Cycling thread

[blueloon]

He, as a person, can hardly be worse than Murdoch. At least now orcas know who their real friends are. Have to say, those Brexiteers are seriously starting to annoy me. They can't Brexit in a decent/timely manner, now one has decided to make it his vanity project to continue that team with a similar budget. It just keeps getting better.

Oh well on the positive side just saw a documentary about Milan-San Remo 1985 and that was good; with Kuiper, Vanderaerden, Adrie van Der Poel, Peeters, Sean Kelly and Bauer.

Just peanuts moneywise to him and Ineos, who are sniffing around buying out the UK oil interests of an American oil company for billions and spending close to a billion on uprating their infrastructure. I suspect he will want/try to have more personal involvement in Team Ineos than Brailsford experienced underSky.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Just peanuts moneywise to him and Ineos, who are sniffing around buying out the UK oil interests of an American oil company for billions and spending close to a billion on uprating their infrastructure. I suspect he will want/try to have more personal involvement in Team Ineos than Brailsford experienced underSky.

Aye, it'll be interesting to see how it pans out. Brailsford always had the run of things under Sky so you'd imagine he'd want the same with Ineos. I've no idea how involved Ratcliffe is with the sailing, which is perhaps a decent indicator.

 

[Armel]

Just peanuts moneywise to him and Ineos, who are sniffing around buying out the UK oil interests of an American oil company for billions and spending close to a billion on uprating their infrastructure. I suspect he will want/try to have more personal involvement in Team Ineos than Brailsford experienced underSky.

I hope he does tbh, would make it at least less boring - a new Tinkov. Well yes the guy is extremely rich, he can buy Chelsea while he's at it and he still wouldn't feel a thing. If that Guardian article was correct he's even increasing the budget. UCI won't help since they are useless, I can't stress enough how much I hate them (I think I already did several times in here tbf), they rather focus on the invention of useless rules and forgo the essential ones. Oh and they are also doing one hell of a job in de-globalizing CX- well in.



Further decline in ratings all round for the GT's for years to come. Hooray. Even in the UK.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I hope he does tbh, would make it at least less boring - a new Tinkov. Well yes the guy is extremely rich, he can buy Chelsea while he's at it and he still wouldn't feel a thing. If that Guardian article was correct he's even increasing the budget. UCI won't help since they are useless, I can't stress enough how much I hate them (I think I already did several times in here tbf), they rather focus on the invention of useless rules and forgo the essential ones. Oh and they are also doing one hell of a job in de-globalizing CX- well in.



Further decline in ratings all round for the GT's for years to come. Hooray. Even in the UK.

To be fair though, Sky have only ever really dominated the French races (P-N, Dauphine and Tour). The rest of the year has largely been other teams. So you've got open competition in 2/3 of Grand Tours plus all of the classics, semi-classics and chippers. Compare that with the utter dominance by Quickstep of the early season races (although they surprisingly rarely translate that into winning the monuments), and it's kinda just the nature of racing isn't it? No one goes after Movistar because Valverde is so dominant of any punchy one day race. Just as teams have to figure out how to beat Quickstep, Valverde or Sagan, they have to figure out how to beat Sky in the Tour. The parcor undoubtedly doesn't help (witness the difficulties Sky have had in both the Giro and Vuelta), but that's not really the team's fault. The UCI just need to come up with a better route.

 

[Armel]

To be fair though, Sky have only ever really dominated the French races (P-N, Dauphine and Tour). The rest of the year has largely been other teams. So you've got open competition in 2/3 of Grand Tours plus all of the classics, semi-classics and chippers. Compare that with the utter dominance by Quickstep of the early season races (although they surprisingly rarely translate that into winning the monuments), and it's kinda just the nature of racing isn't it? No one goes after Movistar because Valverde is so dominant of any punchy one day race. Just as teams have to figure out how to beat Quickstep, Valverde or Sagan, they have to figure out how to beat Sky in the Tour. The parcor undoubtedly doesn't help (witness the difficulties Sky have had in both the Giro and Vuelta), but that's not really the team's fault. The UCI just need to come up with a better route.

The UCI doesn't choose the route, ASO does, hence the recent Tours with little to no TT's since French riders can't do TT's. No worries they'll probably have the other ones soon too, with the budget increase (there's a causal relation between their style of racing and the decline in viewer ratings; was in the the paper the other day - along with 5 tips to spice it up again but practically you can do nothing about it without the UCI / before they were aware of the take-over).

Quickstep is different; they pay relative peanuts, they can't compete with Sky- if you want to see how much Lefevre pays here: () ; rider becomes too successful/can make more money he leaves, they can't keep all of their good ones (Sky can and buy more). Plus they always have one or more sprinters, makes it easy to win a lot of races. Alaphilippe will probably leave; they only hold on to those that are essential for the domestic market (like Boonen, he could have gotten everything)- and another one will fill his boots. That's because Movistar most of the time is not boring/or dominant, and they ruin it a lot of the time; plus Valverde is Valverde. Everybody loves Sagan (Sagan=spectacle).

The second category is overall (not all) attracting more viewers.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The UCI doesn't choose the route, ASO does, hence the recent Tours with little to no TT's since French riders can't do TT's. No worries they'll probably have the other ones soon too, with the budget increase (there's a causal relation between their style of racing and the decline in viewer ratings; was in the the paper the other day - along with 5 tips to spice it up again but practically you can do nothing about it without the UCI / before they were aware of the take-over).

Quickstep is different; they pay relative peanuts, they can't compete with Sky- if you want to see how much Lefevre pays here: () ; rider becomes too successful/can make more money he leaves, they can't keep all of their good ones (Sky can and buy more). Plus they always have one or more sprinters, makes it easy to win a lot of races. Alaphilippe will probably leave; they only hold on to those that are essential for the domestic market (like Boonen, he could have gotten everything)- and another one will fill his boots. That's because Movistar most of the time is not boring/or dominant, and they ruin it a lot of the time; plus Valverde is Valverde. Everybody loves Sagan (Sagan=spectacle).

The second category is overall (not all) attracting more viewers.

Yes, sorry, I meant the ASO. I guess my point is that the Giro have always managed to have exciting racing, and it's consistently a better race (imo) than the Tour. Indeed, I'd go as far as to say that the Vuelta is a better race too. That might be partly down to Sky, but also the nature of the race makes the racing dull, as it encourages riders/teams to ride conservatively to preserve 5th place rather than try and mix it up. It's unlikely, for instance that a Finestre style attack would ever have been tried in the Tour, or even Quintana's long range effort in P-N. Gone are the days when Pantani would liven things up.

Every year we hear from the likes of Bardet that they'll do something, but they never do. Quintana has also fallen by the wayside in recent years, whilst Yates and Dumoulin are going for the Giro. I'm not sure what they expect the Tour to be like really. I'm personally looking forward to the classics and the Giro far more than the Tour.

 

[Chris O'Connor]

Team Ineos confirms Team Sky takeover and will become new sponsor immediately




Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe is to take control of Team Sky and immediately rebrand it with the name Team Ineos.

Ratcliffe, the 66-year-old billionaire boss of chemicals company Ineos, will reportedly pump up to £40m a year into the team, which will continue to be run by current principal Sir Dave Brailsford.

Sky announced in December that it would be terminating its reported £35m-a-year deal at the end of 2019 but Ratcliffe's investment will be "even greater", Sky Sports News has learned.

The announcement means the Team Sky name will cease to exist at the end of April with the rebranded Team Ineos taking part in the first Grand Tour of the year, May's Giro d'Italia.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman and Chief Executive of INEOS, said: "Cycling is a great endurance and tactical sport that is gaining ever more popularity around the world. Equally, cycling continues to mushroom for the general public as it is seen to be good for fitness and health, together with easing congestion and pollution in city environments.

"INEOS is delighted to take on the responsibility of running such a professional team."

Ratcliffe has a personal fortune of £21 billion and he owns the FC Lausanne-Sport football club in Switzerland, where his company is based, and is backing Sir Ben Ainslie's Americas Cup 2021 bid to the tune of £110m - Ratcliffe has also been heavily linked with an attempt to buy Chelsea from Russian owner Roman Abramovich.

As Sir Bradley Wiggins surmised..

I would imagine this is someone who loves cycling and said, ‘I’m going to put my money in’. Much like Gerry Ryan [at Mitchelton-Scott] and a few of the other Australian millionaires who put their money in.

“So, it’s an ideal situation for Dave [Brailsford] because he can continue running out this team with all his plans and philosophies and he’s answerable, you’d imagine, to one man who puts in the money, and it’ll certainly help that team.”

Wiggins added: “I think that would have impacted on the sponsor they have [gone with] as well. Dave will want to retain control and it’s Dave’s way in terms of the way he manages the team, the way he’s set the team up and I think he would have been reluctant to have another multinational company that came in and wanted it for the advertisement, but would want the control in terms of, ‘This is how we’re going to do it in terms of how we advertise our company’. I think that would have been a big point for Dave which in some ways is an ideal situation.”

 

[Frang]

Seems apt that a chemicals company is taking over the biggest t chemical consuming team.

 

[Chris O'Connor]

Seems apt that a chemicals company is taking over the biggest t chemical consuming team.

Petrochemicals not pharmaceuticals

 

[Black Belt Jones]

Seems apt that a chemicals company is taking over the biggest t chemical consuming team.

I hope he does tbh, would make it at least less boring - a new Tinkov. Well yes the guy is extremely rich, he can buy Chelsea while he's at it and he still wouldn't feel a thing. If that Guardian article was correct he's even increasing the budget. UCI won't help since they are useless, I can't stress enough how much I hate them (I think I already did several times in here tbf), they rather focus on the invention of useless rules and forgo the essential ones. Oh and they are also doing one hell of a job in de-globalizing CX- well in.



Further decline in ratings all round for the GT's for years to come. Hooray. Even in the UK.

I think that will reverse - CX seems to be doing well at grassroots level in places like the UK and the USA, and now those places are connected to the international scene so the strongest talents can take the step up. It's probably the easiest form of racing to organise, road racing is a nightmare in comparison - very hard to close roads for amateur events (at least in the UK). It is a bit climate-restricted, hard to imagine a world-class crosser emerging from Spain, or Italy say. Don't hear much from the Germans - although Mike Kluge was world champ back in the day [and founder of focus bikes].
Do you recall, Armel, if Alaphilippe ever raced as a senior in the CX world cup circuit? I know he did as a junior - think he would have been a beast.

 

[Armel]

Giro have always managed to have exciting racing, and it's consistently a better race (imo) than the Tour. Indeed, I'd go as far as to say that the Vuelta is a better race too. That might be partly down to Sky, but also the nature of the race makes the racing dull, as it encourages riders/teams to ride conservatively to preserve 5th place rather than try and mix it up. It's unlikely, for instance that a Finestre style attack would ever have been tried in the Tour, or even Quintana's long range effort in P-N. Gone are the days when Pantani would liven things up.

Every year we hear from the likes of Bardet that they'll do something, but they never do. Quintana has also fallen by the wayside in recent years, whilst Yates and Dumoulin are going for the Giro. I'm not sure what they expect the Tour to be like really. I'm personally looking forward to the classics and the Giro far more than the Tour.

You can partly blame the Tour; and for sure it's always been more boring than the other two. But you used to have actual competition. They are disrupting competition, look at the Sosa case etc.... It used to be more interesting; even during the Armstrong years. Contador was exciting, tried attacking against Sky, didn't work but at least he tried. Attacking is very difficult when you're racing against the best team that money can buy (will be interesting to see how many keep following Sky btw, when they switch to Bernal). An easy solution if you want to make it more interesting: 6 riders/team in the Tour. For sure the six of Sky will still be superior to the team selections of the other teams but at least there will no longer be 4 helpers solely for forming a TT train on a climb (and that can get a top ten-fifteen on their own probably). You'd force them to make choices. The leader will be isolated a whole lot quicker.

Yes Yates and Dumoulin are smart; they know they can't compete with the full strength Sky block. Mind you they'll probably have their hands full with Bernal.

I can live with it as long as they keep their hands of my favourite races. Tomorrow Nokere, first race for Mathieau van Der Poel.

I think that will reverse - CX seems to be doing well at grassroots level in places like the UK and the USA, and now those places are connected to the international scene so the strongest talents can take the step up. It's probably the easiest form of racing to organise, road racing is a nightmare in comparison - very hard to close roads for amateur events (at least in the UK). It is a bit climate-restricted, hard to imagine a world-class crosser emerging from Spain, or Italy say. Don't hear much from the Germans - although Mike Kluge was world champ back in the day [and founder of focus bikes].
Do you recall, Armel, if Alaphilippe ever raced as a senior in the CX world cup circuit? I know he did as a junior - think he would have been a beast.

He never raced in a senior CX, would have been interesting.

I agree with the U.K but the USA idk. I only read about them on social media but most of those who practice the sport there seem to be outliers (it's also not like I've seen an actual good rider come through recently, the U.K has produced a few). I suppose a big question is what Piddock's going to do, I hope he stays. Tullet will go full for the road if Jose Been is correct. You used to have relatively good CX racers from the Spanish Basque country (CX is still relatively popular there). You used to have Igorre (a race in the WC championship; Pauwels was the last who won there somewhere in 2011); and there was a WC in Getxo.

 

[Armel]

Ffs Evenepoel work on your positioning. Two times he got stuck behind a fall already, every time he needs to get back to the front. Mathieu van Der Poel looks very strong; briefly he thought about attacking on 40km from the line but I think somebody told him to wind it in (he did increase the tempo; whole peloton in line).

 

[Armel]

Quite a bad fall for van Der Poel. Still on the ground after +- 10 minutes; his arm is in a bit of an awkward position.

Good win for Bol though.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Who's your tip for MSR @Armel?

 

[Armel]

Who's your tip for MSR @Armel?

Alaphilippe, Vivianni, Gilbert, Ewan, Gaviria and Sagan for the fun of it. Difficult race to predict though; the best one rarely wins.