Let’s not forget what the long game is for Australian cycling

The Australian Cycling Team’s performance at the recent World Track Championships in Hong Kong resembled the old days where Australia was feared and seen as a genuine threat to other countries’ chances of standing on the top spot of the dais.

After the five days of competition, Australia topped the medal count with 11 medals (three gold, five silver and three bronze).  The nearest competitor was France with five.  Australia smashed the competition like they did in Melbourne in 2012 when they topped the medal tally with 15.   

What was even more surprising about the performance of the Australian team was the immediate rebound from a disappointing performance at the Rio Olympics when they came away with only two medals (silver and a bronze) and sat in equal 13th spot with Poland.

Expectations of success in Hong Kong would not have been overly high.

Australia had only appointed a new High Performance Manager in Simon Jones and the ink on Australia’s blueprint for success at the Tokyo Olympics would have only been drying. The team had a number of new fresh faces and there was no Anna Meares. There was also a rider defection to Russia.   

So to top the medal count was nothing short of outstanding. There were a couple of factors in Australia’s favour.  Our greatest nemesis, Great Britain, was missing both Jason Kenny and Laura Trott (now Kenny) and Great Britain was still in damage control from the bullying scandal that led to the scalp of Shane Sutton, British Cycling’s Technical Director.     

It has been a very promising start to Simon Jones’ tenure at Cycling Australia.  It was not totally unsurprising given his motivation and background.  He told New Corp on his appointment that “I’m here to win. I’m not here to get the T-shirt or a sun tan,”.

But Simon Jones’ overall key performance indicators must rebuild and guide the Australian cycling team towards a successful 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  Failure like at the London and Rio Olympics cannot be tolerated again.   

While success at international events boost morale and may help to intimidate competition, from a strategic planning point of view there is a question as to why Australia sought to do so well.  It is almost 12 months to the next significant international event, 2018 World Track Championships in Apeldoorn (Netherlands) just prior to the 2018 Commonwealth Games.  Australia’s track cyclists must now continue to remain focussed as they have sent a signal to the other competitors exactly where they stand in terms of times achieved and which Australian cyclists to watch.  

England will bounce back strongly at the Commonwealth Games that start in April 2018.  Great Britain traditionally gives nothing away at events which are over 12 months away from a major international event like the Olympics or Commonwealth Games.  At the 2015 World Cycling Track Championships, England only won three medals.  Wind the clock forward 12 months and Great Britain dominated the 2016 World Track Championships with 16 medals.  They went on to reign over the competition in Rio.  

While success at Hong Kong will be a huge uplift in the morale of Australian cyclists, Cycling Australia cannot lose sight of the long game. And that is the Tokyo Olympics.  

Under the Australian Sports Commission’s ‘Winning Edge’ strategy, the key benchmark for the allocation of funding over a four-year cycle is success at the Olympics.  Therefore, topping the medal tally at a World Championships three years out from the next Olympics will do little to ensure much additional funding from the Australian Government for cycling events.   

The Olympics must remain part of Cycling Australia’s pivotal strategic planning to ensure podium appearances at benchmark events including the 2018 Commonwealth and 2020 Olympic Games.  That means Australia must follow more closely the training methods of Great Britain, which ensures its athletes peak at the World Championships in the year of the Commonwealth or Olympic Games. It does not let World Championships in other years be a distraction to its ultimate goal - Olympic glory.

It is also important that Simon Jones, as the new High Performance Manager, does not get focussed on attempting to be successful at every event, but sticks to a strategic plan that centres around peaking at the Commonwealth and the Olympic games.

Podium success at these two events is where the Australian public will judge our cycling athletes and Cycling Australia.  Not at every World Cup or World Championship.  Not to mention that Australian Government funding for Cycling Australia will be ultimately tied to Olympic glory.  

Also published at Roar Sport http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/04/25/lets-not-forget-long-game-australian-cycling/

TV broadcast changes to cycling will hurt the fans

Cycling returns to free to air TV screens tonight with the Tour of Flanders.

This was after cycling fans tuned in to watch cycling’s first ‘Monument’ on SBS, the Milan-San Remo, only to be greeted with the English Premier League and then another movie repeat.

A hop, skip and jump to the study to crank up the computer to stream it on Cycling Central also left many with a blank screen.

The only option to watch the first Spring Classic, or ‘La Classicissima’ was through Eurosport on Foxtel or through some dodgy stream.

This situation will be repeated several times over during this year as SBS has lost the TV rights to several of its regular cycling events, including all the Italian races.

During the Milan-San Remo, SBS’s Mike Tomalaris explained why the channel couldn’t broadcast the event in response to growing fan anger.

No rights to #MSR17 or #Giro100 but #sbscycling will screen everything else in 2017. Italian races can only be viewed on pay TV globally.

— Michael Tomalaris (@miketomalaris) March 18, 2017

Tomalaris also pointed out that SBS wasn’t even given the chance to bid for the event.

The transfer of RCS Sport races (the operators of the Italian races like the Giro and MSR) to pay-TV operator Eurosport was confirmed in an INRNG post.

The article explains that the Giro d’Italia and other RCS races will not be on shown on SBS in Australia any longer. But this pay-TV only model is not just limited to Australia.

Exclusive coverage is not new to cycling or international sport.

SBS has had the exclusive rights to Le Tour de France for years, preventing Eurosport from showing the event to its pay-TV subscribers in Australia.

Losing the TV rights to the Italian races will be tough for SBS.

When the channel lost the EPL broadcasting rights to Fox Sports in 2004, executives were prepared to take the punt to make SBS the home of cycling in Australia.

Cycling fans will be forever grateful for that decision.

SBS has, in the past, televised a large number of UCI World Tour and other road cycling events. It started with Le Tour de France in 1980 and according to its 2016 Annual Report had grown to 17 events, including the two biggest races – il Giro d’Italia and Le Tour de France.

As Australian riders began to win more high profile races in Europe like the Paris to Roubaix, so did the number of races televised by SBS.

By the time Cadel Evans’ won Le Tour in 2011, cycling interest exploded in this country and so did the broadcasting of cycling races.

SBS was suddenly showing all the Grand Tours, the five ‘Monuments’, key one-day races like the Strade Bianchi, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallone and some key stages races leading up to Le Tour.

But those times are now over unless you have pay-TV.

At the end of February, a Cycling Central podcast announced that SBS had

“..added the German Eschborn-Frankfurt race to complete our Spring coverage which includes the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne and Liege Bastogne Liege.”

However, since that announcement, the updated Cycling Central schedule on their website is

missing any mention of live coverage of the Fleche Wallonne with a reference to highlights.

These races are fan favourites for Australians, but the Giro d’Italia is going to be the biggest loss for SBS. According to SBS’s 2014 Annual Report, the Giro reached 2.4 million Australians and the live stages averaged 107,000 viewers, an 81 per cent increase on 2013.

In the wash-up, SBS is now left with a weakened and depleted line up of cycling races.

One of SBS’s newly added races – the Eschborn-Frankfurt – appears on the surface to be a ‘network filler.’

SBS has probably overplayed the importance of the race in its marketing material, describing it in as a Spring Classic when even Wikipedia defines the race as a semi-classic.

Many will be asking what the Eschborn-Frankfurt is? It has no historic significance as a cycling race and the race did not even run in 2015. Until this year, it was on the UCI Europe Tour calendar.

Apart from Phil Anderson in 1984 and 1985, no other Australians have featured on the podium. It entails just a city loop race around Frankfurt am Main area rather than meandering through the beautiful historic towns of northern Italy or even southern France.

While it’s hard to criticise SBS for losing the rights to many of its flagship events, the communication of the announcement could have been handled better.

Comments in the INRNG article and on social media show many Australians are still not aware of the significant change in SBS programming.

Lucky pay-TV viewers were treated to fantastic and exciting racing over the last 20 kilometres of the Milan-San Remo.

It’s a huge shame that all Australians could not watch it.

This article was re-produced from Roar Sport - http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/04/02/tv-broadcast-changes-cycling-will-hurt-fans/ 

Why only Swimming Australia?

Australia's cycling program at the 2016 Rio Olympics is winding down with only MTB and BMX remaining.

Our success can only be summed up as extremely disappointing or lackluster with Australian cyclists winning a silver and bronze medal so far.

The only remaining gold medal hope is Caroline Buchanan in the BMX.

The Australian media have put Swimming Australia under the blowtorch with calls for the Board to resign given the lack of success.

As yet, the Board, and CEO, of Cycling Australia has not come under the same scrutiny. Why not?

Cycling's success at these Olympics games has been lower than people's expectations, including the Chef de Mission.

As Britain’ cycling boss said, countries like Australia ‘simply did not show up’.

The lack of success could have ramifications for cycling's future funding levels.

With this in mind, an urgent and independent review of Cycling Australia, including its operations, personnel, governance frameworks, selection policies and funding (how it is allocated, from grassroots to state bodies), is necessary in the wake of Rio.  

This review cannot be left to Cycling Australia and its high performance coaches.A review that must be broader than required by the Australian Sports Commission.

The Australian Government, via the Australian Sports Commission, allocates funding to cycling through the 'Winning Edge program’.

Cycling Australia receives one of the highest funding allocations. In 2015-16, it received around $7.4 million in high performance funding. A figure that has probably been given each year since the last Olympics.

This dwarfs the $600,000 that archery received in 2015-16 where one of its athletes won a bronze medal.

It is arguable that Australia did not get much of a return on its taxpayer funded investment during the Olympics.

Sports funding is not just limited to the performance at one event, whether it is the Olympics, World Championships or the World Cup.

Under the 'Winning Edge’ funding model, the Australian Sports Commission looks at the historical performance as well as future potential to determine future investment in sports.

It is this that will be a worrying problem for Cycling Australia. At the 2015 World Track Cycling Championships, Australia won 11 medals, including four gold. Six of the medals being Olympic events.

Fast forward 12 months and the medal haul at the world champs had fallen to five, including 2 gold. Not that encouraging in the lead up to the Olympics.

The trajectory of success at international track events was trending downwards. The medal haul at the Rio Olympics confirms this trend.

Australia has not fared any better at the UCI Road World Championships.  In 2014, Australia was very successful winning eight medals, including two gold. However, this may have been an aberration as in 2015 Australia only secured a silver and bronze at the Road World Champs.

Australia's cycling programs are struggling against our international sporting counterparts. Particularly, against Team GB which is setting the performance benchmark.

We should not let the opportunity of Australia's poor performance at the Rio Olympics pass without undertaking a full and proper independent review, not just its high performance programs.

Failure to address this issue may not only damage Australia's future international sporting achievements, but also grassroot participation - that is, our future Olympic champions.

Time for SBS to bring an Australian flavour to its Tour de France commentary team

Sport evokes emotion, passion and excitement amongst fans.

Part of this comes from the zest, intensity and enthusiasm of the commentators to draw the viewers in and compelling them to keep watching.

There are many examples where sports commentators are known as the voice of the sport.  Murray Walker in F1, Martin Tyler in football and Ray Warren in rugby league and swimming are some examples.

Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen are two commentators that are known as the voice of cycling or at least the voice of Le Tour de France.

Liggett and Sherwin have been gracing our TV screens for years. According to the NBC Sports website, Liggett has been reporting on the Tour de France for 41 years.  While for Sherwen, 2016 marks the 38th time that he has been in charge of the microphone over the three weeks.

There is a whole generation of cycling fans in Australia that only knows them.

Cyclingtips.com states that Liggett and Sherwen are part of the NBC Sports network to provide commentary for their audience. After an exclusive period ends, Liggett and Sherwen provide commentary for other international networks like SBS.

As part of its 2016 telecast, SBS have added Robbie McEwen and Matthew Keenan to commentate from the moment footage begins to the 50 km mark. Liggett and Sherwen take over from the last 50 kms.

Unfortunately both commentators are getting older and the numbers of commentary errors are increasing each year. Liggett was also very vocal about WADA and USADA pursuit of Armstrong as being a waste of money. Something that may have tarnished his image.

It is difficult to retire from a high profile sport.

Ex-Formula 1 commentator, Murray Walker, after a half a century in the commentary box, said in his press conference:

“I woke up one morning recently and thought: 'That's it, the time has come'. I don't actually want to stop but I've always said I will do so when I'm still ahead with the viewers, rather than wait until there's a general belief that I'm past it. I've had a fantastic time. But we are all human, we all wear out and I'm not getting any younger.”

All good things come to an end.

I believe that it is time for SBS to cast Liggett and Sherwen adrift.

England’s ITV television network replaced Liggett and Sherwen this year with their own commentary team this.

SBS would therefore not be the first to cut Liggett and Sherwen.

Matt Keenan and and ex-pro, Robbie McEwen showed during the Giro d’Italia that they are more than capable of filling their shoes.

They bring a fresh and exciting perspective to pro-cycling combining knowledge and racing insights.

It also must be more costly for SBS have Liggett and Sherwen on its roster given they already have Keenan and McEwan in France as part of their team.

It will be difficult for many fans to see Liggett and Sherwen replaced on our screens.

But a quick scroll through different social media channels shows that people want change.

Change is difficult.

But it is now time for SBS to move with the times, refresh its commentary team and drop Liggett and Sherwen.

What did we learn from three weeks of the Giro?

Io squalo di Messina

Never discount lo squalo di Messina.

His performance on stages 19 and 20 will go down in the modern day Giro history books as one of the best tactical rides. Especially after the Italian media had all but written him off.  

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was the favourite to win his fourth grand tour.  Even though he came into the Giro without any solid race results under his belt.

His performance during the main lead up race to the Giro, il Giro del Trentino, was lacklustre at best.

It did not go well for Nibali from the start. There was talk of illness and blood tests, his mind was too focused on the next pay cheque from a new Bahrain team in 2017, or the crank was wrong size.

Nibali refused to let media reports cloud his focus over the two key stages in the Alps.

At the start of the stage 19, Nibali was down 4.43 minutes down on Kruijswijk and sitting in fourth place.  For the next two stages, Nibali dug deep and attacked at the right moments, passing Valverde and Kruijswijk in the GC classification. He was however helped by Kruijswijk’s crash coming off the top of Colle dell'Agnello.

Sitting in second place, lo squalo was now only 43 seconds with one mountain stage to go.  But had he gone too deep?  Was he going to crack on the Lombarda? A normal cyclist may have, but not Nibali.  He attacked Chaves, dug deep, attacked again and by the end of the stage he was in pink.  

For Chaves, Valverde and Kruijswijk, the fight for pink was over.   

Bob Jungels establishes himself as a future grand tour winner

Luxembourg has a rich history of road cycling. Somehow the flat land has developed some champion cyclists like Charly Gaul and Andy Schleck.

Well it looks like Luxembourg has found its next grand tour winner in Bob Jungels

As an ex-national TT champion, Jungels finished 7th in the ITT on stage 1 and followed up with 6th in the mountain ITT on stage 9. He completed well in bunch sprints. He also helped Kruijswijk in the mountains with his attacks, but also kept in his GC top10 as well.

Jungels came in 6th overall, 1st in the Young Rider Classification and held the pink jersey between stages 10-12. Not bad for a rider who is only 23 years old.

A rider with a huge future. To be a proper GC contender he will have to build on his mountain climbing abilities. But at 23, he has plenty of time for that.

Next year, the team will surely be pencilling him in as one of the riders for the Tour de France.

The Colombian army march continues

Is there a country that has produced more exciting climbers in world cycling over the last 10 years than Colombia?  

Urãn, Betancur, Arredondo and Quintana have demonstrated their grand tour stripes with their climbing abilities.

And then comes along Esteban Chaves who continues the Colombian army’s march into Europe. He won stage 13 and showed his climbing abilities in the Dolomites and the Alps.   

Chaves got into the pink jersey by the end of stage 19 with a small gap of 44 seconds over Nibali.

Unfortunately for Chaves, he did not have super-domestique like Scarponi in his team and those 44 seconds were not enough to hold out Nibali.  Maybe next year.

  

But the wave of Colombian cyclists wowing the crowds on the sides of mountains does not stop at Chaves.  Egan Bernal’s early performances suggests he is a name to remember as the next Colombian cyclist to come through.

Ciccone may be the next big Italian climber

Giulio Ciccone from Bardiani-CSF escaped from Cunego and Pirazzi to win the first high mountain stage.  What made Ciccone's stage win special was he only signed a professional contract four months before after being Bardiani’s stagiaire in late 2015.

Ciccone comes from a climbing pedigree after winning the mountain classification in the Giro della Valle d’Aosta in 2015. A race won twice by Fabio Aru.

I am sure if you trawl through the cycling history books you will not find too many first year cyclists that win a stage at a grand tour let alone a cyclist that is only four months into their cycling career.

Unfortunately for Ciccone, a gastrointestinal problem worsened and he had to withdraw before the start of stage 19. So he did not get to finish his first grand tour

Ciccone’s stage win will be enough to make the world tour teams stand up and mark him down as a future prospect to watch.

Kruijswijk will not forget stage 19

As the riders started arriving to start the 99th edition of the Giro in Holland, LottoNL-Jumbo was not of the high profile teams that was likely to win a stage let alone having a rider in the maglia rosa over the event.   

Step forward Steven Kruijswijk.  He came to the start line in Apeldoorn hoping to get in the top 5. Suddenly by the third week and after the third and final rest day, Kruijswijk was in a commanding position

He wore the maglia rosa for five days.  On the sixth, he controlled the peloton on the climb to the top of Colle dell’Agnello.  He was the strongest rider and was only two stages away from the biggest win of his career.  The altitude training over the winter had paid off.

Kruijswijk misjudged the turn and the descent of the Agnello and ploughed into a snow bank. The jersey was lost there.

We don't like to see the jersey leaders crash and lose the lead.  But this is professional racing.

Who can forget Trentin's win

Do we remember the times when riders did not wear race radios?  Moreno Moser will certainly not forget and will curse his radio was broken on stage 18.  Coming into the finish line in Pinerolo, Moser only had to beat fellow Italian, Brambilla, to claim the stage win.  

What Moser could not hear after coming off the Pramartino was his team yelling down the race radio that Matteo Trentin was closing in. Fortunately for Etixx, Brambilla could hear his team and a look over the shoulder saw Trentino streaming down.

With 200 metres left before the finish line, Trentino comes powering along with jersey zipped undone to sprint to victory.  What an amazing finish to the stage.

In summary this Giro has been packed with drama and emotion since riders rolled off the start line in Holland. Like I say every year, this Giro was better than the last.

Three riders in pink in the last four stages of the Giro.  It only proves that the fight for pink is the grandest of the Grand Tours.  

The Tour de France has a lot to live up to be as exciting as the Giro.  We only have 32 sleeps to find out.

Kruijswijk lost the maglia rosa and now lost the Giro

Steven Kruijswijk started Stage 19 of the giro in the maglia rosa and a lead of 3 minutes over second placed Esteban Chaves. All that he had to do to win the giro was to stay upright over the next two stages and he would be the first Dutch rider to win the Giro.

Fast forward to the end of stage 19 and after a dramatic stage, where Kruijswijk crashed on the descent of the Colle dell'Agnello, had problems with his bike after it flipped several times requiring a bike change. He struggled to finish the stage coming in 4.54 minutes after Nibali.

With hours to go before the start of stage 20 - Guillestre to Sant’Anna di Vinadio, I am calling it now that Kruijswijk will not recover and retake the maglia rosa before the final stage into Torino.

Why have I reached this conclusion given that Kruijswijk was the strongest rider to reach the top of the Cima Coppi - Colle dell'Agnello?

Well, Kruijswijk hit the snow bank in the descent of the Agnello head first,  somersaulting before finally getting up. The cuts and grazes hide the true state of his injuries with x-rays later revealing a fractured rib. He is quoted in cyclingnews stating “My body hurts like hell and so it’s all over”.

Photo: Herald Sun

We still do not know if he will start the stage in Guillestre tonight. The team will make the decision in the morning French time. Even if he does start he will not have slept well. His injuries will hamper his ability to get over the three climbs, especially with Nibali and Valverde attacking to unhinge the maglia rosa from Chaves’ back.

To win a three week grand tour you need a strong team around you. Look how Nibali won yesterday's stage to Risoul with Scarponi getting in the breakaway. This allowed the team to call him back to help Nibali. Similarly Orica-GreenEdge did the same with Plaza to help Chaves.

Kruijswijk has the weakest team of the three possible contenders - Chaves, Nibali and Valverde. LottoNL-Jumbo rarely get riders in the breakaway in the mountain stages. Their only hope is for LottoNL to get their strongest rider, Enrico Battaglin, in a breakaway on the first mountain climb, allowing him to be called back to assist Kruijswijk as he goes on the attack.

Kruijswijk also does not have a strong team to drive the peloton to pierce the armour, as Robbie McEwen explained last night, and soften up Chaves by making one hell of a momentous attack on Colle della Lombarda.  Therefore, Kruijswijk is likely to be isolated on the first or second mountain climb, struggling with his injuries.  

I am sure no one wants to lose a race, let alone a grand tour, because of a crash. But that is professional racing. To win a grand tour you have to time trial, climb a series of mountains and also descend them.

Unfortunately for Kruijswijk, the crash on the descent of the Colle dell'Agnello has lost him the race, not only the lead. As he said, it was a silly mistake.

Will Chaves’ win lead to a change in strategy for Orica-GreenEdge?

Esteban Chaves from Orica-GreenEdge (Orica) won stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia through the Italian dolomites region.  In winning the marathon 214km stage, Chaves became the first Orica rider to win a true mountain stage in a grand tour, which has been described as the toughest stage on the cycling calendar this year.

Photo credit: Cyclingnews.com

What was truly amazing about Chaves’ win, was he did it without the assistance from his teammates, unlike Movistar and Astana, which had their teams fully supporting Valverde and Nibali respectively.

Chaves is only 26 years, but yesterday's win showed he has the climbing pedigree to win a grand tour. He is also a capable timetrialler too. This is not Chaves' first win. He also won two stages at the Vuelta a España last year, further emphasising his abilities. But can he win this year’s Giro?

Orica was only admitted to the UCI World Tour series since 2012. In five short years, the team has been very successful, winning stages in all grand tours, including holding the yellow jersey at the Tour de France and the maglia rosa in the Giro d'Italia. The team has also been successful in winning major spring classics, like Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and stages in other World Tour events across Europe and Australia.

But with all this success, Orica has never been seen as one of the favourites to win a grand tour. Nor after three weeks has it threatened to win it.

But winning the 2016 Giro d’Italia or a grand tour is unlikely to happen this year.  It is unlikely to happen in the short-term either.  The main problem for Orica surrounds its roster as it is too heavily skewed to winning stages or one day races.  It is talented with the likes of Simon Gerrans, Caleb Ewan, Daryl Impey and Michael Matthews.  But these riders will never will a grand tour.  Neither does Orica’s roster consist of six riders that are capable of supporting Chaves in the mountain stages of the three grand tours.  

Winning a grand tour will require a change in the strategic direction of Orica and a significant refresh of its rider roster.  A direction that moves away from stage wins.  

For Chaves, or any other Orica rider, to climb onto the top step after three weeks will need the support of Gerry Ryan, Orica’s owner, and Shayne Bannan, Orica’s General Manager to bring in the caliber of riders that are capable of supporting Chaves over six to seven high mountains stages. Similar to what Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas did for Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome at Team Sky in the Tour de France.  

This means shifting the focus of grand tours from having the sole purpose of obtaining one or two stage wins by Michael 'Bling’ Matthews or Caleb Ewan. No more sprint trains. By all means, Orica should have these riders in the team fighting for stage wins.  But these riders need to help Chaves win the general classification once the race hits the mountains. Just like Rory Sutherland did on stage 14 of the Giro for Movistar.  It also means not pulling out sprinters in the Giro once the race reaches the mountains.  Selection policies for these races need to change.  If you cannot get over the high mountains, you do not make the team to support Chaves go for the general classification. This is what I am referring to a change in the direction of Orica.

Orica did not buy Richie Porte as they clearly knew that they had a rider, in Chaves, that is capable of winning a grand tour. However, they don't have the riders to support him to climb to the top of the podium after three weeks.  

The focus of Orica must shift from being a team that wins one day classics or stages in World Tour events. This needs to occur before Chaves is snapped up by Movistar, BMC or Team Sky where he will get the support to achieve his goals.