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news
JLT Condor (picture via team page on Facebook)JLT Condor team to fold at end of year as sponsorship ends
JLT Condor has announced that it will cease racing at the end of this season. The news comes little more than a fortnight after fellow British UCI Continental team One Pro Cycling said that it would not be running a men’s team next season.
Founded in 2007 as Rapha-Condor-recycling.co.uk and with former British national champion John Herety coming on board as manager in 2009, the team quickly established itself as the leading outfit on the domestic scene and also raced internationally, including in Europe and Asia.
Insurance broker JLT began co-sponsoring the team in 2013, and when clothing firm Rapha announced the following year that it would be focusing on its sponsorship at the time of Team Sky instead, the team was renamed JLT-Condor for 2015 under a three-year deal that is now ending.
Grant Young, managing director of Condor Cycles, said. “This past decade of supporting the team has made me extremely proud.
“I’ve seen Condor bicycles ridden to National Championship victories, to wins in Australia, Japan, France, Spain and South Korea, to name but a few.
“There have been highs, lows, and many medals. We have all enjoyed working alongside JLT, a business of enthusiastic people keen to learn more about the sport, many of whom are cyclists.
“Up to now, we have been unable to find a partner to fill the position of JLT, but we will continue to search for one.
“Condor will continue to support cycle sport in Britain, as we have done since my father started the brand in 1948.”
Nick Williams-Walker, JLT Specialty’s chief operating officer, commented: “We are proud to have been sponsors of JLT Condor over the last six years and to have shared in the team’s many achievements during that time.
“We would like to thank all of the riders for their dedication and hard work over the years, and in particular their manager, John Herety, who has played such an important role in the development of the careers of so many young cyclists. We wish them all every success in the future.”
The company will continue to sponsor Ed Clancy, who is aiming to win a fourth successive team pursuit gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in two years’ time.
For all the success being enjoyed on the road by top British cyclists, news of JLT Condor’s demise leaves Great Britain with only one team in the top two tiers of the sport – Team Sky – and four now in the third tier, Canyon-Eisberg, Madison-Genesis, Wiggins and Vitus.
When One Pro Cycling founder, the former England wicket-keeper Matt Prior, announced at the start of this month that the men’s team was being disbanded to focus on women’s cycling instead, he said that it was impossible for teams operating below UCI WorldTour level to secure sustainable sponsorship.
“The amount of races in the UK is declining and everyone is looking for new sponsors,” he said. “It’s not in a healthy place at all.
“We literally have to pay a fortune just to take part. Obviously everyone knows we lost a key sponsor and had to drop back down to Conti level.
“But you’re still asking companies for huge sums of money just to sponsor a Conti team,” he added.
“With Brexit and Trump and all the financial uncertainty at the moment – and when you think about all the history of men’s cycling [a reference to doping] – it is difficult to ask.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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11 comments
As a spectator, all you see are a group of brightly coloured riders whizz past at 40kmh. You'd be hard pushed to make out any branding unless you knew the team. Unless your man (or woman) is up front, in GC or in a breakaway you will get little TV coverage.
Far better return on investment to sponsor the tour itself (like OVO), or even the dreaded Watchfinder, both of which had a higher profile than any of the 2nd tier team sponsors.
Ironically I was fed AquaBlue posts on facebook, as I 'liked' the ToB.
These days, the likes of Facebook and Google make for a far more efficient and targeted use of advertising budget. The media model has changed beyond all recognition.
Problem with the UK scene is that it is not big enough to support the size of teams currently in it. There are not enough pro races, or televised racing to justify the budgets required to run a continental squad.
Basically there is a base cost to run a good continental team, and that cost is currently beyond the reasonable sponsorship value the UK scene can provide.
Unfortunately the sport needs to step back to move forward. Smaller teams (budget), and a clearer development programme that identifies the UK domestic scene as a stepping stone to a pro career, not a pro career in itself.
There are a lot of really good riders in the UK, who could have stepped up (Ian Bibby being a prime example), but haven't done so for whatever reason. When domestic riders are finishing top ten in the TOB, you have to wonder why they are not on better squads.
One reason for that could be that currently, the UK scene is too nice a proposition. Imagine earning £30k a year to race 30 races a year and rarely travel more than 4 hours to any race. That is a great gig (even if it does rain too much).
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see any team fold, however right now things are not right, so change can only be a good thing.
Really is a shame, they've always seemed to be the ideal model of a British racing team below world tour level. Does make you wonder where the next generation of GB riders are going to come from if the teams are all folding, or are they identified early enough that they'll get taken on straight from junior teams and continental teams?
I get that for bike brands in the uk Brexit is likely making them all a bit nervous about what money will be around in the future, but I'm surprised there aren't more sponsors wanting to step up, especially if you're a fairly large company, the chances are you've got quite a lot of cyclists in the company, and many who would like to cycle, sponsoring a team would probably go a fair way to showing commitment to encouraging it.
The trouble with cycling is that the only revenue coming in to the sport is sponsorship. The teams have to raise this sponsorship money to pay everyone. If races are televised, the teams and the riders get nothing. There is no cut of TV rights. There is also no ticket sales revenue. If teams had names (like in football) then they might be able to establish a brand (like Sky have, quite aside from being the name of the sponsor). If a brand was established, then merchandising product could be sold. But it is a broken model with very little money in it.
Worrying trend.
Does British Cycling ever get involved in supporting riders after a team folds or are riders left to their own devices to find another 'job'? The domestic race scene can't be that great money wise as others have said sponsorship is pretty tough with next to no coverage and prize money just enough to cover the basics IF you are even successful.
Why doesn't the tour of Britain have an advertising caravan like they do in the Tour de France? I'm sure that would raise quite a sum for cycling, seems obvious so why not?
How?
From my experience of the caravan passing while watching the tour, it was mainly the race and team sponsors taking part.
If races and teams are struggling for sponsorship, it's unlikely they will find sponsors willing to come forward with extra cash to drive some models around on the back of an expensive truck.
The ToB does not have anything like the profile for other possible caravan attendees to even consider joining, as they just won't get the exposure to make it worth the effort and cash.
I do not agree with you on this. The road side crowds at the TOB are very impressive. That is a big foot fall to get your name infront of. Is there value in getting in front of them in a publicity caravan... absolutely. The only difference between the TDF and TOB in this instance is the association... being associated with the TDF is a big deal, however the TOB doesn't have the same prestige for sponsors, but make no mistake, getting infront of that audience is absolutely worth good money. However would companies pay enough to do so to fund a cycling team... absolutely not.
Cycling Weekly had an article about how hard it is for British teams to secure sponsorship. I guess without the exposure on tv or whatever, it’s always going to be tricky to secure the big money. It’s not like football, with seemingly half the population following it.
Sad day for British Cycling. There must be a better way cycling can sustain itself surely?
Maybe we should have been rattling tins for cycling teams along the Tour of Britain route, not Air Ambulance...