Revenue Sharing: Chump Change or Structural Change?

A bicycle race is a simple affair with some riders, a start and a finish.  But the organisation and management of professional cycling is complicated by rules, law, money and business.

The news that pro cycling teams could get a share of the TV rights money paid by broadcasters would mark a significant change to the way business is done today. Here is a look at some of the issues surrounding revenue sharing. For now we don’t have much detail so it remains to be seen whether this is just some extra cash for the teams or a structural change to the way the sport is organised.

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International Workers

Rider Team Kilometres Raced in 2012
Andrea Guardini Farnese Vini – Selle Italia 6,214km
Cristian Benenati Farnese Vini – Selle Italia 6,015km
Tom Boonen Omega Pharma – Quick Step 5,638km
Luis Leon Sanchez Rabobank 5,586km
David Arroyo Movistar 5,579km
Thomas Voeckler Europcar 5,484km
Kenny Van Hummel Vacansoleil 5,466km
André Greipel Lotto – Belisol 5,451km
Martin Kohler BMC 5,301km
Alessandro Ballan BMC 5,282km

Today is International Workers’ Day and a good time to look at the hardest workers in pro cycling. Thanks to Cycling Quotient we can see who has raced the most this year.

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Giro d’Italia Guide

The Giro d’Italia guide is now online. There’s a concise preview of every stage as well as information on the jerseys, the start list, TV viewing and more. It is posted on a separate page of the website: https://inrng.com/giro. To dip in and out during the next four weeks use the “Giro d’Italia” link available … Read more

Tour de Romandie: The Moment The Race Was Won

Wiggins La Chaux de Fonds

Bradley Wiggins sprints to win Stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie. There’s rarely a single winning moment in a stage race, instead a series of consistent performances. In plain arithmetic third place in the prologue and victory in the final mountain time trial delivered the result. But so did the sprint victory with the 10 second time bonus and above all the sign of confidence.

As well as watching Wiggins we also saw Luis Léon Sanchez in action and Andrew Talansky confirmed his talent too, more of which below.

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Saturday Shorts

Thomas Voeckler got played yesterday. Shortly after finishing Liège-Bastogne-Liège the Frenchman made his way to Frankfurt airport to fly out to Gabon. Once a French colony, today an oil-rich state on the west coast of Africa with exceptional wildlife, Gabon also has an annual bike race, the Tropicale Amissa Bongo. Named after a member of the Bongo family that rules the nation, the race has a diverse field of teams with Europcar.

Sadly the results are hard to come by. I can’t see them on cyclingnews.com but instead the superb AstanaFans.com has coverage (in Russian) because the Astana development team are riding, and with some success. The photo above by Elena Ryabovol shows the conditions for one of the stage transfers with riders, staff and media loaded into a military transport plane.

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The Photo Finish Explained

Ever wondered why the spokes appear to bend in a sprint finish when you see the photo finish image from a race? Are the riders going so fast that they flex the spokes? Or is something else at work?

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“Biocashflow” wristbands

In the summer of 2010 I wrote about the Power Balance wristbands. They were almost fashionable for a while but also became the subject of ridicule and even police investigation.

Now it seems a similar concept is here, this time under the name of Bioflow and they are being endorsed by a leading Team Sky rider amongst others.

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Can the Leopards change their spots?

What is going on inside Radioshack-Nissan? There’s been some bizarre debate in public between riders and management over who gets to be the directeur sportif during the Tour de France. But this seems to be about more than just picking a manager for one month.

Let’s go back to 2010 when the Schleck brothers were riding for Team Saxo Bank under Bjarne Riis. During the course of the season there were rumours the brothers were working on a project for a new team. These were denied but in time Leopard-Trek was created. Fränk Schleck in particular was one of the driving forces behind this.

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Cycling and Politics

Cycling and coffee often seem to go together; but what about politics and cycling?

First here’s a bizarre brew of Colombian cycling and Italian politics. Then there’s a more general look at those who have tried to swap pedal power for political power.

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Tour de Romandie Preview

The Tour de Romandie starts today. The spring classics are done and the focus of the sport now shifts to stage racing.

If races were ranked by their websites, it’s the best race of the year. But Romandie is a great race in its own right with some big names on a good course and it’s all taking part just before the Giro d’Italia. Here’s a quick preview.

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