Brailsford on 'humbling' TdF

iainf72

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/se ... brailsford?

Brailsford said Sky had faced "not hostility but a closing of ranks" among other pro teams.

Many people of this parish did warn them.....

I look forward to seeing what changes they make.

In all honesty, I think Sky could do with trying to engage the British public in a different way. Everyone knows the TdF, but you run multiple TV channels, why not try to introduce them to different aspects of the sport. A documentary here, "reality" show there, you never know...

mroli

I don't really think the problem is with engaging the British public - the sheer number of column inches they have got this year and the amount of Sky kit I see out on the roads is testimony to that. The problem I think for them is that they had a lot of early season promise that they haven't converted into tangible results and whilst they have season 1 goodwill, unless they "convert", they are going to struggle in seasons to come.

What they need:

1) a decent TDF - a top 8 finish
2) work out some way of converting a handsome train from 3k to 800m to go to a winning train - Henderson/ebh are ok, but aren't "premiership" tier - probably would play for Wigan :evil: would be great rivals to Renshaw/Goss though?
3) To win the TdB next year (home tour and all of that)
4) G/Kennaugh/Swift/Cummings/Downing/Wiggins (ie a British rider) to win between them say 10 races/stages next year. Doesn't matter how big they are, but it will allow the reporting of success (which the British public understands) rather than failure - ie anything other than 1st hugely.

85,000 on the London skyride, succesful other rides all over the country, the cult of the "Mamil" rising, popularity of the sportives all serve to keep cycling in the forefront of minds. A good sprinkling of medals in the Commonwealth Games will keep it ticking over.

Ironically, a large focus will be on Cav and if he wins the worlds/wins green at the TdF next year, Sky will benefit.

rick_chasey

With regard to the aforementioned train, as I have said before, there is no point with a train unless your sprinter is top 2 in that peleton. Especially with newer sprinters, they should learn how to do it on their own. Cav did when he was younger, and now it shows.

William H

Sky's problem is that their only really top rider is EBH, and he was injured for a significant chunk of time. Well, Flecha is also a top rider, but only for a very small set of races.

Otherwise, Wiggins gambled it all on the Tour de France and failed, as apparently did Lofkvist.

stagehopper

Clearly bent a few noses out of joint when they came into the sport but think the fact they haven't had a good year will have helped them with the other teams.

The fact that they've never shied away from putting in a lot of work at the front of the peloton, though sometimes perplexing, will have been appreciated by others.

Pokerface

Would Sky benefit from throwing all their eggs into winning the Giro or Vuelta instead of the Tour? I know their goal is the Tour - but surely they could learn greatly from a top finish in one of the other GTs.

Tom Butcher

I reckon that a lot will rest on EBH next year. They've got some other contenders who could nab some decent wins - Flecha, maybe Wiggins, Thomas and one or two others - but EBH is a potential superstar and if he can start to confirm that potential it'll go a long way. He seems a fairly media friendly type of guy too which always helps.

Then they need something for the grand tours - either a new GC contender or a top sprinter. If they can't get either then they need to target breakaway stage wins - I reckon they've got the firepower to be successful in that - rather than going for the GC and bunch sprints where they currently just don't have the riders to be real contenders.

Part of their problem is that success or failure is always measured against expectations - and they played a big part in raising expectations to a level that they were almost bound to fall short. I know a lot of that was about getting publicity - and that's the name of the game - but if they could have done it without portraying themselves as almost a new paradigm in cycling teams it would have helped. If they'd portrayed themselves a bit more as plucky underdogs I reckon they'd be getting a lot more sympathy now.

northernneil

if Fabian C is available SKY should do EVERYTHING they can to get him,

he will not only increase SKY repuation among other teams and generate some much needed respect but also he will bring guaranteed wins.

zammmmo

1. I don't think getting Wiggo up the road in front e.g. Tour of Britain, to appease the domestic fans is the way to gain popularity.

2. Maybe they should get behind Lokvist (spelling?) seeing as though he did better on GC. Saw him at the Tourmalet stage (2nd one I think) and he was one of quickest up there.

Jez mon

They needed a genuine star if they were going to deliver on the massive amount of publicity which they had before the start of this season and unfortunately, they didn't get one.

I think the one thing which Sky still needs to do is to get cycling the respect it deserves as a pro sport, I think there are still large numbers of the public who see it as a rather hobby-ish sport, whereas full time cyclists are massively dedicated athletes!

edhornby

I also think they should go for the giro vuelta rather than the tour, wiggins could have a go at them and potentially podium and it would leave the tour open to EBH lovquist and Thomas to have a go with out the pressure of podium expectation

Tom BB

edhornby wrote:

I also think they should go for the giro vuelta rather than the tour, wiggins could have a go at them and potentially podium and it would leave the tour open to EBH lovquist and Thomas to have a go with out the pressure of podium expectation

Not sure about the EBH, Thomas stuff, but I definitely agree that they should target the Vuelta and Giro...I think that if Wiggins had been in any sort of shape and not ridden the TdF this year, that he could have had a good crack at a podium in this Vuelta....he wasn't too far off Roche in the mountains of the TdF (before he gave up) and would have pulled back a ton of time on most of the GC contenders in that TT....

stagehopper

Rogers will be a decent pick up - he's admitted after the TdF he'll no longer target the long tours so will concentrate on the one week stage races, the sort that he had a very good record in this year. WIll help bump up those ranking points for Sky.

Tom Butcher

I can't see how Wiggins could have got anywhere near the podium of the Vuelta. He just hasn't had the legs this year. I'd have had him finishing below Sastre.

Kléber

Do you need a star and 30 wins a season? cervélo don't win much but their clever PR suggests they just want to reach the best available on the day and to ride as a team.

Sky on the otherhand focus a lot on winning and a slick image. In a sport where you rarely win, promising gains and new ways to win only sets you up to disappoint.

Still, it takes time to form a team... but from what I gather the team has different cliques and favoured riders, leaving most on the squad feeling like the team spirit isn't quite what it should be.

Pross

Tom Butcher wrote:

I can't see how Wiggins could have got anywhere near the podium of the Vuelta. He just hasn't had the legs this year. I'd have had him finishing below Sastre.

+1 to this. The Vuelta was less suited to Wiggins than the Tour. OK there's more competition at the Tour but even though it had a tougher route this year it was arguably still the easiest of the 3 GTs for a rider who isn't a genuine climber. If Sky are really serious about a British GT winner in the next 5 (4 now) years then their best hope is to sign a certain young rider from Garmin who is masquerading as an Irishman. Can't see Vaughters letting that happen although he must still be feeling pleased with his negotiation skills from last season!

Harry01

Is it my imagination or did Sky really not try 'that hard' to win their home event - TofB. I've watched every stage from the ITV4 coverage and it doesn't seem evident to me that Sky tried that hard, considering that this race is possibly the last they will compete in this year. I was looking forward to Wiggins et al putting in a big effort to win the race. I suppose coverage on TV can't show everyting but what is supposed to be a top tier team didn't look that top tier to me, particularly against HTC or Vacon.

RichN95.

Harry01 wrote:

Is it my imagination or did Sky really not try 'that hard' to win their home event - TofB. I've watched every stage from the ITV4 coverage and it doesn't seem evident to me that Sky tried that hard, considering that this race is possibly the last they will compete in this year.

They're doing Paris-Tours and Lombardy (Wiggins doing both).

Gazzaputt

Harry01 wrote:

Is it my imagination or did Sky really not try 'that hard' to win their home event - TofB. I've watched every stage from the ITV4 coverage and it doesn't seem evident to me that Sky tried that hard, considering that this race is possibly the last they will compete in this year. I was looking forward to Wiggins et al putting in a big effort to win the race. I suppose coverage on TV can't show everyting but what is supposed to be a top tier team didn't look that top tier to me, particularly against HTC or Vacon.

Looked like to me they worked hard.

Got 3 in a break to get Henderson the stage win. When it was realised they couldn't win the GC but could the points jersey they were up in all the sprints. Wiggo and Thomas rode their backsides off.

rdt

Gazzaputt wrote:

Harry01 wrote:

Is it my imagination or did Sky really not try 'that hard' to win their home event - TofB. I've watched every stage from the ITV4 coverage and it doesn't seem evident to me that Sky tried that hard, considering that this race is possibly the last they will compete in this year. I was looking forward to Wiggins et al putting in a big effort to win the race. I suppose coverage on TV can't show everyting but what is supposed to be a top tier team didn't look that top tier to me, particularly against HTC or Vacon.

Looked like to me they worked hard.

Albeit tactically inept. But I'd expect they've learned rather a lot en-route.

andyrac

Is their statement about winning the Tour in 5 years, or winning any GT in 5 years? If it’s just Le Tour, then they’re only reinforcing the view that cycling only matters for 3 weeks in July. That’s why I’d like to see them promote the spring Classics, as well as the other 2 Grand Tours.

eh

I'd like to see them have a good crack at the early season classics and with a core team of Flecha, EBH, Thomas and Stannard, they'd be a massive threat. Unfortunatly they just don't have the strength in depth it and want to keep riders like Thomas fresh to ride as support in the TDF.

The other problem with this lack of depth is it makes it easy for teams to mark them as they only have an option 1. If that goes wrong they never have anyone else capable of making things happen.

pedro118118

Kléber wrote:

Do you need a star and 30 wins a season? cervélo don't win much but their clever PR suggests they just want to reach the best available on the day and to ride as a team.

Sky on the otherhand focus a lot on winning and a slick image. In a sport where you rarely win, promising gains and new ways to win only sets you up to disappoint.

Still, it takes time to form a team... but from what I gather the team has different cliques and favoured riders, leaving most on the squad feeling like the team spirit isn't quite what it should be.

Well...........apart from multimple stages at the Tour and Giro, the Green Jersey at the Tour, not to mention podiums at Paris-Roubaix, Flanders, Milan-San Remo amongst others. Granted, this year has been less productive, but still..........

Kléber

13 wins this year for Cervélo. Granted it's more than Caisse d'Epargne or Milram and other laggards but Sky have 22 wins.

Like I say it's all about maximising each win, to make people go "wow, they won" rather than have some fans whinge because Sky can't win a classic.

timturpinfleck

AndyRAC wrote:

Is their statement about winning the Tour in 5 years, or winning any GT in 5 years? If it’s just Le Tour, then they’re only reinforcing the view that cycling only matters for 3 weeks in July. That’s why I’d like to see them promote the spring Classics, as well as the other 2 Grand Tours.

My father-in-law was under the impression that the Tour de France was the only cycle race when we were talking about it last year, so I had to explain that these guys race all year round. I guess the majority of people think these riders take 3 weeks annual leave and just turn up and cycle round France for 3 weeks (like you do). Sky has an very important role in promoting the sport beyond the TDF.

timturpinfleck

Kléber wrote:

Do you need a star and 30 wins a season? cervélo don't win much but their clever PR suggests they just want to reach the best available on the day and to ride as a team

and there will be no men's Cervelo team next year, so wins are important.

TMR

northernneil wrote:

if Fabian C is available SKY should do EVERYTHING they can to get him,

he will not only increase SKY repuation among other teams and generate some much needed respect but also he will bring guaranteed wins.

There's no such thing as a 'guaranteed win' - you should know that. I do agree that FC would be an amazing addition to the Team though.

Le Commentateur

How about ditching Brailsford, with his David Brent prp-talks, and hiring recently-moved-to-the-UK Bruyneel instead?

Kléber

I see Alvaro Pino's free at the end of the year too

luckao

Some perspective, finally. Now, how about dropping that corporate image they've managed to cultivate since the team's inception.

The PowerPoint presentations in particular need to go. They're not the inspiration a professional needs prior to a day of racing, they're bloody boring.

pedro118118

The stark reality is Sky have acheived little of note in terms of results - Flecha was Flecha in April (3rd at P-R was he?), but since then a few wins in 2nd/3rd tier events is a modest return.

No GT stage wins or jerseys (unless you include Wiggo's prologue?), no results/placings in the other one-day monuments.

Not sure I buy the whole 'new team' or 'learning curve' excuse. Many of the riders and much of the support team are vastly experienced.

Greg Hendrson has probably been the one shining light.

Perhaps once EBH is fit, he'll be the catalyst for a turnaround?