CyclistCyclist Magazine Podcast episode 112: Chris Lawless, Team Sky pro turned Saint Piran DSThis week on the Cyclist Magazine Podcast, James and Will are joined by ex-pro turned DS, Chris Lawless. At just 28 years old, Chris is the youngestdirecteur sportifin pro-cycling, but hes got a whole lot of experience. Cutting his teeth at Team Wiggins and JLT Condor, Chris went on to ride for Team Sky/Ineos, during which time he won the Tour de Yorkshire. As a no-nonsense rider with a stoic mentality, a move into team management naturally followed post-retirement, with Chris taking up a DS position at British Pro-Conti team, Saint Piran.In this episode, Chris tells us about the highs and lows of his career on the road, the role of mental toughness and race craft, the problems in the British racing scene and how to nurture Saint Piran young talent to prepare it for the big time.Interview begins at 12:50.Follow Saint Piran on Instagram@saintpiranListen toCyclist Magazine Podcast episode 111 now on AcastCheck outall episodesAlso available wherever you get your podcastsDid you knowCyclistis also stunning monthly magazine? Subscribe now atstore.cyclist.co.uk/cycpodand get every issue for less than in the shops, delivered straight to your door. Related Posts Cyclist Magazine Podcast episode 111: Dimitris Katsanis makes the worlds fastest bikes Cyclist Magazine Podcast episode 110: Ribble Rebellions Matt Bostock + Tour de France mega chat State of the nation: Inside the UK domestic racing scene Tour of Britain 2024 route announced: From the Scottish Borders to Suffolk The post Cyclist Magazine Podcast episode 112: Chris Lawless, Team Sky pro turned Saint Piran DS appeared first on Cyclist.

Thibau Nys showed that he's to be taken into account in road races with nine victories this year. Normally, his season will come to an end at the Bretagne Classic this Sunday, however the young Belgian doesn't rule out that he could adjust his cyclocross plans to participate at the roadWorld Champi...

The publican says the work on the new cycle lane which has been the subject of misinformation from anti-cycling campaigners has forced her business into survival mode, but the council claims she has only recently engaged with us

Embed from Getty ImagesMany of todays pro teams were founded in the 1990s by ex-pros and they and their teams have almost become institutions today, part of the landscape.Because of time and retirement plans some of these ex-pro founders are on their way out. In the case of Vincent Lavenu at Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale, brutally so and his exit tells us something about recent changes in the sport.Ex-pro Vincent Lavenu founded the Chazal-Vanille et Mre team in 1992, backed by improbable combo of a meat distributor and a company selling childrens perfume. It had just 12 riders but took on a stagiaire from Estonia called Jaan Kirsipuu who won a race for them in the late season and in the following years became a prolific winner.In 1996 in came a new sponsor in Petit Casino, no gambling but a chain of mini-supermarkets belonging to major French retailer Casino. In 1997 Casino itself became the sponsor, joined in 1998 by Ag2r, an insurance company.Ag2r the company grew with the team over the years, merging with La Mondiale to become one of Frances biggest savings and insurance companies. Its a safe business, people subscribe to pension plans; the company invests in real estate. Its gained plenty from the Tour de France, brand recognition has soared.The Tour de France goes a long way to explaining the longevity and ubiquity of the French teams in the peloton today, theyre a quarter of a century old and almost institutions who have been able to continue in part because of likely start in the Tour de France.Another figurehead closer to retirement than the start of his career is Marc Madiot, age 65. He founded the Franaise des Jeux team which is Groupama-FDJ today. He told the Face Face podcast his team has gone from a family shop to a multinational business. Certainly budgets have soared in recent years, 20 million or more. Back in the day these founders started out doing everything chasing sponsors, recruiting riders, handling the media and all while driving the team car too. Today this is very different with teams having many departments from communications to performance, logistics to admin and payroll and often more than one team some have womens squads and many have in-house junior and U23 development outfits too.Being a business can mean risk-taking which brings us to Vincent Lavenus downfall. According to reports in LEquipe and local paper Le Dauphin he decided to modernise the team HQ in 2020 and took on debts for this. Then Citron decided to exercise the right in a five year deal to pull out early, leaving the team with a sudden funding shortfall. Loyal readers will also remember the team has had issues with bike suppliers too.Ag2r La Mondiale told Lavenu theyd buy the team off him for 8,000: not eight million, just eight thousand Euros but with this theyd keep sponsoring the team. Faced with this ultimatum Lavenu had no options.The transaction went through in June 2022 and the new owners have appointed a general manager in Dominique Serieys who has a sports management background, having run the Paris Dfense stadium and worked in motorsport. Theres also Batrice Willems who also runs the Ag2r La Mondiale chief executives office, a clear sign of reporting lines going to Paris.Reduced to an employee, this week LEquipe noticed that Lavenu had vanished from the organigram on the team website and reported he was given notice of his dismissal at the end of July, which caused him to fall ill, even requiring paramedics being sent to the team HQ although fortunately they write he didnt need to get in the ambulance. A brutal end, certainly not the exit he would have liked.Marc Madiot doesnt own any shares as the team has belonged to its sponsors from the start but hes become more a totem figure over the years rather than the boss. Meanwhile Jean-Ren Bernaudeau at Total Energies is 68 years old and the search of a successor is on; apparently Julian Alaphilippe was almost in tears when he called to say he was going to join Tudor instead of Bernaudeaus outfit, some of the sorrow may have come from knowing that without a star rider the team is going to keep struggling for invites and could run out of road soon. Meanwhile chez Cofidis the sponsor is the owner and facing relegation and poor results theyre considering changes too in the management.So far so French but another team with a long history is Lotto-Dstny, it can be traced back to 1985. Its in trouble because Dstny is leaving and theres been a quarrel with the co-sponsor frustrated because they wanted the team to race abroad more while Lotto as the Belgian state lottery clearly wanted more presence in their home market, a clear tension. But if theres no sponsor theres a significant financial shortfall to close and all this needs to be resolved now, or even two weeks ago for some UCI deadlines, by autumn for other regulatory matters. If this is not not resolved quickly never mind promotion back to the World Tour and the bright prospects of Arnaud De Lie, Lennert van Eeetvelt, Maxim Van Gils, Alec Segaert and Jarno Widar to name some, they might not make it to 2025.Meanwhile Movistar goes back to 1980 and the Unzue family still rule the roost. If Italy has lost its World Tour teams, Spanish fans must be concerned for their last team which is not the force it used to be, in part because financially it has struggled with the inflation in team budgets of late. Its openly looking for a co-sponsor and Movistar itself is on-board with this because if the performance improves then Movistar will see its name mentioned more often, even if it is shared with another backer.Behind a lot of this is a return of sponsor power. They dont just provide the funding, increasingly they own the teams. This used to be the norm until the late 1980s when Cyrille Guimard and Laurent Fignon and others launched their own team which sold sponsorship to third parties and this model became widely copied. This still exists today with teams like Visma-LAB and UAE Emirates belonging to team management; but Ineos the company owns Ineos the team to the point where the senior figure behind the team is discreet; and EF Education-Easypost is no longer Slipstream as it belongs to the EF and the Hult family behind it. Likewise Red Bull dont just sponsor their team, theyve acquired it and so on.Embed from Getty ImagesThe days of teams being led by one man are over, they probably ended a decade ago. We might still think of Soudal-Quickstep as Patrick Lefeveres team but when the Jumbo merger was on a year ago he was in the dark at times as the real power and ownership is with Zdenek Bakala. A similar situation applies to plenty of other teams, although to varying degrees.ConclusionNothing is eternal. Several team managers are contemplating retirement but those that can get out on their terms are going to be the lucky ones. Few can cash in their equity as without sponsorship theres little value in a team, even if they have built up a kind of franchise.Guiding a team through the 1990s to today is a feat, a tale of survivorship and probably luck too. During this time all teams have changed. While some still have their founders around, increasingly theyre figureheads for the media rather than the controlling power. Being able to delegate is itself a form of power. As budgets continue to increase and teams take on more and more the practices and customs of established businesses itll be interesting to see if they can also retain their identity, so often shaped by their founder.The post Exit The Founding Fathers first appeared on The Inner Ring.

The first month since cycling market's opening is approaching and Movistar Team has not yet made any signings for the men's team. Nothing surprising, last year they weren't super-active either. But rest assured, the Spanish team is considering several names to add to its squad in the coming days, an...

Out with the new riders like Dylan Stark, DJ Brandt and Jaxson Riddle: in with the old, including Cam Zink, Tom Van Steenbergen and Brandon Semenuk, for Rampage 2024Brandon Semenuk is back at Rampage 2024, after dissing it for rally last yearRed Bull Rampage will be ridden by the freeride old guard in 2024, with very little room for up and Continue reading

Electric bikes, or more specifically their batteries, have been attracting plenty of negative publicity recently, but a campaign has been launched to put the record straight and help consumers make safer electric bike purchases. Ebikes have been the subject of a plethora of media reports concerning their safety, following incidents of spontaneous combustion and house fires caused by faulty batteries. Such attention is largely undeserved, though, with the problem due to a small number of rogue products, often bought online from non-reputable sources.A new campaign, called E-Bike Positive, is aiming to put the record straight and help consumers make safer electric bike purchases. It's also setting out to encourage the UK government to improve consumer protection for ebike purchasers and promote the health, economic and environmental benefits of electric bikes.Battery concerns are deterring buyersReputable brands put a lot of effort into safety testing their ebike systems. - E-Bike PositiveA survey, carried out by the Electric Bike Alliance, suggests concerns over ebike battery safety are putting potential riders off buying an electric bike. It found 23 per cent of UK adults are deterred from buying an ebike by reports of ebike battery fires.The E-Bike Positive campaign says many staff at bike shops have reported battery fires as an issue raised by prospective ebike buyers.However, the primary cause of battery fires, the campaign says, is low-quality products, including aftermarket batteries and chargers and ebike conversion kits bought, often online, from resellers and unreliable sources.Three-pronged approachThe campaign aims to promote the health and environmental benefits of electric bikes, alongside their safety. - E-Bike PositiveThe E-Bike Positive campaign links cycling-industry trade bodies, bike brands, local bike shops and UK charities, with the objective of boosting consumer knowledge on battery safety and promoting the use of ebikes and driving electric bike purchases.There are three threads to the campaign, aimed at helping buyers to identify electric bikes that are high-quality and UK-legal.First is extra assurance via a new scheme to label electric bikes and batteries that have been safety tested and highlight brands selling high-quality electric bikes.Second is expert support offered by bike shops, with an increasing number signing a pledge to advertise, sell and repair only electric bikes that are UK-legal and have been safety checked. The campaign is encouraging more retailers to sign up to the pledge.Third, the campaign is developing educational resources including battery safety guides and independent advice for buyers of ebikes.The campaigns backers highlight the wide-ranging benefits of electric bikes and aim to allay battery safety concerns.When purchased from reputable manufacturers, e-cycles are very safe. Thats why were supporting this education campaign alongside Cycling UK's ongoing calls for the UK government to make e-cycles more accessible, says Sarah McMonagle, director of external affairs at Cycling UK.

Beicio Cymru were not covered by insurance for loss

This Vuelta a Espaa is giving the crowd plenty of unusual footage. Soudal - Quick-Step were forced to prepare in a local person's house on stage 4 and hired Burgos-BH's bus for stage 5; Stage 6 started inside a supermarket and the brutal heat on the road stimulated the creativity of race staff that...