samhocking said:
Sky clearly send the strongest squad they can to Tour de France each year, but team Sky's first 5 years are completely different than Postals first 5 with Armstrong other than Tour de France victories. Sky have a much broader success around Tour de France with other riders. This simply doesn't exist for Postal which when Armstrong started in 1998 through to 2002. They clearly targeted only Tour de France victory and little else until 2005 which was 7/8 years later.
the sport and the world is a very different place in 2010-15 than 98-02. No one team or individual had transcended the sport and brought it to a whole new market (both geographically and socio-economically) with the riches which then flowed. It is difficult not to look back with a cynical eye on the following...
"I arrived here on Sunday night and the papers here are just full of cycling," said UCI President and IOC member Pat McQuaid. "All of the IOC people were delighted that it [Bradley Wiggins' Tour victory] happened the week before the Games. They were opening the newspapers and seeing Wiggins, Wiggins, Wiggins."
Knowing what we know about FIFA, about the UCI about the IOC about the WWF (don't laugh its not a stretch of the imagination
) its not too difficult to think that a SKY victory may have been expedited with Wiggo as the chosen one...perhaps an arm's length test year at Garmin to see how he responded before being brought into the SKY fold to allow the the fairy tale to continue...and you really couldn't make McQuaid up....
"It would be great if it happened because it's another edition to this fairy-tale story," McQuaid told The Associated Press.
the pot of soup has become larger and those supping have increased in number...there are many mature cycling markets and many not mature...growth is sought in those less mature markets...the pot will become larger and larger
sales and participants and BC members are at record levels...
we will soon be 'mature and then the next growth market can be targeted...whilst insular and arguably backwards...there is something rather quaint and noble about the pro-cycling game before 'mondialisation'..