Team Sky: Futures of Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome thrown into doubt by uphill battle to find new sponsor

Sky is confident it can find a replacement backer for its elite cycling team but given the sheer scale of investment needed – almost £40m per year – that will not be easy

Dave Brailsford stood in front of Team Sky staff and riders at their Mallorca training camp on Tuesday evening and told them the news: after a decade of lavish investment and unwavering support, Sky will finally step away from owning and sponsoring the team at the end of 2019.

Brailsford was informed over the weekend, and the team were said to be stunned by the news when he told them at dinner. Certainly they could not have had much clue over the past few months; Geraint Thomas signed a new three-year contract in September, reward for his Tour de France triumph, while the hugely promising 21-year-old Egan Bernal agreed a new five-year deal in October.

Their futures are now in doubt: Sky will attempt to find a replacement backer, but given the sheer scale of investment needed – almost £40m per year – and the perceived reputational risks associated with the sport, that will not be easy to find.

The situation is not helped by the current climate in the UK. Potential investors could emerge from the financial sector (HSBC is the current lead partner of British Cycling), yet big businesses are unlikely to consider the proposition until Brexit’s outlook becomes clear. Sky has set a deadline and will tell its staff and riders, including Thomas and Chris Froome, that they should start looking for another team should no sponsor be secured by July’s Tour de France, and with investors unlikely to commit until after Brexit on 29 March, it would leave only a three-month window to find a suitor.

It is all more proof of what a precarious business-model cycling is built upon. For most sports teams the loss of a major sponsor means a temporary decline in revenue, but in cycling it puts a team’s very existence at stake. Cycling teams own few assets, no stadiums to profit from, little in the way of a fanbase to tap into (although Team Sky claims to have several million core fans). Broadcast revenues are not shared out among teams, but are retained by race organisers.

Sky has lasted longer than most – it is the sixth longest serving sponsor on the World Tour – and it is hard to question the commitment of a company which has poured money into the team and into British Cycling programmes. It has built a recognisable brand associated with forensic attention to detail, slick marketing like its ‘the line’ graphics, and ultimately extraordinary success, winning eight grand tours and delivering the first British winner of the Tour de France.

Yet it has experienced such turbulent times in recent years that one might wonder why Sky didn’t run for the exit sooner. That same brand has been hit by negative headlines which have swirled around Team Sky for some time, from the uninspiring and methodical way they have dominated major stage races like the Tour de France, to the serious questioning of the team’s integrity in the TUE affair in which a parliamentary committee found that they crossed an “ethical line”. Wiggins’ Jiffy-bag scandal and Froome’s salbutamol saga also brought unwanted scrutiny, albeit without any proof of wrongdoing.

It is believed that the passion of James Murdoch, the Sky executive and son of Rupert, was key to Sky’s enduring loyalty. The cycling team was really his plaything and he built a close relationship with Brailsford over the years, stumping up the significant costs for a raft of top-level riders whom they both admired. So it would not be a huge leap to assume that when Murdoch resigned from the Sky plc board in October, after the company was taken over by the US giant Comcast, his departure combined with new overarching owners prompted the move to pull out of the sport.

Egan Bernal starred for Team Sky at the Tour de France (Reuters)

However, speaking to The Independent on Wednesday, a Sky representative stressed that this was simply about timing – 10 years felt like the natural end to the cycle, and time for change. They insisted that the decision was not taken by Comcast but by Sky officials themselves, with Team Sky chairman Graham McWilliam having the final say.

McWilliam tweeted on Wednesday: “Some suggest that Sky’s decision was to pre-empt Comcast wanting to get out of cycling. Untrue. As an $85bn global business, Comcast makes clear it operates a “decentralised approach” … with Sky empowered to make decisions. That’s what happened here!”

He added: “Just to remind everyone why Sky will bring involvement with @teamsky to a close: 1) after 10 great years, we’ve achieved everything we wanted, 2) the start of a new chapter is a natural moment to make plans, 3) we want to focus on new things like @SkyOceanRescue and more to come.”

Damaged reputations may not be the reason Sky is walking away, but it could well put off potential new suitors. There is likely to be more negative headlines in the new year when team doctor Richard Freeman, the man at the heart of the Jiffy bag scandal, faces a tribunal over a delivery of testosterone patches to cycling’s headquarters in Manchester.

Sky says it remains confident a new sponsor will be found, but if the team folds then it will mark a significant moment in a changing landscape at the top of the sport. Around the same time Sky’s news broke, motorsport specialist McLaren announced bold ambitions “to be the best in professional cycling”, revealing a new partnership with Bahrain Merida, the team of Italian former Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali. Could this mark a very real changing of the guard?

The president of world cycling, David Lappartient, recently discussed plans to achieve equality at the top of the sport, with ideas to ban race radios, power meters and even introduce budget caps in order to limit the dominance of Team Sky. All that may now be on ice, with the possible dissolution of Team Sky at the end of 2019 doing the job for him.

In a statement, the UCI said: “Sky’s presence in cycling since 2008 has contributed to the development of our sport, both in Great Britain and beyond. Team Sky has become a high-performing team on the road, clocking up success after success, including several victories at the Tour de France. We congratulate Sky and the confidence it has put in cycling over the last decade.”

In Britain there remain mixed feelings about Team Sky – some love, some hate, some indifference – but for most of cycling’s heartland countries there will be an overriding sense of relief. Team Sky’s era of dominance is nearly over.