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news
Dave Brailsford faces the press, Paris, October 2012 (copyright Simon MacMichael)Wiggins: Ineos sponsorship would be “an ideal situation” for Brailsford and Sky
Sir Bradley Wiggins says that the rumoured taking over of Team Sky sponsorship by chemical giant Ineos would be “an ideal situation” for the British UCI WorldTour outfit and its principal, Sir Dave Brailsford.
Speaking on the first episode of the new season of his Eurosport podcast The Bradley Wiggins Show, the five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner believes the team’s rumoured budget would allow Brailsford to continue his project seamlessly.
Ineos is controlled by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who with a fortune of £21 billion is Britain’s richest man, and weekend press reports suggested that a future Team Ineos could enjoy an even bigger budget than the sport’s richest team already enjoys.
Wiggins said: “Dave will want to retain control, and it is Dave's way in terms of the way he manages the team, the way he sets the team up.
“I think he would have been reluctant to have another multinational company that came in that wanted it for the advertisement and to get their name out there, but would want the control in terms of, ‘this is how we want to do it in terms of how we advertise our company’.
“I think that would have been a big point for Dave,” Wiggins continued, “so in some ways it's an ideal situation. He is the richest man in Britain and you would imagine that the kind of money they have asked for is nothing to him."
“Dave can continue running out this team with all his plans and philosophies, so it's an ideal situation for him and he is answerable you’d imagine to one man – it's his money. It will certainly help that team.”
Wiggins acknowledged that his prediction might not go down too well with some followers of the sport on social media who believe that Team Sky’s financial clout gives them an unfair advantage over other teams, especially in the Tour de France which is its main focus each season, with victories in six of the past seven editions.
He said: “I can hear Twitter going mad now, my ears are burning. 'What did he just say? Dave's going to carry on in the same way as he always did?'”
The 38-year-old also said that the Ineos deal, should it be confirmed soon, would also end any potential unsettlement in the squad with riders looking to secure their plans for 2020 and beyond, and they could now focus on the racing.
“It's only March,” Wiggins explained. “You've got someone like Geraint Thomas who won the Tour last year. Obviously he was in high demand to go to another team. He's decided to stay with Sky, sign a new contract and as he signs, Sky announce they are pulling out.
“It would have been a worry for Geraint and those guys. But I'm sure behind the scenes, Dave and that would have been reassuring them, 'it's alright, we've got something in the bag'. It's March now and they can concentrate on the rest of the season and what they are paid to do,” he added.
There will be 20 episodes of The Bradley Wiggins Show on Eurosport this season, with the title star joined by new presenter Graham Willgoss and guests, with former British road champion Adam Blythe appearing in this week’s opener.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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12 comments
The Monaco based owner can meet up with his Monaco based riders, and they can all get together with their PR people to keep persuading us that it is a great UK success story.
Road CC has gone Twat fishing and hooked a load!
Brexit backing tax exile. No thanks
I will never follow cycle racing until brailsford crawls back in to the gutter he emanated from. He is a stain on the ethics of sportsmanship, honesty and integrity. He disgusts me.
Erm yes, well maybe cycling wasn't the best sport for you to follow in the first place if that's your stance. In fact there's probably no sport suitable for you to follow, I'm trying to think of one sport which doesn't play right up to or beyond 'the lines' to win... maybe clay pigeon shooting.
Ineos pumps water into shale rock, to extract fossil fuels, and Team Sky pumped Triamcinolone into Bradley Wiggins, to extract bicycle race wins. They're made for each other.
And a tax-dodging expat/immigrant (elsewhere) to boot. Wonderful.
Who's using who here? Who really benefits?
I'm looking forward to his British (built) replacement 4x4 for the Defender myself.
It's funny what we'll turn a blind eye to.
You mean the one thats now going to be built in Germany?
They announced yesterday that it will use BMW engines.
Nice! They've gone from being sponsored by the dirty digger, to fossil fuels, fracking and tax dodging. Marginal gains and minimal ethical standards.
It's where the most money is to be made. Of all the sponsors in sport very few could be considered to have any 'ethical standards' as we might consider them.
All all the big multinationals are the same - Apple, Nike, Walmart, Nestlé, BP, Shell, Microsoft, Google, Facebook... The people in charge make it their goal to rip off and crush as many people and other companies as possible. Even UK supermarkets and high street retailers are run by sharks, it permeates the culture. It's how capitalism works, especially at that level. You don't get to be billionaire by being honest and fair. If you don't play the same game and succeed then you are a total loser.
We are supposed to admire self-made wealthy people like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates or the slightly shabby-but-definitely-not-chic Alan Sugar (he's a fair few rungs lower down but uncouth and putridly arrogant) for their success. I don't. I suspect history probably won't be as kind to them as we are now.
All the riders - in every team - are pawns. All of them. They have to chase the $$$ and hold their noses to avoid the smell of shit that accompanies it. Don't believe me? Find one Sky rider that has slagged Fox, Sky, The Sun or anything owned by Murdoch. No rider would dare to openly diss a current sponsor. Or even criticise their previous team's bikes (though I can imagine you might get Cavendish to say something if you caught him at the right/wrong time).
For an idea of the mindset of wealthy team owners you could read or listen to the self-centred, frothing outrage from Monaco resident and multi-millionaire tax-avoider Rick Delaney when he pulled the plug on AquaBlueSport last year. Did he lose his livelihood / third mansion? No. Is he broke? No. And despite his empty promises he STILL hasn't paid his riders and staff what they are entitled to.