Sky's Incredible Salvation

OK-I accept all the concerns about the renamed team having so much more funds than the other teams that they can buy, and keep in reserve, star riders, but-hey-what a wonderful Up Yours to the jealous French, the slimy BBC and all the others who've been circling ready to give the last rites (including those politicians attempting to give an Ethics lesson to the sport!).

Here's to an interesting 2020 (but we have 2019 to experience first-the Year of Bernal?)

I am surprised you have yet to criticise the GMC.

While I am pleased that the team will continue under the new name from May, the continued presence of Brailsford is for me a shame. However the cash would not have been forthcoming without him. 

The French are jealous, but also correct. Team Ineos will have a budget that completely unbalances the playing field. It will be interesting to see if the other teams expand on the efforts they made last season to work together against the team.

Agree on Brailsford. Tbh, not overly bothered by their financial clout. Bahrain Merida are backed by the government of Bahrain, and the McLaren Group. So not much grounds for complaint from rival teams. You could impose some kind of draft picking format at some point, like other sports, if a team ends up dominating the sport, and can just pick and choose the elite riders year on year.

LondonTiger-I have no particular issues either way-just thought this might generate a good debate.

I'm sure the GMC are generally above reproach-MPs....ha, ha!

I personally would like to see Bardet win one year.

Well, Bernal got off to a good start with the GC in Paris-Nice. In particular, he was very impressive in dealing with the horrific cross winds and echelons of the first couple of days (basically followed Luke Rowe's wheel all day - there's your outside bet for Paris Roubaix if he can keep that form.

Apparently, there are reasons Team Sky looked to have a bigger budget than others (besides the fact they were definitely one of the best financed teams), and that was because of the way Sky (the company) wrote off the costs of the team, including full market value for equipment they were being provided with either free or heavily discounted. Other teams / sponsors don't show these in the budget, because their corporate rules are different.

The BBC have been running recent stories regarding Sky's new sponsor Ineos - and of course it is filled with the usual BBC bile - they have been promoting demonstrations against Ineos because of its link with fracking - which the BBC spins as an evil.