Pro Cycling Discussion 2018

Jonny ///M · 7 Nov 2018 at 16:58

Heard he's a bit of a dick.

I still don't get 1x systems for road racing so get his point.

Roady · 9 Nov 2018 at 12:58

He's outspoken, always has been but not a dick. He does come across as one quite frequently though lol.

Delaney or whatever his name with got called out and blamed by the sponsors for ending the team early, when much of the riders sided with him and word spread that most of the staff also didn't blame him it all went quite quiet. Blythe coming out with that just reaffirms much of what some of the others have said/hinted at - team and staff compromised by sponsors, so the results suffered.

One More Solo · 9 Nov 2018 at 13:33

With the greatest respect to him, an extra chainring is not the reason he’s not competing.

Berger · 10 Nov 2018 at 22:38

Another rider calling him for not being paid today.

xdcx · 14 Nov 2018 at 11:56

Aqua Blue starting legal actions against unnamed rider for "speaking out". It's all getting a bit horrible.

Thomas. PLease. · 14 Nov 2018 at 20:04

Rick Delaney seems like the biggest dick out of all of this.

Roady · 15 Nov 2018 at 13:43

Sounding more and more like it! Unsure why I'd heard the riders/staff had said it wasn't down to him, but now I'm not so sure lol

GSVBagpuss · 22 Nov 2018 at 20:36

Interesting interview in the most recent Cycling Podcast with Blythe where he comes across as very measured and more grown up than image in my head of the 22 year old with a reputation for doing post race doughnuts in the car park in his corsa

Berger · 2 Dec 2018 at 09:22

Renshaw hit by a car and fractured pelvis. 3 months before he will be back.

SoliD · 3 Dec 2018 at 13:13

Just seen that Paul Sherwen has died! RIP

#Chri5# · 7 Dec 2018 at 11:25

Route for the Tour de Yorkshire 2019 announced this morning.

https://letour.yorkshire.com/tour-de-yorkshire-2019/mens-race/stage-1/

Another leg killer on the Sunday, part of which will be the Sportive.

Park Rash remains the worst hill I've ever ridden on a bike. It might be too early in the full route for the sportive riders (which I expect will be a circular route from Leeds).

SoliD · 12 Dec 2018 at 07:26

Big news out today. Sky to end cycling involvement at the end of nexts year!

https://www.teamsky.com/article/sky-to-bring-involvement-in-cycling-to-a-close-after-2019-season

Be interested to see if anyone steps in but can't imagine anyone with that much financial power will come along.

Berger · 12 Dec 2018 at 08:50

Bit strange since they have just been signing loads of riders on long term deals. I wonder how/if those contracts are honoured.

a1ex2001 · 12 Dec 2018 at 09:22

Berger said:
Bit strange since they have just been signing loads of riders on long term deals. I wonder how/if those contracts are honoured.

I would assume the contracts have to honoured or renegotiated by the team if they find a new sponsor or if the team folds they just get torn up. I can't see them finding another sponsor with the sort of money SKY were burning which for me would be good for the sport SKY have been too strong for too long!

I wander what this means for the other sports where SKY spends big could this finally see a drop in the money going into football?

xdcx · 12 Dec 2018 at 09:25

Berger said:
Bit strange since they have just been signing loads of riders on long term deals. I wonder how/if those contracts are honoured.

The Comcast takeover was a bit worrying but they gave impression that would not impact the sponsorship commitments and then we seen them renew and create new high profile contracts.... looks like they were wrong about the Comcast side of things over the long term.

Most people will assume Team Sky can get a new big sponsor relatively easily but looking at the grand scheme, Quickstep, the most successful World Tour team on paper have had tough times of recent years to get a title sponsor. I think Team Sky will genuinely struggle in current times.

They will have to honour contracts though of the riders. They will contain clauses for this type of situation and they will need honour those or keep them employed on same terms currently as they go forward with a new sponsor.

G *might* be kicking himself right now. It made sense for him to stay with Sky but I am sure if he knew this was coming he would have took the massive payday along with more certain safety of another top tier WT team.

SDK^ · 12 Dec 2018 at 09:41

Paves the way for Redbull to come in and double the Sky budget

merlin · 12 Dec 2018 at 09:48

Virgin Media Cycling.

xdcx · 12 Dec 2018 at 09:49

Team Vodafone-Castelli
BP Pro Cycling
Team Good Honest Broadband from Yorkshire p/b Aldi

The absolute pasting's they take via the media despite their masses of success in cycling will not help in attracting anyone big time either. All of the recent noise surrounding Wiggins and Froome as well as the Brailsford hate will do nothing but harm the hunt.

Roady · 13 Dec 2018 at 12:07

xdcx said:
Most people will assume Team Sky can get a new big sponsor relatively easily but looking at the grand scheme, Quickstep, the most successful World Tour team on paper have had tough times of recent years to get a title sponsor. I think Team Sky will genuinely struggle in current times.

Gotta dispute that. 3 Words - Grand Tour Wins.

Sky are by far the biggest in budget and successes - lets not forget that the majority of huge sponsors already not involved in cycling will only care about GT's. They will have very little understanding, or appreciation, of classics and the smaller races.

A big sponsor will see - Number of GT wins in the last 5 years, Quickstep - 0, Sky - 6.

SDK^ said:
Paves the way for Redbull to come in and double the Sky budget

Not a bad call really, as they already sponsor some riders in CX don't they? Wout van Art? Sure I've seen the classic Redbull plastered helmets.

xdcx said:
The absolute pasting's they take via the media despite their masses of success in cycling will not help in attracting anyone big time either. All of the recent noise surrounding Wiggins and Froome as well as the Brailsford hate will do nothing but harm the hunt.

Agreed. But that's if a big sponsor comes in to totally replace Sky. If it does I dare say that Brailsford and much of the Administration will be shown the door - a huge sponsor coming in won't want the association with 'jiffygate' etc, but will want to retain the winning 'team'.

Personally I think they'll easily get sponsorship, but I don't think it'll be from 1 large sponsor. I think we'll see a few and possibly some leaving other teams for a more successful team. Look at how the bike sponsors have shuffled in 2019, not to mention Alpecin swapping from Giant/Sunweb to Katusha - proof fairly big key sponsors only care about successes, with really no loyalty to teams.

xdcx · 14 Dec 2018 at 11:16

CCC kit is beyond cool!
https://twitter.com/CCCProTeam/status/1073533288193683456