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“When was the last time we had a doping ‘scandal’?” asks Bannan. The spectre of doping continues to loom large. “The most important factor is your ability to create a really good environment for your athletes.” “Money plays a part but it is not the major part,” he says. Bannan denies this disparity has made the World Tour less competitive. Some teams, though, are thought to have annual budgets below £5m. Team Sky spent £31m in 2016 and French newspaper L’Equipe estimated that Katusha and BMC had comparable budgets. “We need to keep globalising the sport to create new fans.”Īnother impact of the financial reality has been a widening gap between wealthy World Tour teams and the rest. Bannan is buoyant about his team’s efforts in China. In recent years Mitchelton-Scott have been at the forefront of cycling’s expansion into China the organisation currently has a China-registered development team. Bahrain has been accused of using its World Tour team to “launder” the country’s international reputation, tarnished by allegations of human rights abuse. Money is also flowing in from the Middle East and Asia. While Ryan is steadfastly committed to Mitchelton-Scott, reliance on wealthy benefactors has its own risks – as Tinkoff discovered in 2016 when their owner, the Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov, disbanded the team. The businessman estimates he has put £20m into the team but says it is cash well spent. Mitchelton-Scott is bankrolled by Gerry Ryan, who founded the team after noticing the absence of an Australian flag at the 2011 Tour de France. One consequence of straitened financial times has been an increase in the number of World Tour teams privately owned by wealthy individuals. The remainder comes from race fees, although these are often measly. 90% of the team’s income derives from partners, ranging from major sponsors to minor suppliers. Rider and staff wages constitute 80% of Mitchelton-Scott’s expenditure, with travel costs an additional £750,000 per year. “It is not like the old days when companies would just write a cheque and away you go,” he says.Īccording to Bannan the average annual World Tour team budget is £15m. While Ochowicz is upbeat, pointing to Cannondale’s survival as evidence, Mitchelton-Scott’s general manager, Shayne Bannan, admits the marketplace has become more demanding.
Pro cycling manager 2018 more teams professional#
But the plan to create a financially sustainable model for professional cycling remains unfinished. The commercially-oriented launch of the World Tour’s predecessor in 2005 and the slow recovery from a dark era of doping were supposed to better position the sport. In the 1990s a revolving door of teams animated the sport before dying a quick death. Professional road cycling has long had money troubles. The reality of sponsors is that they do not stay forever.” Even television rights – race organisers own the rights and we do not have a revenue sharing model – so our only source of income is sponsorship. “None of us has a stadium we own or other means of income. “Cycling is a sport that generates its income via sponsorship,” says Jim Ochowicz, the general manager of the World Tour team BMC. While they ultimately survived, signing a new sponsor and crowdfunding over £400,000, the incident highlighted the precarious financial situation of some World Tour teams. Cannondale are no minnows – Rigoberto Urán finished second at the 2017 Tour de France – but the unexpected withdrawal of a prospective partner left the team almost insolvent. Cannondale-Drapac were midway through the 2017 Vuelta a España when the team announced it would fold within weeks unless £5m in sponsorship was secured.
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Yet not all is rosy within this multimillion-dollar sport. It may lack the grandeur of its European counterparts, but the Tour Down Under – which begins on Tuesday – presents a positive image of international cycling’s top tier. Sponsors are wined and dined by teams under the warm South Australian sun, existing deals consolidated and new partnerships discussed. Almost a million fans will line the roads over the coming week to watch all 18 World Tour teams contest the Tour Down Under, with the world champion, Peter Sagan, the star attraction. P icturesque Adelaide, the annual host to the UCI World Tour’s season opener, provides few clues as to the financial challenges facing cycling.