Wild ride: CSC's team brings company recognition amid the thrills and scandals of the Tour de France.

THIS year's Tour de France cycling race had all the glamour, drama and suspense a corporate sponsor could crave--but also enough scandal and heartbreak to make that company's public relations team cringe.

Computer Sciences Corp., which has fielded a respected team on the international cycling tour for six years, got its money's worth of each.

The first Tour de France of the post-Lance Armstrong era began with nine contestants--including last year's runner-up, Team CSC's Ivan Basso--being suspended on the eve of the race after they were implicated in a Spanish doping investigation. Two other team members had to drop out early in the race due to injury, leaving just six Team CSC cyclists to finish the grueling three-week, 2,272-mile trek.

Even so, the team placed second overall and member Carlos Sastre, who late in the race seemed set to repeat Basso's second-place finish, instead ended a respectable fourth in the individual competition. It was the first time in four years that a team member hadn't had placed in the top three.

And even that placement could change, now that first place finisher Floyd Landis may now face disqualification after testing positive for too much testosterone during the race.

"In a way it was a more compelling race this year because of all the challenges," said Peter Maneri, vice president of corporate communications for the El Segundo-based information technology services company. "We lost a third of our team and yet we finished very well. As for Ivan, we'll find out eventually what really happened. It's in the hands of other people now."

Cycling's fan base includes healthy proportions of corporate executives, professionals and consultants--all potential Computer Sciences clients--and the long race season provides numerous opportunities throughout the year to entertain customers. Team members seem happy to mingle with clients after a race at the sponsor's tent, said Maneri, noting that his company provides media training so that the cyclists can talk knowledgeably about their sponsor's business.

"We're reaching the right audience, the decision-makers, people who are upwardly mobile," he said.

Team CSC is comprised of 30 riders from 13 countries that often are competing in two or three races around the world at the same time.

"There really isn't a place where the team tides that we don't do business," said Maneri, whose company has operations in 50 countries. "It matches up very well with our global needs for marketing and our needs for entertaining."

The company's involvement with the Danish-based team owned and managed by 1996 Tour champion Bjarne Riis evolved from its Danish subsidiary's early co-sponsorship of the team. Four years ago, the company took over lead sponsorship and renamed the team. The company doesn't disclose its full sponsorship cost, but it's considered to be more than $10 million. Given its duration and global reach, Maneri said the professional cycling season could be considered more cost-effective than another time-honored high-end corporate entertainment venue: sponsoring a professional tour golf tournament.

While most of the team's races take place far from corporate headquarters, Computer Sciences was able to take advantage of February's inaugural Amgen Inc.-sponsored Tour of California, which ended in Redondo Beach, to show off its team to the home crowd. Next year's race will end in Long Beach.

"We're already gotten requests for tickets," Maneri said.