The Court for Arbitration in Sport has had a busy week. Monday saw it ruling on Alberto Contador, the UCI and Alexander Kolobnev were there on Tuesday and yesterday we got the verdict on Jan Ullrich.
Many fans have expressed anger or frustration with the news this week but a quick note to say don’t blame the CAS.
UCI seeks new funding for its race promotion activities
Last year saw the Tour of Beijing run for the first time. A unique race, one major difference was they way it was organised and promoted. To summarise the UCI, cycling’s governing body, set up a corporate venture called Global Cycling Promotions (GCP) to run the race.
GCP caused all sorts conflicts of interest. Instead of governing the sport from above, the UCI became an economic agent alongside many it seeks to regulate. One minute the idea was to globalise the sport, the next it was to generate income for the UCI. Plus it turned out GCP was created after the UCI siphoned money paid into a fund in the name of the top teams to use as the businesses seed capital, a fact which irritated several squads.
Now the UCI is seeking to bolster GCP. It was been approaching various sources asking them to subscribe to the business in order to provide additional capital. A report by Bloomberg suggests the UCI has approached ASO, the company behind the Tour de France. Only ASO said non. As a result the UCI is pitching to wealthy individuals to see if they will invest. Bloomberg’s report is notable for four reasons:
The Spanish economy is set to shrink this year, continuing the funk it has been in since 2009. Unemployment is over 20% and climbing. Set against it’s no wonder that several races are under threat in Spain.
Pro cycling depends on government funding and corporate budgets and across Europe times are tough. But not for all.
Bear with me a minute as I’m not saying Italians shoemakers are old fashioned. Instead here’s a quick explainer on cycling shoemakers Sidi and Gaerne and their surprising similarities.
I wrote about the wealthiest men in cycling back in March 2010, but fortunes can come and go, and now there are new names to add to the list and some names to delete.
If you thought the likes of Alberto Contador, Mark Cavendish or Philippe Gilbert were the best paid in cycling, time to think again. It is the people behind the scenes who fund some of the pro teams that are the wealthiest. Read on and you will find the missing link between Damiano Cunego and Jennifer Lopez.
The Katusha team has yet to deliver the results that match its ambitions and its budget. Joaquim Rodriguez and Denis Galimzyanov have had some good wins but for me the most fascinating aspect of the team is the network of people who stand behind the squad.
This is a tale of secret agents, oligarchs, oil and gas, presidents and prime ministers as well as pro cycling. It is like no other team.
Cervélo was a two man start-up company in 1995 and now the bike company is being sold to Dutch conglomerate Pon.
Pon was started in 1895 by Dutchman Mijndert Pon and soon began importing Opel bicycles from Germany. This connection with Germany grew and it started importing Continental tyres in 1920. Today this connection exists even more as it is the main distributor for VW-Audi (Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Skoda, Seat) in the Netherlands and it continues to distribute Continental in the Netherlands. It also handles Caterpillar and Man trucks. As well as this it owns several bike brands including Gazelle and is completing the acquisition of Derby Cycles, better known for its Focus brand as used by the Katusha team in 2011, as well as Raleigh and Univega.
A fine racing bicycle was once a blend of art and craft but most of today’s bikes are the product of assembly lines and supply chains. Look at a team issue bike and perhaps the only remaining parts requiring a human touch are the wheels. But even this is dying out. Here’s a look at why factory wheels are increasingly dominating the market.
Monday’s piece on French teams and their future in the sport resulted in plenty of debate. In summary, French teams have modest budgets and operate under a tax system that makes recruiting big names harder. But for all the talk of rising costs and teams struggling to meet a rider’s wage demands here is a fact to ponder on:
The total wage bill for all of the 489 riders in the UCI World Tour is less than the wage bill for l’Olympique Lyonnais, a French soccer club.
Going on the leaked plans received by cyclingnews.com it seems the mooted breakaway league is struggling to get an advantage. As you probably know, anyone can launch an attack, the hard part is making a breakaway last. It’s the same in business, launching a venture is easy but making it work is the hard part.