Cervélo's Vroomen Interview

[Egorall]

Cervélo's Vroomen Interview

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/popularity-adds-up-for-cervelos-boss-vroomen

I looooove this interview. This guy is awesome. And I think he's onto something, too. His point about who sells bikes too.... Cavendish may have won 6 races in this past Tour, but Jens Voigt or Hincapi will sell you more bikes, guaranteed.

 

[Anonymous]

Agreed...something fresh about his ideas...I too like what he says about O'Grady and he has got a real point how the normal cyclist fan (or some anyhow) follows races and what we tend to admire...I can't imagine Bruynel talking like this...it would be all upper level management crapola speak...

 

[lxpatterson]

I would think that Cervelo is trying to break into the European market with the team, given that it has a good market share in North America already and almost all the races it does are in Europe.

When a "friendly" and respected rider like Voigt or O'Grady gets a win, it's all over the web, so I think Cervelo definitely has a point. It's worth noting that a good part of their past marketing did emphasize access to the riders or "behind the scenes" type things. For instance with CSC the team operated in English and even the Danish-produced documentary "Overcoming" was shot in English. I think at that time, the team only had 3 or 4 native English speakers. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine that that decision, whether Cervelo had a role in it or not, benefited Cervelo in gaining a big chunk of the lucrative North American market; transitioning the brand from from a boutique triathlon label to a road brand.

That said, I think a rider still has to demonstrate a certain level of performance to gain fan interest; he has to be strong but also surprisingly nice. So one can't underestimate winning. I mean if Stuey had not been a green jersey contender or PR winner, we wouldnt be talking about him.

 

[dgduris]

Cervelo=Ferrari

Cervelo=Ferrari

Is there a more apt model for market success via the pinnacle of racing!

Enzo would approve! I am sure that Luca would too!

 

[Animal]

They are in the European market.

On the time trialling scene, Cervelos is one of the most sought after brands.

I bought one of the early model P2Ks in 2000, and I've won quite a few races on it (It's what I am riding in my avatar), and it's still going. Lots of people in my club have more recent carbon TT jobs, P3s and the latest P2Cs.

 

[pedaling squares]

Insightful interview

Great interview. Not trying to make this a doping thread, but I wonder if this comment offered any insight into the relationship between Cervelo as sponsor, and the Bjarne Riis management team?

"It's was one of the reasons to start our own team. Yeah, we don't have full control over the riders, but we have more now. We can tell them what we want and we know that when we leave the room there's not a different message coming through."

This comment was made in reference to doping, but it could illustrate the overall frustration that Cervelo experienced when they could not make ground level decisions about the management/direction of the team.

 

[hfer07]

This comment was made in reference to doping, but it could illustrate the overall frustration that Cervelo experienced when they could not make ground level decisions about the management/direction of the team.

Cervelo was only a "bike sponsor" for CSC/Saxo and had nothing to do with team management/work ethics & philosophy/decision making at all.

 

[Laszlo]

One thing I don't like about Cervelos is I think the frames are ugly as sin. A bike should be a thing of berauty and dreams; it should draw your eye in the room and make you want to go places on it. Even Klien managed some nicer looking bikes. Functionality is fine, supurb in fact- just lacks art. Only my opinion.

 

[pedaling squares]

Cervelo was only a "bike sponsor" for CSC/Saxo and had nothing to do with team management/work ethics & philosophy/decision making at all.

Yes. That was exactly my point.