Five top teams in cycling want to set up a new competition: the Super League. Rode? Now they are trading according to a creaking and outdated financial model. Renaat Schotte answers 5 questions about the Super League.
Why is there a need for a Super League?
Reuters news agency revealed yesterday that top teams such as INEOS Grenadiers and Team Jumbo – Visma want to give cycling a new look. They are thinking about a Super League.
“Cycling is a sleeping giant. The sport deserves a modern business model, especially for the teams,” explained Richard Plugge of Jumbo-Visma.
“Currently, racing is something from the last century,” Renaat Schotte agrees.
“Something has to happen if cycling wants to continue to mean something globally. Cycling must not continue to surplace or even go downhill.”
“In Italy, cycling was sport number 2, after football. That is no longer the case,” says our Italophile.
“I think it is indicative of the situation in which cycling finds itself. And it is a great pity, because cycling remains a fantastic sport.”
Cycling should not continue to surplace or even continue to go downhill.
Renaat Schotte
Who finances professional cycling now?
Cycling does not have a revenue model like football. The sport does not finance itself, teams have to attract sponsors to keep the circus alive.
“With the support of billionaires,” adds Renaat Schotte.
Our reporter is referring to businessmen such as Jim Ratcliffe (Ineos-Grenadiers), Sylvan Adams (Israel-Premier Tech) and Zdenek Bakala (Soudal-Quick Step).
“Each and every one of them is sports or cycling enthusiasts, on which the race currently depends.”
“But they also remain businessmen,” Schotte warns. “They also want a return on investment in the long term. That is why Bakala is considering selling his shares.”
Unless the Super League comes along? “Something has to be done, because the businessmen are not a long-term guarantee for cycling.”
Bessel Kok, Bakala’s right-hand man, previously talked about One Cycling. The large teams want to unite in this to better capitalize on their commercial interests.
“One day the day will come when all parties will be obliged to work together,” believes our cycling commentator.
Businessman Jim Ratcliffe finances the cycling team of the same name with the chemical giant Ineos.
Can the UCI play a role?
“If they want, they could set up a marketing company like TEAM, which orchestrates the Champions League in football,” answers Renaat Schotte.
“But the UCI itself only has a limited budget. It does not or hardly exceed that of Ineos, one of the largest teams.”
If the UCI wants to organize a top competition, it will have to look for major sponsors.
“In principle, that is not their store,” Schotte continues. “I see the International Cycling Union playing a more mediating role, to get everyone on the same page.”
The UCI does not have a bigger budget than Ineos, one of the largest racing teams.
Renaat Schotte
How does the Tour organizer react?
One of the biggest hurdles for the Super League will be the Tour de France. The largest race in the world brings a lot of money into the cycling world.
“Organizer ASO keeps the biggest share of the cake. They will not immediately be eager for a Super League,” says Renaat Schotte.
And Flanders Classics, the organizer of, among other things, the Tour of Flanders? The company of entrepreneur and cycling enthusiast Wouter Vandenhaute dares to take a different course.
Schotte: “Flanders Classics has already played a very important role in cycling. Without them I wouldn’t know where the Flemish races would be now.”
“But Flanders Classics cannot reform the landscape alone. With the Amstel Gold Race and the Tour de Suisse, they are now also looking beyond national borders.”
“Together with a British investor, there have been attempts to take over the Tour de France,” Schotte says.
April 3, 2022: Mathieu van der Poel wins the Tour of Flanders, a race of Flanders Classics, for the second time.
Doesn’t cycling already have a Super League with the WorldTour?
The top riders are currently racing in the UCI WorldTour: a solid collection of one-day races (such as the Tour of Flanders) and stage races (such as the Tour de France).
“The WorldTour was supposed to be the story of the future,” says Renaat Schotte, “but in reality it doesn’t exist at all.”
There is also a ranking, although it seems more of an afterthought. “Cycling fans hardly know who is in the lead,” our commentator illustrates.
Before you worry about it: Tadej Pogacar is number 1 on the general ranking, ahead of Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard and our Remco Evenepoel.
Schotte: “In the team classification, a team has really made a goal of the classification in the past year. Which is what UAE Team Emirates has also achieved.”
“I think it’s a good thing that they are now coming forward with this. It is the first step of many.”
