Tour Down Under gets ProTour status

As an australian i was surprised they allowed this. Like you say it really shortens the off season. I would suggest the teams would send out the "seconds" squad. I certainly don't expect the big names here. The other problem is our local teams may not be able to enter. Uni SA and United Water enter teams with the better riders from some of the larger Australian teams that race the Continental circut (I am pretty sure it is the Continental races. Teams like Savings and LOans, Drapac Porshe, SA.com AIS). Any way it will make it harder for some of our riders to get there name out there if this is the case. On hte other hand it may be a good chance to see some of the bigger names in cycling out here.

Last but not least, i don't know if i would want to be associated with the Pro Tour anyway, the way they (UCI) have carried on the last couple of years🙄 .

leestevens said:

As an australian i was surprised they allowed this. Like you say it really shortens the off season. I would suggest the teams would send out the "seconds" squad. I certainly don't expect the big names here. The other problem is our local teams may not be able to enter. Uni SA and United Water enter teams with the better riders from some of the larger Australian teams that race the Continental circut (I am pretty sure it is the Continental races. Teams like Savings and LOans, Drapac Porshe, SA.com AIS). Any way it will make it harder for some of our riders to get there name out there if this is the case. On hte other hand it may be a good chance to see some of the bigger names in cycling out here.

Last but not least, i don't know if i would want to be associated with the Pro Tour anyway, the way they (UCI) have carried on the last couple of years🙄 .

absolute joke.

Why just not call it, Training Camp Downunder.

You cannot have a race of magnitude in the first week in January. You really can't have one off time zone neither.

South Africa would be more appropriate. If you dedicate one, engage in some geo-political diplomacy, be better having it there. South Africa will be a bastion of strong riders, the next decade, they will be the Australia of the last decade.

It makes no sense having this TDU for the PT. It hurts Australian cycling. Turtur might need to front ALOT more appearance money, I cannot see teams like Saunier wanting to front up 20 thousand Euro for the week, when you consider, the owner of the team, might only earn 100 thousand profit if that as his margin. Asking him to impinge on his cost structure.

No one wants to race in January in 40 degree celsius 'cept some domestic Aussies like Russell Van Hout. No one wants to. Heck, they could not fi Trent Wilson in the TDU in '07, and Willo had a whinge. They won't be able to fit him in next year neither 🙁

Poor Willo

I had always considered it a training camp any way. No real big names come out here.🙂

40 degrees in the middle of summer is the best time to race.😄
Mmmm, yes i hadn't thought of perhaps providing more prize money either. More money drained from the state coffers. On the upside, Skoda will provide all the cars required for the next 10 (i think, don't quote me on that) years. Oh hang on, now the local manufacturer loses out on some exposure😕 .
I think it would have been a lot better off leaving it as it was. Sure there is progress to be made, but for a race that is only 10 years old and no deciding type hill climbs. We may as well go beyond the hills to the desert and have a race similar to Qatar.😉

I think that UCI is screwing up once again. Races like the Tour Down Under the Tour de Langkawi and Qatar (and Tour of California) had a definite purpose - permit the pros to get good, nice weather kms in, do some racing (best way to train, after all) and provide valuable exposure to 'new' cycling markets/domestic teams from the host countries.

Now, in the battle between the big 3 organisers in Europe and the UCI, we are ruining these races. Does McQuaid expect Contador to peak early to win the hilly stages in Langkawi? This is silly.

Powerful Pete said:

I think that UCI is screwing up once again. Races like the Tour Down Under the Tour de Langkawi and Qatar (and Tour of California) had a definite purpose - permit the pros to get good, nice weather kms in, do some racing (best way to train, after all) and provide valuable exposure to 'new' cycling markets/domestic teams from the host countries.

Now, in the battle between the big 3 organisers in Europe and the UCI, we are ruining these races. Does McQuaid expect Contador to peak early to win the hilly stages in Langkawi? This is silly.

why does cycling have to get bigger and better.

I thought it was fine, with its mix of doyenne classics, and GTs.

Why does the US have to have lots of money in its domestic cycling and be on TV.

The cultural determinants are just void in the US, it is no good talking about "getting it on TV".

Who wants to watch domestic racing on TV now you can strean cyclingTV and watch the big hitters ply their trade.

Sometimes, niche sports, are just that, niche sports.

They are not any less relevant nor less important, because of the lack of revenue. Sometimes, one has to be realistic.

Put it in perspective. Canadian football players will never stay home and play in the CFL if they can play at Florida State and play in the NFL.

American soccer players will never play for the Galaxy if they can play for Man U.

Russian Hockey players will never stay with St Petersburg if they can play for the Flyers or the Oilers.

Japanese baseballers will never play for Tokyo if they can play for the dodgers.

Belgium, and the Tour, will always be the heart of cycling. America, will never compare. The financial and economic might will never transform American cycling, because in the day of globalisation, the money will go to the ASO and the Tour, like Nike and Nestle.

Cycling will never be fully embraced part of the cultural fabric and sporting landscape of Australia, not in the mainstream. But it will always be a part of the niche, the periphary, where it has had good growth in the past decade. I do not see it becoming much stronger, even with a Tour winner. Australia has always had a rich track history, and the summer carnivals, and regional racing. It is not like the current new wave, came from nowhere, there was always a latent population, that just needed a vehicle. Ogrady et al in the 90's opened the career path. (honoury mentions for Stephens and Anderson)

thunder said:

why does cycling have to get bigger and better.

I thought it was fine, with its mix of doyenne classics, and GTs.

There is a huge incentive for those involved in pro cycling. The amount of money in the sport of cycling is really pitiful. Here is the payout for the U.S. tennis open (both men's and women's):

Winners $1,400,000 Runners-Up $700,000 Semifinalists $300,000 Quarterfinalists $150,000 Round of 16 $75,000 Third Round $43,000 Second Round $27,500 First Round $17,500 TOTAL $6,588,000 ($13,176,000)
When you add doubles and such, the total prize money is nearly twenty million. The TdF has total prize money of less than one fourth of that.

Then there is the broadcast money. American sports have such huge amounts of money because of the value of the TV rights. This is a huge, juicy carrot haning out there in front of the UCI and the ProTour. If the sport could become a reasonable fraction of the size of one of the bigger sports then top riders salaries could go from one or two million to ten or twenty million. Low level ProTour pros could go from making thirty thousand to a few hundred thousand.

The UCI sees the possibility. They are just too incompetent to realize it. And maybe the nature of cycling makes it impossible.

Bro Deal said:

There is a huge incentive for those involved in pro cycling. The amount of money in the sport of cycling is really pitiful. Here is the payout for the U.S. tennis open (both men's and women's):

Winners $1,400,000 Runners-Up $700,000 Semifinalists $300,000 Quarterfinalists $150,000 Round of 16 $75,000 Third Round $43,000 Second Round $27,500 First Round $17,500 TOTAL $6,588,000 ($13,176,000)
When you add doubles and such, the total prize money is nearly twenty million. The TdF has total prize money of less than one fourth of that.

Then there is the broadcast money. American sports have such huge amounts of money because of the value of the TV rights. This is a huge, juicy carrot haning out there in front of the UCI and the ProTour. If the sport could become a reasonable fraction of the size of one of the bigger sports then top riders salaries could go from one or two million to ten or twenty million. Low level ProTour pros could go from making thirty thousand to a few hundred thousand.

The UCI sees the possibility. They are just too incompetent to realize it. And maybe the nature of cycling makes it impossible.

do you know ant atp guys outside the top 100? They do it very tuff...

If you did to cycling, just pulled out a top 150, and had them race every day, do the doyennes, and GTs. Then they would be getting money, real money.

But a guy like Mcewen, he may ride against 1000 riders in a year, all professional. Cycling feeds those mouths. You condense the pool, there would be more money.

The only race, which could change the economics of the sport, is the Tour. The Tour could pay, perhaps another 10 million Euro in prizemoney, to be on the equivalent of other sporting events.

What happens then tho, the cycling TEAMS, take their cut, a little, if the riders to not have the strpnger terms of trade and hegemony in negotiation. So, salaries go down, prizemoney gos up which compensates. Market power, means not all that 10 million will filter to the riders pockets.

But the riders have no union to enforce action and negotiation. Because a Tour win, even with 5 million prizemoney for first, is probably worth more to the rider in future income streams, not the prizemoney after divvied via 9.

So, you will always have Rasmussen etc, jumping teams to ride the tour, even if the lower level guys want to picket line. The elites in the peloton control the culture top down. In their interest to be on the starting line.