Bradley Wiggins and Aqua Blue Sport's Adam Blythe have been discussing the team's demise; what went wrong and what it says about cycling.
Bradley Wiggins and Adam Blythe on Aqua Blue Sport
Former Aqua Blue Sport rider Adam Blythe said he believed the team’s bikes were a problem from the start of the season and had weighed on the Irish squad all year.
Speaking in the same interview on Eurosport, Bradley Wiggins said cycling was struggling financially.
Aqua Blue Sport was not the only team going through major difficulties and the riders affected by team closures faced a very challenging time.
Asked what had happened in the team, Blythe said: “I don’t know to be honest. I know as much as you do in the press.
“It’s gone to crap basically. That’s it, it’s just done. The owner’s pulled out of the team and just ended it. That’s it; no more racing for the end of the season.
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“He’s going to keep paying us, as he says. So fingers crossed we’ll get that money. And then that’s it, done.”
Rick Delaney had already given an interview to the Cycling Blog, saying he had signed a three-year deal with 3T bikes.
He said the 1X bikes had been repeatedly problematic and suggested that was a major drag on the team, Delaney said he had a contract with 3T until the end of 2020 which he wanted to extricate himself from.
The possible merger with, or acquisition of Sniper Cycling, would have achieved that.
But when that deal broke down and he was left with two seasons to run with 3T; that all heavily influenced his decision to end the team.
In his interview on the Bradley Wiggins Show on Eurosport, Blythe agreed. He cited the bikes first and foremost when asked what the biggest issue was in the ProContinental team.
“We’ve been on one chain ring all year, haven’t we?” said Blythe. “It was terrible. You can’t race around... It’s like a track bike with gears.
“There’s only one chain ring so you can imagine if you’re doing a climb, normally you’d have the 38 ring to drop down to.
“But now (on a 1X bike) you’ve just got a 10 cassette that just goes up to a 42 with a 50 ring on the front.
“So you’re knackered. You can’t race around a one-day race never mind two-week races or a week race. (From) day one I was like ‘this is not a good idea’.
“But the team signed up to a contract with it and that was it, we had to deal with it.”
Asked how he felt now, Blythe said with a family to look after his primary concern was to continue to get paid.
The riders have a contract to the end of the year. Delaney said he would pay the riders until December 31st when their contracts expire.
He added he had five riders signed up for next year at the time the team closed a week ago.
Delaney believed two already had deals – Eddie Dunbar is said to be one of those – for next season.
But for the three without contracts yet for 2019, he said he would honour those contracts.
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That would mean continuing to pay riders all through next year, when they would be riding with other teams if they can secure places.
Blythe said he just wanted to continue to get paid and was “just glad to be off that bike to be honest, it’s behind me”.
Because the team has stopped racing, Blythe said he now faced a long off-season. With that in mind it was important for him to focus on continuing to train.
However, with “nothing to ride your bike for” it was hard to keep training. And he also said he had had no contacts from any other teams about riding for them next year.
He would not sit and wait for the phone to ring but would instead be proactive in his search for a new contract.
"It's gone to c**p!" @AdamBlythe89 reveals the reasons behind Aqua Blue Sport's demise
FULL EPISODE: https://t.co/rN6obn5jBN pic.twitter.com/BeCwxFmKmP
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) September 3, 2018
Bradley Wiggins said Aqua Blue Sport’s demise reflected “the state of cycling” at present.
He also pointed to One Pro Cycling; a British Continental team that is cutting its men’s team next year.
“It’s tough going for cycling, there’s a relatively small pot of money for everybody and it’ difficult to find funding for these teams,” Wiggins said.
He added the budgets were not increasing, saying teams like WorldTour outfit Groupama-FDJ were probably operating on the same budget they had 10 to 15 years ago.
At the same time everything was getting more expensive. And there were more demands than ever on cycling teams to have a whole range of additional support staff and more vehicles.
Bradley Wiggins added that some riders were being paid more than ever. And teams like Team Sky and Katusha-Alpecin had a lot of money.
But the gap between big and small teams was widening in cycling, like in most sports.
“With teams like Team Wiggins (which he owns), Aqua Blue, One Pro; it’s very difficult,” he said.
Transfer market mechanics
Furthermore, he suggested that when teams folded as Aqua Blue Sport has, the only winners were other team managers.
“What happens is that you’ve got this massive influx of riders (onto the transfer market) at the end of the season that are without contracts through no fault of their own,” he said.
“And (other managers) get to pick and the get riders on the cheap; for a lot cheaper than they would have done had they signed them earlier in the year.
“So the teams and managers benefit and the ones who suffer are the riders; as usual. It’s the nature of the sport, it’s always been like that.
“It’s quite cut-throat when teams end or they decide they don’t want you anymore. You’re left to fend on your own and find somewhere new and it’s brutal.”
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