Tadej Pogacar and Mauro Giannetti

[Unchained]

Nay, Pog is the best of all time for Armstrong. So, I ask myself, if Armstrong got the 10% boost with EPO, what's going on now in the 10% over that clean? Pogi beat Pantani by 3:45 under Gianetti. Are we serious?

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/G20mAD7TCj4?si=pjMLirkPZjTuEQ4_

If Pogacar is the best or not.. Totally different debate.. Is the TDF a major pro sport with a prize list that is @30 years out of date? No question.. If you see what pro golfers and tennis players are getting for early exit or finishing well off the lead..@$500,000 is peanuts. @$50,000 to field a team of @40+ for 3 weeks. That's not peanuts, that's an insult!! Pro bike racing needs a totally different business model that gets revenue flowing into the sport..

The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2023

The Middle Eastern money flowing into golf and soccer has sports stars making more than ever—an estimated $1.1 billion in one year for these ten, beating the all-time record set in 2018.

www.forbes.com

Salaries and prize money are dismal!!

PGA Tour Money List 2025 - Player Rankings

PGA Tour golf rankings at CBSSports.com include the world golf rankings, FedEx Cup points, and money list. Follow your favorite players throughout the 2025 season.

www.cbssports.com

That's prize money!! Endorsement deals completely separate!!

 

[Unchained]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrm4jv7nIbM&pp=ygUYSGlnaGVzdCBwYWlkIGJpa2UgcmFjZXJz

 

[Extinction]

If Pogacar is the best or not.. Totally different debate.. Is the TDF a major pro sport with a prize list that is @30 years out of date? No question.. If you see what pro golfers and tennis players are getting for early exit or finishing well off the lead..@$500,000 is peanuts. @$50,000 to field a team of @40+ for 3 weeks. That's not peanuts, that's an insult!! Pro bike racing needs a totally different business model that gets revenue flowing into the sport..

The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2023

The Middle Eastern money flowing into golf and soccer has sports stars making more than ever—an estimated $1.1 billion in one year for these ten, beating the all-time record set in 2018.

www.forbes.com

Salaries and prize money are dismal!!

PGA Tour Money List 2025 - Player Rankings

PGA Tour golf rankings at CBSSports.com include the world golf rankings, FedEx Cup points, and money list. Follow your favorite players throughout the 2025 season.

www.cbssports.com

That's prize money!! Endorsement deals completely separate!!

Well if the soccer model is reasonable and just, although it could be said of football, baseball, basketball and the entertainment business in general, then what is the point of any concern for even a modicum of decency or something real? I think that genie has been let out of the vase and there is no going back.

 

[Unchained]

And just so you know how pro cycling can't chew gum and walk at the same time!! No more bike races in the US.. w winners like Pogacar, Sagan, Alaphilippe!! No more..now AMGEN has sponsored...
The Irish Open golf tournament!!

 

[Unchained]

Well if the soccer model is reasonable and just, although it could be said of football, baseball, basketball and the entertainment business in general, then what is the point of any concern for even a modicum of decency or something real? I think that genie has been let out of the vase and there is no going back.

In my opinion.. cycling opened the bottle and no genie came out.. Nothing in the bottle to get back in.. Other sports are running circles around bike racing , prize money, media coverage ( pay outs) all much better than bike racing.. The sport is as good as it's ever been, talent is there, quality of racing, more international than ever, people saying they want to invest.. But UCI style has no money coming in, TV ratings down
In major markets like US with @330,000,000+ people with no races and declining participation in feeder system. In the US kids playing our regulars, which now includes soccer, skateboarding, surfing, golf and tennis..
Cycling is being left behind in development because of leadership not because of the sport. Would be willing to bet that more kids play lacrosse than race bikes by huge numbers nationally.. People can't watch bicycle racing in the US because we don't have any to televise..
I wonder what bike racing ratings will look like compared to something like Little League World Series..!?
If you want bike racing, need money.. UCI and the goon squad have open air debates about tracking devices, rider weight or eating disorders as major points of public and media discussion..Amazing that they have sat silent as those messages wash world wide!! You build up a brand only to have it torn down one hidden bike motor story, one unhealthy weight story, one poor sportsmanship story, one doping beyond detention story at a time.. Death by a thousand cuts via an ineptness ,a silent UCI....UCI should have spent 10s of thousands of euros on messaging about testing, integrity.. Putting people watching at ease about motor doping and biological testing.. It's the elephant in the room, public ,press is talking about it.. UCI is not!! Should be immediately disbanded, things couldn't go worse.. Oh wait.. world championships happening in Africa were constant drumbeat about safety.. Good job UCI for putting people at ease.. Filling them with confidence..

 

[Extinction]

In my opinion.. cycling opened the bottle and no genie came out.. Nothing in the bottle to get back in.. Other sports are running circles around bike racing , prize money, media coverage ( pay outs) all much better than bike racing.. The sport is as good as it's ever been, talent is there, quality of racing, more international than ever, people saying they want to invest.. But UCI style has no money coming in, TV ratings down
In major markets like US with @330,000,000+ people with no races and declining participation in feeder system. In the US kids playing our regulars, which now includes soccer, skateboarding, surfing, golf and tennis..
Cycling is being left behind in development because of leadership not because of the sport. Would be willing to bet that more kids play lacrosse than race bikes by huge numbers nationally.. People can't watch bicycle racing in the US because we don't have any to televise..
I wonder what bike racing ratings will look like compared to something like Little League World Series..!?
If you want bike racing, need money.. UCI and the goon squad have open air debates about tracking devices, rider weight or eating disorders as major points of public and media discussion..Amazing that they have sat silent as those messages wash world wide!! You build up a brand only to have it torn down one hidden bike motor story, one unhealthy weight story, one poor sportsmanship story, one doping beyond detention story at a time.. Death by a thousand cuts via an ineptness ,a silent UCI....UCI should have spent 10s of thousands of euros on messaging about testing, integrity.. Putting people watching at ease about motor doping and biological testing.. It's the elephant in the room, public ,press is talking about it.. UCI is not!! Should be immediately disbanded, things couldn't go worse.. Oh wait.. world championships happening in Africa were constant drumbeat about safety.. Good job UCI for putting people at ease.. Filling them with confidence..

Well in the US cycling is a lost cause, if it ever had one. A cultural chasm exists between getting all worked up about the French Alpes and the stadium of the field. US sport sells the fantasy of "healthness", in the midst of short life spans, but as long as it profits those with vested interests are happy. This isn't told, but only the fantasy. The UCI, while bad, is like crying over spilled milk while Clockwork Orange knocks at the door.

 

[Oldman]

Sure, but relatively speaking, cycling is "poor". Can you Imagine a cyclist getting 60 million a year or whatever? They built a stadium in Brazil that wasn't even used for the reason for which it was built. That's capital for you and then they worry about recycling plastic on the consumer end..

Not sure the UAE sponsors worry about much of anything. Oil is Plastic is money.
They embrace cynergy. Mixture of energy and cynicism.

 

[Charlyghoul]

Cycling will never have loads of money in it or become a major sport outside the historical countries, Belgium , France , Italy etc. Probably only Belgium really where it’s a proper national sport? And Netherlands ?

It has pretty much everything against it. It’s expensive to start, more expensive to get good at, isn’t fan friendly/watchable outside of track racing.

Lance dominated the tour, cycling is still a minority sport in US, uk riders dominated the tour before the pog era, cycling is still very much a minority sport there.
Uk doesn’t even have a continental team for men’s racing I don’t think.
Uk is getting poorer, people are struggling, only rich parents can buy several £k of equipment for cycling.
Then there is state of roads, so busy with cars, people don’t want their kids cycling now.
Football or rugby even needs only a ball to play.

You can’t complain of less money in cycling, best just to tell someone, if you want to cycle, don’t do it for the money

 

[Extinction]

Cycling will never have loads of money in it or become a major sport outside the historical countries, Belgium , France , Italy etc. Probably only Belgium really where it’s a proper national sport? And Netherlands ?

It has pretty much everything against it. It’s expensive to start, more expensive to get good at, isn’t fan friendly/watchable outside of track racing.

Lance dominated the tour, cycling is still a minority sport in US, uk riders dominated the tour before the pog era, cycling is still very much a minority sport there.
Uk doesn’t even have a continental team for men’s racing I don’t think.
Uk is getting poorer, people are struggling, only rich parents can buy several £k of equipment for cycling.
Then there is state of roads, so busy with cars, people don’t want their kids cycling now.
Football or rugby even needs only a ball to play.

You can’t complain of less money in cycling, best just to tell someone, if you want to cycle, don’t do it for the money

The roads outside the big cities are still calm trafic wise, but parents are more wary today. Now safety, especially for children, has come to the fore. In the 70s we played in the back seat of the 68 dark blue VW Beatle, no seat belts, just delirium, while mom took turns at speed and nobody ever thought about danger. Helmets on a bike? Fantasy then. We now live in an age of "safety conciousness", for which letting kids out and about to live is taboo, which isn't good for European road racing. Money today is an opposite exaggeration, when you lived better on much less than those with more money today.

 

[Cookster15]

Cycling will never have loads of money in it

Just caught this comment. Depends on how you define “loads”.

Since this is the Pogacar thread, according to a quick search he is earning about €8 million p.a. That means Pog earns about 8 times the best paid footballers in some countries. Not bad for a sport without a load of money.

Obviously the sponsor helps and this money still pales compared to American sports or soccer but still!

 

[Charlyghoul]

Just caught this comment. Depends on how you define “loads”.

Since this is the Pogacar thread, according to a quick search he is earning about €8 million p.a. That means Pog earns about 8 times the best paid footballers in some countries. Not bad for a sport without a load of money.

Obviously the sponsor helps and this money still pales compared to American sports or soccer but still!

Well, mainly I compared it with sports like football and boxing with a global appeal and basketball/American football which are huge in America.
How much do low level domestiques get paid, even in the tour? In the premier league the average salary for footballers is over £3 million, how many cyclists earn more than that?


The top ten highest athletes including endorsements is really weird, there’s a Japanese baseballer on this years list who only earns $2.5 million a year in salary but earns over $100million in endoresments.
Last year an American footballer earned $98 million in salary and only $2 million in endorsements.

 

[Unchained]

Just caught this comment. Depends on how you define “loads”.

Since this is the Pogacar thread, according to a quick search he is earning about €8 million p.a. That means Pog earns about 8 times the best paid footballers in some countries. Not bad for a sport without a load of money.

Obviously the sponsor helps and this money still pales compared to American sports or soccer but still!

Sort of silly right? The entire budget of UAE is less than the salary of 2 or 3 key players on big sports teams. The main difference in other sports is they want to make money!! They sell the product!! NBA and NFL are playing in Europe, Mexico, Brazil!! Sports like baseball, basketball, golf, car racing all marketing blitz in China all decided that they can develop a fan base and revenue stream despite many fans never seeing a version of the sport in person, no team where they live, no version of the sport available in their .
Cycling does want to market the product ,are not really sure what the product is!! You and your family may have bought jerseys and other merchandise from a team that will no longer exist next year!! You and your family may have spent significant time and money to travel to a race and the race was shortened or dozens of riders didn't race because of some protest against the governing body!! You can find golf, tennis, car racing in multiple languages.. Can't find bike racing even with significant effort.. Just unavailable. TDF ,biggest bike race in the world, still only have @€500,000 prize money!! Almost unchanged for @30+ years!! Other sports paying that routinely for people well off winning pace or podium.
And now as if cycling couldn't be more backwards, stuck in a rut for decades, decades.. The powers that be rejecting new proposals and promises of significant financial input and saying no, we want everything to remain the same.. As teams combine, or shutter all together and race revenue and TV viewership declines..
Now the world championship will be held near a war zone in a country with a per capita income of less than @$1200 !!! Who is doing the thinking at the UCI? The only rational answer is nobody is thinking..
Where would you hold cycling world championships if you really wanted to boost bike racing profile? Surely you wouldn't want to squander the opportunity..

Rwanda GDP per capita

The Gross Domestic Product per capita in Rwanda was last recorded at 1070.45 US dollars in 2024. The GDP per Capita in Rwanda is equivalent to 8 percent of the world's average. This page provides the latest reported value for - Rwanda GDP per capita - plus previous releases, historical high and...

tradingeconomics.com

 

[Charlyghoul]

Sort of silly right? The entire budget of UAE is less than the salary of 2 or 3 key players on big sports teams. The main difference in other sports is they want to make money!! They sell the product!! NBA and NFL are playing in Europe, Mexico, Brazil!! Sports like baseball, basketball, golf, car racing all marketing blitz in China all decided that they can develop a fan base and revenue stream despite many fans never seeing a version of the sport in person, no team where they live, no version of the sport available in their .
Cycling does want to market the product ,are not really sure what the product is!! You and your family may have bought jerseys and other merchandise from a team that will no longer exist next year!! You and your family may have spent significant time and money to travel to a race and the race was shortened or dozens of riders didn't race because of some protest against the governing body!! You can find golf, tennis, car racing in multiple languages.. Can't find bike racing even with significant effort.. Just unavailable. TDF ,biggest bike race in the world, still only have @€500,000 prize money!! Almost unchanged for @30+ years!! Other sports paying that routinely for people well off winning pace or podium.
And now as if cycling couldn't be more backwards, stuck in a rut for decades, decades.. The powers that be rejecting new proposals and promises of significant financial input and saying no, we want everything to remain the same.. As teams combine, or shutter all together and race revenue and TV viewership declines..
Now the world championship will be held near a war zone in a country with a per capita income of less than @$1200 !!! Who is doing the thinking at the UCI? The only rational answer is nobody is thinking..
Where would you hold cycling world championships if you really wanted to boost bike racing profile? Surely you wouldn't want to squander the opportunity..

Rwanda GDP per capita

The Gross Domestic Product per capita in Rwanda was last recorded at 1070.45 US dollars in 2024. The GDP per Capita in Rwanda is equivalent to 8 percent of the world's average. This page provides the latest reported value for - Rwanda GDP per capita - plus previous releases, historical high and...

tradingeconomics.com

Buying a jersey only for the team to change name is a good point.
Other sports are based around either a city or an individual as well. Cycling the team names are just meaningless to most people.

In Uk you can only watch the tour for free as well, all the major classics and other grand tours used to be ‘free’ on Eurosport, now you have to pay for tnt sports to watch them.

 

[dr.eve]

Sort of silly right? The entire budget of UAE is less than the salary of 2 or 3 key players on big sports teams. The main difference in other sports is they want to make money!! They sell the product!! NBA and NFL are playing in Europe, Mexico, Brazil!! Sports like baseball, basketball, golf, car racing all marketing blitz in China all decided that they can develop a fan base and revenue stream despite many fans never seeing a version of the sport in person, no team where they live, no version of the sport available in their .
Cycling does want to market the product ,are not really sure what the product is!! You and your family may have bought jerseys and other merchandise from a team that will no longer exist next year!! You and your family may have spent significant time and money to travel to a race and the race was shortened or dozens of riders didn't race because of some protest against the governing body!! You can find golf, tennis, car racing in multiple languages.. Can't find bike racing even with significant effort.. Just unavailable. TDF ,biggest bike race in the world, still only have @€500,000 prize money!! Almost unchanged for @30+ years!! Other sports paying that routinely for people well off winning pace or podium.
And now as if cycling couldn't be more backwards, stuck in a rut for decades, decades.. The powers that be rejecting new proposals and promises of significant financial input and saying no, we want everything to remain the same.. As teams combine, or shutter all together and race revenue and TV viewership declines..
Now the world championship will be held near a war zone in a country with a per capita income of less than @$1200 !!! Who is doing the thinking at the UCI? The only rational answer is nobody is thinking..
Where would you hold cycling world championships if you really wanted to boost bike racing profile? Surely you wouldn't want to squander the opportunity..

Rwanda GDP per capita

The Gross Domestic Product per capita in Rwanda was last recorded at 1070.45 US dollars in 2024. The GDP per Capita in Rwanda is equivalent to 8 percent of the world's average. This page provides the latest reported value for - Rwanda GDP per capita - plus previous releases, historical high and...

tradingeconomics.com

It shouldn't be compared to football, nba etc though. There ain't so many professional cyclists. I have no clue about golf but comparisons to golf, tennis and perhaps ice skating and other 'oltmpic sports' may be more fitting. Still of course getting to the conclusion that the financial model of pro cycling is mediocre at best.

The teams case is a good one. That for one is something I would applaus Richard Plugge for, he kind of aims to set a team identity, make a 'club'. But its difficult apparantly.

 

[Unchained]

Buying a jersey only for the team to change name is a good point.
Other sports are based around either a city or an individual as well. Cycling the team names are just meaningless to most people.

In Uk you can only watch the tour for free as well, all the major classics and other grand tours used to be ‘free’ on Eurosport, now you have to pay for tnt sports to watch them.

It's not one thing.. Eurosport is seldom free to anyone. The core teams that make up World Tour need some structure, sport is likely to suffer if it remains the same. I think people who post here are not average fans, but still a good cross section, good sample of people and lots of frustration and resentment about UAE and Visma being so stacked and well funded.
If you had to rebuild bike racing from the ground up ( and it's needed) get revenue sources different from old business model.. Ridiculous with cable TV, absolutely starving for content, YouTube and others with live stream options that cycling can't find a place.. Easier to see pro rodeo or surfing than bike racing!! And racers, races, and fans should welcome people and their money that see bike racing as upwardly mobile, possibly profitable and marketable. The reasoning.. It's always been done this way..or just because is stupid..
It's all pretty elementary stuff.. If the current crop at UCI can't figure out how to grow cycling, year after year after year, expand into new markets, attract new sponsors, attract new people to the sport in every way.. Fire those people, hire people from golf, football, basketball, NFL, car racing ..all are pulling out all the stops to grow their sports and revenue streams.
Why does every other sport have a series, playoffs, championship, season standings.. Cycling can't even figure out who will participate and when, where..Pogacar announced Vuelta and cancelled with no consequences and nobody blinking an eye..

It shouldn't be compared to football, nba etc though. There ain't so many professional cyclists. I have no clue about golf but comparisons to golf, tennis and perhaps ice skating and other 'oltmpic sports' may be more fitting. Still of course getting to the conclusion that the financial model of pro cycling is mediocre at best.

The teams case is a good one. That for one is something I would applaus Richard Plugge for, he kind of aims to set a team identity, make a 'club'. But its difficult apparantly.

I am American, comparing cycling to majority of American sports were there are only a few thousand jobs in each pro sport..
Pro bike racing has a regional hybrid very, very too often. Races like Giro, Vuelta for example don't field exclusively WT level teams, pro teams like Politi, Kern, Caja Rural, so many others are given opportunities in races, what a fantastic flexibility that many pro sports don't ( can't) have. My biggest beef with bike racing is money.. They just don't sell it..and now individual riders and teams are branching out to push for audience. TV is the obvious and race series are starting points.. Cycling needs a series.. Need @$€ million to overall leader.. Example, points awarded for races and some races picked in November or December.. So a race like Tour Down Under.. would have a point value were it has to be considered.. Or something like points value for all three grand tours were a rider can do one and a bunch of lesser races and still win the overall.. But it always circles back to money.. Or the lack of it..look at the prize list for the Vuelta, riders, organizers, teams , UCI should be ashamed and embarrassed. Pro Golf executives should have their phones ringing off the hook as cycling should be begging to hire them..
Here's a partial schedule.. And the number of pros is way, way smaller than pro cycling.. and another take away is most of the time it's 3 days work, not 3 weeks..
The amounts of money are breathtaking.. And if you need a triple insult.. All 3 grand tour prize lists combined are nowhere near cheapest payout for a single golf tournament..
Something has to be done!!

PGA Tour Schedule - 2025 - Golf Events, Cancellations, and Postponements

Check out the full PGA Tour schedule, tournament locations, prize purses, and TV channel for the 2025 season

www.cbssports.com

 

[Stablo]

Comparing Pogacar to Riccó in terms of talent (and everything else) is just peak clinic and why I find this subforum quite unserious and uneducated at times. They are just nothing alike.

If they would have allowed Gianetti&Co continue business with Ricco too, he would also had headed to great things. Like pog was supposed to be busted after the first ultra mutant performance at PDBF, but it never happened. I also said Ricco 2.0, so slightly more talented and on a more advanced program which never got busted, cause money(UAE) talks and cycling at top level could not afford another high level bust. These days basically only the lower tier get busted, to keep up a image like theyre doing something and that cycling is cleanz, while the dirtiest cheaters with a lot of funding are behind the most unbeliavable cyclist from at least the past 40 years. So who is the uneducated and unserious one.

 

[Extinction]

It's not one thing.. Eurosport is seldom free to anyone. The core teams that make up World Tour need some structure, sport is likely to suffer if it remains the same. I think people who post here are not average fans, but still a good cross section, good sample of people and lots of frustration and resentment about UAE and Visma being so stacked and well funded.
If you had to rebuild bike racing from the ground up ( and it's needed) get revenue sources different from old business model.. Ridiculous with cable TV, absolutely starving for content, YouTube and others with live stream options that cycling can't find a place.. Easier to see pro rodeo or surfing than bike racing!! And racers, races, and fans should welcome people and their money that see bike racing as upwardly mobile, possibly profitable and marketable. The reasoning.. It's always been done this way..or just because is stupid..
It's all pretty elementary stuff.. If the current crop at UCI can't figure out how to grow cycling, year after year after year, expand into new markets, attract new sponsors, attract new people to the sport in every way.. Fire those people, hire people from golf, football, basketball, NFL, car racing ..all are pulling out all the stops to grow their sports and revenue streams.
Why does every other sport have a series, playoffs, championship, season standings.. Cycling can't even figure out who will participate and when, where..Pogacar announced Vuelta and cancelled with no consequences and nobody blinking an eye..

I am American, comparing cycling to majority of American sports were there are only a few thousand jobs in each pro sport..
Pro bike racing has a regional hybrid very, very too often. Races like Giro, Vuelta for example don't field exclusively WT level teams, pro teams like Politi, Kern, Caja Rural, so many others are given opportunities in races, what a fantastic flexibility that many pro sports don't ( can't) have. My biggest beef with bike racing is money.. They just don't sell it..and now individual riders and teams are branching out to push for audience. TV is the obvious and race series are starting points.. Cycling needs a series.. Need @$€ million to overall leader.. Example, points awarded for races and some races picked in November or December.. So a race like Tour Down Under.. would have a point value were it has to be considered.. Or something like points value for all three grand tours were a rider can do one and a bunch of lesser races and still win the overall.. But it always circles back to money.. Or the lack of it..look at the prize list for the Vuelta, riders, organizers, teams , UCI should be ashamed and embarrassed. Pro Golf executives should have their phones ringing off the hook as cycling should be begging to hire them..
Here's a partial schedule.. And the number of pros is way, way smaller than pro cycling.. and another take away is most of the time it's 3 days work, not 3 weeks..
The amounts of money are breathtaking.. And if you need a triple insult.. All 3 grand tour prize lists combined are nowhere near cheapest payout for a single golf tournament..
Something has to be done!!

PGA Tour Schedule - 2025 - Golf Events, Cancellations, and Postponements

Check out the full PGA Tour schedule, tournament locations, prize purses, and TV channel for the 2025 season

www.cbssports.com

To love cycling you have to either be a cyclist or grow up with a father/mother a fan of the sport, for which the major events are on the tube as a kid like in Europe. This is almost impossible in the US, money and selling it has got nothing to do with it. It's cultural, in Europe you have this, in the US no. I found cycling because dad to lose weight started riding in 1980, then NBC sport aired weekly summaries of the Tour. Nobody I knew then even had heard of European cycling and that has changed very little since. There is no significant audience for cycling in the US, period. With the current cultural climate in the US, which is nationalistic and provincial, it's never going to change.

 

[cnort]

It's not one thing.. Eurosport is seldom free to anyone. The core teams that make up World Tour need some structure, sport is likely to suffer if it remains the same. I think people who post here are not average fans, but still a good cross section, good sample of people and lots of frustration and resentment about UAE and Visma being so stacked and well funded.
If you had to rebuild bike racing from the ground up ( and it's needed) get revenue sources different from old business model.. Ridiculous with cable TV, absolutely starving for content, YouTube and others with live stream options that cycling can't find a place.. Easier to see pro rodeo or surfing than bike racing!! And racers, races, and fans should welcome people and their money that see bike racing as upwardly mobile, possibly profitable and marketable. The reasoning.. It's always been done this way..or just because is stupid..
It's all pretty elementary stuff.. If the current crop at UCI can't figure out how to grow cycling, year after year after year, expand into new markets, attract new sponsors, attract new people to the sport in every way.. Fire those people, hire people from golf, football, basketball, NFL, car racing ..all are pulling out all the stops to grow their sports and revenue streams.
Why does every other sport have a series, playoffs, championship, season standings.. Cycling can't even figure out who will participate and when, where..Pogacar announced Vuelta and cancelled with no consequences and nobody blinking an eye..

I am American, comparing cycling to majority of American sports were there are only a few thousand jobs in each pro sport..
Pro bike racing has a regional hybrid very, very too often. Races like Giro, Vuelta for example don't field exclusively WT level teams, pro teams like Politi, Kern, Caja Rural, so many others are given opportunities in races, what a fantastic flexibility that many pro sports don't ( can't) have. My biggest beef with bike racing is money.. They just don't sell it..and now individual riders and teams are branching out to push for audience. TV is the obvious and race series are starting points.. Cycling needs a series.. Need @$€ million to overall leader.. Example, points awarded for races and some races picked in November or December.. So a race like Tour Down Under.. would have a point value were it has to be considered.. Or something like points value for all three grand tours were a rider can do one and a bunch of lesser races and still win the overall.. But it always circles back to money.. Or the lack of it..look at the prize list for the Vuelta, riders, organizers, teams , UCI should be ashamed and embarrassed. Pro Golf executives should have their phones ringing off the hook as cycling should be begging to hire them..
Here's a partial schedule.. And the number of pros is way, way smaller than pro cycling.. and another take away is most of the time it's 3 days work, not 3 weeks..
The amounts of money are breathtaking.. And if you need a triple insult.. All 3 grand tour prize lists combined are nowhere near cheapest payout for a single golf tournament..
Something has to be done!!

PGA Tour Schedule - 2025 - Golf Events, Cancellations, and Postponements

Check out the full PGA Tour schedule, tournament locations, prize purses, and TV channel for the 2025 season

www.cbssports.com

Many good points.

In soccer, for example, most countries have cups as well as leagues - and teams from lower divisions can end up playing the biggest teams (and sometimes even win). So it's not so different from the grand Tours inviting some parochial pro-conti teams.

As pointed out, cycling teams are transient with no loyal fan base. They also don't have a stadium and associated gate receipts. Jersey, merchandise and ticket sales are important sources of income for clubs. Remember that in many sports, a jersey is a thing that people would wear regularly. Would you wear a cycling jersey walking around the supermarket?

The low prize money is a tricky one. It needs to be structured in a way that encourages attacking riding but does not promote cheating (although I'm not sure what discourages that other than catching and penalising). As it is, I think the points system encourages a group of riders to ride very conservatively in the hope of a high finish, potentially without ever showing their faces.

In the early 80s, when Renault saw how much publicity Hinault was generating and how cheap a team was - they jumped in. I wonder would they still think that now, given how little headline coverage cycling generates. I think many members of the public struggle to even comprehend how a multistage race works - and so many teams and possible winners to keep track of. I'd say the UCI love the Pogacar-Vingegaard-Remco-MVDP love-rhombus - it's easier for people to comprehend and get into the soap opera. Imagine following soccer and the top league players not being in the cup competition or international club competition, because they have different equally brilliant players for those events. You'd get confused, and probably lose interest.

 

[Unchained]

To love cycling you have to either be a cyclist or grow up with a father/mother a fan of the sport, for which the major events are on the tube as a kid like in Europe. This is almost impossible in the US, money and selling it has got nothing to do with it. It's cultural, in Europe you have this, in the US no. I found cycling because dad to lose weight started riding in 1980, then NBC sport aired weekly summaries of the Tour. Nobody I knew then even had heard of European cycling and that has changed very little since. There is no significant audience for cycling in the US, period. With the current cultural climate in the US, which is nationalistic and provincial, it's never going to change.

I completely dismiss this entirely..
Especially as an American!! Millions, tens of millions of women love NFL, NBA,NHL, car racing, MLB and other sports they never played on any level, never will.
And women spend billions, not millions on merchandise, attending events, subscribing to pay per view, other pay channels to see sports that they didn't grow up with, never participated in..Participating in fantasy leagues...
Your views are definitely mainstream and the majority and if you clicked on PGA link you see that golf for example makes cycling and the people who run it look like complete clowns.
The sponsorship, prize money, popularity, TV viewers for golf make cycling look like the executives running cycling absolutely clueless. People who run NBA and NFL already making money selling their sports in countries, to people who never played it, don't often understand it, but still watch it and pay handsomely..
The problem with cycling is cycling, the executives running bike racing need zero knowledge of the sport to do a better job running, selling it.
In my opinion in can't be run worse or more ineffective, inefficiently than it is currently.
Cycling has tons of opportunities but when you see narrow handlebars or gear restrictions, aero helmets banned as a list of safety solutions, you know the people in charge are lost at sea..
Cycling needs a to do list.. Safety can be worked on as a top priority, but the number one, number 2, number 3-20 problems to be solved in cycling is money, get more money in the sport, get more people to see bike racing, get more TV coverage and associated sponsors and the money they bring.
So more people means more money..
Figure out why every other sport has standings.. A playoff, a championship, a tournament.. Something that fans can follow.. Currently cycling is so scattered and abstract you can't follow it, it doesn't have a plan. Pogacar is recognized number one but he is not racing in 2 or the 3 biggest races in cycling!!
Causal fans can't understand it, and they shouldn't.
How can the best cyclists not be in the best races? Where are they? What are they doing?
When a casual fan or someone brand new turns on a grand tour or world championship why are they not able to see the best racers?
If they saw or read anything about Pogacar victory or rivalry with Vingegaard why is bike racing making it so, so,so difficult for fans to see what is being reported? Where? How can they see the rivalry?
People want the product, but UCI and other goons make it next to impossible to get it!!!
If you live in sub Sahara or Himalayas and have access to the internet NBA, NFL have a way for you to buy their products.. US is @330,000,000+ market and try to find easy Vuelta coverage or upcoming worlds in Rwanda..cycling making it as hard as possible!!

 

[Charlyghoul]

How does ‘promotion’ or relegation even work in today’s world tour ? If no pro continental teams have enough money to become world teams, can a world team that’s won nothing just remain as a world team?
I think Unchained and Extinction both have good points, cycling is abstract, and because of that it helps to have someone in your family to get you interested in it, or be from Belgium where you can watch a kermesse outside your front door every weekend.
Basically, nobody cares about cycling in the US or Uk, even the success of Armstrong, Wiggins, Froome etc hasn’t changed that to any great degree. It’s turned out a few more British riders, in fact quite a lot more. Back in the 2000s there’d usually be just one or two British riders in the tour. Now there are always quite a few.
But the success of sky hasn’t changed anything at the lower levels, it’s still a minority (upper or middle class) sport, and done nothing for domestic racing which is on its knees. As I said before UK doesn’t even have a continental men’s team.

 

[Extinction]

I completely dismiss this entirely..
Especially as an American!! Millions, tens of millions of women love NFL, NBA,NHL, car racing, MLB and other sports they never played on any level, never will.
And women spend billions, not millions on merchandise, attending events, subscribing to pay per view, other pay channels to see sports that they didn't grow up with, never participated in..Participating in fantasy leagues...
Your views are definitely mainstream and the majority and if you clicked on PGA link you see that golf for example makes cycling and the people who run it look like complete clowns.
The sponsorship, prize money, popularity, TV viewers for golf make cycling look like the executives running cycling absolutely clueless. People who run NBA and NFL already making money selling their sports in countries, to people who never played it, don't often understand it, but still watch it and pay handsomely..
The problem with cycling is cycling, the executives running bike racing need zero knowledge of the sport to do a better job running, selling it.
In my opinion in can't be run worse or more ineffective, inefficiently than it is currently.
Cycling has tons of opportunities but when you see narrow handlebars or gear restrictions, aero helmets banned as a list of safety solutions, you know the people in charge are lost at sea..
Cycling needs a to do list.. Safety can be worked on as a top priority, but the number one, number 2, number 3-20 problems to be solved in cycling is money, get more money in the sport, get more people to see bike racing, get more TV coverage and associated sponsors and the money they bring.
So more people means more money..
Figure out why every other sport has standings.. A playoff, a championship, a tournament.. Something that fans can follow.. Currently cycling is so scattered and abstract you can't follow it, it doesn't have a plan. Pogacar is recognized number one but he is not racing in 2 or the 3 biggest races in cycling!!
Causal fans can't understand it, and they shouldn't.
How can the best cyclists not be in the best races? Where are they? What are they doing?
When a casual fan or someone brand new turns on a grand tour or world championship why are they not able to see the best racers?
If they saw or read anything about Pogacar victory or rivalry with Vingegaard why is bike racing making it so, so,so difficult for fans to see what is being reported? Where? How can they see the rivalry?
People want the product, but UCI and other goons make it next to impossible to get it!!!
If you live in sub Sahara or Himalayas and have access to the internet NBA, NFL have a way for you to buy their products.. US is @330,000,000+ market and try to find easy Vuelta coverage or upcoming worlds in Rwanda..cycling making it as hard as possible!!

Couldn't get past the bolded. You do realize they are popular sports in the US, cycling is not and never will be. Folks don't understand it, it's a Euro thing, only Americans that ride seriously will follow it. Cycling gets no significant coverage and hence interest isn't generated and it gets no coverage because there is no interest. Your kidding yourself if you think American football has a broad following outside the US (beyond a handful of countries that have been totally dominated by US culture). By contrast, in the US many sports are followed by people who have never practiced them. Millions follow football and basketball because they are culturally relavent and socially important, at the local bars, weekend gatherings, etc. It's arrogant to say cycling is it's own problem, when Americans simply find the sport, if they've even heard of it, unappealing and alien. The problem is the average American is simply unable to appreciate European cycling, and no amount of money and marketing will change that. The first thing would have to be teaching probably the majority of them where to find say Belgium on a map or San Remo, then why riding at speed for six hours in say the Hell of the North (perhaps in the rain) or the Tour is as awesome a spectacle as the Super Bowl or the NBA Championships. Good luck with that one among Philistines. Cycling doesn't need to change to accomodate those for whom it has no cultural relavence, no sporting history. The UCI is bogged down in the morass of beuracracy and petty power struggles with teams granted, but the sport as it plays out annually is magnificent at its traditional core, from the first stage races, to the spring classics, grand tours, Worlds and autumn classics. It doesn't need tournaments or playoffs, which would only destroy the nature of cycling. What cycling needs to do is value its traditions better by supporting national venues that truely count and stop trying to take it all over the world in search of revenues, which only line the pockets of the promotors, while hurting races where viewership actually matters. Push to make the Tour not the overwhelming reason for investing in the sport. Give the teams a share of TV revenues, in exchange for requiring top riders to participate in a number of one-day races, stage races and Grand Tours of choice, ensuring viewer drawing battles among them throughout the year, not just in July. Above all it should immeadiately do away with or radically reform a points system that encourages negative racing.

 

[Rob5091]

Say cycling to most Americans and I guess the majority will know only a certain Texan ...

 

[topt]

I dont believe everyone is on it. They are using a motor not detectable by xray. Like athletes doping, they are always a head of the game.

motor not detectable by xray ? Christ are we really going down this road; better they not sell this tech to terrorist on airports than..... damn people do we all live on the same planet

 

[topt]

You have gotten lost on the internet, this is the Clinic?

lost ?? he he; do you have any lines here... can we accuse riders of being pedophiles (honest question, I will start doing it if allowed) ? "this is the clinic", we can abuse them as much as we want, right... but as soon a poster gets called out on this... than BAAAANNNN him.

 

[topt]

?
Are you not keeping up with the news?

no, please show me... thanks