Show Me The Money: Is Pro Cycling Financially Broken?

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The sport of professional cycling has everything. Dramatic storylines, heroic champions, tear jerking wins, and more. But, one thing it seems to be lacking is cash.

Every year, it seems like teams have to fight harder and harder to get sponsorship to pay their riders. Compared to the likes of soccer and other mainstream sports, budgets in cycling are a drop in the ocean.

I wanted to find out how professional cycling is able to keep rolling despite the financial struggles, and see if there’s anything teams can do to increase their revenue and grow the sport as a whole, so I spoke to some key stakeholders in the sport to find out more.

In this special edition of Life In The Peloton, I speak to my first team boss and manager of Team Picnic Post NL, Iwan Spekenbrink, General Race Director of Flander’s Classics, Scott Sunderland, current pro seeing out his last season after 17 years as a rider, Simon Clarke, Bas Tietema, owner of TDT Unibet Rockets - the new kids on the block looking to redefine the fan - team relationship through storytelling alongside chasing results, and finally Dr Cillian Kelly; a master statistician with the cold hard facts on the situation to see if it is really as bleak as it seems.

Guys, this episode is a deep dive into the sport we all love to find out if it has a future that’s financially sustainable, or if teams are always going to be scratching around for sponsorship or closing altogether.

Thanks to all my interviewees for speaking to me, and the wider Life In The Peloton team for helping pull this mammoth episode together. I hope you enjoy it!

Cheers!

Mitch

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