If you’ve got a good invention in the cycle trade, don’t be surprised to get a call from someone at SRAM to meet up one day. Whether it’s over lunch or dinner a takeover deal might be on the menu. That’s what’s happened to Quarq, SRAM have just announced a deal to buy the US power meter company. It’s the latest in a line of deals by SRAM, from Sachs to Zipp.
The UCI can move swiftly. Yesterday it was announced that any form of injection is now effectively banned and punishable. Up to know, infusions, from pouches with a drip for example, were banned but there was nothing to stop the use of injections, where obviously several injections can amount to the same volume as a drip.
Several teams put the idea to the UCI, it was reviewed and within two months the ban has appeared. Who says teams and the UCI can’t co-operate?
A message of thanks to Strada Wheels for supporting the blog. The British wheel builder is advertising during May. If you wonder what they’re up to, they build bespoke wheels with alloy and carbon rims, what ever you want from clinchers and tubs to spoke count or hub choice. They’ve just started working with US … Read more
There’s a new racing concept coming to the sport: the elimination sprint. It sees two riders go head to head over a 1,000 metre course, usually the final kilometre of a well known race.
Tested last year alongside the Grand Prix de Quebec, it will be back again used in the sister World Tour race in Montreal that’s also run by race organiser and local mini media magnate Serge Arsenault. But there are plans to take it to many more races.
There are four jerseys in the race, plus several prizes on offer each day. Here’s a primer…
La paura. It means fear in Italian and I’m detecting a few riders expressing the feeling right now. Normally riders sound confident, at least in public, with statements like “I’m ready” or the Italian line about being “calm” or “serene”. Only with the Giro ways things are sounding different.
Visit a stockmarket and you’ll soon learn the value of a company tends to be based on expectations of its future performance. The on-screen prices flash and change as tiny pieces of information, as well as big news, have their effect on the valuation of a stock.
A stockmarket isn’t the only place where assets are traded. In the world of pro cycling a team owner will regard riders as assets. Some teams do this openly, for others managers it’s more of a subconscious calculation.
Either way, teams need to put a value on a rider in order to decide whether to hire him. There are various factors at play. Obviously a star rider has a high price but this is based on expectations about his ability to win future races more than his stock of past wins. In addition, can the rider contribute to the team, whether in riding or via other means, from leadership to a sense of humour? Will the rider bring additional sponsors? Will the the rider keep away from scandal?
Past performance is a guide to the future
So far all these questions involve the future tense, they are about what the rider might offer once they’ve been signed. It’s like stockmarket assessing the outlook for, say, Nestlé or General Motors. It’s not so much what has happened in the past but how things will turn out in the future, what will happen to sales and profits. But there’s a new factor at play in cycling that is not about the future but the past: ranking points.
I don’t do too much tech on here but it seems to go down well, my piece on the possibility of an electric SRAM group in particular proved popular. Today I’m interested by the variety of bottom bracket standards on the market because it’s something that seems fairly unique amongst consumer goods.
It’s common for industries to have various “standards” when it comes to technology, for example a Android smart phones or maybe those with Windows; a Blu-Ray disc or HD DVD. In times past VHS famously saw off Betamax and there are many more examples. But I don’t remember other industries offering so many options and above all, so many parts that won’t work together. Yet this is what the bike trade is doing with a variety of proprietary bottom bracket designs.
The weekend’s racing threw up some interesting things. The Giro looms big but don’t let the anticipation overshadow some interesting stories from neo-pros succeeding to old dogs having their day over the weekend.
First to Frankfurt, the Germany city that styles itself as Mainhattan, where a sleepy town meets global finance and skyscrapers. The traditional 1 May Grand Prix, these days known as the Tour of the Financial Square Eschborn – Frankfurt, a bit of a mouthful. I preferred the older name, the Henninger Turm, named after the local brewery’s visible grain silo. The race heads to the Taunus hills but it can come down to a sprint finish. As we saw yesterday several big names get ejected by the climbs, in particular in Mammolshain and it came down to a bunch sprint but not after several names got left behind.
This might be a bit mean but it was lucky John Degenkolb won. Why? Well go through the other 68 riders in the group and you’ve probably not heard of many of them. Even the top-10 isn’t quite star-studded.
Joaquim Rodriguez finished 2010 as the number one rider in the UCI rankings. He had a great year with several wins and many consistent finishes.
But how much do you know about him? With many riders it’s common to know where they’re from, what sort of person they are and more, at least to know their public persona. But I know nothing about Rodriguez except his nickname, Purito and that he’s from Catalonia. It sort of means “clean” in Spanish, a diminutive term… but that’s not the origin of his name.