The impact American Teams have on pro cycling.

[ImmaculateKadence]

Something I've been thinking about since the Tour ended was how well American teams (not riders per se) performed throughout the race. They won the overall, points, and team classifications. Riders from American teams also won 11 stages, albeit only one from an individual American rider, and an American finished in the top 10. So I ask is a trend developing of American success in pro-racing? Or is it merely excellent recruiting from all parts of the globe? Can we expect an American presence to continue and expand? I think it's quite possible with Colorado attracting such a quality field.

If it is just these teams signing the right riders, what attracts them to these American teams more than other European based teams? I think it would have much more to do with money.

EDIT: Another question, why are American riders so reluctant to sign with European based teams even though the majority are based in Europe? I think Ted King is the only American rider, not on an American ProTour team. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Any thoughts?

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Something I've been thinking about since the Tour ended was how well American teams (not riders per se) performed throughout the race. They won the overall, points, and team classifications. Riders from American teams also won 11 stages, albeit only one from an individual American rider, and an American finished in the top 10. So I ask is a trend developing of American success in pro-racing? Or is it merely excellent recruiting from all parts of the globe? Can we expect an American presence to continue and expand? I think it's quite possible with Colorado attracting such a quality field.

If it is just these teams signing the right riders, what attracts them to these American teams more than other European based teams? I think it would have much more to do with money.

Any thoughts?

It is all about the Benjamins.

 

[Midnightfright]

Something I've been thinking about since the Tour ended was how well American teams (not riders per se) performed throughout the race. They won the overall, points, and team classifications. Riders from American teams also won 11 stages, albeit only one from an individual American rider, and an American finished in the top 10. So I ask is a trend developing of American success in pro-racing? Or is it merely excellent recruiting from all parts of the globe? Can we expect an American presence to continue and expand? I think it's quite possible with Colorado attracting such a quality field.

If it is just these teams signing the right riders, what attracts them to these American teams more than other European based teams? I think it would have much more to do with money.

EDIT: Another question, why are American riders so reluctant to sign with European based teams even though the majority are based in Europe? I think Ted King is the only American rider, not on an American ProTour team. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Any thoughts?

Well to 2 successful teams were HTC and Garmin. HTC was mostly down to Cav and I fully expect him and his team to win 4 plus stages next year. Garmin done very will but I would say its more coincidental then anything else.

 

[luckyboy]

EDIT: Another question, why are American riders so reluctant to sign with European based teams even though the majority are based in Europe? I think Ted King is the only American rider, not on an American ProTour team. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Any thoughts?

Timothy Duggan is on Liquigas too because of Cannondale presumably.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The "American" teams are the most cosmopolitan, with the widest range of nationalities. Good recruitment policy is part of it, money is another (the likes of Kreder and van Garderen have been bought out of Rabo's development teams for example). Perhaps because of the sport not being so entrenched in the US, there is the need to have this high win count to keep the sport in the public eye.

HTC is T-Mobile, to all intents and purposes - the feeder team is German too!

I don't think this is some golden age of American cycling. We have a generation of American stars reaching the end of their careers (and these have been largely responsible for the boom in American teams), and the riders who started riding being inspired by those riders are just starting out in their careers (the Tejays, Taylors and the like) - but the American teams have built up steam in the interim using international talent.

So no, it isn't some big trend of American success in pro-cycling, because it's not like these teams exploded off the NRC into the mainstream. HTC were a Pro-Tour team under another name before, BMC were a Swiss team with American interest before the big money injection, Radioshack are merely a continuation by a circuitous route of the same American team that's been in the sport for 15-20 years. Slipstream is the only one that's grown organically out of the US and been a US success story of late - and half of their wins and their week in the yellow jersey came from the Cervélo side of things, the team that was based out of Switzerland. It's a trend of teams run by American managers having success.

It's more an affirmation of the American cycling management model (which seems reliant on international stars) tha an affirmation of American cycling, I'm afraid. No I really mean, I'm afraid, because I'm not a fan of that model.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

I agree, I don't think America has entered a Golden age of cycling. What I was really getting at was the impact they are currently making internationally. I think it's the greatest it's ever been as they are more internationally involved (in the ways you pointed out) than ever before. I was really asking if the impact would continue and grow, but with the news of HTC's demise (something I thought would be a minor a speed bump for them), my question has been answered .

That was a big blow to the sport.

EDIT: @ Luckyboy....thanks for the answer. For some reason I assumed he was still with Garmin .

 

[icefire]

I'm afraid that in relative terms to the size/population of their home country Danish teams have made more impact than American ones.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

Agreed, but I've never seen American involvement at this level....

 

[Havetts]

The impact American, and others too not just americans, sponsors / teams have is that they bring in so much money other teams will have trouble competing, which has been described by Stapleton pretty well.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

But also it means that they'll have trouble replacing sponsors at that money level.

Recently we've seen teams with long and storied histories that were being forced to the wall. Eusebio Unzué found a sponsor, partly based on Spain's tradition and history with the sport. Matxín has found sponsors again and again. Stapleton can't. Is that because they're asking for more money? Or is it because Spain and Italy have more tradition with the sport and more fans of it, and therefore it's easier to find people willing to plunge the money in? Was Stapleton simply looking in the wrong markets while Unzué and Matxín were looking in the right ones?

It's an interesting question. Certainly Saunier Duval/American Beef/Fuji/Footon/GEOX should have more trouble finding sponsors, with their poor results and shady history, than HTC with their high rankings and stupidly high win count. But why is this?

 

[Cobblestones]

But also it means that they'll have trouble replacing sponsors at that money level.

Recently we've seen teams with long and storied histories that were being forced to the wall. Eusebio Unzué found a sponsor, partly based on Spain's tradition and history with the sport. Matxín has found sponsors again and again. Stapleton can't. Is that because they're asking for more money? Or is it because Spain and Italy have more tradition with the sport and more fans of it, and therefore it's easier to find people willing to plunge the money in? Was Stapleton simply looking in the wrong markets while Unzué and Matxín were looking in the right ones?

It's an interesting question. Certainly Saunier Duval/American Beef/Fuji/Footon/GEOX should have more trouble finding sponsors, with their poor results and shady history, than HTC with their high rankings and stupidly high win count. But why is this?

I believe Stapleton could have found a sponsor for a smaller budget team.

 

[Anonymous]

I think Ted King is the only American rider, not on an American ProTour team. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Any thoughts?

Michael Barry is at Sky. I know hes Canadian but they are pretty much the same thing

 

[Havetts]

Michael Barry is at Sky. I know hes Canadian but they are pretty much the same thing

Don't let the Canadians on the forum see that..

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

But also it means that they'll have trouble replacing sponsors at that money level.

Recently we've seen teams with long and storied histories that were being forced to the wall. Eusebio Unzué found a sponsor, partly based on Spain's tradition and history with the sport. Matxín has found sponsors again and again. Stapleton can't. Is that because they're asking for more money? Or is it because Spain and Italy have more tradition with the sport and more fans of it, and therefore it's easier to find people willing to plunge the money in? Was Stapleton simply looking in the wrong markets while Unzué and Matxín were looking in the right ones?

It's an interesting question. Certainly Saunier Duval/American Beef/Fuji/Footon/GEOX should have more trouble finding sponsors, with their poor results and shady history, than HTC with their high rankings and stupidly high win count. But why is this?

Plus the way the US debt and economy is going I'd guess some reduction in US sponsorship is coming.

 

[Midnightfright]

Michael Barry is at Sky. I know hes Canadian but they are pretty much the same thing

Oh dear that's quite a risque statement

 

[Mambo95]

Michael Barry is at Sky. I know hes Canadian but they are pretty much the same thing

I'm not in the least bit Canadian, but I feel offended on their behalf.

 

[ingsve]

Well, if you look at other nationalities then it's most common that riders stick with teams from their own contry if one exists. It's just that the biggest countries have so many riders that there are bound to be a few that linger off to other teams. And also those italian, french and spanish teams are able to fill their rosters with quality riders without bringing back all the domestic talent to their teams. Since we have/had 4 american ProTeams and each of them naturally wants to have an american element in the team it's just natural that they would gather up all the available US talent and since the supply isn't unlimited there simply aren't that many left to go to other teams.

 

[polisheggplant]

Don't let the Canadians on the forum see that..

I agree, it could go to their heads....

 

[Maxiton]

Isn't Team NetApp German? Steven Cozza is on that team.

I don't think it's reluctance of American riders to sign for European teams; it might be the other way around - reluctance of Euro teams to scout and sign Americans.

The "American" teams are the most cosmopolitan, with the widest range of nationalities. Good recruitment policy is part of it, money is another (the likes of Kreder and van Garderen have been bought out of Rabo's development teams for example). Perhaps because of the sport not being so entrenched in the US, there is the need to have this high win count to keep the sport in the public eye.

HTC is T-Mobile, to all intents and purposes - the feeder team is German too!

I don't think this is some golden age of American cycling. We have a generation of American stars reaching the end of their careers (and these have been largely responsible for the boom in American teams), and the riders who started riding being inspired by those riders are just starting out in their careers (the Tejays, Taylors and the like) - but the American teams have built up steam in the interim using international talent.

So no, it isn't some big trend of American success in pro-cycling, because it's not like these teams exploded off the NRC into the mainstream. HTC were a Pro-Tour team under another name before, BMC were a Swiss team with American interest before the big money injection, Radioshack are merely a continuation by a circuitous route of the same American team that's been in the sport for 15-20 years. Slipstream is the only one that's grown organically out of the US and been a US success story of late - and half of their wins and their week in the yellow jersey came from the Cervélo side of things, the team that was based out of Switzerland. It's a trend of teams run by American managers having success.

It's more an affirmation of the American cycling management model (which seems reliant on international stars) than affirmation of American cycling, I'm afraid. No I really mean, I'm afraid, because I'm not a fan of that model.

I agree. Maybe it's attributable mostly to bicycle racing not really having the deep roots and high regard here that it has in Europe.

 

[Richeypen]

Duggan rides for Liquigas as well

 

[auscyclefan94]

I think having 4 American Pro Tour teams was too many. As much as the sport needs expanding the UCI also need to look after cycling in the traditional homes countries of cycling being Belgium, Italy, Spain, France, etc.

 

[Astana1]

Then the traditional homes need to cough up more money. Not sure how the UCI is supposed to "look after" that. That make no sense.

Also when a team like Highroad can't get a sponsor, then the UCI has bigger problems than getting more Belgian teams in the sport. Good grief.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

But the problem is, the sponsorship model isn't failing.

What's happening is, the success of big money, corporate teams is resulting in the formation of more big money, corporate teams. This prices the smaller teams or the traditional homes out. All so simple. We've been bewailing it for a bit.

What we've just seen with HTC is the first evidence of the flip side of that. When teams from the traditional cycling countries who have been being squeezed are being forced to the wall, they are often able to call upon traditional, national pride, and the lower budget requirement (perhaps owing to the stronger national calendar therefore more exposure and more racing visible to the key market) and find new sponsors. Take Movistar, GEOX, Androni and Europcar as examples. When the big corporate teams are being forced to the wall, they have to ask for much higher amounts of money to be able to continue at that level. And furthermore, because of the highly international nature of the teams (and often the less ingrained nature of cycling in the countries & lesser national calendars), they don't have a national "base" to appeal to, and if they look at big multinational companies, they'll be more skeptical about sponsoring the sport. With the added hindrance that they NEED to get big wins and showings in the biggest events to justify the budget and to get the exposure, especially considering many races are shown at suboptimal times - if at all - in target markets. If your target market is a traditional cycling nation, you know the races are going to get shown, and your jerseys will be seen. If you're a multinational or an American company, why would you care about stage wins in the Tour de Pologne, GCs of the Österreichrundfahrt or even Gent-Wevelgem?

In that respect, it's no stretch to say that the Vuelta a Burgos and Tour de Wallonie are more important to the sponsorship of Movistar and Lotto than even the 2 Gent-Wevelgem wins were for High Road.

 

[Nielsa]

I'm not sure how more money to the teams = better sport. Wages are good enough that young talent won't leave the sport for other endurance sports.

Not sure how Astana paying Contador x million euros makes any difference for the sport. I don't think Gilbert would be a more spectacular cyclist if he was paid more than his 1.5 or 1.8m€.

This has nothing to do with American teams of course, neither BMC, HTC or T-mobile are American.

You can say the same about football. All that money in the English Premier League, it lets them buy stars but look at how few talents they are able to develop compared to the Dutch/Ivorians/French/Argentinians, etc etc etc.

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

As has been pointed out in other places, many of cycling's large teams are funded by rich cycling enthusiasts. This includes Leopard, BMC, and Greenedge. Garmin was funded by a wealthy individual. Other teams that appear to be commercial sponsorship actually rely upon a decision maker in the company who is an enthusiast. For example, Team Radio Shack is the pet project of an enthusiast marketing executive who is willing to waste his company's money on a sport that is centered in a continent where the company has no plans to enter. A business model that requires finding a superfan who will overspend his own or his company's money on a team does not sound healthy nor sustainable to me.

We have also seen a number of teams forced to merge in order to survive. I do not think that is a good sign.