Brother UK Cycling Podcast – Episode 58
Timothy John
“Hello and welcome to this new edition of the Brother UK Cycling Podcast with me Timothy John and my co-host Phil Jones, the Managing Director of Brother UK.
“Phil, I saw on Twitter that your dream of a call up to Great Britain’s freestyle BMX team is still alive after watching 51-year-old Andy MacDonald in the men’s skateboarding in Paris.
“Could we see you in LA in four years’ time?”
Phil Jones
“Possibly, Tim. That’s a high probability. I have dusted off my BMX from 1984, have been riding it regularly, and also recently refurbished my friend’s Kuwahara, so I may indeed be asking him whether I might be able to borrow that. So, yes, all intentions are good at this particular point.”
Timothy John
“Training has begun! The Olympic Games is just one of several topics to get through today. It’s peak season. It’s a wonderful time. So much going on.
“We’ll take a look at the Olympics. We’ll have a look at the Ryedale Grand Prix, yesterday’s race, won by Lucy Lee of DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK. We’ll make a deep dive into the National Circuit Series, courtesy of Marc Etches, organiser of the Sheffield Grand Prix.
“And we’ll preview the Tour of Britain, which we now know will be headlined by double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel. If they’re looking to draw crowds to Kelso and beyond, Phil, then unveiling Remco Evenepoel is about as effective a measure as you can imagine.”
Phil Jones
“Well, without a doubt, particularly given his performances in the Olympics; not only the Tour de France, but the Olympics.
“He’s one of the biggest names in world cycling right now, so the ability to see him on British roads I think will certainly bring the crowds out.”
Timothy John
“Yeah. It speaks volumes too for the continuing status of this race. It may be under new management, but the stars continue to come. That’s a very positive point.
“Let’s start off with the Olympic Games: the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. Three riders from DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK were among the 10,714 athletes who took part.
“Tiffanny Keep rode for South Africa in the women’s road race. Alice Sharpe and Mia Griffin rode for Ireland in the women’s team pursuit, setting a new national record, and Alice also
rode in the women’s madison with team-mate Lara Gillespie, where they finished eleventh.
“And let’s not overlook Anna Henderson, who began her career with Brother UK-OnForm and set the ball rolling in Paris with a silver medal for Great Britain in the women’s time-trial.
“Let’s have a listen now to Tiffany and then to Alice.”
Tiffany Keep
“The road race drew a lot of comparisons to the race in Glasgow for the world championships last year, especially the city centre circuit part of the race.
like that in my whole life.
“It was such a privilege to be able to ride through the streets, having thousands of people spurring you on and cheering you on. It was just an electrifying atmosphere to witness. I’m so grateful I got to experience that, and I did my best to soak all of it up and just enjoy the experience as much as possible.
“Ultimately, I went to Paris to help achieve the best result possible for South Africa and that was by supporting Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio. I really gave it my best to try and help and support her.
“I can certainly see that I’ve come away, even since Glasgow last year, in terms of my ability to ride and navigate through the bunch. For sure, there are still things I can work on, and I still have a way to go, but that at the same time is quite motivating and gives me something to work towards.
Eiffel Tour, I mean, you can’t really get a finish like that anywhere else in the world, so it was really awesome.”
Alice Sharpe
“It’s funny because on the one hand it feels exactly the same because you see all of the same faces. All of those people are at every world cup, and you say hello to the same mechanics and the same swannies, but then, on the other hand, you’re like, ‘This is the biggest race and this is the thing that you’ve been leading to all this time.’ It’s both familiar and unfamiliar.
really nice.
“I suppose for something like team pursuit, you’re so well drilled and prepared that you’re nervous, but nervous to deliver your performance, rather than unsure of what you’re going to do.
“So, yeah, I think I felt quite calm beforehand and the general sense of everybody else on the team. That was really nice to settle the nerves. Everyone else was feeling confident and knew exactly what they needed to do.
atmosphere.
“Even afterwards, to look up and see that we’d set a national record: 4.12 was our own goal to achieve, so it was really amazing to look up and see that we had achieved that on the biggest day when it mattered.
“I think it was the fastest women’s madison that we’ve had, and, yeah, it felt it. The madison is always crazy. I don’t know if it’s easier when you’re in it. When you’re watching it, you think, ‘How does anybody keep track of what’s going on?’ but there’s some sort of rhythm to it. You just have to, as you say, trust the other person implicitly and go for it.
eleventh. You can’t be too disappointed in that. I was wrecked, but, as always after a madison, I was like, ‘Thank goodness all my skin is here, and I haven’t crashed!’
“You have a bit of an adrenaline rush afterwards, and also all of my family were there, so I was able to go out and speak to all of them, which was really nice, and just celebrate the occasion of being at the Olympics having made it there. Yeah, tired by happy."
Timothy John
“So, great to hear there from Tiffany and from Alice: two very different experiences of the Olympic Games: Tiffany on the road and Alice in the velodrome.
way to start and with a silver medal to boot.
“Lizzie Deignan launching a do-or-die attack in the road race. Tom Pidcock passing Victor Kortetzky in the men’s mountain bike with about an inch to spare. There were plenty of moments for the highlight reel in these Games.”
Phil Jones
“They were cracking, weren’t they? You’ve definitely highlighted some of the really big moments that we saw across all of the cycling disciplines, but Tom Pidcock’s mountain bike win, I think demonstrated a pure racer. It really, really did. It just showed Tom Pidcock’s will to win. It was right there, and he just took that move.
that really was a very big moment.
“Anna Henderson’s ride was just terrific, and it genuinely is testament to the system to look back and go, ‘We can remember meeting Anna in Wembley at the Tour Series all these years ago, when she was just bursting onto the scene, and look at her now: a WorldTour team and an Olympic silver medalist in the time-trial.’ Just fantastic and super to see her continue to go from strength-to-strength.
WorldTour teams that we’d get that selection right to be a little bit more at the pointy end of the men’s road race.
“All credit to Remco Evenepoel. To have a technical, have that puncture in those final few kilometres, to get his bike changed, to get to the line and still stand up, hold the bike above his head for that iconic photograph, with time to spare, I think just shows the quality that he has as a rider. I thought that was genuinely really, really amazing.
“Kristin Falkner: I know we’re talking about the Brits, but you’ve got to give credit to her, you really have. To pursue her dream, merchant banker turned Olympian, and to win ahead of people like Marianne Vos and Lotte Kopecky, absolutely amazing riders, so really, really well thought out.
Deignan twelfth, I think, and Anna Henderson thirteenth, so three riders in the top 20 in the women’s race. I think there was an awful lot that we could look at there.
“And who could forget Josh Tarling in the men’s time-trial? A guaranteed, probably, silver medal there, to see all of that slip away with that puncture. I’m sure you saw the post-race interview, but the disappointment on his face You’ve got to empathise with him. He got into fourth. He didn’t even make the podium after all that, but I think he looked like a nailed-on silver medallist with the way that he was riding.
“So, there was loads of interesting things, drama, high points, low points, weren’t there, but, in the main, I think there’s an awful lot for the team to feel proud about.”
Timothy John
“Yeah. It was a brilliant Games. Poor old Josh Tarling. Funnily enough, I was watching La Vuelta on Saturday, Phil, where he suffered a similar disappointment; not mechanical this time, just not having the legs.
“What a brilliant Games. Do you think we’ll see a ‘bounce’ as we did after Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012 where cycling was suddenly on the front page as well as the back page? Are we likely to see an increase in popularity again in this country?”
Phil Jones
“Well let’s hope so, because the industry certainly needs it right now, Tim. Of course, all of the armchair commentators will know just what a tough time the cycle industry is having globally right now, and it definitely needs new demand, new people, bike sales to pick up; all that kind of stuff.
get their mountain bikes out or their road bikes out and get out there and think about that aspiration for the future.”
INTERLUDE
Timothy John
“Yeah, it definitely has that inspiring effect and, as you say, goodness knows the bicycle industry needs it right now.
Hutchinson-Brother UK, this time in the form of Lucy Lee who sprinted to victory from a ten-rider escape group.
"Frankie Hall and Morven Yeoman, her team-mates, were also present, and Frankie finished third, having won the previous round in Lancaster. She’s now third in the individual standings. DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK continue to lead the team standings with just one round remaining: that’s the Beaumont Trophy and the Curlew Cup on September 15.
“How satisfying, Phil, to see Lucy Lee win after so many close finishes? She was third all the way back in March at the Fat Creations Road Race. She was fifth at Capernwray, fourth last time out at Lancaster. Now she’s got the big one. Now she’s won Ryedale.”
Phil Jones
“Yes, if you meet Lucy Lee, you will come away, and you won’t fail to be impacted by her infectiousness. She’s a very, very bright individual. She’s always infectious, does a great interview off the bike for all the people who end up speaking to her. She’s hardworking. She’s always in the races. She gives it everything: a very, very capable individual, on and off the bike, and I’m really, really delighted to see her take that win.
“I think she’s earned it, she deserves it. This is years of effort we’re looking at in this result. This is no fluke. She’s a hardworking rider who’s been on the scene for many years and is deserving of a win like this.”
Timothy John
“Yeah. That’s a very good point. A quality I think she shares with Frankie Hall who was on the podcast a couple of episodes ago. She’s put her PhD on hold so she can commit fully to cycling. These are riders who are totally committed. Really inspiring.
“Do you think DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK can seal the overall victory? Just one more round to go, but they are only 90 points ahead of Shibden-Apex, home to Cat Ferguson, to Imogen Woolf, to Lucy Glover. It must be the world’s leading junior team. DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK has the experience. How do you see that playing out?”
Phil Jones
“Personally, I think they can do it. I do. They also have a very strong squad and look at how the riders they have are riding right now. Everybody seems to be in good form, not many injured. They seem to be really dominating the races at the moment, Tim, so I think, bar anything major happening, crashes or otherwise, I’m saying at the moment they’ve got a good, good chance of taking the overall series and the Curlew Cup.
Timothy John
“Absolutely. Everything crossed. We know for sure that they have the National Circuit Series in the bag. That ended a couple of weeks ago now.
the opening round in Otley. That gave them a final total of 766 points, 155 ahead of the Alba Development Team, who were second, and Jaden-Vive Le Velo-Glasdon who were third. Eilidh Shaw of the Alba Development Team was the overall winner of the women’s series; Rob Scott of Tekkerz.CC was the overall winner in the Open series.
“How do you read the National Circuit Series this year, Phil? We had seven rounds, including the first women’s round in Colne. We lost Newark, sadly, but Beverley returned. There was only one round in the south versus four in Yorkshire, but each of those was well attended, Sheffield notably, but also Otley and Ilkley.
“If you had to give a health reading on the National Circuit Series, and we’ll hear in detail on this from Marc later, how do you see it?”
Phil Jones
“Well, we talked about the circuit series in great detail at the Task Force when we were looking at what they pathway forward might be, and without a doubt, of course, the big gap there was the requirement for more races to be held in the south: that’s very, very obvious. Everyone knows it, everyone understands it. It’s a little bit easier said than done because, of course, what we’re seeing here is some of the really capable organisers, who are northern based and have established connections with commerce as well as councils, local authorities in their regions, which is why they can become foundations, I guess, of the National Circuit Series, so it’s all to be built on.
“Without a doubt, I think we’re seeing now that, missing the Tour Series earlier in the season at that point where everybody would go out there for a very, very intensive period of city centre racing which really set them up for the wider circuit series. That’s being missed a little bit, and I think we’re seeing the transition from what was to what is.
“The good news is that crit racing is still here, it’s still doing well, there’s organisers behind it and everything to play for in building the portfolio of crit locations in the future under the future direction of the Task Force and its recommendations.”
INTERLUDE
Timothy John
“Well let’s get into the National Circuit Series now in some depth, and our guide will be Marc Etches. Who better? He’s the organiser of the Sheffield Grand Prix. He’s the organiser of the Monsal Hill Climb. He’s a British Cycling-registered commissaire. He’s a volunteer with the White Rose Youth League, which produced Tom Pidcock and Connor Swift, among others, and, as I say, he’s the man behind the Sheffield Grand Prix, the jewel in the crown, arguably, of the National Circuit Series.
Pro-Noctis, who suffered a fractured pelvis.
“Lotty Dawson of Brother UK-OnForm was involved in the first crash. She was examined by medics in an ambulance at the scene and later driven to A&E by her father, where she had neurological checks for concussion. Thankfully, she’s ok.
“Now all of these crashes, Phil, unfortunately meant that the restart was delayed by 25 minutes which threatened the Open race, but the show went on. Let’s have a listen now to Marc.”
Marc Etches
“The medics did an amazing job. Even the riders have praised them since. The level of care and the attentiveness and just how they do it. It was brilliant.
around those.
“After that, we did get a race. The commissaries handled it really well. Chris Lawrence, my technical director, he was great, sorted things out. Scott Taylor was on the commissaire panel, who’s a UCI commissaire. They were making the right decisions in a timely manner, and it all just fell into place, lovely.
“We did get an Open race, so I was thankful for that. We were blessed. Because it was such a nice, bright night, we still got a race. It was reduced. Maybe it altered the outcome of the race, because it was more of a sprint than a traditional crit.
entertainment.
“We got through it. It was good. We’ve been in touch with the riders who did unfortunately crash. They’re on the road to recovery. One raced the following week in Colne, but I do feel for the girls who crashed. It’s not just the crit series. It’s the road series and everything else that’s wrapped around it. But that’s bike racing. It happens.”
Timothy John
“So that was Marc, Phil, and Marc, of course, operating at the Sheffield Grand Prix with his race organiser’s hat on, rather than in his usual role as commissaire. He’s got to put his trust in the team of commissaires, the team of medics; the people around him.
and to fulfil your role by leading?”
Phil Jones
“Yes, a very, very interesting topic. I’ve probably got a bit to say on this and a little bit of experience because we all experience at some point in our lives a crisis of some kind or another, but when it comes to the type of thing that we’re discussing here, I have a small acronym that I developed a couple of years back, and I call it: ‘Keep calm...’ C-A-L-M...'in a crisis.'
race, to have that same mindset. ‘Ok, I’ve got to keep calm here,’ so we’ve got to somehow now think about, ‘What’s the first thing?’ Clarity.
“What you have to have in advance of the event, everyone needs to understand that in the event of there being an event, who’s doing what? What is that chain of command? Who will be first on scene? Who creates authority around what is going on, and who leads and makes decisions and starts to organise things?
“And there is a very, very good book I would recommend to anybody if they wanted to understand about decision-making under pressure. It’s probably not a very well-known book, but I’ve read a lot of books in my time, I can tell you, and I think it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read about managing pressure.
that helicopter and takes charge of a situation; whose job it is to, effectively, save lives with minutes to spare.
“What he talks about in his book is everything that could influence you in terms of the immediate things that are going on in your head and your brain, and all the things that are happening around in terms of the chemicals that the body produces, right the way through to scenario evaluation, situational awareness. It’s almost like a default of how you deal with a very, very unexpected, pressurised environment, like, probably, the crash that we saw at the Sheffield Grand Prix.
“So, all credit to the team that once you have that clarity in place, and everyone knows what’s got to happen and, of course, there you’ve got people like commissaires who are there, the health and safety lead who is there, you’re the race director, and you simply have to let the people do their job.
in crisis management of this type is down to that immediate role clarity of who does what and when and establishing a clear chain of command about how we get things done.
“If it takes 25 minutes to get it done, that’s what it takes. If it would have risked the whole race not being run then that’s someone’s decision to take, and, unfortunately, there would be commercial impacts to that, but rider safety always comes first, as it would do, I know, with Marc’s extensive experience, and, of course, Chris Lawrence was there as well. No two better people you’d probably want around a race environment where that has happened to then jump in and allow all of the training to come into play.
“Two very, very experienced people who, if it was me, I would want them by my daughter’s side creating the decisions and directing events.”
Timothy John
“Something else, Phil, that you’ll be extremely well placed to comment on are the commercial aspects of this race.
“The Sheffield Grand Prix has a mix of sponsors from blue chip corporations to sponsors from within the cycle industry to local businesses. Significantly, I thought, McLaren’s sponsorship of the elite women’s race is not intended to sell cars.
businesses ranging from estate agents to restaurants.
“Marc argues that having a ‘good product’ helps. He has entertaining races in a city centre location. Let’s hear again from Marc Etches.”
Marc Etches
to sell a McLaren, but it’s nice to be involved with such a blue chip brand. It looks great for us.
“That’s what we want to do. We want to attract those big companies, but we will also take funds from the local estate agent. It’s a case of get it where you can. The local estate agent, Cocker and Carr, each year, they come back, and I guess, to them, putting this level of funding in is quite a bit of money for them, and it’s great that they see the value in that. We call the cobbles, ‘the Cocker and Carr Cobbles’. We brand up the cobbles for them.
“There’s lots of other sponsors around - partners, we like to call them - who really invest in the event. Browns Restaurant: that is their biggest night of the year. Forget New Years Eve, forget Christmas. It’s their biggest day of the year, and they absolutely love it.
include. Again, Bike Box Alan. It’s just great. He’s got a little set up there, and he gets all his VIPs along, and it’s a night out for them all.
“I didn’t find it too hard this year. It was good, but we’ve got a good product. It comes back to Phil’s ‘eyes on’. We’ve got a lot of eyes on that event, and you only have to look at it on the night to realise the sheer size of it.”
Timothy John
“So, there was Marc, Phil, talking about the commercial aspect of putting on a major bike race, a topic that we’ve discussed again and again on this podcast, and they seem to be getting it right.
“I remember reading in the Task Force’s recommendations about a ‘standardised commercial model’ for National Circuit Series events. What are the key elements of that model?”
Phil Jones
“Well, when we did a lot of discussion around what we call, maybe, a ‘playbook’ - for the basis of this, let’s call it a playbook - and a playbook should feature, really, what we then described as ‘winning patterns’.
“They are, ‘What is it that you definitely know should appear at every round that you organise? What are the attributes that would make it successful?’ For example, we talked at great length that they should always be, wherever possible, in cities, where there is connectivity that allows people to get in and out easily; tram systems or cycleways or whatever that might be.
they need to or use public infrastructure to get in and out.
“It’s very, very, very important, we feel, that rather than just trying to follow money, which is going to an obscure place in the country, let’s just say, as we’ve seen in the past, and they’re hosting a bike race because they want to put a spotlight on their specific part of the country.
“Rather than being led by that as the economic model, shifting the focus and going, ‘We’re looking for…We would like to meet places like this…’ Having that much clearer.
side. I need the active travel commissioners. I need the businesses on side, the chambers of commerce.
“He connects it all and then gets everybody - let’s call them the 'stakeholders’ - I hate the word - and just make sure that everybody is getting something at all of those various levels: that the active travel people are getting community rides, that the businesses are getting people through the door, that local councillors can see that the businesses are busy and therefore they’re ticking their boxes around economic development etc. etc. That, once you start that flywheel turning, brings more and more people into it.
and do this, this, this and this, then I’ve got a fighting chance of putting on another crit series round in a new place.’
“It is a repeatable formula. That’s the point. Once you get that playbook, you’re guaranteeing more success than if you did not have a playbook. The value has to be in the playbook of how do you bring the knowledge from all of these organisers together in order that nobody has to relearn a lesson. All the lessons that are learned are already recorded, and the best parts of them, you’re pointed towards to go and action to create the best possible outcome.”
Timothy John
“Yeah, very much so. I know that the Sheffield Grand Prix was at the heart of your thinking, Phil, on the panel, on the Elite Road Racing Task Force, when you were discussing the National Circuit Series and specifically this model of a winning pattern.
sponsors.
“If you get it right, if you put a decent product before the public, does that help to insulate you from whatever might be going on in the global money markets?”
Phil Jones
“Yes, it does, and back to my earlier point, when you get into year two, year three, year four and year five, it’s almost like the longer you go, the more insulated you become, if you build the business model around the impact being kept within the city, if you see what I mean.
location than anything else.
“Actually, where the power is here is the location of the sporting event; really connecting the dots with the agenda of the local authority, making sure that everything you’re doing links in to their agenda. Once you get their support behind it, it begins to create its own wings.
“It becomes an event that goes in the calendar by default, and once it’s in the calendar, you can then harness all the additional facilities within the local authority, like economic development officers, who do a lot of the work for you by going out and talking to businesses on your behalf. It’s about how you activate the local authority to help you, rather than carrying the heavy load of your own commercial sponsorship portfolio.”
INTERLUDE
Timothy John
“Another very good point and another part that links very nicely into Marc’s insights. He is very much at the heart of Sheffield City Council’s project to rebrand the city as ‘The Outdoor City.’
Yorkshire’s Active Travel Commissioner.
“Marc speaks very highly, Phil, of Sheffield City Council. He says they do everything possible to facilitate the race, including settling their own internal invoices for minor road engineering tasks, such as moving anti-terrorism banners, but he admits that bringing hundreds of athletes and scores of volunteers into the city centre is a challenge: parking to name only one of them.
“Let’s hear a bit more now from Marc.”
Marc Etches
“The council, I just couldn’t sing their praises any more. They go over and above every single year. The little bit of tarmac that drops down from the pedestrianised area onto the road costs £1300 for some temporary tarmac, and the council foot that bill. There are two anti-terrorism barriers, and it costs £900 just for a guy in a cherry picker to turn up and move them six feet. Nine hundred pounds, which, again, [the council] pays for, so there are lots of added costs that they cover, that we don’t see, which is great: traffic management, road closures. They’re all internal invoices which cost, and I’m so thankful for their support.
“With Ed involved and the active travel initiatives around South Yorkshire, there’s a big drive now to get people active: running, walking, climbing. Sheffield has now rebranded itself as The Outdoor City; quite rightly so, as well. I’m on the panel for that as well, so I’ve done some talks for The Outdoor City. I’m one of those ambassadors. On Instagram, I’ll tag The Outdoor City. I’m proud of Sheffield and what it provides for cyclists, for runners, for climbers. Stanage Edge: you could mountain bike over it, you could climb up it, you can walk around it and ride a road bike around. There’s lots of stuff.
Crucible theatre. The world snooker is there. The town hall. There are nice points where we can really showcase the city, and that’s what I want to do. In the heart of the city.
People ask, ‘Why don’t you run it elsewhere?’ For me, that’s not an option, because we went to be right in the city centre. Of course, that does bring its challenges. If you thought about it, you’d never bring over 300 athletes into the city centre. Now, there are a lot of car parks. There’s a bus gate that I’ve had to battle with to save some fines because people drove down the bus gates and got a £35 fine. It’s just a challenge.”
Timothy John
“So, there was Marc talking about his relationship with the council which is extremely positive. He does have, however, various practical and logistical challenges to overcome, notably with parking.
the cinema; that kind of thing?
“How big a challenge is that for councils and how valuable an asset is something like the Sheffield Grand Prix in giving people a reason to come into the city?”
Phil Jones
“It’s huge, and if you’re leading a local authority, you’ve got multiple problems on your desk, one of them being, to some degree, the demise of city centres, post-pandemic. With the introduction of hybrid working, city centres are nowhere near as busy as they used to be, and it’s had a real impact on the hospitality industry in that they’re nowhere near as busy as perhaps they used to be. They’re probably busy on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, not very busy on a Monday and not very busy on a Friday during the day because of hybrid working patterns.
“So, there’s a huge pressure on local authorities to sort of reinvent themselves; to reinvent what city centres should be. Clearly, running parallel, with deregulation in places like Manchester, where we now have a ‘Metro Mayer’ controlling all types of budgets from the buses, right the way through to investment in fire and police and emergency services, all those sorts of things.
the active travel commissioners, people like Ed Clancy, who really tell the story well as to why that has to happen.
“But you have this really difficult time because we’re seeing cities now, and particularly roadways through cities really being curtailed in favour of more pedestrianisation and more cycle lanes. I visited Leeds recently and saw even more pedestrianisation. I’ve been to the Sheffield GP, and I’ve seen how restricted the routes are in and around now, and particularly where the teams have to park.
“I thought it was quite funny, actually. The word outdoor adventure’, I sort of underlined, because you used to associate Sheffield with snooker and the famous Crucible. If you said the Crucible in Sheffield in the 70s and 80s, people would just say, ‘Oh yeah, it’s the national home of snooker,’ because the finals were always played there. The word ‘outdoor’ is clearly a very, very key thing, but a lot of the teams park by the Crucible. That’s a pedestrianised area. If you want to walk the pits, you walk up and down that area there.
UK, and we’re going to see them, probably, pedestrianised even more than they are at the moment.”
INTERLUDE
Timothy John
to generate ideas to reinvigorate the national scene, both road and circuit.
"In January of this year, British Cycling published 16 recommendations from the Task Force, which was chaired by Ed Clancy. The Task Force recommended a complete review of the National Circuit Series, prioritising locations that attract large and diverse audiences, encouraging pre-race community activities: a whole raft of suggestions from Phil and his colleagues.
“And Marc now is working with senior figures at the federation to implement those recommendations. Let’s hear those now from Marc.”
Marc Etches
"I’m on part of the team now that is making sure that Phil’s work, and, of course, Ed’s work, from the Elite Task Force, is being implemented. I’m now working with Anthony from British Cycling, with Heather Bamforth, who’s the chair of the Road Commission, and Scott Taylor, a UCI commissaire and a British Cycling board member, we’re making sure that those points….
panel and generating those recommendations…We don’t want to see them getting blown out of the window.
“It could easily slip away, and I for one…Chris Lawrence, I know what he went through. I know the amount of hours they put in, and in respect to all the guys on that panel, we need to make sure that going forwards, we formulate a plan to roll out those recommendations.
“We weren’t just going to roll them out in March, April time. It was never going to roll out straight away. We know that. Some might be three to five years. Some are easy fixes, so we can address that. Going forwards, I’m quite confident that we can build on this.
Chris or Ed in the eye and say, ‘Yes, we’re doing our very best.’
Timothy John
“So, there’s Marc, Phil, who is fully signed up to implementing the Task Force recommendations, which is very reassuring to hear.
“Are you encouraged by his determination, or are you concerned that we haven’t yet had an official update from the federation?”
Phil Jones
“Well, the first part of your question, which is, ‘Is Marc the right person, and am I happy to see him pushing this agenda?’ Absolutely, I’m happy because Marc is pragmatic, capable, he’s experienced, he’s got the network within BC, he can influence people.
retail sector, so if anybody is capable of doing strategic things and working through plans, it’s Heather.
“When we did that work, the objective of the Task Force we simply to create the recommendations and to hand them over. It wasn’t our job to the go away and then start helping with the implementation. We needed to stay remote from the actual overall situation and say, ‘This is what we think,’ and to give an objective view.
“That has now been handed in to Jon and to the Road Commission for them to get going on it, and we have to remember that it was delivered at the time that British Cycling were preparing for the Olympics, they were trying to get the Tour of Britain Women sorted out, the Tour of Britain Men sorted out, as well as all the other things they’re trying to sort out in all of cycling, whether it be mountain bikes or the velodrome.
within a huge portfolio of other projects which I’m trying to manage day to day.
“If I look at it now in terms of progress, progress was always going to be measure in years, not months. That’s the key thing with all of this. It was about creating a direction of travel, not going, 'This has got to be done by next year, that has got to be done by next week. That’s for next month.’
“Some of the big stuff in that was making sure we have a UCI road race, men’s and women’s. Fair play, that has been the main effort. They’ve got that on.
going to good enough, and that’s all we really need here because it’s better to keep that going than lose it. If it drops off the UCI calendar, you’ll never get it back again.
“I think we’ve got to look at it and go, ‘As long as it’s remaining and continues to be pushed on the agenda by the sport itself, and, obviously, we’ve heard people like The British Continental, Denny, already do an interview the Jon Dutton and take him to task on that, which is good. You’ve got people like Ed Clancy, who was the chair, who’s always wanting to keep that high. And then you’ve got people internally i.e. the road commission, chaired by Heather, whose job it is to then begin to make progress on those action points, so let’s see.”
INTERLUDE
Timothy John
“Let’s move on to our final topic today, and that is the return of Britain’s biggest bike race, courtesy this year of British Cycling Events, following June’s successful Tour of Britain Women.
“It’s the twentieth edition of the race’s modern incarnation. It’s now a 2.Pro race, and it will take place from Tuesday September 3 to Sunday September 8.
“The start and finish venues include Kelso, Darlington, Redcar, Sheffield, Barnsley, Derby, Newark-on-Trent, Northampton, Lowestoft and Felixstowe.
list, my goodness, headed by double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, and double world champion, Julian Alaphilippe.
“The race director will remain Rod Ellingworth, who, despite taking on duties with Bahrain Victorious, 'guiding young talents and focussing on Grand Tours', we are assured will remain the race director.
“So, Phil, does the Tour of Britain Women offer a successful template, or is this men’s race a completely different magnitude?”
Phil Jones
“Well, in my opinion, they’re quite similar. Do you remember that podcast we did a few back, Tim, where we sort of predicted how this might play out, that we’d see a few familiar stages because it’s about the path of least resistance, really.
“I think what’s interesting is that with the women’s Tour we saw a compressed race and here we’re seeing six stages on the men’s Tour this year, but it’s starting up in Scotland, which is great, and gradually working its way down the country, which is great.: down to Darlington and to Sheffield, then to Derby and Northamptonshire and onto the east coast with Lowestoft and Felixstowe.
Clearly, the intention is there. There are some new names; some new towns for starts and finishes, which is always encouraging.
“But I’m particularly pleased that at least we’ve got four WorldTeam teams coming. It’s vitally important that the WorldTour teams continue to show up for this, although INEOS have their issues at the moment, don’t they? They have their issues as a WorldTour team. They quite created the success of the past. They have a number of high-profile riders moving on. There seems to be quite a lot of turmoil going on. They still are, as far as the UK scene is concerned, one of the ‘big names’. It’s the tour bus that everybody wants to go to, so I think the fact that they’re coming is a very, very important factor in the bigger picture.
“And, of course, having a number of the other teams who are attending too, not just the domestic Continental teams, but some of the Pro Continental teams I think is excellent. Really, really good.
his season with a Tour of Britain victory.”
Timothy John
“Something else we talked about Phil in earlier podcasts about this race is the value of Rod Ellingworth’s appointment in continuing to attract the biggest WorldTour teams, and, well, we’re seeing it, aren’t we? INEOS Grenadiers, still the biggest team, at least as far as the UK market is concerned. Bahrain-Victorious, he’s renewed his association with them.
“One of the more interesting aspects, for me at least, is that they’ve got WorldTour development teams on the start list this year, including Groupama-FDJ, which is home to Ben Askey, it’s home to Josh Golliker, it’s home to Noah Hobbs: all of these bright young talents, bright young British talents, I should say, and we’ve talked ad infinitum about how they’re beginning to make their way with WorldTour devo teams rather than through traditional domestic structures. Well, the race seems hip to that. They’ve addressed that challenge by inviting these WorldTour devo teams. A really valuable inclusion, I think.”
Phil Jones
“Yes, I really think so. And we’re all waiting too to see if Tom Pidcock turns up as part of the INEOS set up. I’m sure many a home fan would love to see Tom in his home Tour.
it would be terrific if we could see him on his home roads.”
INTERLUDE
OUTRO
Timothy John
“Now cycling, of course, is an endless source of pleasure to anybody listening to this podcast, but it’s a serious business for the people inside the sport, notably the riders.
time as a professional cyclist.”
Phil Jones
“Yes, I think I would encourage everybody to go and have a read of his statement on his website, leohaytercyling.com. What he does there is, I think, give a very raw and honest account of his life over the last five years, where he’s suffered from, it looks like, chronic depression, some eating disorder, panic attacks and anxiety. You read that, and you go, ‘Wow! How has he been able to function?’ And he clearly, at times has not been able to function.
in the wider world, and it’s become, generationally, something that is no longer swept under the carpet.
“So, I really felt for Leo when I read his statement. I thought, ‘Thank goodness he’s been in an environment like INEOS Grenadiers where they could give him the professional help that he needed but also that he's had the space and time to come to terms with and understand his condition.’
“But I think now to talk publicly about it, I have nothing but respect for him, and I really genuinely hope now that this is the true beginning of his recovery. Sometimes it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when you’re masking and hiding a condition like this. Sometimes it can become a very, very key milestone in your recovery when you begin to talk publicly about your story and become more open about it.
“So, I just want to wish Leo Hayter all the very best in his recovery, and I hope that everybody listening to this podcast will give him that same support.’
Timothy John
“Yeah. Well said, Phil. I think you speak for everybody listening in wishing Leo the very best. A very courageous young man and living testament to the pressures that these professional riders find themselves under.
“Phil, thanks very much indeed for joining me today, and thank-you to everybody out there for listening.”
MUSIC
Phil Jones
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