Tuesday, March 19, 2024
HomeNuggetsThe VV View: Team Sky's 'Marginal Gains' - Worthwhile, or Simply Hype?

The VV View: Team Sky’s ‘Marginal Gains’ – Worthwhile, or Simply Hype?

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It’s great to see cycling breaking mainstream – a double page colour spread in the Times, discussing ‘Marginal Gains’… it’s almost as if the guy that bankrolls the team, owns the newspaper. He does? Oh!

Marginal Gains
The Times, today.

We’re treated to nine examples of marginal gains:

  1. Cav and Lance get a kicking for having personalised paint jobs on their bikes – the Pinarellos only have 25% of the frame painted, to save weight.
    With virtually every bike in the peloton nudging the UCI minimum weight restriction, anyway – am I missing something?
  2. Sky have the ‘most aerodynamic shorts in the game.’ Super cool news for those chronos – but when the mud is flying at Het Nieuwsblad…
  3. Great lengths have been gone to in order to secure Sky’s race radio communications – money well spent when you consider the UCI will ban them, in a year or two.
  4. The asymmetrical Pinarello – I love Pinarellos, but how come all bikes up until now haven’t gone round in circles when you’re stepping on it?
  5. I’m not sure if this is an early April Fool; but the bus apparently has a telescopic mast with a strobe light on top, so the riders can spot it after the finish.
    Frans Assez would have run his Flanders team for a year on the price of that.
  6. Apparently all sorts of tests were done to come up with the team kit design.
    When I’m even older and writing articles about ‘cult cycling jerseys of the past;’ Bianchi, Faemino, Peugeot, Brooklyn – Sky? hardly.
  7. Mood lighting on the bus, maybe there’s a vacancy for a DJ? I’ve still got all my 80’s 12″ vinyl.
  8. More on the bus – 9 x skype, laundry, electrically obscuring glass, etc.
    Frans could have won classics with that amount of cash.
  9. ‘The line’ statement printed on the kit – so how come all the kit doesn’t have it?

I’m sorry for my cynicism, but it’s Barcelona, 92, Boardman all over again – that Lotus won the pursuit on it’s own.

Bikes and buses don’t win races – men do.

Marginal Gains
Sky’s mechanics hard at work on the Dogmas.

I think Sky will have a good year; Boasson Hagen is sheer quality and Steve Cummings is one big, strong under-rated rider, he’ll win this year. And that’s just two of the squad.

They won their first race and won it well, respect for that.

But let’s keep those hype filters firmly in place, readers.

Ed Hood
Ed Hood
Ed's been involved in cycling for over 50 years. In that time he's been a successful time triallist, a team manager and a sponsor of several teams and clubs. He's also a respected and successful coach and during the winter months was often working in the cabins at the Six Days for some of the world's top riders. Ed remains a massive fan of the sport and couples his extensive contacts with an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the minutiae and the history of our sport. In February 2023 however, our dear friend and beloved colleague Ed suffered a devastating stroke and faces an uncertain future; Ed has lost his ability to speak, to read, and has lost movement on the right side of his body. He's working with speech and physical therapists on rehabilitation, but all strokes are different and each patient responds differently, so unfortunately recovery is one day at a time. Ed ran his own business installing windows, and will probably not be able to work again. Please consider joining us to make a contribution to Ed's GoFundMe page to help stabilise and secure his future.