Something's Beginning to Stink

[King Boonen]

I can't see black or northern Africans taking to a white British cyclist or accepting him as one of their own.

If he rode under a Kenyan or South African license, I could see it.

I have several Kenyan friends from university. The one who still lives in the UK and married and English girl was talking about Froome during the TDF. The rest? Nope.

 

[sniper]

He's clearly covered by what I said beforehand. He's also Irish if you understand the difference.

i understand the difference. i doubt though whether you understand why he and (ok, parts of) britain do care about froome.

 

[King Boonen]

i understand the difference. i doubt though whether you understand why he and (ok, parts of) britain do care about froome.

I do, but it has nothing to do with my point which was that the only people in Britain who care about Froome are those who were already following cycling.

Ireland isn't a part of Britain by the way, that just refers to the Island consisting of mainland England, Scotland and Wales.

 

[sniper]

I do, but it has nothing to do with my point which was that the only people in Britain who care about Froome are those who were already following cycling.

Ireland isn't a part of Britain by the way, that just refers to the Island consisting of mainland England, Scotland and Wales.

the larger point is that froome represents sky, and for uci froome thus offers access to two markets, SA and britain.
this is not hard to grasp, i hope.

i couldn't care even if walsh were from Chile.
the point is, if froome were commercially uninteresting to britain, walsh wouldn't be writing about him.

 

[King Boonen]

the larger point is that froome represents sky, and for uci froome thus offers access to two markets, SA and britain.
this is not hard to grasp, i hope.

i couldn't care even if walsh were from Chile.
the point is, if froome were commercially uninteresting to britain, walsh wouldn't be writing about him.

I still struggle to believe that. Team Sky as a brand gives the UCI better access to Britain than Froome as a rider, people know about Sky in cycling from the years of support on the Track (the only cycling most Brits care about and only during the Olympics/Commonwealth games and from Wiggins riding for them. Froome adds nothing to this. I don't know about SA, I don't live there.


Walsh is a cycling journalist and Froome won the TDF. I'm pretty sure he'd be writing about him wherever he came from.

 

[sniper]

I still struggle to believe that. Team Sky as a brand gives the UCI better access to Britain than Froome as a rider, people know about Sky in cycling from the years of support on the Track (the only cycling most Brits care about and only during the Olympics/Commonwealth games and from Wiggins riding for them. Froome adds nothing to this. I don't know about SA, I don't live there.


Walsh is a cycling journalist and Froome won the TDF. I'm pretty sure he'd be writing about him wherever he came from.

i should take some of my previous arguments back since i mistakenly thought froome was born in SA
i just remember he was merely brought up there.
oh well.
so fair points. and tbh, i don't really know how he's received in south africa and/or kenya either.

As for Froome's value for britain, compare it to Kittel who got a lot of press in the Netherlands for his victories in the TdF as he rides for a Dutch team, and similarly Froome would get extra press in britain simply for riding for a british team, even if he were chinese. And since he's actually british, he's additionally interesting for british press, even though clearly not as interesting as Wiggins.

anyway, it's interesting to hear most brits don't really cheer for froome.

 

[King Boonen]

i should take some of my previous arguments back since i mistakenly thought froome was born in SA
i just remember he was merely brought up there.
oh well.
so fair points. and tbh, i don't really know how he's received in south africa and/or kenya either.

Fairly well in Kenya from what I've heard, but hardly any real press, especially as he is British, but they do seem proud of him. That said the guys I know obviously come from well-off families who could afford to send their kids overseas to university, I have no idea about the average Kenyan in the street.

SA I have no idea.

Kittel got a lot of press in the Netherlands for his victories in the TdF, and similarly Froome would get extra press in britain simply for riding for a british team, even if he were chinese. Since he's british, he's additionally interesting for british press, even though clearly not as interesting as Wiggins.

He did get some extra press, but probably less than Contador would have got if he'd managed to make a successful Tour bid. I'd hazard a guess as many people would recognise Contadors name as Froomes, although probably for different reasons.

anyway, it's interesting to hear most brits don't really cheer for froome.

I'm not sure about that if we just look at the Brits that care about cycling, I'm guessing most of those guys probably do. But they wouldn't be the people the UCI would want to target anyway to expand their market. And the ones they do want to target would more than likely support any Team Sky rider. A team mentality is more British with football being such a dominant sport. We don't seem to care that our national team is struggling, as long as the local team does well, even if no Brits (or English/Welsh/Scottish depending on the team if we want to be specific) players play for them.

 

[del1962]

i should take some of my previous arguments back since i mistakenly thought froome was born in SA
i just remember he was merely brought up there.
oh well.
so fair points. and tbh, i don't really know how he's received in south africa and/or kenya either.

As for Froome's value for britain, compare it to Kittel who got a lot of press in the Netherlands for his victories in the TdF as he rides for a Dutch team, and similarly Froome would get extra press in britain simply for riding for a british team, even if he were chinese. And since he's actually british, he's additionally interesting for british press, even though clearly not as interesting as Wiggins.

anyway, it's interesting to hear most brits don't really cheer for froome.

Froome gets more publicity in Britain, because he rides for Britain, than any Sky Rider who is not from Britain, if EBH, Uran, Henao or Porte win a race, you would not hear about it in British Press. In a typical sports bulletin during Romadie, you would get one line, saying Chris Froome is leading the tour of Romadie and that is it, then it would be back to something like Rooney's hairtransplant

 

[wansteadimp]

A team mentality is more British with football being such a dominant sport. We don't seem to care that our national team is struggling, as long as the local team does well, even if no Brits (or English/Welsh/Scottish depending on the team if we want to be specific) players play for them.

It actually goes further than this, plenty of people I know resent their clubs players going off to play for England. Scholes for example went up in a mates estimation (hard from where he started but..) when he quit international football.

Froome certainly hasn't connected with the UK population at large the same way Wiggins and Cavendish have. The latter two have won the last two Sports Personalties of the Year award, Murray will win it by a mile this year, but even if Froome wins the Worlds as well as the TDF he still won't be in the running.

 

[Cycle Chic]

Africa - next Big Cycling Foray

Reducing poverty through the power of the bike.
The Simbaz most successful export is Chris Froome (SKY Pro Cycling) now twice vice champion of the two grand tours;

http://www.safarisimbaz.com/about/

and MTN Qubeka

Coca-Cola®: helping Qhubeka get more people on bicycles

Its an Untapped market and McQuaid has his fingers well in it.

http://qhubeka.org/2013/?news=coca-cola-helping-qhubeka-get-more-people-on-bicycles

 

[oldcrank]

Its an Untapped market and McQuaid has his fingers well in it.

The recent death of Steven Garasai Tari in Papua New Guinea, the
worlds 6th fastest growing economy, may have Patrick McQuaid
thinking twice about getting his fingers any deeper into the
emerging PNG and lucrative Indonesian markets. Indonesia is
the worlds fourth most populous country.

 

[Cycle Chic]

MTN Qhubeka

Four African riders to make WorldTour debut at Lombardia....With MTN-Qhubeka hoping for an invite to their first ever grand tour next year

How has MTN Qhubeka managed this meteoric rise to Grand Tour invite in just 1 year ?

They have no results since starting up in 2008 and then the only result they,ve had is Tour of Bretagne in April / May 2012. They,ve come a hell of a long way in 12 months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTN_Qhubeka

Surely there are other Continental Teams with better results and merit than MTN Qhubeka to be getting invites to the World Tours ?

 

[roundabout]

Ciolek, Pardilla, Gerdemann, Meintjes at a stretch and that Eritrean dude Grmay. And that's it.

I would not worry about them getting invited

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

How has MTN Qhubeka managed this meteoric rise to Grand Tour invite in just 1 year ?

They have no results since starting up in 2008 and then the only result they,ve had is Tour of Bretagne in April / May 2012. They,ve come a hell of a long way in 12 months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTN_Qhubeka

Surely there are other Continental Teams with better results and merit than MTN Qhubeka to be getting invites to the World Tours ?

You do realize that MTN-Qhubeka is Pro Conti, not Conti, and has 13 wins this season, including Milan-Sanremo?

 

[Cycle Chic]

You do realize that MTN-Qhubeka is Pro Conti, not Conti, and has 13 wins this season, including Milan-Sanremo?

The team was founded in 2007, becoming a Continental Team in 2008. The team remained as a UCI Continental Team until the end of the 2012 season, with the team registering its interest for a Professional Continental licence for 2013.[1] In November 2012, the team were registered as a Professional Continental team – Africa's first[2] – by the Union Cycliste Internationale, for the 2013 season.[

yes I know their progression, that is what I am questioning. And the wins are from 2013 only.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

yes I know their progression, that is what I am questioning. And the wins are from 2013 only.

Amazing what a big cash injection will do. See also BMC, from little to no results as a Pro Continental team to the team of Cadel Evans and nobody else, to a year later one of the biggest teams in the peloton.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

yes I know their progression, that is what I am questioning. And the wins are from 2013 only.

What are you questioning exactly? The fact that a pro continental team are hoping for a place in a Grand Tour next year? Are you serious?

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

yes I know their progression, that is what I am questioning. And the wins are from 2013 only.

That was not clear from your question. I interpreted it as saying they had done nothing since 2008.

 

[sniper]

What are you questioning exactly? The fact that a pro continental team are hoping for a place in a Grand Tour next year? Are you serious?

That was not clear from your question. I interpreted it as saying they had done nothing since 2008.

the premisse of the thread is quite clear.
the suggestion is that uci have helped or at least stimulated certain individuals and teams with connexions to south africa to get wins (most recent example being impey's yellow jersey, and you could add froome) in order to open up the market in south africa.
MTN Qhubeka's rise fits well with the hypothesis.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

How has MTN Qhubeka managed this meteoric rise to Grand Tour invite in just 1 year ?

They have no results since starting up in 2008 and then the only result they,ve had is Tour of Bretagne in April / May 2012. They,ve come a hell of a long way in 12 months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTN_Qhubeka

Surely there are other Continental Teams with better results and merit than MTN Qhubeka to be getting invites to the World Tours ?

Cyclechic - I wish to acknowledge your work and applaud you for this exquisite post.
It is fitting that you have managed to take the top prize of a response from Susan. But you deserve that, it is magnificent.

I have read your post multiple times, and it gets better every time.
The selective quoting of an article without either attribution or linking that answers your 'questions', was both daring and creative.

Your opening line is truly a work of art. The simple use of the rhetorical question is admired. The addition of a false claim that contradicts your "quote" was wondrous and the use of a the word 'meteoric' is delicious.

I could go on and comment on every other line, but really I just wanted to say 'chapeau' for such an excellent post.

 

[sniper]

that is a flattering review doc, but i don't think cycle chic was fishing for compliments so you might as well stick to patting yourself on the back.

Wow

 

[Alphabet]

the suggestion is that uci have helped or at least stimulated certain individuals and teams with connexions to south africa to get wins

To what end? I don't imagine there's much in the way of a market in South Africa. After all South Africa has a whole host of political and economic problems and it isn't the most stable place in the world right now; also, even if South Africa was a fully developed, stable country and the world economy was in a period of boom, then there would still be a massive stumbling block in that cycling would lag far behind rugby, cricket and football in both capturing the attention and money of people as well as sponsors and investors.

So we have a country where there isn't very much money to go around right now and the sport would be fourth at best in the pecking order. I don't see it happening.

 

[horsinabout]

Cyclechic - I wish to acknowledge your work and applaud you for this exquisite post.
It is fitting that you have managed to take the top prize of a response from Susan. But you deserve that, it is magnificent.

I have read your post multiple times, and it gets better every time.
The selective quoting of an article without either attribution or linking that answers your 'questions', was both daring and creative.

Your opening line is truly a work of art. The simple use of the rhetorical question is admired. The addition of a false claim that contradicts your "quote" was wondrous and the use of a the word 'meteoric' is delicious.

I could go on and comment on every other line, but really I just wanted to say 'chapeau' for such an excellent post.

This post is gorgeous - has the usual yet not unexpected hint of sarcasm, to which we have become accustomed to from the infamous Dr Maserati's posting. Though on this occasion the post has forgone the counter intuitive stance for a pure intuitive and poetic use of the English language. Well done!

 

[horsinabout]

To what end? I don't imagine there's much in the way of a market in South Africa. After all South Africa has a whole host of political and economic problems and it isn't the most stable place in the world right now; also, even if South Africa was a fully developed, stable country and the world economy was in a period of boom, then there would still be a massive stumbling block in that cycling would lag far behind rugby, cricket and football in both capturing the attention and money of people as well as sponsors and investors.

So we have a country where there isn't very much money to go around right now and the sport would be fourth at best in the pecking order. I don't see it happening.

Bums on bikes? Just a hunch. Cycling is an industry, a bike sales industry as much as it is a sport and where there are bums and roads and the need for green transport......etc...etc....etc

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Cyclechic - I wish to acknowledge your work and applaud you for this exquisite post.
It is fitting that you have managed to take the top prize of a response from Susan. But you deserve that, it is magnificent.

I have read your post multiple times, and it gets better every time.
The selective quoting of an article without either attribution or linking that answers your 'questions', was both daring and creative.

Your opening line is truly a work of art. The simple use of the rhetorical question is admired. The addition of a false claim that contradicts your "quote" was wondrous and the use of a the word 'meteoric' is delicious.

I could go on and comment on every other line, but really I just wanted to say 'chapeau' for such an excellent post.

I am a little dissappointed you did not ask for a source doc

But I agree, this is pretty stupid. I should say, I find this extremely stupid.

However the globalization of cycling is on the agenda of the UCI as a whole, I would not question the MTN season as a spearhead of that.