Pro Cycling Discussion 2018

Soldato
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*shrug*

Different eras, different drugs. When you get into conversations about degrees of doping then it's a slippery slope IMO.

You would have to prove that Yates was doping first, which would need to show how much terbutaline was in Yates system. If it was a normal dose, you would be hard pushed to call it doping.
 
Soldato
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I actually didn't like Yates winning the Vuelta/being in red jersey lots. Same as I didn't like him being in the Maglia Rosa so much in May/June.... not because he is a PROVEN PURE AND UTTER CHEATING DOPER... but because he speaks daft. He sounds a bit English but speaks how Aussies speak because he has spent so much time around them in Orica and it's just bang out of order. so much time in leaders jerseys meant interviews every bloody day and I was at end of my tether having to listen to him.
 
Soldato
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I actually didn't like Yates winning the Vuelta/being in red jersey lots. Same as I didn't like him being in the Maglia Rosa so much in May/June.... not because he is a PROVEN PURE AND UTTER CHEATING DOPER... but because he speaks daft. He sounds a bit English but speaks how Aussies speak because he has spent so much time around them in Orica and it's just bang out of order. so much time in leaders jerseys meant interviews every bloody day and I was at end of my tether having to listen to him.

It was the Spanish/french hints that was the worst part. Even worse than being from Bury.
 
Soldato
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Crazy that Gaviria is leaving Quickstep (for Bahrain Merida) as they can’t find a title sponsor after 69 victories this year. Cycling team finances and the whole structure is so broken
 
Soldato
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Blimey hadn't seen that. Absolute madness. Other end of the scale is Egan Bernal signing for Sky for 5 years! That's their future GC winner/leader tied up then.
 
Soldato
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It's UAE reportedly for Gaviria.

It appears the UK domestic scene ain't the only thing that is buggered. How QS cannot secure a main title sponsor is beyond me as beside Sky of course, they are surely THE top team in WT.
 
Soldato
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Say you need to put up £20 million a year for Quickstep.

I can’t see the value there myself, and the value will be diminishing each year you sponsor a team as well.
 
Soldato
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It's UAE reportedly for Gaviria

Sorry, I get them regularly confused. He’s going to join Kristoff, Martin and Aru - quite a lineup.

The cycling podcast regularly discuss the funding difficulties of the pro scene and it really is worrying. With no long term basis for teams and no transfer fee, smaller teams will continue to develop talent and then watch them flourish somewhere else.
 
Soldato
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Say you need to put up £20 million a year for Quickstep.

I can’t see the value there myself, and the value will be diminishing each year you sponsor a team as well.

Sky run on about £30m a year apparently but most get by on 10-20m. Riders salaries are going up though; reportedly Gaviria is on £2m a year

A Belgium firm must get value back given how much they will dominate the news cycle?
 
Soldato
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Flanders based main title sponsor being announced later for QS and rumour is QS floors will remain as a sponsor but just not so prominent. Lidl also remain but most important RUMOUR is that Gaviria and Mas should now be staying (very very apparently, need wait and see over coming days).
 
Soldato
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How QS cannot secure a main title sponsor is beyond me as beside Sky of course, they are surely THE top team in WT.

IMO having title sponsors in cycling is the main reason that it's hard to find sponsorship. Compared to sports like football, there's no loyalty to teams in cycling because the teams change name every year and without a home town or stadium and things like that, there is nothing more to the team brand than the name. I think if they ditched the title sponsor for a permanent team name/brand then just had jersey sponsors + a bike sponsor they'd build a more loyal fanbase and give sponsors a larger ROI.
 
Soldato
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IMO having title sponsors in cycling is the main reason that it's hard to find sponsorship. Compared to sports like football, there's no loyalty to teams in cycling because the teams change name every year and without a home town or stadium and things like that, there is nothing more to the team brand than the name. I think if they ditched the title sponsor for a permanent team name/brand then just had jersey sponsors + a bike sponsor they'd build a more loyal fanbase and give sponsors a larger ROI.

I could not agree more!
Let us use Cannondale team as the example.... we all refer to them as Cannondale but look at the team names that very team has had over the past 10 years. Anyone who is not an avid cycling fan like us would have no idea it was the same team from year on year and in terms of nationality/team base countries, even I would struggle to tell you which nation some of the teams are actually registered/aligned to.

It does not help with following/fan loyalty and general ease of knowledge on the sport like you say. So I would totally agree with permanent "normal" team names and jersey/kit/bike sponsorship thereon without the need to change identity of a full team every 5 minutes.
 
Soldato
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I think the main reason cycling struggles to get sponsorship is because it’s really really boring to watch most of the time, and this is from someone that probably watches some sort of bike racing 100 days of the year! :p
 
Soldato
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I think the main reason cycling struggles to get sponsorship is because it’s really really boring to watch most of the time, and this is from someone that probably watches some sort of bike racing 100 days of the year! :p

This is why we have them doing utterly mental **** such as in Paris-Tours.

At least QS announced their new sponsor.
At least QS might know how the hell to pronounce their new sponsors name....
I have my anticipation face on already for the glory that will be the first time Sean Kelly tries to say it live on air.
 
Soldato
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Sky run on about £30m a year apparently but most get by on 10-20m.
Sure that's right? It doesn't sound much as I know the old NFTO team who where only British-UCI trying to become UCI-Continental (so 3rd 'tier' trying to become 2nd tier?) had around 3-4m a year and needed to secure around an additional 2m to 'move up' (which they fell short of after losing their new key sponsor, which then folded the team). Although I know NFTO where pretty much top of the game in British-UCI, they didn't tend to have the logistics to run 2+ teams at once like most of the WT do.

Flanders based main title sponsor being announced later for QS and rumour is QS floors will remain as a sponsor but just not so prominent. Lidl also remain but most important RUMOUR is that Gaviria and Mas should now be staying (very very apparently, need wait and see over coming days).
I find it quite surprising Lidl are not a bigger sponsor than they are, lets me honest QS are not a huge name - their flooring isn't exactly all around the place. Although B&Q did sell it,h ave to admit, when I bought some flooring I did buy QS! Also when needing some adhesive I bought Soudal! Doing my bit! :D

I have my anticipation face on already for the glory that will be the first time Sean Kelly tries to say it live on air.
I've still not heard him say CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice.

Any news from QS and more importantly any idea what their new name is gonna be?! :o

Watched Paris-Tours last night and quite enjoyed it, like an autumn classic! Although the roads where not great so I can see where the complaints are coming from... Hope they go back to being a 'sprinters classic', but it did highlight that a couple of tough cobbles/gravel autumn classics could work well.

Terpstra. Not really that sure what he was playing at? :)
 
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