In this week’s AIRmail newsletter, The Outer Line takes an in-depth look at trending cycling news: Season ends with a whimper, cycling journalism under the spotlight again, UCI and World Athletics team up, is a salary cap possible in cycling? Lessons from women’s basketball…
# Catch up on pro cycling – and its context within the broader world of sports – with AIRmail … Analysis, Insight and Reflections from The Outer Line. You can subscribe to AIRmail here, and check out The Outer Line’s extensive library of articles on the governance and economics of cycling here. #
Key Takeaways:
Racing Seasons Wraps Up – With a Whimper
Pidcock Transfer and Astana Investment Stories Unravel
Cycling Journalism Under the Microscope Again
UCI Teams Up with World Athletics on Safety Issues
Will Proposed Salary Gap Go Anywhere?
WNBA Finals Confirm Women’s Sports Outlook
World Athletics collaboration with the UCI
The UCI and World Athletics – the international track and field federation – announced last week a continuing partnership to promote athlete wellness and safety in endurance sports. The effort seeks to focus research and collaborative treatment approaches to issues like concussions, heat stroke and better hydration and nutrition. The World Academy for Endurance Medicine, a unit of World Athletics, already has substantial expertise in various types of endurance sport stressors, such as conditions of high temperature or air pollution, and their effect on athletes. The UCI hopes that this new collaboration will help it handle issues of high temperature bike racing during the summer season in Europe. “Being able to draw on World Athletics’ experience in the hyperlocal and dynamic monitoring of environmental stressors is a great opportunity for road cycling and will likely help us to better understand and eventually mitigate these environmental risks,” remarked UCI Medical Director Professor Xavier Bigard.
Neilson Powless won the Japan Cup
A week after Tadej Pogačar wrapped up one of the best years ever, the professional cycling season ended somewhat clumsily on Sunday – with the conclusion of the Japan Cup road race (won by American Neilson Powless), the final stage of the Tour of Guangxi, and the Veneto Classic. Setting aside the brutal travel required for athletes and team staff to travel to southern China for a mandatory WorldTour-level event (including a women’s event won by Sandra Alonso), this collection of relatively insignificant races seems like an awkward way to end the season. And the schedule only exists due to the UCI’s pressurized logistics of trying to fit a sprawling calendar into a finite number of dates – instead of some other more logical and well thought-out plan which might punctuate the end of the season with a whimper rather than a bang. We’re not talking about moving the Tour de France to the end of the season, but perhaps a major event like Lombardia could wrap up the season with a bit more of a crescendo. With the UCI rumored to be seriously considering significant calendar-reform following the 2025 season, it could be a good opportunity to clean up this awkward season-ending period, and build some new fanfare around a major season-ending event. However, with the UCI obviously having major financial incentives to keep the Wanda-funded Tour of Guangxi in the WorldTour, we also realize this could be easier said than done.
Tour of Guangxi – A long way to go for an end of season race
The past week has seen a critical spotlight again cast on cycling journalism, as two of the biggest stories of the past few months appeared to fall through – or perhaps were ambiguous in the first place. First was the apparent takeover of the Astana team by Chinese brand XDS Carbon-Tech, and second, the widely-broadcast and ostensibly imminent transfer of Tom Pidcock from Ineos to the upstart program Q36.5 – two moves which were advertised as more or less done deals. In the case of Astana, just three months ago at the Tour de France, there were credible reports that the team had taken on a sizable investment from carbon product manufacturer XDS Carbon-Tech – funds which would have put the team on the same financial level as UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike. Indeed, it was also mentioned that the revitalized team’s first major target was Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter Kaden Groves. However, as it turned out, the team has now missed the deadline to file the necessary paperwork to race in 2025, and Groves instead re-signed with Alpecin. Furthermore, no other high-profile riders have appeared interested in making the move to Astana. In the Pidcock situation, well-sourced early reporting suggested that both Ineos and Pidcock were in agreement about getting the young cross-discipline star moved over to the small Q36.5 team – so that Ineos could save money on his massive contract and so that Pidcock could enjoy a greater level of freedom to chase only the racing goals he is personally interested in. However, the deal has now appeared to fall apart, with Pidcock now set to return to Ineos for the remainder of his deal, despite the apparent bad blood of the past few weeks.
Tom Pidcock – Going, staying, going…
Any journalistic reporting, no matter how solid, is always at risk of material changes in the actual on-going story – and obviously, unsubstantiated stories about rumored rider transfers or sponsorship changes are rampant in this sport. Undoubtedly, many such stories have at least a germ of truth to them, or are ideas or plans that have actually been discussed and then somehow gone awry. However, the desire for clicks, scoops, and the general “assembly-line” nature of today’s cycling media can often lead to a situation where tentative initial stories or well-sourced early speculations are spun up into an overdrive that is undeserved and unjustified. Too often in this sport, it seems, follow-up stories from news aggregator types of sites don’t sufficiently develop any new or well-sourced supporting information of their own, instead simply repeating or even exaggerating the story. This can lead to an endless stream of ill-informed takes and reactions, often leading the reader to believe that the rumored event or development has essentially already occurred. This is far from the first time the cycling media’s ill-informed telephone game has happened, even just in the last twelve months. Remember the Visma-Soudal merger, the new Amazon sponsorship deal, the One Cycling pro league and the imminent Remco Evenepoel transfer? All were developments that had probably at one time or another been under some level of consideration. However, in our opinion, the cycling media should be a little less concerned about being the first to get the scoop out there, and a bit more careful in vetting or repeating such stories at the expense of trust. Perhaps a bit more healthy skepticism around the validity of some of cycling’s biggest potential stories – until the ink is dry or the contract officially signed – could benefit both the media sources and the broader readership base.
Visma-Soudal-Jumbo-Quick Step – It never happened
One such story, with seemingly strong grounding, is the UCI’s look at the potential for a salary cap in pro cycling. We have opined on the benefits and challenges of some form of cap many times over the past few years; reports have now emerged that the UCI has retained accountancy firm PwC to draft a potential framework for some kind of a cap model. With the sport’s biggest races being won by a smaller and smaller number of teams (just five teams have won the last 16 major one-day races, and last 11 Grand Tours), this should be seen as a welcome development and something the UCI should be applauded for investigating. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we need to remember that professional cycling is largely based in Europe – where generally pro-labor EU regulations make it difficult to cap an individual’s pay. The salary caps of most top American leagues are created by complex bargaining agreements and profit sharing between athletes and owners, and often represent a bit of an optical illusion. With pro cycling lacking a central “league” that collects revenue and with the teams not having any reliable source of income outside of year-to-year sponsorship deals, borrowing a classic salary cap from American sports could be more difficult than it might first appear. We suggest the possibility of looking at other options in an attempt to level the playing field within cycling.
Lappartient is after the IOC job
An article this week suggested that former Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe might be the inside favorite to succeed Thomas Bach as President of the International Olympic Committee. Described as “Bach’s favorite” and the candidate “closest to the Olympic think tank,” Coventry was also once hailed as the “golden girl” by Zimbabwe’s strongman dictator Robert Mugabe. UCI President David Lappartient has also been mentioned as a close associate or “favorite” of Bach, although many observers believe that Britain’s Sebastian Coe is the most qualified candidate. Given Lappartient’s apparent all-out effort to land the top job, it will be interesting to see what happens if he falls short, and what impact that may have on the cycling part of his over-extended employment profile.
The “Caitlyn Clark” effect
The New York Liberty may have just won the WNBA Championship, but the “Caitlyn Clark” effect on the women’s basketball league has bolstered its viewership and proven the value of women’s sports. The phenom Clark put up record-breaking rookie statistics this season and sparked her team’s broadcast ratings dominance – almost doubling the viewership of all playoff games shown until her Indiana Fever bowed out. While viewership dropped temporarily as a result, the numbers jumped as the powerhouse Liberty team made their championship run; in the larger context of attracting fans into the competition and league narrative, Clark’s presence and consumer demand forced broadcasters to recognize the opportunity, and they did not disappoint: the increase in prime-time game airings, availability of game packages globally through platforms like YouTube, and cultural awareness of the women’s league has more than justified the $2.2 billion USD media rights deal the league penned earlier this year. And this bodes well with the league expanding into at least three hot basketball markets (Golden State, Toronto, and Portland). The revenue potential momentum is undeniable: on Monday, the WNBA players association opted out of its current collective bargaining agreement and will seek to negotiate a greater share of the profits. The UCI WorldTours could use some of this league-building magic as it struggles to affirm a global identity outside of the Tour de France – how can the men’s and women’s series capitalize on its star riders and diverse race portfolio to capture a broader sporting imagination and increase the revenue outlook?
Liberty Storm Back To Capture WNBA Title With Wild Game 5 Victory
# Catch up on pro cycling – and its context within the broader world of sports – with AIRmail … Analysis, Insight and Reflections from The Outer Line. You can subscribe to AIRmail here, and check out The Outer Line’s extensive library of articles on the governance and economics of cycling here. #
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