TdeF 2016 (Contains spoilers)

[hulver]

La Course is on, sprint every two laps, make a fast race

Did you get a bit frustrated by them cutting away every five seconds to show sweeping shots of Paris, even cutting away from somebody breaking away from the front? I found it quite annoying.

[T42]

Yebbut that's how France TV gets a larger audience share.  I rather enjoy it myself.

[woollypigs]

La Course is on, sprint every two laps, make a fast race

Did you get a bit frustrated by them cutting away every five seconds to show sweeping shots of Paris, even cutting away from somebody breaking away from the front? I found it quite annoying.

Yup there was some shouting, I know the tower is nice heck been up it three times, but break away !?!

[mattc]

I wonder if a rule change for next year might be to exempt Sky from having to turn up.

 

[Dibdib]

But there's little to stop any of the other teams doing what Sky have done - pick one goal, plan A, and ignore everything else. If everyone sits on their thumbs waiting for Sky to ride, they can't complain when Sky ride away with the race.

On the other hand... BMC turned up with two GC riders (three when GvA took yellow) and then didn't know who to ride for until it was too late; even pre-Contadepart, Tinkoff was two guys down most days because Sagan and Majka were up the road half the time; ditto for Movistar with less success. Astana tried occasionally to turn the screw on the GC bunch but failed to make it stick.

Yes, budgets are a big part of it and Froome owes a massive part of his wins to the superdomestiques that they seem to recruit. I'd like to see an NFL-style team salary cap, but with the variety of team rosters I don't know how you'd implement it effectively.

[Mr Larrington]

La Course is on, sprint every two laps, make a fast race

Did you get a bit frustrated by them cutting away every five seconds to show sweeping shots of Paris, even cutting away from somebody breaking away from the front? I found it quite annoying.

I was expecting the coverage to be every bit as shit as it was last year and was not disappointed.  Or, to put it another way, was disappointed.  They did a similar thing with the Cambridge-London stage in 2014 with the helichopter strutting its stuff over Londonton but happily managed to cut back in time to show MEEEEE as the pelican emerged from Epping Forest.

[Peter]

But there's little to stop any of the other teams doing what Sky have done - pick one goal, plan A, and ignore everything else. If everyone sits on their thumbs waiting for Sky to ride, they can't complain when Sky ride away with the race.

On the other hand... BMC turned up with two GC riders (three when GvA took yellow) and then didn't know who to ride for until it was too late; even pre-Contadepart, Tinkoff was two guys down most days because Sagan and Majka were up the road half the time; ditto for Movistar with less success. Astana tried occasionally to turn the screw on the GC bunch but failed to make it stick.

Yes, budgets are a big part of it and Froome owes a massive part of his wins to the superdomestiques that they seem to recruit. I'd like to see an NFL-style team salary cap, but with the variety of team rosters I don't know how you'd implement it effectively.

I think they manage to recruit them because they are able to say, "Do you want to ride on the team that will win?"  And that's because Chris Froome is head and shoulders above the others in consistency (and height).   Also, Sky's personnel do change - but Froome doesn't.  He wins because he is the best.  I think it will be fascinating to see where Yates ends up next time.

[Dibdib]

I think they manage to recruit them because they are able to say, "Do you want to ride on the team that will win?"  And that's because Chris Froome is head and shoulders above the others in consistency (and height).   Also, Sky's personnel do change - but Froome doesn't.  He wins because he is the best.  I think it will be fascinating to see where Yates ends up next time.

Oh, absolutely. And it's a self-reinforcing cycle - winning motivates them to work, and  it certainly looked to me like the Sky domestiques were working harder most days than the other teams who almost seemed to sit on and make up the numbers sometimes. People can knock Froome for sitting on the Sky train but BMC had Porte riding as support, Astana had Nibali and Movistar had Rodriguez and none of them could match Sky.

[Mr Larrington]

Plus, as Geraint Thomas so eloquently put it the other day, "we're not paid to entertain, we're paid to win races".

[Exit Stage Left]

I like the echoes of WW1 in the peloton. Froome is the public school subaltern, motivating his platoon through his boyish enthusiasm and natural leadership skills. Adam Yates and Steve Cummings are the archetypal Tommy Atkins' who find themselves fighting in colonial units.

The mystery is where the ruthless efficiency of Sky came from, it's usually associated with the Germans. The solution to that mystery is Heiko Salzwedel. He's the coach who lit up Australian, then GB cycling, and he's the reason Bradley is giving Rio a go. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2016/02/29/sir-bradley-wiggins-if-heiko-salzwedel-had-not-have-come-back-i/

[spesh]

The mystery is where the ruthless efficiency of Sky came from,

Unexpectedly, the Spanish Inquisition.

[Mr Larrington]

Teh Spesh maek me done teh roffle

Normal Mr Larrington will be resumed shortly.

[trekker12]

There's certainly an element of Sky going out of their way to sign the best riders for the job. Thomas, Poels and a couple of others could be team leaders anywhere else but riding for SKY with all the resources available. Best doctors, Soigneurs, mechanics etc would be as much of a motivating factor as money because they know they will get rewarded when they help Froome win.

I do find it a shame that it's built entirely around the Tour and yellow jerseys. Yes, Thomas won Paris Nice (with a great solo breakaway) but greater concentration on the classics or the other grand tours would be nice. You could take a subjective view and state Tinkoff had as good a result. Polka dots, Green and a greater number of stage wins (I think but haven't actually looked that one up).

I've always felt the TDF overshadows the rest of what cycling has to offer, particularly in the UK and the US and for the teams nominally based in those countries but that is currently where the best markets are for selling bikes, clothes and equipment etc.

[mrcharly-YHT]

How to win the TDF? Simple; recruit a damn fine rider who is world class at TT and v. good up mountains, protect them through the stages that favour sprinters and deliver them to the mountain climbs in a good state. Never let any rivals get a major jump on them ever and make sure team members will sacrifice themselves for the lead rider. It helps if the lead rider will let team members win stages; loyalty is earned.

That's Sky with Froome.

[TimC]

Sky is a media company; it understands where the publicity is and where they'll make maximum impact in the markets they target. Cycling is one of their chosen vehicles for this - indeed, their biggest vehicle. The single biggest annual sporting event in the world is the TdF. Its worldwide impact is massive. Therefore, the concentration of the Sky cycling team on the TdF is predictable and sensible. Few if any of the other team sponsors have either the market ambitions or the resources of Sky, and for them more parochial considerations apply.

The net result of that is that Sky will continue to dominate the TdF until they lose interest, or another company with similar resources and reason to target that race comes along to comptete.

[T42]

Or until a substance turns up where it didn't oughter.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Cycling is also a sport where the sponsor is the team. Sky could choose to sponsor a Premier League football team but not without running the risk of alienating (or at least, not endearing themselves to) the supporters of that team's rivals.

[TimC]

Sky have the broadcast rights to the Premier League, so there's no need to sponsor a team. And they've got Bet365 and Nissan to help pay for it. They also sponsor the Football League through Skybet. A quite different model to cycling - and a bloody sight more expensive. Sky operates in 5 countries - UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy. The TdF gives them access to huge numbers of potential customers in those countries. The football stuff will drive subscriptions in UK, but less so elsewhere - and it costs £hundreds of miilions!

[Gareth Rees]

Movistar had Rodriguez

You mean Valverde, I think — Rodríguez rides for Katusha.

[Dibdib]

Movistar had Rodriguez

You mean Valverde, I think — Rodríguez rides for Katusha.

Quite right, brainfail.