 A press release issued by the team at the time they were first founded indirectly stated that Specialized had outbid them to become Saxo Bank's new supplier.Sastre and Roger Hammond were two of the first cyclists to be rumored to be joining the new team.Cervélo cofounder Gerard Vroomen has said that bicycle manufacturers have for long not gotten much out of sponsorship and supplier deals with professional teams and that their money was better spent fronting their own team.