Pro-cycling thread

Not if they can help it.

Not sure but CTT is a national body isn't it? So Wiggo and Dowsett riding 10s is fine.

National body, but national federation = BC right?

I don't know how that works. I have CTT membership, not BC.

Cyclingtips on the Quickstep and EF deals and why US based teams need to evolve to include non-road bikes their sponsors sell

pro road teams may need to evolve into pro cycling teams

https://cyclingtips.com/2018/10/the-weekly-spin-two-paths-diverged-in-a-worldtour-wood/

OK, a Rapha have white paper you won't see on brands' role in sport governance but here's another thing they have done
http://www.playthegame.org/media/7483439/James-Fairbank.pdf

Also Vaughters has seen marathons and triathlons making money with pro race funded by the fun runners and likes what he sees.

EF get fuck all wins on the road so they’re going to beat amateurs at ultra races.

That’s what I take from this.

Conversely, Quickstep win loads# and nearly went under

#loads of races we never watched

I think JV is just trying to find something else to latch onto like usual. His team is stuck in the limbo of only having personalities for the most part who have sort of failed to hit their potential. That may be due to injury or just not wanting to commit to that level of personal-life destruction but he's got a vested interest in exposing his sponsors in other ways. I just don't see that sending a couple of riders to Leadville is suddenly going to provide that value to his sponsors that was lacking from the tour or other races.

Commercialising those races isn't going to make things better, it's going to make them worse. Even assuming they can get a rider who thinks they can compete in the TCR, it's a story not much different from those other riders who compete/ride the event. All that will happen is that some of the more interesting stories get lost in the neon pink/green PR machine.

Oh, and the last Angus Morton film Rapha did was dire... that's really not going to help either brand.

#loads of races we never watched

Yeah. What is the point in winning a race nobody* cares about.

It's like turning up and winning at your 9-5 whilst some charismatic kid makes £150k a month on YouTube. Vaughters wants to be the youtube kid.

* OK a proportionally small number of people

Just the two monuments and fourteen grand tour stages, plus a podium at a GT then.

And yet they still need Belgian Ted Moult to keep the team together. Why does no non-domestic Euro/global brand except Lidl see enough value in what they are doing? Why wouldn't Lidl step up with more cash? If Specialized can't shift road bikes in the US what happens to them?

I think few euro/global brands see much value in pro cycling full stop. JV can pontificate all he ways about the value of his brand to sponsors but he should remember a year ago he was crowd funding until someone with deep pockets came along.

Why pick on them? How many pro team sponsors are genuine blue chip multinationals? Half the teams are funded by dodgy millions from failed states that are using cycling as a vehicle to generate positive PR about their backers. It stinks.

At least Leferve can point to a list of wins year after year to justify the advertising spend by his domestic sponsors.

I did laugh at the 'Belgian Ted Moult' line though.

Rugby League is sponsored by mushy peas. I'm continually fascinated by the contrasting commercial worlds of RL and cycling. Both relatively niche sports with not much actual cash floating about.

What cycling needs is Asian bookmakers

Did I read somewhere that all the gambling companies know that the writing is on the wall and that their ability to market themselves will go the way of fag adverts? Therefore they're making hay while the sun shines and throwing billions into any sponsorship they can to gain a bit of customer loyalty.

No one in the UK gives two shits about Leadville. What about people in Europe?
I bet more people in Europe know who won Le Samyn vs. Leadville.
Different teams with different sponsors are going to see different target markets though, innit.

Everyone in the Midlands, keep your eyes peeled for Tour de France winner’s bowl.

Is there something posted about it anywhere?

There’s a press release on the Team Sky website.

True. Plus loads of articles around already.
I hope they catch the muppet soon.

Oh "bowl". Nevermind.

No, wait, what?

One to add to your Christmas wishlists...

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