Team Sky
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id= ... /feb26news
"One of the new squad's aims is to produce the first British Tour de France winner within the next five years"
Place your bets now ....
"One of the new squad's aims is to produce the first British Tour de France winner within the next five years"
Place your bets now ....
0
Posts
...and I'll be happy to take 'em. You can even name your own odds.
Create the first British winner of the Tour de France, within five years.
Inspire people of all ages and abilities to get on their bikes, through the team's positive profile, attitude and success.
Add further support to competitive cycling in Great Britain.
Ha ha ha ha ha
1 lets hope they have American/Spanish and Italian ped excellence.
2 ?? goal by comittee
3 by supporting even further than before the premier calender
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha rofl
I wish them well. But as Robert Millar reminded British Cycling, road racing is not painting by numbers, it's not about how many watts you can produce for four minutes. The variability, like hundreds of riders, weather and changing terrain make it much harder for the infamous Brailsford control-freakery to master.
Still, it's worth a go. But beyond Cavendish and David Millar, there aren't any other British world class riders. Even Wiggins struggles to master the alchemy of turning track gold into success on the tarmac.
I'm guessing this won't come as a shock to Brailsford...
You say that as if Brailsford is just some punter they picked off the street.
MG
So the success on the track will be very difficult to replicate, not so our expectations need to be managed but those of the average British punter who might start expecting similar domination on the road!
Who are the 19-21 year old British riders to keep an eye on?
Strava is not Zen.
I agree but i I think DB is long enough in the tooth to know all that already and more.As for riders 19-21 who can tell but ask any one in here who are the French,Italian,Spanish riders of that age to keep an eye on i reckon they would struggle to come up with a few names.
MG
There are people from all over the world linked to it - They might have a core but I suspect the real "talent", certainly at this stage, will be drawn from other countries.
Now, about the sponsor....
Well they have managed to censored up most of our sports through throwing money at them so far. Why should cycling escape?
My blog and pod...
Beers of Belgium Cycling Club UK
My blog and pod...
Beers of Belgium Cycling Club UK
Will they get Clarkson and Matthew Parris involved in commentry?
Someone at Sky (bless them) is obviously confusing winning the odd stage at the Tour with WINNING the Tour.
A British rider cannot win the Tour in five years because - unless he explodes on the scene like Ullrich did - his class and potential would already have to be in evidence right now.
I can just imagine Jezza commentating on Andy Schleck
"Some say that he smells slightly of Barum tubulars and that his brother sends random gifts of money to doctors.
All we know is he's called "The Stick""
("Coat, please......")
Good luck to them. Can't see it happening in that timescale though.
F*ck I hope not as Sky are dismal hate the bastards. Rip off sodding merchants.
Be a sad day the day cycling is on pay to view.
I don't think British Eurosport would loose coverage as the right to TDF etc is owned by them as a French company. Big bucks for Eurosport showing cycling across Europe.
Can it guarantee a British winner of the TdF in 5 years? Clearly not. But when launching + talking about your "vision" you don't deal in the harsh realities.
What it can do is act as a springboard into top level road racing for the new generation of UK riders that are tumbling out of the track programme. There seem to be more promising British riders entering the pro ranks now than I think I can ever remember and with the road programmes for younger riders now being in place on the continent (unlike say 5 years ago) that conveyor belt should continue.
Will be interesting to see which non-UK riders they bring in to balance the team. With guaranteed funding through to 2012 they'll be wielding a powerful chequebook.
Think there'll be quite an Italian presence on the team, because Sky Italia have also been ramping up their cycling coverage through last season, heck they even mentioned ToB several times on their 24hr sports channel!
Be interesting though which Italian names they go for, CW mentioning Nibali, Ballan and Pinotti (though this is probably just 'lets pick 3 names out of the air and hope it sticks' journalism at IPC Towers), as presumably they'll want the pro team to be as respected and clean as the track team. E.g. Lhotellerie is mentioned as another signing, and we all know the rumours about him, and it would only take one accident to place a black mark against everything the team is linked to, on and off road. Interesting times.
Also has a national federation ever run a professional team before? Not including national teams in The Tour of course.
- Team Brite
- Harrods
- Lynda McCartney
- Team Men's Health
- all other UK "super teams" that ended in disaster
You forgot ANC-Halfords
Though I'd suggest that Sky have slightly more finance and logistics behind them than any of those teams you mentioned, coupled with the experise of the national federation.
Euskaltel? Cafe Columbia? I'm guessing.
@gietvangent
In that respect I find it very surprising that the Team Sky proposal doesn't mention an U23/continental development squad, like Rabobank and some other teams have; you would think it would be a necessary part of a federation-managed project....
Agreed, I was being a little flippant as is the british way innit. But Sky is no different in any other company in that it is just as cparicious with discretionary spend when the sheit hits the fan.
However, with Brasilford's track record (pun not intended) and a natural crescendo towards 2012, this one should have some wheels (pun not intended).
But why not a British tour contendor? Because with the 5 year goal in mind I think we'd already know his name, and sorry boys/girls, we don't. There is no british hope a la Lance, Hunault or Lemond who is dropping jaws like these stars did 5 years before they won a tour, these guys were all "special" and we knew it well in advance.
However, maybe there is a formula for tour contender that you can break down into vertical meters/min for climbing, watts/cd for TTs , recovery for the long haul, or other parameters that I have no idea of. Mule to thoroughbread? We'll see, it could be really really interesting and might really benefit cycling in the UK. As the captain of a new cycling club, I hope it works out.