Complaining in style and comfort

There’s been a lot of anguish of late in the UK cycling scene, and it’s not to do with crazy speed limits for time trials or the continuing slide of Team Sky / Ineos / whatevercomes next). 

No, the big news has been the end of Eurosport’s free Tour de France coverage, and the 343% increase in subscription costs to watch the rest of the races. This is doubly hard coming on the back of the GCN changes.

Cycling Weekly’s reader poll found only 2.5% willing to pay the new TNT monthly fee of £30.99 (up from £6.99). By comparison, the equivalent service here in New Zealand costs around £20 (we’ve never had free cycling coverage, we can’t even watch live All Blacks games for free!).

Amongst the outcry, many have noted how this will reduce the prominence of cycling in the UK, and potentially the loss of many future pros, given how many fewer children will grow up seeing it on TV. When All Blacks games went behind a paywall we had similar concerns here (possibly proven correct given the recent form of the team). 

While this is true, and unfortunate, there’s another less-discussed but serious issue here, and that is the reduced exposure for the cycling teams’ sponsors that will occur as a result. Pro cyclists are billboards on wheels, and with less exposure to the UK market, some sponsors will understandably be reviewing their investments. The impact on teams with UK-focussed sponsors will be significant.

All this reiterates the broken business model of pro cycling. Long has there been a cited need for teams to gain a share of the media profits, as is done with many other, healthier sports. But the claims that TNT’s fee increases partially reflect the increased costs of providing cycling coverage doesn’t bode well for any argument that will reduce their slice of the pie.

Recently we here at Soigneur read Alex Duff’s book “Le Fric: Family, Power and­ Money; The Business of the Tour de France”. Like the title, it’s a bit long-winded but the conclusion isn’t encouraging. As long as the Amaury family and their business ASO own the Tour de France and 15 other key bike races (the Vuelta and Paris-Roubaix among them), don’t expect any change soon. 

But we’re here to help. 

First, some special cyclist maths (or 'math' for you Americans): 

A Soigneur jersey costs £102 for a UK customer. Cancelling the old Eurosport subscription saves that customer £84 a year. That means a Soigneur jersey only costs £18 once that extra £84 is used. Not only is this a fantastic saving, but the new Soigneur jersey can be worn for many years to come, making the annual cost of usage considerably lower than the old 1-year subscription.

Second, wearing Soigneur jerseys makes you more stylish, debonair and attractive to whatever gender you want to attract. Other riders will want to look at your jersey so much they won’t want to overtake you.

So, we’re sorry that some of you can’t watch cycling as easily and cheaply in the past. But buy a Soigneur jersey and you can at least complain in comfort and style.