• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

The Beginning of the " Pay Rider "

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
J

jojogogo

Jul 21, 2015
32
0
0
Does the Cavendish/Team Dimension Data deal signal a new era in cycling where riders get asked to pay for their places in teams with lucrative sponsorship deals? is this a one off or will the " Pay Rider " become the norm in the peloton. (just to clarify i'm referring to big name riders and not average talent!)

Edited

to clear up any confusion by what i meant. Will we see more big name riders like cavendish being asked to bring major money with them to the negotiating table around contract time.
 
Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
32,227
13,697
28,180
This kind of thing has been happening for a while, though. "Pay rider" suggests something like the derogatory "pay driver" term from motorsport, somebody of low or moderate talent who gets rides because of their personal sponsors, rather than a big name rider like Cavendish undoubtedly is. While some great drivers started out as pay drivers (Niki Lauda), many bumbled their way to a much longer career than they had any right to (Pedro Diniz) and some were downright hopeless (Jean-Denis Délétraz).

The proper "pay riders" are the ones there to appease sponsor demands (eg the Kazakhs on the Bruyneel-era Astana) or whose family or friend connections to sponsors got them the ride (eg Ramón Carretero, as opposed to the usual nepotistic tendencies where a team owner's relative, or a friend or relative of a star rider, gets elevated above their level to keep the team happy - e.g. Enrique Sanz, Prudencio Indurain, Juraj Sagan, Noè Gianetti, Joaquín Novoa, Dmitry Kozontchuk). I think there were some notorious examples in smaller teams where people were registered as riders just to circumvent regulations as well.
 
J

jojogogo

Jul 21, 2015
32
0
0
Re:

TMP402 said:
As LS says, a "pay rider" would be an average talent who takes the place of a better one because they bring money. Cavendish is clearly not that.
Click to expand...

just to clarify i'm referring to big name riders and not average talent.
 
T

thehook

Mar 9, 2013
572
0
0
A paying driver in MotorSport is called "A Gentlemen Driver'. As far as Cav goes and the topic. Specialized has kicked in on Cavs salary for sometime. Offsetting the cost to the team. I'm almost sure they do the same for Contador. Now that they have Sagan. They most probably pay into his as well. And have timed there contracts. So Cav comes off the books and Sags gets on them.

Hence why Cav will be riding Cervelo's in '16.
 
SeriousSam

SeriousSam

Aug 31, 2012
7,550
3
0
Re:

TMP402 said:
As LS says, a "pay rider" would be an average talent who takes the place of a better one because they bring money. Cavendish is clearly not that.
Click to expand...

It's better to focus on current and expected future ability, not talent. Cavendish is a great talent for sure, but he's past his best and it's only going to get worse. This move is almost like past it premier league footballers moving to the US
 
TMP402

TMP402

Mar 13, 2015
6,554
256
17,880
Re: Re:

SeriousSam said:
TMP402 said:
As LS says, a "pay rider" would be an average talent who takes the place of a better one because they bring money. Cavendish is clearly not that.
Click to expand...

It's better to focus on current and expected future ability, not talent. Cavendish is a great talent for sure, but he's past his best and it's only going to get worse. This move is almost like past it premier league footballers moving to the US
Click to expand...

I agree in the sense that the length of the contract they've given him - 3 years apparently - looks better for the rider than the team. But if you have the choice of one or even two seasons of Cavendish or a generic rising talent, most team managers would probably go for the pretty much guaranteed 10+ wins of Cavendish. And who knows, maybe his career picks up with a change of scene and continues to be competitive into his mid 30s like Zabel, Freire and Cipollini. For all we know he's still the best sprinter in the world and has been held back by his last two teams. We'll see!
 
mrhender

mrhender

Jul 11, 2013
3,340
0
0
Re: Re:

SeriousSam said:
TMP402 said:
As LS says, a "pay rider" would be an average talent who takes the place of a better one because they bring money. Cavendish is clearly not that.
Click to expand...

It's better to focus on current and expected future ability, not talent. Cavendish is a great talent for sure, but he's past his best and it's only going to get worse. This move is almost like past it premier league footballers moving to the US
Click to expand...

I would agree on the bolded part.

And to be sure you rarely go there in your prime.
Much like Cavendish and his new team.
 
Dog

Dog

Mar 15, 2015
164
0
0
Re: Re:

mrhender said:
SeriousSam said:
TMP402 said:
As LS says, a "pay rider" would be an average talent who takes the place of a better one because they bring money. Cavendish is clearly not that.
Click to expand...

It's better to focus on current and expected future ability, not talent. Cavendish is a great talent for sure, but he's past his best and it's only going to get worse. This move is almost like past it premier league footballers moving to the US
Click to expand...

I would agree on the bolded part.

And to be sure you rarely go there in your prime.
Much like Cavendish and his new team.
Click to expand...

I don't see the comparison at all. Cavendish will still be a leader for the Tour, in what could be a World Tour team next year, and with a team built around him. It's not exactly an EPL to MLS scale drop.

And I still believe Cavendish can beat any sprinter on his day.
 
42x16ss

42x16ss

May 23, 2009
10,242
1,427
25,680
Re: Re:

jojogogo said:
TMP402 said:
As LS says, a "pay rider" would be an average talent who takes the place of a better one because they bring money. Cavendish is clearly not that.
Click to expand...

just to clarify i'm referring to big name riders and not average talent.
Click to expand...
Cavendish would not be paying his way on to Dimension Data, but rather, bringing on board an extra sponsor to bump up the teams budget so they can afford his wage demands.

Not the first time it's happened. Voeckler himself went and convinced Europcar to step up as a sponsor for 2011 onwards so that the team could continue at it's current level after Bouygues Telecom left. As mentioned earlier, Specialized did the same thing for Contador when he moved to Saxo Bank as Riis didn't have the budget to sign him any other way at the time.

If you're successful enough, I doubt that there would be any issue finding a sponsor to fill a wage gap when you're a top tier rider like Cavendish. It's unlikely that the best riders would miss out altogether when signing head to head. Instead, two very high profile riders would bring a sponsor or backer each and the team gets both riders.
 
Buffalo Soldier

Buffalo Soldier

Apr 12, 2009
2,364
0
0
I have no idea what you are talking about?
You mean big names, popular riders going to teams because the sponsors like it?
I think that era started 100 years ago.
 
T

thehook

Mar 9, 2013
572
0
0
The name escapes me now. But there was an American Pro on Astana 2 years ago. He was basically put on the team by Specialized.

Paying Rider.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom