USA Cycling recently suspended Justin Williams for dangerous riding. See https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/usa-cycling-reportedly-suspend-justin-williams-over-crash-at-littleton-criterium/
This is the second time in two years Williams has been suspended for inappropriate behavior. In 2022, he was suspended for a physical altercation with another rider.
This follows on the heels of a rider stomping on another's bicycle (https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtWfhsorrNd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D), prize money at their sacramento crit not getting paid, and some other accusations I'm missing.
Sponsors, so far, have stuck with the team through all of this. I'm curious if they might bail.
I'll resolve yes if either any of L39ion' sponsors (Sram, Specialized, Rapha, Competitive Cyclist, etc. full list here https://www.l39ionla.com/partners) either announce they're ending their partnership or there's reporting by another outlet that one has done so.
Related questions
Does the sponsorship have to actually stop before 15 October, or does it only need to be announced?
What if the announcement is "not renewing" rather than "stopping immediately"?
@Eliza Just announced should still count as yes. Spirit of the market is if there's any public distancing.
If it's announced that it's not renewing, I will consider that a yes as well. I think that's the only edge case where I'm unclear though. I don't know what sort of contracts they have locked down, nor when they renew. I would personally read any public announcement of non-renewal in the next month as being responsive to the incident.
If it simply doesn't renew, I'm not sure when we'd find out, which is why I tried to keep the market to the next 30 days.
What do you think?
