Sky and cycling's landed gentry

[bobbins]

Rather than writing this opinion piece, why didn't Daniel Friebe just send Dave Brailsford a big bunch of roses and maybe sneak in a cheeky kiss next time he sees him???

Cycling journalists at all magazines seem to have forgotten their impartiality when it comes to this new team and the perks and nice trips they might get asked along too if they are nice to them.

Were people expecting anything but a slick launch? Course not so why waste an opinion piece on it? I suppose an opinion about the teams recruitment tactics and contract breaking was out of the question!!!

 

[Anonymous]

it would be helpful if you told us what peice, linked it etc, then we might have a vague idea what you where talking about..

And besides, sky getting wiggins and swift was nothing compared with shacks ransacking of astana..

You want impartiality.. i think this is actually a really good blog, and on the site of skys number one fanboys.. balanced, impartial and actually pretty well thought out.. better than a lot of what has been written elsewhere. Neils written a damn good article if i do say so myself (of course, i am not impartial)

 

[lanternrouge]

Here you go dimspace

http://www.bikeradar.com/blogs/article/sky-and-cyclings-landed-gentry-24566

 

[afpm90]

Rather than writing this opinion piece, why didn't Daniel Friebe just send Dave Brailsford a big bunch of roses and maybe sneak in a cheeky kiss next time he sees him???

Cycling journalists at all magazines seem to have forgotten their impartiality when it comes to this new team and the perks and nice trips they might get asked along too if they are nice to them.

Were people expecting anything but a slick launch? Course not so why waste an opinion piece on it? I suppose an opinion about the teams recruitment tactics and contract breaking was out of the question!!!

I guess that's true when we speak of english speaking sites. There is, without a doubt, a degree of partiality when writing about Team Sky. But, in "foreign" media you don't see that kind of bias.

And you must realise, it's an opinion piece. The author writes what he thinks. If he likes what he's being built with Sky, he has the right to say that. If it was a news article, the piece that you talk of would be worst for the site that presented it. But, that's not the case.

So, don't get so nervous. Take it easy

 

[auscyclefan94]

Rather than writing this opinion piece, why didn't Daniel Friebe just send Dave Brailsford a big bunch of roses and maybe sneak in a cheeky kiss next time he sees him???

Cycling journalists at all magazines seem to have forgotten their impartiality when it comes to this new team and the perks and nice trips they might get asked along too if they are nice to them.

Were people expecting anything but a slick launch? Course not so why waste an opinion piece on it? I suppose an opinion about the teams recruitment tactics and contract breaking was out of the question!!!

What else would you expect from Dan Friebe?

 

[Wasilij]

Daniel Friebe's panagyric on Sky seems utterly, if somehow touchingly, privincial: Sky may be boggling Britain's mind, but they have a long way to go to create a similar impression in the rest of the world. And they haven't yet ridden one meter "in anger," so the laurels are premature, to say the least. I, for one, hope to see them get their comeuppance in no uncertain terms once the season begins. The source of their sumptuous, if not unlimited, funding (what's the guy's name? - Rupert something) leaves a disgusting taste in the mouth, too. As does Wiggi's treachery vis-a-vis Garmin. Bad luck to them, I say.

 

[ingsve]

I guess that's true when we speak of english speaking sites. There is, without a doubt, a degree of partiality when writing about Team Sky. But, in "foreign" media you don't see that kind of bias.

Do you mean that foreign media doesn't have that bias on th etopic of Team Sky specifically or do you mean they don't have that type of bias at all?

 

[afpm90]

Do you mean that foreign media doesn't have that bias on th etopic of Team Sky specifically or do you mean they don't have that type of bias at all?

The first option, of course. There have bias but directed to their country riders and teams.

 

[LC - Cyclingnews]

Opinion and Team Sky

Dan's well-considered piece isn't a plug for Team Sky, or RadioShack, rather an illustration of where the sport is headed.

In reality, getting out of the 'good ol' days' may not be such a bad thing - it's akin to developing carbon bikes rather than pros riding around on steel or alloy... And I don't think Dan was advocating the change rather than highlighting the fact that Sky's launch on Monday brought it home that the revolution is here.

As for the junkets - they're a lot fewer and further between than what those outside the profession imagine. They're not nearly as glamorous as common perception would suggest...

 

[BikeCentric]

Speaking of the Brits ****ing off to their own riders the new issue of Cycle Sport is already asking "is Cav the best sprinter EVER?" LOL LOL go have some tea and crumpets boys.

 

[BikeCentric]

Dan's well-considered piece isn't a plug for Team Sky, or RadioShack, rather an illustration of where the sport is headed.

In reality, getting out of the 'good ol' days' may not be such a bad thing - it's akin to developing carbon bikes rather than pros riding around on steel or alloy... And I don't think Dan was advocating the change rather than highlighting the fact that Sky's launch on Monday brought it home that the revolution is here.

As for the junkets - they're a lot fewer and further between than what those outside the profession imagine. They're not nearly as glamorous as common perception would suggest...

Perhaps you good endeavor to give us a clearer "illustration" of whatever the heck it is that you are trying to say? You're saying that incredibly biased opinion pieces written in the breathless tone of a teenage girl at a boy-band concert is "where the sport headed"? Wat?

 

[ScottyMuser]

having read that piece I can only say it is one of the more intelligent, well thought out and written pieces in an English publication I have seen on the subject of cycling. Unfortunately, we in the English speaking world usually have to spend the time reading/listening to nothing BUT Lance and how great he is - this piece was in NO WAY trying to promote sky, in fact was trying to highlight the differences Sky is bringing with it being a non-traditional sponsor for a team (ie. huge media conglomerate), and then looking at some other continental teams and making the point that the most talented young french/italian etc riders don't always make it big in their home country's team, possibly due to approach.
Far more informed than most clap trap written nowadays, and can't see how anyone would think that it was a paeon to Sky

 

[dolophonic]

As they herald the " Emperor's new clothes" look what is happening to Saxo bank. ! This is maybe where pro cycling could be headed. Top teams searching for title sponsors.
The total awe displayed in the article kind of smacks of the type of hype printed about the Titanic before its maiden voyage... biggest bestest whatever!
The fact that so many teams are desperate for $ is the story that perhaps should have gotten the Editorial space.

 

[Anonymous]

Here you go dimspace

http://www.bikeradar.com/blogs/article/sky-and-cyclings-landed-gentry-24566

thank you.. does help to know what the thread is about..

little bit overdramatic if you ask me..

one small comment..

Saxo Bank, Columbia and Garmin were the first to raise the bar, then came Cervélo, then RadioShack, and now we have Sky threatening to disappear into their own private stratosphere.

what bar did radioshack raise exactly.. the lets steal an entire team and rebrand it bar..?

 

[Willy_Voet]

what bar did radioshack raise exactly..?

The retirement age.

 

[lucybears]

thank you.. does help to know what the thread is about..

but careful with

lets steal an entire team

, or somebody might reply ....

 

[pedaling squares]

I thought Friebe's piece was over the top. We now have a two-tiered professional peloton because Sky had a flashy team presentation? Because they can out-tweet the poor continental teams? For the love of God, they are backed by a media magnate, of course they had a slick reveal. Let's hold off on crowning the new King until the cranks have spun a few revolutions.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Speaking of the Brits ****ing off to their own riders the new issue of Cycle Sport is already asking "is Cav the best sprinter EVER?" LOL LOL go have some tea and crumpets boys.

+1
The fanboys will have some serious competition, this season!

 

[Mellow Velo]

what bar did radioshack raise exactly..

the retirement age.

Top notch double act!

 

[bianchigirl]

I've long predicted that cycling is headed for a future where results will be awarded on the basis of power outputs reported from training. Seems I was wrong, the TdF from now on will be awarded to whichever team has the best Twitter feed and the the flashest laptops

 

[Andy99]

Speaking of the Brits ****ing off to their own riders the new issue of Cycle Sport is already asking "is Cav the best sprinter EVER?" LOL LOL go have some tea and crumpets boys.[/QUOTE

Yes, it's a fair enough question isn't it? Obviously he's still got a long way to go to prove it - though there is no doubt that yes, he may be the best. Ever.

There is certainly no competition thats anywhere near at the moment, so who else are they to talk about..?

Plus, it's a British magazine, why shouldn't it focus on the Brits?

 

[ScottyMuser]

Is Cav the best ever? No. Is he already, at the age of 24, one of the best 5-10 ever - YES. Does he have the potential to develop? Yes.
Is the article a little premature - Probably, although haven't read it myself.
Should an English cycling magazine, devote a little part of the paper to finding out who are the best sprinters ever? Yes, seems like a good idea - should they then title it what they have? maybe not, but it is an English magazine, so why not?
rom the last 40 years or so, who can wer think of who would put up a fight? Maertens obviously, but then he was an excellent TTer too; Cippolini maybe in out and out speed, but he was a lazy fug who never bothered (unlike Cav) to finish the TDF (will be interesting to see how cav fares at the other classics - MSR they have both won once, Cips also won G-W thrice); /zabel for his 6 green jerseys (although as a sprinter never had the speed of cav so in a face to face battle would not have won many stages, but like thor did, may have sneaked the green jersey), Abdoujaparov maybe? Am struggling after that to think of others.

 

[Anonymous]

the article asks the question, doesnt say that he is...

 

[laura.weislo]

The interesting thing about Sky is the huge volume of attention that every article we post on them gets. It outstrips RadioShack and Lance, even though our audience is largely from the USA.

Friebos' point is that, like the British National Team and the Olympics, this team has a huge amount of power/money/support behind it more akin to an F1 team rather than a cycling team.

They've been pretty open about wanting to change the sport, but will it change things for the better? Can smaller teams survive if they can't give their sponsors the type of attention that Sky has been able to?

 

[bianchigirl]

As the original article indicates, we will continue to see a 'peloton a deux vitesses' - in exactly the way that the French imply. Concentrating money & power into the hands of a very few superteams will only mean one thing - riders doping to get into the 'superleague/premiereship'.

I suggest Radioshack, Garmin, Sky & Columbia form their own division and ride off against each other in the ToC, ToB, TDU and all those other second rate races, thus leaving some decent teams to contest the races that mattered. Personally I wouldn't give a flying one if I never had to watch Wiggins/Armstrong/Leipheimer or Cavendish in a race again.