Is cycle sport encouraging uptake of cycling?

The promotion of cycling as a sport, requiring special bikes, shoes, freakishly ugly clothes and foam hats, and a high level of fitness must surely put people right off. In countries such as Holland and Denmark, where cycling is just practical transport, riding a bike is an almost universal way of life. In countries such as Britain, USA, where it is primarily a sport, we cyclists are a freakish minority, regarded as lower forms of life by some sectors of society.

But the sport of cycling is much more popular in the Netherlands and Denmark?