of disasterous seasons which has seen major title sponsors disapear in droves following drug related scandals. T-Mobile, and Phonak were two such sponsors who withdrew from their respective teams. Although details of the deals are being kept tight-lipped this is a very positive developement for cycling as a whole.

First up was CSC, managed by Riis cycling on June 10th who announced a title sponsor switch as Saxo bank will replace CSC as title sponsor on a three year deal in 2009.

Next up was Team Highroad (formerly T-Mobile) who announced outdoor clothing manufacturer Columbia as the new title sponsor. This deal starts almost imediately and the team will race under the new name in time for the Tour de France. The deal will last until 2010. Following the withdrawel of T-Mobile the team had been kept going by the personal reserves of manager Bill Stapleton. Columbia will also sponsor the womens team as well.

Last but not least Slipstream-Chipotle have announced Garmin as their new title sponsor and will race the Tour de France as Garmin-Chipotle in a deal which also lasts until 2010. The GPS manufacturer had previously been a second tier sponsor but have decided to up their involvement which is not surprising given the launch of their new cycling computers with GPS technology.

A major point of interest is the timing of the announcements and the commencements of two of the deals in-time for the Tour de France this year. With the race start only 3 weeks away, designers are making up the new team kit for cyclings biggest event, something which will not have been lost on the race organisers ASO, currently in dispute with the UCI.