Mark Cavendish is one of my favourite riders. He’s not to everyone’s taste but I’m impressed by the number of wins he’s got. Still just 25, he’s on the verge of overtaking some of the biggest sprinters in the sport. Cavendish took his first win of 2011 a few days ago in Oman. But if … Read more
Nicolas Portal was a rider for Team Sky last year. Towards the end of the season it was announced he was leaving the team, heart problems cut short his racing career. But Sky gave him a management job. An ex-Caisse d’Epargne rider, Portal’s Spanish language skills might have been a clincher given the arrival of … Read more
Since any more detail on the Aussie team under Shane Bannan is vague for now, I wanted to review the broader concept behind the Aussie squad, namely that we are seeing the emergence of several national teams. In an age when the sport is supposed to be moving towards attracting global brands, we are seeing … Read more
Which van, man? I’ve written before about the inherent conflict of interest between British Cycling, the governing body and Team Sky, the ProTour cycling team. A lot of the Sky staff are actually British Cycling officials, meaning many critical people are part-timers caught between two roles and two paymasters. Here’s Britain’s Guardian on this matter: … Read more
“We have more signings still to come. So far we’ve signed Alex Dowsett, who’s a great prologue rider and has come through the British system, we have the Spaniards, Xabier Zondo and Rigoberto Uran and Mick Rogers” So went Team Sky’s Dave Brailsford in an interview with Velonews’s Steve Thomas. It’s in quotation marks, implying … Read more
Which hat is he wearing today? Europeans and some Americans might wonder what the Commonwealth Games are all about: they are a mini-Olympics for the Commonwealth, a group of countries largely based around the old British empire. The latest edition of the games are about to start in Dehli and a row has blown up … Read more
I can’t be arsed to fly to all the way to Australia just to work for Mark Cavendish, especially as the longest one day race in the world isn’t good prep for the Commonwealth Games 4,000 pursuit That’s what Geraint Thomas didn’t say. The talented Welsh rider has his eye on success in the upcoming … 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
Stevo and Yates? Reunited and it smells so bad I wrote earlier this week that Sky’s “Team Principal” was considering relaxing his standards when it comes to hiring a new DS for the squad. I wondered who he was talking about and then lo, a story popped up on cyclingnews.com: Neil Stephens is looking for … Read more
Blurring the message Something tells me July didn’t exactly follow the spreadsheet scenarios designed by Team Sky. The only success was Stage 3 of the Brixia Tour and I bet you don’t even know where Brixia is. Faced with the need for success Team Sky’s mastermind Dave Brailsford says in an interview with French sports … Read more