Having covered Team Sky’s budget the other day, here’s a closer look at the team budget of Ag2r La Mondiale, the French team in the World Tour sponsored by one of France’s largest mutual insurance firms and one that is about to get even bigger.
Business
Team Sky’s Finances
The latest set of Team Sky’s accounts has been published and here is a closer look at their finances including a bumper budget.
The Deutschland Tour is Back
What’s the biggest race this week? Surely the Vuelta but the revived Tour of Germany is an important moment as it marks the return of men’s stage racing to Europe’s largest country after decade’s absence.
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 TV Boom
Surely there’s never been so much racing on TV as this year. As well as the entirety of the Tour de France, there seem to be more small races on TV and this week the Tour du Limousin, the archetypal rural French race, now has live TV. A boom? Perhaps but nobody is getting rich on this, there are more hours than ever but this isn’t necessarily worth more to the sport as a whole.
Direct Energie’s Ambitious World Tour Goal
Direct Energie have applied to the UCI for a World Tour licence for next year. The team has been in the World Tour before when it was sponsored by Europcar and its current sponsor has just been bought by French oil major Total meaning it’s theoretically got a line of funding that could make Team Sky feel jealous. Just one problem though: there’s no World Tour licence to spare.
California Clash
It’s a calendar clash with the Giro, many star riders are in the Giro or on Teide, it’s got World Tour status without really having the World Tour obligations and more. It all works well.
Hidden Motivations
The default reaction to hearing that a grand tour will starting outside its home country is a firm “no”. As said here before to see the Giro starting in the Netherlands was to imagine a pizza topped with Gouda and herring: it’s just wrong. Then it happened, you see the crowds and everyone enjoying themselves and it began to look worthwhile.
Israel? The crowds didn’t look that big and often the race was riding past barren landscapes but if this looked boring, maybe this was what they wanted, a chance to show alternative images of Israel to the ones you see in the news. The last three days seemed more of a grande bonanza than a grande partenza with talk of large hosting fees and the usually hidden aspect of appearance fees briefly going public.
Prize Money
Prize money in cycling rarely makes the news. Sometimes when people see how much the men collect they’re surprised it’s so low… until they see how little the women get. But what do the riders actually collect? The net sum received by the winner is often a tiny fraction of the headline prize for first place.
The New Omloop and The Old Ronde
This Saturday is openingsweekend and the start of the cobbled classics season with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. It’s an old race but a copycat contest too that has found its place on the calendar by constantly frontrunning the Tour of Flanders. So much so that this year’s Omloop poaches the beloved old roads of the Ronde.