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news
Team Sky Arc de TriompheBritain’s richest man could back Team Sky
Sir Dave Brailsford has reportedly met with Britain's richest man about the possibility of his providing financial backing to Team Sky. The Sky sponsorship deal ends this season and Sir Jim Ratcliffe is understood to be considering whether to provide the estimated £35m annual costs to keep the team going.
Ratcliffe, the founder and CEO of the chemicals giant Ineos, was named as the richest man in Britain in last year’s Sunday Times rich list, with an estimated fortune of £21bn.
A high profile Brexit backer, he recently decided to leave the UK for Monaco where several of Team Sky’s riders are based, including Chris Froome.
According to the Times, he is a “keen amateur rider” and has a track record of investing in sport. He is reportedly investing £110m in Ineos Team UK, Sir Ben Ainslie’s bid to win sailing’s America's Cup in 2021, and he also explored the possibility of buying Chelsea Football Club off Roman Abramovich last year, but the Russian did not want to sell.
Without referring to Ratcliffe, Team Sky sport director Matteo Tosatto recently told Spanish newspaper Marca that a new sponsorship deal could be in place before the start of the Giro d'Italia on May 11.
“It was talked about before the Tour, but it’s likely they’ll announce it before the Giro,” he said.
Tosatto appeared to rule out the rumoured deal with Colombia’s Ecopetrol, saying that the new backer was 'European, from home'.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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21 comments
Team Sky - Check
Brexit - Check
Helmets...?
Discs have yet to be mentioned (other than by me just now).
Great news!
If Team Sky get a sponsor British enough so we can still call them a British team I'm all for it.. far better than losing the team to another nation.
I see the internet naysayers are out again, any mention of Team Sky and some people lose all sense of perspective and reality. I can only presume in their heads the cycling world is something better if it's kept outside of Britain, why don't we give it back to the French, they must be far more deserving, right..
Might? The regulations that will apply are already written. The only question is the date they will come into force. A great deal is already spent in preparation to be compliant with them. The extent of tariff increases is uncertain- but we have a range. Best case (if we essentially stay in) zero, to worst case the WTO rates.
It it is my actual job to do this stuff. I could say ‘who knows?’ but then when we can’t get half our exports released, I’d probably find myself with a lot more time to go riding.
A rat joining a sinking ship, new one on me.
It's not just that Rat-cliffe is tax shy on a personal level, he moved INEOS HQ to Geneva a few years ago to avoid a hefty UK VAT bill, while being bankrolled by Lloyds and RBS, who at the time were owned by ... err, us. I would say that's pretty ungrateful myself.
"He's a scumbag don't you know... (derr, d-nerr, nerr)" - Arctic Monkeys
I have a big problem with the inequality of funding of the various pro teams and would be in favour of a funding cap per team. When one team is funded at a level multiple times more than others you expect it to be full of winners. How does that make cycling interesting?
Sky did a great deal for cycling here. I’d feel rather uncomfortable about following team Ineos, given his part in our ongoing nightmare.
Yes it is predictably a nightmare.
The way I predict the future is by reading thousands of pages of regulations which apply to trade now, and those that might apply in a few weeks. Then (along with lots of other people) I work out how much extra testing we have to do, which products we will stop making in the UK, how much extra the raw materials will cost, how much sales will be lost because our lead times are longer. Then figure out where the company can find that many millions it will cost. So predicting the future is straightforward, tedious, a little depressing, and an unwelcome distraction from the more valuable parts of my job.
I guess the challenge for a major cycling team is it needs a supporter with very deep pockets, and many of us may have to hold our nose if we want to see elite cycling and grassroots support flourish.
A solid base for any prediction.
I might win the lottery next week, should probably start shopping for helicopters.
INEOS are more of an Oil company really
Big on Fracking
So Oil, Fracking,Brexit, type of operation.
Funny he’s moved to Monaco to avoid tax, but is happy to take handouts from the government courtesy of the taxpayer.
As much as it is a compelling narrative, fracking, big business, climate change, oligarchs life isn’t that simple.
INEOS is primarily a petrolchemicals company ergo it derives the majority of its income from products derived from oil and gas. These products basically underpin the modern world and you are currently touching them, where do you think lycra comes from?
INEOS has some businesses supplying energy but these are mainly by products of petrochemical businesses. Petrochemicals will still be a business long after all the cars are electric and all the electricity comes from solar/nuclear.
INEOS was primarily interested in fracking to generate feedstocks for it chemical plants. I’d also make a sustainability argument for fracking in the UK; it is much less environmentally damaging than oil sands and avoids giving money to dodgy regimes in the Middle East. Concentrating on demand reduction (by substitution) rather than supply reduction is a much more effective climate change strategy.
Turkeys vote that duck shall be served at Christmas instead
I agree with the initial comment. Funny how Brexit is being promoted by people so rich, they don't care how much money they lose if we crash out of the EU. A lot of the people they've duped won't be so sanguine.
My travel insurance company sent me a mail saying that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, I should expect that my EHIC will no longer pay for the doctor, I won't be able to use European passport queues, I'll have to apply for an international driving permit, I'll need to get a Green Card for motor insurance, and the right to work in Europe is in doubt.
You don't have to have a crystal ball to see that the 'benefits' of Brexit are imaginary, and the costs are very real.
Never mind Sky, I really hope Ratcliffe doesn't take over. He sounds like a nasty piece of work.
FTFY
As usual, some people can't resist talking down someone who has made a success of themselves, completely legally, even when they want to pump millions of pounds into what is still quite a niche sport in the UK, despite what Team Sky have done for its profile.
Out of the frying pan - into the fire. If been sponsored by the disgraceful Murdock empire wasn’t bad enough they now go for a Brexit backing tax dodger who thinks Brexit is what all us normal people in the UK should suffer while he leaves and goes to live in tax haven Monaco.
If this deal is struck - the team is dead to me (if it wasn’t already).
I normally refrain from getting involved with politics but your comment is so ridiculous I couldn't help myself. Team Sky are sponsored by a successful British company that provides satellite TV services. Murdoch has a minority share. Sky should be commended for what it's done for British cycling sport (not to mention its commitment to the public Sky Rides down the years). Team Sky has brought a lot of British cycling fans a lot of pleasure. Cycling is much higher profile as a result of Sky's involvement. I am grateful for that, regardless of Murdoch.
A bloke makes a fortune, legally, I might add, and decides to live in a country with lower tax rates than the country of his birth. Big deal. I'd rather he'd made his money growing organic mung beans and harvesting unicorn dust but there you go.
And unless you can predict the future you have absolutely no idea how or even if we will 'suffer' once the UK leaves the EU.
Well said Darren, the voice of reason is always welcome.
Oh thats is spoil a perfectly good rant with facts, What a spoilsport!
Ah, the EU where 52% of us are resentful at being subjected to an ever-increasing set of arcane rules and regulations imposed by a distant bureaucracy that is seen as unrepresentative and unaccountable.
Jumbotron - enjoy your last few days of the dictatorship...
52% according to a somewhat cheated referendum and excluding all the ex-pats who'd be most affected by any change. Also, not necessarily resentful, but wanting that extra money to go to the NHS *cough* side of bus lie *cough*.
52% of who?
Have to say that I'm loving the work of Theresa steamrollering her way into a no deal Brexit. Be proud of of the dictatorship (I'll leave it for another day to explain why you're misguided on this, or pehaps I'll let your elected MEP explain it to you) that you think you're leaving and welcome to the Theresa dictatorship.
While you're here, you could actually sell me Brexit, tell what the advantages (with workings) are.
Nice first, and last, post.
Campy, SRAM or Shimano? Help supporting UK suppliers.
Or the boys from Alcala? Also helping a UK supplier...
What will they call you after you've handed the Hugo bit of your name back to Germany?