Good to see that the SKY experiment is like clockwork. A new project, new people, new everything, no hiccups whatsoever. Brailsford is actually already 2 or 3 years ahead of schedule, winning the TdF (with a Brit even!)
Brailsford and Sky gave themselves five years for that particular goal, and have achieved their target in three.
Source
It's all about handpicking staff (like Steven de Jongh; Leinders; and what other guys have been dismissed since last year):
Part of doing so well so quickly was building a team of riders around Bradley Wiggins that ensured he was "never isolated". "Hand-picking staff with a hire-and-fire mentality" was another "massive contributory factor".
Other teams have computers picking their staff and most of those have the Spanish siesta mentality...
Furthermore commitment and talent:
"You need massive talent and you need a level of commitment, which has been outstanding, and he's [Wiggins] got both.
A problem with their first season was that they were "too advanced," "too revolutionary."
"We tried to overcomplicate things in 2010. You apply a theory, you do it, and you review it, and if you're rigorous you'll move forward," Brailsford said. "It's all about doing the simple things better than anybody else.
So they actually had to become more like a traditional cycling team, because their initial overcomplicated numbers computer science data technology driven approach was just not giving them the results. Funny, that within a year - i.e. not even giving it a real chance - they already came to the conclusion that to deliver the results, they actually had to "simplify their approach."
Sky's next goal is to become "the best cycling team the world's ever seen".
I bet they'll achieve that status by 2014. Just one frail year short of the 5 year plan to "just win one GT."
Impressive. A new project. No hiccups (besides their 2010 "overthinking things year") and delivering all the (evolving) goals they had set out to achieve, ahead of time, faster, and better than any other team. Rabo wanted a (preferably dutch) TdF winner... they aspired to realize that goal for over almost two decades. No one even came close, and that was with doping. SKY does it all and ahead of schedule!
Controlling the controllable.
2010 was their initiation, perhaps they even tried without the dope, but they saw they stood no chance. You make a decision, in light of your lofty ambition to produce a TdF winner in 5 years. If you can't even keep up in small one day races, how are you ever going to deliver a TdF winner. Just like Rabo, when in '96 or so the sponsor wanted results, especially in the big races. But we can't keep up!?
2010. New team, no dope infrastructure in place, it takes a while to get the logistics in place; the right people you can trust and who understand how it's done; the latest science on dope and detection evasion. Start building that medical library. Soon you have a dodgy doctor to consult for you, and by 2011 everything is progressing smoothly.
Lol. Sky Clockwork.
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