There was no love lost between WorldTour team managers Jonathan Vaughters (Cannondale) and Oleg Tinkov (Tinkoff) on Wednesday as the pair exchanged a few insults on Twitter.
The Russian tweeted Vaughters about wine glasses and chucked in a little dig at the American team possibly losing its title sponsor.
Vaughters had the last laugh, though – retorting that the Cannondale contract was signed until 2020 and revealing that he is close to revealing another sponsor for the team to replace Garmin, who left after the 2015 season.
@olegtinkov glasses are total garbage. your info on Cannondale is garbage. And we have a new second sponsor to be announced soon!
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) March 9, 2016
What sort of a jack ass tries to undermine a sponsorship and create false uncertainty on Twitter? @olegtinkov that's who.
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) March 9, 2016
@chrisjonz @olegtinkov would you like a copy of Cannondale contract? Email me. 2020 end year.
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) March 9, 2016
A little response from Brian Immel, VP of marketing for Cannondale. Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/9jaZxrmtEm
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) March 9, 2016
Tinkov, meanwhile, is still planning to quit the sport at the end of 2016, claiming that the UCI and others in the business are not prepared to work with him to improve the business model of the sport that he has ploughed €60m of his own fortune into in recent years.
But the future looks brighter for Cannondale and Vaughters, who have enjoyed a pretty successful start to the 2016 season with a roster packed full of young talent.
