WorldTour
PureBlack Racing | cycling dream needs sponsorship edge
Lately, sponsorship uncertainty has shadowed the apex teams of professional road cycling like a Grim Reaper. Potentially, this creates a trickle-down alert for prospective sponsors seeking to engage even at UCI Continental levels – destabilizing the sport’s future funding pipeline. It’s diligent to have a wider arsenal.
GreenEDGE launches | Beppu targets Giro, Japan Cup
Following a novel training session with the Melbourne Storm rugby league team yesterday, cyclists from the Australian GreenEDGE professional cycling team were today presented to a small crowd outside Melbourne’s Town Hall by Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle. Looking on was team owner Gerry Ryan, founder of caravan manufacturer Jayco and long-time backer of cycling events in … Continue reading
2012 UCI Road Cycling calendar | Asia-Pacific
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has uploaded all 2012 road cycling calendars, in table form, to the UCI website. Awesome, but we’re visual people. Cycling iQ has put together a simple map of all scheduled UCI World Tour, Asia Tour and Oceania road cycling events to be held in Asia-Pacific during the upcoming 2012 season.
IRAN | going ballistic for cycling
Earlier this month, an article in the Tehran Times explained the country’s road cyclists had helped Iran top the UCI’s Asia Tour rankings for the 2011 season. This meant the Iran Olympic team could field the maximum number of three cyclists at the 2012 London Games’ road cycling race.
UCC bicycles | not another giant
Siloed in the NE Asia market (with Indonesia an exception), UCC might well be the biggest bicycle brand you never heard of. Since inception five years ago, Universal Cycle Corporation’s year-on-year growth is modest in the context only a Chinese start-up in a country with 8-10% annual economic growth could truly relate to. So why isn’t … Continue reading
2011 Tour of Beijing | A sponsor’s perspective
Universal Cycle Corporation (UCC) was “designated bicycle sponsor” at the recent Tour of Beijing. That’s quite a big deal, considering China is home to a few *cough* GIANT bicycle brands. Richard Lin, UCC’s president, and Tony Wu, Owner of UCC’s China distributor Rapid Trading, joined me for a late-night coffee at the official team hotel … Continue reading
2011 Tour of Beijing | Day 5
Riders waking to Tour of Beijing’s final day withdrew heavy hotel curtains to reveal a greyscale environment, opaque and heavily infused with the legacy of China’s insatiable industrialisation. No doubt more than a few questioned the logic of their chosen vocation today, though it never seemed possible that air thick enough to support a chopstick … Continue reading
2011 Tour of Beijing | Day 4
Stunning scenery and opportunities to glimpse the Great Wall of China underscored today’s undulating 189.5km stage, from Yanqing Gui Chuan Square to Olympic Water Park, as the best yet. Our kamikaze driver, upon whom I bestowed the moniker “Maverick”, was in top form, thrashing our tortured Foton media van through the countryside and blasting the … Continue reading
2011 Tour of Beijing | Day 3
Finally, some proper hills. The 158km third stage, from Men Tou Gou to Yong Ning, featured three category one climbs, including an epic descent – the type that seems to contradict the theory that engineers are stable, logical beings. In the end though, a well-pedigreed Irishman took honours – whilst our van load of media … Continue reading
2011 Tour of Beijing | Day 2
Struck hard by illness and languishing in the bottom heap of the 152 rider peloton, Samuel Sanchez was expected to remain outside the major placings during today’s 148km second stage from Bird’s Nest Plaza to Men Tao Gou. By contrast, perhaps nobody expected a Chinese rider to be today’s most aggressive rider.
