CEO Graham Bartlett on the stability needed within the sport
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Team Sky are one of several teams at the Giro with on-board Velon cameras(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Velon logo(Image credit: Velon)
A Cannondale-Garmin rider's bike with an onboard camera at the Giro d'Italia
The peloton rolls through the French countryside during stage 5.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Cannondale-Garmin boss Jonathan Vaughters in early-2015(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
In late November last year, 11 WorldTour teams, including Sky, BMC, Tinkoff-Saxo, Orica-GreenEdge and Garmin, created the Velon business group with aim "to drive a financial model that, in line with other international sports, ensures a sustainable future for the teams".
InCycle spoke to the CEO Velon, Graham Bartlett, who explained the the business venture is keen on changing the current financial model of the sport for the betterment of fans and riders alike.
"The teams have been trying to come together for a long time to figure a way of coming together. Of being a stronger unit and collaborating together as a group in a better way," Bartlett said.
"You can’t do a lot of the things they want to do. Change the economic model, create better stability, bring new technology to the race. All the developments we really want to see can only come from the teams if they form together and do it as a joint body. That’s that this is really about."
With the majority of team budget derived from sponsorship, Bartlett added the "fragile" model creates instability and a "sport which is here today and gone tomorrow".
The Velon teams have been utilising on board cameras this season and the recent example of Sacha Modolo's stage 17 sprint victory at the Giro d'Italia is a small sign of the direction that cycling broadcasting can take and move forward when the teams work together.
Find out more about what Bartlett has to say on Velon and cycling in the video below and to subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel, click here
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