Team Sky...holy crap!!

[Boeing]

I'm not. It's actually a rather smart approach. The weaknesses these folks will have is not in the basics (riding a bike, training, fixing bikes, driving busses). It will be psychological and interpersonal issues that will adversely affect their abilities to perform their given tasks.

interesting take. can you expand on that

 

[uphillstruggle]

The article stated that staff must speak English, not not riders.

"There were other selection credentials. Staff must be open to innovation, and must be able to speak English, or willing to learn. Also, there must be no more than four riders or staff recruited from another single team — in other words, no imported cliques or power bases."

Brailsford says he brought scandinavians to the squad because

“I think Scandinavians in the main are good communicators,” Brailsford said. “We can sit down and have a conversation and you are pretty close to being on the same page; that may not be the case with someone from Portugal, southern Spain and southern Italy.

I can't see how this means anything more than the Scandinavians are good communicators in foreign tongues since saying that southern Europeans don't communicate well per se is absurd. And in a way he's right, as an English speaker out and about in the world, will in general, find it a lot easier to communicate with a north European than a southern European because English is more akin to the other northern European languages and the north Europeans all tend have a decent grip of the English language.

This is just Brailsford talking in generalised pop psychology nonsense.

“There are cultural traits of Scandinavians that lend themselves to the idea of nurturing and mentoring as against dictating and controlling. Their societies are democratic, caring, and I think that is reflected in their bike riders

 

[HL2037]

Brailsford says he brought scandinavians to the squad because

“I think Scandinavians in the main are good communicators,” Brailsford said. “We can sit down and have a conversation and you are pretty close to being on the same page; that may not be the case with someone from Portugal, southern Spain and southern Italy.

I can't see how this means anything more than the Scandinavians are good communicators in foreign tongues since saying that southern Europeans don't communicate well per se is absurd. And in a way he's right, as an English speaker out and about in the world, will in general, find it a lot easier to communicate with a north European than a southern European because English is more akin to the other northern European languages and the north Europeans all tend have a decent grip of the English language.

This is just Brailsford talking in generalised pop psychology nonsense.

“There are cultural traits of Scandinavians that lend themselves to the idea of nurturing and mentoring as against dictating and controlling. Their societies are democratic, caring, and I think that is reflected in their bike riders

Some of the North Europeans even live in England! ;-)

 

[uphillstruggle]

Some of the North Europeans even live in England! ;-)

True but on the whole their English is harder to understand than the blonds over the water

 

[ingsve]

Brailsford says he brought scandinavians to the squad because

“I think Scandinavians in the main are good communicators,” Brailsford said. “We can sit down and have a conversation and you are pretty close to being on the same page; that may not be the case with someone from Portugal, southern Spain and southern Italy.

I can't see how this means anything more than the Scandinavians are good communicators in foreign tongues since saying that southern Europeans don't communicate well per se is absurd. And in a way he's right, as an English speaker out and about in the world, will in general, find it a lot easier to communicate with a north European than a southern European because English is more akin to the other northern European languages and the north Europeans all tend have a decent grip of the English language.

Yes, I think language skills is pretty much what he's talking about. Especially understanding english is the key to what Brailsford is talking about I think. In my experience that's the biggest difficulty in speaking to people who don't know much english. It's easier to figure out what they are trying to say but to get them to understand what you are trying to say when their comprehension of the language is worse is a big hinderence in communication.

This is just Brailsford talking in generalised pop psychology nonsense.

“There are cultural traits of Scandinavians that lend themselves to the idea of nurturing and mentoring as against dictating and controlling. Their societies are democratic, caring, and I think that is reflected in their bike riders

It's actually not that nonsensical. The mentality of Scandinavia can still be described well by the Jante Law which basically means that it's looked down upon to set yourself apart from the group. While this becomes less and less prevailent you can still identify these traits in large parts of Scandinavia. This means that people are less prone to take control and dictate things. Not that it necessarily means that people are more nurturing or mentoring per se but we probably won't see any scandinavians taking charge of a team and dictating things like for example Armstrong.

It would be false to say that this is generally true about all scandinavians but you really can't generalize anything about any people. There are however mentalities that are common enough to permeate society and the reluctance to stand out and take charge is certainly one such trait.

 

[Parcours]

The riders seemed to be pretty impressed by what is occurring in Manchester this week, a selection of tweets from the various riders involved:

John Lee Augustyn: “Awesome life changing stuff happening!!!”

Greg Henderston: “ Made it to Manchester. Greeted by sideways cold rain. But...TeamSky is next level. Hands down better than anything I've been with before.”

Chris Froome: “Absolutely blown away by the first couple days of meetings with Team Sky- this is going to be one kick *** team!!”

 

[Anonymous]

The riders seemed to be pretty impressed by what is occurring in Manchester this week, a selection of tweets from the various riders involved:
”

and bike and kit fittings today...(and bizzarely IT lessons...)

we wanna see the new kits...

 

[Andy99]

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/432649/team-sky-spotted-out-training.html

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/432649/team-sky-spotted-out-training.html

whats interesting in those pictures is the bikes are black with blue flashes.. maybe we are going to see something resembling the +HD kit...

 

[Galic Ho]

whats interesting in those pictures is the bikes are black with blue flashes.. maybe we are going to see something resembling the +HD kit...

Thanks for the pics of the HD track outfit. I must pay more attention to track meets as I have never seen it before. Looks great.

I presume the Sky team are on Pinarello for the next few seasons. Shimano groupset and what looks like mavic wheels. I am I wrong?

 

[uphillstruggle]

I train on the climb they where going over all the time. Although I think they may have shaved a few seconds off my time

 

[ingsve]

whats interesting in those pictures is the bikes are black with blue flashes.. maybe we are going to see something resembling the +HD kit...

Marcus Ljungqvist mentioned in an interview with a swedish eurosport commentator that it will have a black base with some white and blue features so it seems like it will be similar to the +HD kit...

 

[Parcours]

Lars Michaelsen has apparently joined Sky as a director sportif

 

[Andy99]

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=205171747152&ref=mf

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=205171747152&ref=mf

yeh.. look out for the spelling mistake on the video. Lofkvist..
and notice how also it starts the rider list just above where ben swift will be..

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not. It's actually a rather smart approach. The weaknesses these folks will have is not in the basics (riding a bike, training, fixing bikes, driving busses). It will be psychological and interpersonal issues that will adversely affect their abilities to perform their given tasks.

I agree with Publicus. Especially since it's a relatively new Team you want everyone on the same page from the start. They all know they have the skills to ride a bike, otherwise they wouldn't be a pro in that position.

He wants the team to be run like a well oiled machine where everyone from the bottom on up knows their place on the team and knows what they do or don't do affects everyone on the team.

And to get input from everyone as to their expectations and line them up with the team's expectations is a great idea. Maybe Astana could have learned from this when LA joined the team. Although this worker ants concept sounds familiar where they accept their place, deal with obstacles and go about doing what they are supposed to be doing. Reminds me of the LA 7-win Tour teams where they all worked for one thing. But I digress...

Getting everyone on the same page the way they are doing is only going to help the team bond and mesh together better. And like Brailsford said, some may not like it and if they don't conform than they can just leave. Why surround yourself with unmotivated, unhappy people that won't follow or believe in the team concept? Brailsford is not doing anything new but he is implementing a concept not used regularly by teams. And to pick folks that aren't all about "me" is also a good idea. Again, you want the "team" concept
and he is using his own experience (although it sounds discriminatory) and a physcholgical approach to pick the riders that he feels will best fit his concept. No one wants internal conflict like Astana had.

It's like the concept is so old that it's new again. Good for him and the team.

 

[Andy99]

yeh.. look out for the spelling mistake on the video. Lofkvist..
and notice how also it starts the rider list just above where ben swift will be..

http://twitter.com/skyprocycling

@dottelott @CycleGirlPdC re: rider names on our video, to confirm (as @triplesmc has already) 'Löfkvist' is how Thomas wants it, honest

 

[lucybears]

I agree with Publicus. Especially since it's a relatively new Team you want everyone on the same page from the start. They all know they have the skills to ride a bike, otherwise they wouldn't be a pro in that position.

He wants the team to be run like a well oiled machine where everyone from the bottom on up knows their place on the team and knows what they do or don't do affects everyone on the team.

And to get input from everyone as to their expectations and line them up with the team's expectations is a great idea. Maybe Astana could have learned from this when LA joined the team. Although this worker ants concept sounds familiar where they accept their place, deal with obstacles and go about doing what they are supposed to be doing. Reminds me of the LA 7-win Tour teams where they all worked for one thing. But I digress...

Getting everyone on the same page the way they are doing is only going to help the team bond and mesh together better. And like Brailsford said, some may not like it and if they don't conform than they can just leave. Why surround yourself with unmotivated, unhappy people that won't follow or believe in the team concept? Brailsford is not doing anything new but he is implementing a concept not used regularly by teams. And to pick folks that aren't all about "me" is also a good idea. Again, you want the "team" concept
and he is using his own experience (although it sounds discriminatory) and a physcholgical approach to pick the riders that he feels will best fit his concept. No one wants internal conflict like Astana had.

It's like the concept is so old that it's new again. Good for him and the team.

Again, you want the "team" concept
and HE is using HIS own experience (although it sounds discriminatory) and a physcholgical approach to pick the riders that HE feels will best fit HIS concept.

what were the other bits - ' aren't all about "me" ' & 'and if they don't conform than they can just leave.'

 

[Anonymous]

http://twitter.com/skyprocycling

@dottelott @CycleGirlPdC re: rider names on our video, to confirm (as @triplesmc has already) 'Löfkvist' is how Thomas wants it, honest

and all over the internet people are rapidly changing it..

DB doing a press conference tomoro to "update on progress" should be interesting... [according to the guardian]

amazingly the telegraph are speculating he will talk about brad wiggins.. the telegraph really dont give up do they.. they where the original source behind just about every rumour since june and they still keep going..

 

[Anonymous]

Again, you want the "team" concept
and HE is using HIS own experience (although it sounds discriminatory) and a physcholgical approach to pick the riders that HE feels will best fit HIS concept.

what were the other bits - ' aren't all about "me" ' & 'and if they don't conform than they can just leave.'

its his team.. his rules.. they worked on the track.. be very interesting to see how they work for sky..

that said, if HIS ways produce results and wins for the riders the ANTS will be happy...

 

[thehog]

amazingly the telegraph are speculating he will talk about brad wiggins.. the telegraph really dont give up do they.. they where the original source behind just about every rumour since june and they still keep going..

I was the original source.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

So will this be the end of Dimspace's semi-manic complaints about the Telegraph?

 

[Anonymous]

So will this be the end of Dimspace's semi-manic complaints about the Telegraph?

yup.. i think it is absolutely histerical that of all the british papers, the telegraph where the LAST to report on sky getting brad today..

I was the original source.

thats one of the funniest things ive read here in a long time.. im glad your sense of humour has appeared...

 

[Digger]

http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,26691,16315_5762865,00.html

 

[Anonymous]

be interesting to see now how the squad lines up for those first three races at the start of the year...

tour down under: Russell Downing, Chris Froome, Chris Sutton, Mathew Hayman, Davide Vigano Greg Henderson and Ben Swift

Tour Of Qatar: Lars Petter Nordhaug, Kurt Asle Arvesen and Edvald Boassen Hagen,

Etoile de Bessèges: Brad Wiggins

Giro De Calabria or the tour of the Mediterranean?

leaves John-Lee Augustyn, Micheal Barry, Kjell Carlström, Dario Cioni, Steve Cummings (Qatar?), Juan Antonio Flecha, Simon Gerrans (Qatar?), Peter Kennaugh, Serge Pauwels (Besseges?), Morris Possoni, Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas (Besseges?), Nicolas Portal (besseges?), Sylvan Calzati (Besseges?)