British media reaction to Sky ending Team Sky sponsorship

British media outlets and individual cycling correspondents have been reacting to news that Sky is withdrawing from sponsoring and ownership of Team Sky.

 

British journalists and newspapers have been reacting with surprise to news that Sky is ceasing to sponsor Team Sky at the end of this year.

And many have wondered what it means for the team and, more generally, the implications for British cycling.

Writing in The Guardian, Richard Williams said the takeover of Sky by Concast earlier this year and James Murdoch’s departure from Sky were at the root of the company’s decision to exit pro cycling.

And as he attempted to put shape on what the legacy of the team would be, Williams painted a mixed picture.

“The enormous sum (perhaps approaching £200m) invested in Dave Brailsford’s philosophy of marginal gains – which basically meant buying the best of everything, from the team bus to the riders’ pillows – helped raise cycling to a very different position in the national life, although it should never be forgotten their success was built on the platform erected by the publicly funded Olympic programme run by British Cycling,” he said.

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“A complex and in some ways opaque arrangement under which they shared facilities and expertise was brought under examination when the stories about the questionable use of TUEs emerged, along with the exposure of inadequate medical record-keeping.

“History will see the 10-year era of Team Sky as an object lesson in the dangers that accompanied Brailsford’s vision and ambition.

“His approach made cycling more professional while forfeiting some of its humanity and spontaneity, the very qualities cherished by so many of its adherents.”

In the same newspaper, Sean Ingle said while many had sought to suggest Sky’s withdrawal was no great surprise, the riders and staff were shocked by the development.

“The news, which was broken to stunned riders and staff over dinner at their training camp in Mallorca on Tuesday night, draws to an end more than a decade of success,” he said.

Sky News also commented on the team’s incredible success rate, especially in the Grand Tours, of which it has won eight, including six Tours de France.

But it too pointed to the recent controversies; drawing a line between them and possible damage to the Sky corporate brand.

“Sky executives are understood to have told Team Sky bosses they felt the partnership had come to a natural conclusion after a decade,” Sky News reported.

“But there will be undoubtedly be questions from those who believe the brand has been irretrievably damaged by a string of high-profile controversies over the past two years.”

The Telegraph’s cycling correspondent Tom Cary said Dave Brailsford and Team Sky had made the kind of financial commitments of late that suggested they believed Sky would continue to back the team beyond 2019.

“Earlier this summer, Sir Dave Brailsford’s team agreed a lease at the Manchester Institute of Health & Performance, a few hundred metres from the national velodrome where they have been based since the team’s inception in 2009,” Cary wrote.

“The lease is understood to be long term - at least five years - which would take it up to the end of what was being spoken about as Team Sky’s ‘secured funding cycle’ of 2024.”

Other British journalists, many who specialise in cycling, took to Twitter to offer up their thoughts, which you will find below.

 

Dan Roan, BBC sports editor

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William Fotheringham, The Guardian

 

Matt Lawton, Daily Mail

 

Orla Chennaoui, Sky Sports

 

Ian Parker, Press Association

 

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