philcrisp said:
I don't know how much the team is an adjunct to BC's Olympic programme. However that is focused on medals on the basis that that's how the funding is calculated. More Olympic medals on the track than all the other disciplines combined. This brings me to Cav. IIRC Brailsford was quoted in the Comic last year to the effect that the 2012 men's road team is Cav and a train. Interesting to see if they want to leave him where he's happy, or bring him over.
Strictly speaking, it isn't allowed to be part of the Olympic programme and will have to show a certain degree of segregation to keep those that hand out the public money happy. I think we all know that BC will use it to try and move our success from the track to the road, but the national team and Sky team will have to be considered separate entities as public money is not allowed to be put into professional teams.
I think we can forget Cav for this team. He is under contract for another year with an option for 2011, too. He is riding for a team that has a great ability in controlling sprints and so there is no way that he is going to risk the position he is in.
I'm also not sure how good he would be long-term for the team. Most of the Brits that are going to be used are still fairly inexperienced. If Cav is signed, all they will end up doing is becoming very good at lead-out trains. Considering the track experience, it is something that Sky could become very good at very quickly. Admittedly, that could take the heat off the team very quickly because they will a lot and often. It was a tactic that worked brilliantly for High Road/Columbia last year whilst they were trying to get a major sponsor on board.
However, I think there are a couple of significant differences between Sky and Columbia. BC already have the sponsor, and that sponsor is bought in for 4 years. Therefore, they don't need quick wins other than to get the media off their backs.
The other significant difference is that Columbia is a traditional pro cycling team. I don't think Sky are. Despite my comment in my first paragraph about how this team needs to be seen as separate to the national team, I think everyone knows that Brailsford's motivation for this team is to raise the male road performance of British cycling. Therefore, I think he will be more interested in a long-term vision that maybe is light on wins at first but has a wider spread of major wins amongst British cyclists in the mid-term. I don't think BC can easily achieve that mid-term aim if they have to try and keep Cav happy within the team.
Graham.