New British Pro Tour team announced.

Today saw the announcement of a British Pro Tour team. Sponsored by satellite broadcaster Sky the four year deal is perhaps the worst kept secret in British sporting history.
Ever since SKY’s first involvement with British Cycling rumours have been rife that come 2009 there would be an announcement confirming their sponsorship of a Pro Tour team.
Clocking in at £10 million a year we’re talking serious money and with talk of additional sponsors being found it’s a certainty that big names will be singed up.

British Cycling and performance director Dave Brailsford has long had a vision for the development of the sport and has always seen the success of the track squad as just part of the jigsaw. The argument has always been, build success in a controllable environment, namely the track, win medals, develop riders, develop coaches, develop processes, attract sponsors, get a pro tour team, take cycling to the masses. And well, here we are.

Dave Brailsford says:

“The plan is to have a core of British riders and staff, but of course that won’t be entirely British. As you know, the Tour de France has never been won by a British rider, and our dream is to achieve that. Given the backing cycling has in Britain at the moment, there has never been a better time”

The last couple of years has seen Brailsford establish close relations with major players in the sport, close ties with ASO and a strong anti-doping policy have opened doors.

“Our ambition is to go in at the ProTour level straight away. We have established good relations with Christian Prudhomme and the rest of the staff at ASO, so we’d hope to be strongly in the running for a Tour de France place. We know our early season performances will need to be good to justify our presence.”

He goes on to say, “It’s a mammoth task, we know that, but we’ve always set ourselves high goals” Setting high goals is key to British Cycling’s success and is now part of the culture within the sport. In fact so successful has their blue print been that they are now seen as the benchmark for organisation throughout the whole of British sport, with other more ‘main stream’ sports beating a path to the Manchester HQ to discover the magic.

So these goals then, a British tour winner? Far fetched? Well just think back to the days before LeMond, before 7-11, before Hampsten, before Armstrong. Look at British Cycling talent id programme and coaching set up and you can only say not that far fetched. It will take time, but as we say in the North West – ‘Keep the faith’.

Who will benefit?

The benefits for the sponsor and for the sport are obvious, but what’s in it for the riders? Well money always helps, but British Cycling has the reputation of being exceptionally well organised, perhaps the most well organised squad there is, and for a rider having all your worries taken away from you, leaving you to do nothing but train and race is going to be a big plus. In addition the coaching staff at British Cycling have proved their worth, not just on the track, but with the under 21 development squad based in Italy. In fact so successful has the ‘academy’ been that they have been able to turn down offers from several Pro Tour teams asking for exclusive deals to sign young British talent.

And what of the contracts? Well unsurprisingly a large number of British pros have their contacts ending at the end of 2009, the Barloworld trio of Cummings, Thomas and Froome will all be on the market come October, as will Wiggins, Stannard at ISD and the riders at Cevelo. In addition it is rumoured that as British Cycling helps draw up riders contracts when they graduate from academy level, there are clauses allowing riders to leave should a British Pro team be formed. A shrewd piece of planning if ever there was one.

The Cav question.

One question will however, overshadow all talk of who rides for the team, namely Mark Cavendish. Cav still has a couple of years on his Columbia contract and is more than happy where he is thank you very much. In the past he has spoken about winning being the most important thing for him, having turned down offers for more money to change teams I expect Cav to remain where he is for the foreseeable future. If and when he does come you can expect him to bring his leadout train with him, Cippo would only ever move teams with five or six of his most trusted support riders, don’t expect the Manx missile to be any different.

What’s next?

The coming months will see the media hype hit overdrive. As additional sponsors, team staff, component and bike suppliers named (expect Trek, already suppliers to the academy squad). It won’t be quiet that’s for sure. Stay tuned.