The Cooperative Tour de France

[MJR]

Did you know that the cooperative movement has a strong presence in le Tour? Road cycling is a good sport to show off teamwork and cooperation, because no-one can win a three-week tour on their own.

The following Tour de France teams seem to have cooperatives as their main sponsors:

* Credit Agricole - 3rd in Global 300, currently 12th in the tour
* Rabobank, 11. in Global 300, 1. in tour
* Caisse d'Epargne, 14. in Global 300, 2. in tour
* Milram (part of Nordmilch), 78. in Global 300, 19. in tour
* AG2R, not in the Global 300 but a member of France's AGMUT, 9. in tour

Top-placed cooperative rider is Rabobank's Michael Rasmussen, the General Classification leader!

More comments and links: http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2007/cycling#cooptdf