The Economics of Professional Road Cycling

Foreword: One Cycling
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
1 Context
2 Contents
2.1 Part 1: Organizational Structure and Finances of Professional Road Cycling (Chaps. 2, 3, 4, and 5)
2.2 Part 2: Demand for Professional Road Cycling (Chaps. 6, 7, and 8)
2.3 Part 3: Personnel and Performance Issues in Professional Road Cycling (Chaps. 9, 10, 11, and 12)
2.4 Part 4: Developing Trends in Professional Road Cycling (Chaps. 13 and 14)
3 Conclusion
References
Part I: Organizational Structure and Finances of Professional Road Cycling
Chapter 2: The History of Professional Road Cycling and Its Current Organizational Structure
1 Introduction
2 From Local Races to Global Sport Events
2.1 The Emergence of Professional Road Cycling: 1890s – Mid-1950s
2.2 The Development and Crises of Professional Road Cycling: Mid-1950s – Mid-1980s
2.3 The Globalization of Professional Road Cycling Since the Mid-1980s
3 A Century of Grand Tours
3.1 National Passions: The Grand Tours’ Background
3.2 Epic Races: Grand Tours’ Difficulty
3.3 Epic Fights: Riders’ Performance and Grand Tours’ Competitiveness
4 The Current Organizational Structure of Professional Road Cycling
4.1 General Structure
4.2 Governing Bodies
4.3 Race Organizers
4.4 Cycling Teams
4.5 Riders
5 Concluding Thought
References
Chapter 3: The Finances of Professional Cycling Teams
1 Introduction
2 The Growth in Team Budgets
3 The Costs of Cycling Teams
3.1 Team Personnel
3.2 Team Expenses
3.3 Rider Salaries
3.4 Other Rider Income
4 The Revenue of Cycling Teams
4.1 Participation Allowances and Presence Bonuses
4.2 Prize Money
5 Alternative Financing of Cycling Teams
5.1 The Media Rights Revenue Sharing Issue
5.2 The Velon Initiative
5.3 Non-fungible Tokens
5.4 The (Non)sense of a Cap System
6 The Finances of Women’s Cycling Teams
7 Concluding Thoughts
References
Chapter 4: Sponsorship in Professional Road Cycling
1 Introduction: On the Origins of Team Cycling Sponsorship
2 Business-to-Business Characteristics of Team Cycling Sponsorship
3 Duration and Termination of Team Cycling Sponsorship
4 Motives for Team Cycling Sponsorship
5 The Integration of Sponsorship Into Marketing Communication
5.1 Leveraging Team Cycling Sponsorship? The Sunweb Case
5.2 Leveraging Team Cycling Sponsorship: The Soudal Case
6 The Economic Return of Team Cycling Sponsorship
7 Sponsorship of Cycling Races
8 Challenges for Cycling Sponsorship
References
Chapter 5: The Economic Impact of Major Road Cycling Events
1 Introduction
1.1 Rise of Professional Road Cycling Events
1.2 Rivalry Among Cities
2 Events, Impact and Legacy
2.1 Sport Events
2.2 Main Stakeholders
2.3 Legacy and Impact
2.4 Types of Impact
2.5 Leveraging and Legacy Planning
3 Measuring Economic Impact and Legacy
3.1 Rise of Economic Impact Studies
3.2 Determining Number of Visits and Visitors
3.3 Direct Economic Impact
3.4 Direct, Indirect and Induced Economic Impact
3.5 Controversy over Economic Impact Studies
3.6 Cost-Benefit Analysis
3.7 Beyond Economic Impact
4 Le Grand Départ 2015
5 Conclusion
References
Part II: Demand for Professional Road Cycling
Chapter 6: TV Broadcasting of Road Cycling Races
1 Introduction
2 The Successful Marriage of Road Cycling and Television
3 The Complexities of Understanding TV Audiences for Cycling Broadcasts
4 TV Audiences for Cycling
4.1 The Quest for the ‘Real’ TV Audiences of a Cycling Race
4.2 Public Interest in Live TV Coverage of Cycling’s Major Races
4.3 The Worldwide Interest in Cycling’s Grand Tours
4.4 The Demographics of Cycling’s TV Audience
5 Empirical Research on TV Audiences for Road Cycling Competitions
6 TV Broadcasting of Women’s Cycling
7 The Economics of TV Broadcasting Rights for Cycling Races
8 The Challenges for the Future
8.1 Safeguard the Visibility and Reach of Professional Road Cycling
8.2 Embrace Efforts to Reach New Audiences
8.3 Create a Valuable Product
References
Chapter 7: The Tour de France: A Success Story in Spite of Competitive Imbalance
1 Introduction
2 The Tour de France: A Successful Managerial and Economic Model
2.1 A Well-Managed and Well-Designed Sport Event
2.2 A Modern Financing Model
3 The Tour’s Success and Tournament Theory
4 The Tour’s Success and Competitive Balance
4.1 Competitive Balance and Competitive Intensity in Road Cycling
4.2 The Measure of Competitive Balance in Cycling Stage Races
4.3 The Evolution of Competitive Balance in the Tour de France: 1947–2017
4.3.1 Static Competitive Balance Regarding Race Completion
4.3.2 Static Competitive Balance Regarding Final Time
4.3.3 Dynamic Competitive Balance Regarding Race Completion
4.3.4 Dynamic Competitive Balance Regarding Final Time
4.4 Discussion
5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 8: Willingness to Pay for Professional Road Cycling Events
1 Introduction
2 Theoretical Framework of Willingness to Pay
3 Willingness to Pay for Sport Events
4 Willingness to Pay for Professional Road Cycling Events
4.1 Ronde van Vlaanderen
4.2 Grande Partenza of the Giro d’Italia 2016
4.3 Road Cycling World Championships, Bergen 2017
4.4 Grand Départ Tour de France 2015
4.5 Willingness to Pay for a Mass Participation Cycling Event
5 Conclusion
References
Part III: Personnel and Performance Issues in Professional Road Cycling
Chapter 9: Human Capital and Labor Exchange in Road Cycling
1 Introduction
2 Human Capital in Professional Cycling
2.1 Physical Components of Cycling Human Capital
2.2 Cognitive Components of Cyclists’ Human Capital
2.3 Athletes
2.3.1 Career Progression and Specialization
2.3.2 Genetics/Physiological Characteristics (Nature)
2.3.3 Development (Nurture)
2.4 Coaches and Directors
2.4.1 Experience as a Competitor
2.4.2 Experience as a Coach/Director
2.4.3 Traditional Educational Attainment
2.4.4 Formal Certification and Continuing Education
2.5 The Future of Human Capital Research in Cycling
3 Sport Agents in Cycling
3.1 Team Sport Agency Literature
3.2 Historical Background of Riders’ Agents
3.3 Riders’ Agent Regulations: An Application to Cycling of Preexisting Regulations
3.3.1 International (UCI) Regulations
UCI Regulation of Access to the Profession
Regulation of the Activity
3.3.2 French Regulations
FFC Regulation of Access to the Profession
Regulation of the Activity
3.3.3 Italian Regulations
4 Riders Unions
4.1 Collective Bargaining in Sport
4.2 The CPA, the UCI, and the Riders Union
4.3 Challenge of Globalization-Antitrust
5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 10: Strategic Behavior in Road Cycling Competitions
1 Introduction
2 Why Is There Strategy, Not Just Brute Force, in Road Cycling Competitions?
2.1 Air Resistance, Drafting, and Crosswind
2.2 Cycling Races as Strategic Individual and Team Competitions
2.3 Game Theory in Road Cycling
3 Attack Timing Strategy: When to Attack?
3.1 Flat Stage Strategy: When Do You Attack to Win the Stage?
3.2 Mountain Stage Strategy: When Do You Attack to Win the Stage?
3.3 Stage Race Strategy: On Which Stage(s) Do You Attack to Win the Race?
4 Cooperation in a Breakaway and in the Peloton: When to “Free Ride”?
4.1 The Breakaway’s Dilemma: Why Cooperate in a Breakaway?
4.2 Possible Solutions to the Breakaway’s Dilemma: How Can Certain Breakaways Succeed?
4.3 The Peloton’s Dilemma: Why Cooperate in the Peloton?
5 Three-Player Interactions: With Whom to Ally?
6 Sprint Strategy: How to Sprint?
7 Conclusion
References
Chapter 11: Modeling Performances and Competitive Balance in Road Cycling Competitions
1 Introduction
2 The Difficulty of Modeling Performances and Competitive Balance in Road Cycling
2.1 Aggregated Team Performance Versus Individual Performance
2.2 Leader’s Objectives
2.3 Performances by Support Riders
2.4 Strategic Interactions Between Opponents
2.5 Efficacy Versus Efficiency
3 Literature on Modeling Performances and Competitive Balance in Road Cycling
3.1 Modeling Performances in Cycling
3.2 Modeling Competitive Balance
3.2.1 Modeling Competitive Balance Between Riders
3.2.2 Modeling Competitive Balance Between Teams
4 An Innovative Measure: Competitive Intensity in Road Cycling
4.1 Competitive Intensity in Professional Team Sports
4.2 Competitive Intensity in Road Cycling
4.2.1 Competitive Intensity in Regular Stages
4.2.2 Competitive Intensity in Time Trials
4.3 Illustrations
4.3.1 Illustration in a Regular Stage
4.3.2 Illustration in a Time Trial
4.4 Implications
5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 12: Doping in Cycling
1 Introduction
2 From Amphetamines to Clenbuterol
2.1 Amphetamines
2.2 Anabolic Steroids
2.3 (Gluco)Corticosteroids
2.4 Growth Hormones
2.5 Beta-2-Agonists
3 The Wonder Drug EPO
3.1 The Origin of Blood Doping
3.2 How EPO Found Its Way into Cycling
3.3 Second-, Third-, and Fourth-Generation EPO
4 Testing of Doping
4.1 Testing of EPO
4.2 Contador’s 0.000000000005
4.3 Monitoring the Blood
4.4 Operación Puerto and Operación Galgo
4.5 Athlete’s Biological Passport
4.6 Data Gathering
4.7 Operation Aderlass
5 Determinants of Doping Use
5.1 The Difficult Choice to a Rider
5.2 The Omnipresence of Doctors
5.3 A Note on the Role of the UCI
6 Where Does Cycling Stand in 2022?
References
Part IV: Developing Trends in Professional Road Cycling
Chapter 13: Professional Women’s Road Cycling
1 Introduction
2 History of Professional Women’s Bike Racing
2.1 The Social Context of Riding Bikes
2.2 Women’s Racing in the Late 1890s: A Sum of the Right Ingredients
2.3 The Continuous Barriers into the Twentieth Century
3 Organizational Structure of Women’s Road Racing
3.1 The Organizations
3.2 The Teams
3.3 The Power to Change
3.4 Competition Structure
4 Media Coverage, Broadcasting, and Professional Women’s Road Cycling
5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 14: Globalization in Professional Road Cycling
1 Introduction
2 Globalization and the UCI
3 Globalization at the Rider Level
3.1 The Internationalization of the Peloton
3.2 Globalization Relative to Other Sports
3.3 Globalization in Race Results
4 Globalization of Cycling Teams
4.1 Geographical Breakdown of Cycling Teams Based on Licence Registration
4.2 International Heterogeneity of Cycling Teams
4.3 From Import to Globalization
5 Globalization of the UCI Road Cycling Calendar
5.1 The Internationalization of the UCI Road Cycling Calendar
5.2 The Internationalization of the UCI WorldTour Calendar
5.3 The Problems of a Globalized Cycling Calendar
6 Globalization in the Women’s WorldTour
7 Conclusion and Policy Proposals
Appendix 1: Breakdown of the Professional Peloton by Nationality (1990–2020)
Appendix 2: Geographical Breakdown of Professional Cycling Teams (1990–2020)
Appendix 3: Geographical Breakdown of UCI Road Cycling Races (1990–2019)
References