I don’t like lists and rankings, the ordered ranking of riders never expresses the full excitement of a season’s racing. In some sports the rankings matter but in cycling the UCI rankings haven’t taken off as a measure of performance across the season. Yet the rankings matter. As we’ve already seen, nations need riders with … Read more
Tax. The mere word can put some into furious debate and yet send others into quiet slumber. Either way taxes are inevitable, even in sport. Tax matters in pro cycling. If you’ve ever wondered why French teams don’t buy in some of the best riders from outside France to showcase a sponsor in the Tour, … Read more
It’s a first: the UCI has published online its financial report and audited accounts for the year ending 31 December 2009. These are available online at uci.ch, go to the publications page. You might come to The Inner Ring for more juicy news and to escape dull numbers so I’ll try to liven up the … Read more
No, not those warrants. Not yet. Instead, these are warrants to buy stock relating to the stockmarket flotation of the business that owns the Livestrong brand. Normally the stockmarket float of a company wouldn’t appear on this kind of website. But the filing for Demand Media Inc. to sell its shares to investors on Wall … Read more
Dutch bank Rabobank has published a report on the internationalisation of cycling. It’s worth a read and I agree with a lot of what it says. In summary, it says that the sport has been opened up to new countries and where success occurs in these newcomers, it can be built on to develop the … Read more
Often we see team sponsors without knowing who or what they are about. One thing I try to do on this blog is to look at the business of cycling and the sponsors behind it. You might be familiar with Team Sky, it’s backed by Sky, the media group with TV channels in many countries, … Read more
Only in August: Sastre outsprints Cav and Oscar July and August are the big holiday season in France and for many who take their time off in August, the criteriums are a chance to see the riders from the Tour on parade. The same is true across Europe, there are special post-Tour criteriums in Belgium, … Read more
A conflict of interest It’s hard to know where Team Sky ends and where British Cycling and its Olympic aspirations begin. An article over at velonews.com, in turn taking up an article in the British newspaper The Guardian, suggests it’s something that now concerns the British government (and I’ve got memories of London’s Cycling Weekly … Read more
I’ve been keeping a close eye on Radioshack for some time. Not the team… but the company and its stock price because the company is a potential takeover candidate, potential prey to rival electronics retailer Best Buy or to a bid from private equity. It’s an interesting back-story to the team. I wrote about all … Read more
Some interesting information landed in my lap the other day and, via Twitter, I asked for some in the cycling world to offer advice. It’s not the biggest story in the cycling world but it involved some big names so I didn’t want to splurge the details on here without reflecting on it. I’m grateful … Read more