Tour De France 2018

This is on the Guardian's live feed, honestly the commentator's there can be right smug gits.

On the subject of Sky’s impromptu feed zone, which I mentioned earlier, Marie Meyer writes: “Seriously, Barry?” she says. “Other teams thought about stationing a guy by the side of the road with some musettes, but then ruled it out on the basis of cost? The Guardian’s Sky Derangement Syndrome is showing.”

Ha-ha! Well, the thing is, Marie, you need staff to prepare, pack and hand out musettes. And those staff have to be paid wages. And most teams don’t have anywhere near as many staff as Sky to do the job, because they don’t have as much money as Sky to pay those wages. This is common knowledge to anyone with a passing interest in cycling, not derangement.

I had given the matter no thought quite frankly, so I asked:

Hey Barry,

Regarding all the extra staff and extra musettes Sky have, do you have anything to back that up? I have ‘more than a passing interest’ in cycling but have never really thought about the size of Sky’s extended staff so I am curious if it is just an assumption that they spend their money this way, or you have actual figures for Sky’s staffing levels at this race compared to other teams.

Ta muchly

James

and got this is response, on the feed:

Em, they habitually place staff on the road to hand out musettes outside feeding stations, while most other teams’ domestiques are forced to waste valuable energy going back to the team car for the same refreshments. This is not an assumption, it is a fact. It is also a fact that was confirmed minutes ago on TV by Nicolas Roche, a former Sky rider. But what would he know about such matters compared to fanboys who aren’t even prepared to concede that Team Sky are wealthy?

Salty prick, and with that I shall be signing off the Guardian live ticker