‘How the bloody hell do you start a pro cycling team?’ is a question that’s been taking up a lot of my time recently.
Not in the abstract, ‘if I won the lottery’ sense, but in the spreadsheet open, budget-planning, and pitching sense. I’ve pitched in the US, the UK, and across Europe. I’ve spoken to decision makers who have the means to make it happen. I’ve come close, and I’ve dared to dream. But, so far, I’ve fallen short.
Because once you start asking that question seriously, you realise the biggest challenge isn’t really the bike racing part. Most people assume the hardest part is convincing riders to sign or brands to supply bikes. However, the real battle starts long before that. It’s persuading someone to fund a structure that, so far, by any rational metric, makes very little sense.
Cycling teams don’t behave like other sports teams. There’s no equity, limited assets, or exit opportunity. You can pour millions in and still walk away with nothing. That’s where the real discomfort sits.
I’m either leaning on a system that’s already proven fragile. Or I’m standing in front of someone and saying: ‘I know why this doesn’t work, and I think I know how to fix it.’
Joe Laverick
Joe Laverick is one of Cyclingnews’ newest columnists and someone who has been around the block in cycling. Starting out as a talented teenager on the British road scene, he then ended up as a rider-manager at Ribble Rebellion, trying to disrupt in the US, before going it alone as a privateer, mixing in gravel too. Now, he’s trying to take the next step, and found his own professional team.
Teams are playing the wrong game
Answering the question of why I want to start a professional cycling team is a great place to start. Maybe it’s youthful arrogance, or perhaps naivety, but I feel our sport deserves better. In fact, I believe the majority of the professional peloton has failed to evolve and fundamentally misunderstood the modern sports landscape.
If you’re not winning, and you’re not appealing to fans, then what the heck are you doing as a sports team?
Those at the very top, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are all-in on winning. That makes sense. If you’re chasing yellow at the Tour de France, results are the product.
Then there are teams which understand fans. The best example is Bas Tietema’s Unibet Rose Rockets, whose goal…
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