Keep stages short and allow TV viewers to hear teams’ radio communications says Sir Dave Brailsford

Sir Dave Brailsford feels that allowing viewers to hear teams’ race communications would add to TV coverage of the sport, arguing that this would “add a whole new level of intrigue and understanding.” Speaking to the BBC, Brailsford also said that while he was generally against a major overhaul of the sport, he was in favour of shorter stages which encourage more aggressive racing.

Brailsford said that cycling should copy Formula 1 and allow viewers to hear the radio communications taking place between sporting directors and their riders.

"It would be super interesting to hear what the sporting directors are saying to the riders. It's a complex sport. You've got all the sporting directors in the cars trying to play out hundreds of scenarios, like 'who is going to chase?'

"They all wait and watch the gap get to nine minutes, 10 minutes, and then suddenly you think, 'hold on, I might be throwing the Giro away here.' I think if everybody knew what each team was trying to do it would be fascinating and add a whole new level of intrigue and understanding."

Brailsford added that while he didn’t agree with some of the proposed changes to top level cycling, he would like to see shorter stages.

"You don't need long, 240-250km stages in Grand Tours. I think they're there for a gesture. But if you want the lads to race, make it short and punchy. That way they have to react to breaks and it creates scenarios – nobody can just sit back and wait for the finish."

He also said that he was in favour of more on-bike footage. UCI president Brian Cookson has previously said that on-bike video is “the way to go” for cycling and it has been seen from several stages of this year’s Giro d’Italia thanks to a deal between the Velon group of teams and race organisers RCS