This week Peloton, a US business has launched on the NASDAQ and is worth billions and the UCI has announced a new “e-sports world championships” for next year which will be run on Zwift. Outside is free… but cycling indoor is suddenly becoming very valuable.
Business
UCI Financial Report and Accounts
The annual look at the UCI’s finances, a chance to follow the money behind the governing body. You can download the full report from the UCI website or scan the summary below. The UCI published the report in July but amid a thrilling Tour de France it wasn’t required reading. It’s not fascinating today either but as ever its worth checking in on the sport’s administration and more.
Hosting The Tour
While you’re enjoying this year’s Tour, next year’s route is near to being signed-off and the 2021 route is taking shape too. There can be up to 300 towns applying to host a stage of the Tour de France each year and race organiser ASO can thread the race among these towns, but also make a detour here and there to visit places that haven’t asked but could be good for the race and usually they say yes. Towns pay for the privilege and we’ll see how much below but the income from the hosting fees isn’t as important as it used to be and this might give the race more opportunities to visit remote areas if they can provide a spectacle.
What Do The Team Sponsors Do?
Jumbo have had a great weekend, winning both stages of the Tour de France and taking the yellow jersey, the first time in 30 years for a Dutch rider. It’s a publicity bonanza and good news story for Jumbo, a chain of Dutch supermarkets expanding into Belgium right now but do you know what Visma does? And do you know your CCC from your Cofidis and what the EF in EF Education First stands for?
Magni’s Revolution
Look at the picture above from 1956 Giro d’Italia and what do you see? Fiorenzo Magni climbing with something strange going on between his mouth and the bike. You see the crowds and we can even identify the place as the climb to the San Luca in Bologna thanks to the arches of the portico, today’s finish of the Giro d’Italia stage. But this blog post is about another detail, that of the Nivea brand featured on Magni’s clothing and the following car because Magni and Nivea gave us the business model for cycling today.
Ineos To Takeover Team Sky
It’s official, UK petrochemicals firm Ineos will take over from Sky as the new team sponsor and the newly branded kit will be unveiled on 1 May at the Tour of Yorkshire. Here’s a look at a few related things, from changing kit mid-season to budget talk.
Pro Continental Team Sponsors Explained
When the Aqua Blue Sport team imploded last year a common response was “I didn’t know what the sponsor did” which partly explains why the Irish team’s attempts to create an online shop didn’t work out. But what of all the others, know your Androni from your Bardiani? Can you buy some Correndon, Wanty or Roompot? Is Cofidis a coffee distribution business? After looking at the sponsors of the World Tour teams, now a quick look at those in the Pro Continental ranks.
The Wealthiest People in Pro Cycling, Part II
A professor once joked that the exams for his university course always had the same questions, the difficulty for him and the students alike was that the answers kept changing. The story of the wealthy people in cycling is similar, many of same types remain, it’s just their fortunes vary. Following the team owners in Part I, now let’s look at those who own other assets in the sport…
The Wealthiest People in Pro Cycling
Forget Peter Sagan and his reported €6 million a year salary, this is about those who are so wealthy they’re not salaried. The aim here isn’t to gawk at their cash but to observe where much of the money in the sport comes from and where these people want to go with their investments. In first of a two-part series, let’s look at the World Tour team owners and sponsors…
Revenue Sharing Revisited
Several years ago “revenue sharing” was all the rage with several team managers making public calls for the major race organisers to pay them money. Only even if a race owner felt inclined, when you looked at the data the sums available were small. Now it’s time to refresh the numbers and also to see how the teams are doing.