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Things to Watch For: ‘Pointless’ Attacks

By Court | Permalink | 1 comment | July 4th, 2006 | Trackback

This may come as a shock to some, but there’s not a lot of money in cycling, especially when compared to basketball and the NBA in the U.S. or global sports like soccer and its Mecca, the World Cup. As a result, sponsorships are highly valued, as riders know they can dissapear quickly.

As the Tour de France is the most-watched, most-attended, and most-followed cycling competition of the year, riders do their part to ensure their sponsors get lots of love. This is especially true of the riders not otherwise in contention.

One way of getting attention is, obviously, to win. If that’s not a realistic possibility, however, riders will sometimes make a series of seemingly pointless attacks on the peleton and ride in front of the pack for a few miles, especially during the early part of the race. This ensures plenty of subliminal messaging…er, television coverage for the folks watching back at home, and numerous mentions of both the rider’s name and his sponsoring team by Phil and crew. After dangling up front for a few miles and basking in the glory, the rider will melt back into the peleton.

Other ways sponsors get love? Look for riders zipping up their jerseys as they cross the finish line and/or sitting up - ensuring full ‘billboard’ advertisements in any subsequent pictures shown around the world.

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