Good Weekend for the Americans; Tariff Implications for Cycling: Pogačar Up For Laureus Award; Big Increase in Women's Sports Sponsorship; Overall Spending on Sport Continues to Increase ...
Key Takeaways:
● A Good Week for the Americans
● How the Tariff Wars Are Impacting Cycling
● Pogačar a Candidate For World Sportsman Award
● Big Uptick in Women’s Sports Sponsorship
● Consumer Spending on Sports Continues to Grow
Nothing highlighted the “best-of-times, worst-of-times” state of American cycling quite like the past weekend of racing – where 25-year-old American Matteo Jorgenson on the Visma-LAB team joined impressive company by winning his second consecutive overall title at Paris-Nice, while 22-year-old American Magnus Sheffield of Ineos held on to win the final stage along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The dual victories marked a significant moment for the first generation of American riders who came of age during or after the general collapse of road racing in the United States. These riders had to leave their homes in the United States at very young ages and move to Europe in order to pursue a racing career at the highest level. On the positive side, this forced exodus probably kept riders like Jorgenson and Sheffield from building up the bad habits that can develop when extremely talented young riders spend too much time racing against uneven competition. Their early and complete immersion in European racing culture was a positive developmental force for these young Americans and a key driver behind their current success. However, the thorough-going lack of higher-level stateside road racing opportunities is definitely keeping many young and talented American riders – who lack the ability or resources to decamp for Europe as teenagers – from being able to race much above the “local hero” level.
Across the Alps in Italy at Tirreno-Adriatico, UAE’s ever-improving wunderkind Juan Ayuso put in a dominant performance to win the seven-day race ahead of an impressive Filippo Ganna and a deep field of potential grand tour challengers like Jai Hindley, Antonio Tiberi, Derek Gee and Mikel Landa. Ayuso demonstrated immense strength across all terrains throughout the entire course, suggesting that his UAE team is close to closing its iron fist around the entirety of the sport’s grand tour events. For example, with Tadej Pogačar denying the opportunity for victory to any contender not named Jonas Vingegaard whenever he takes the start line, Ayuso’s continual improvement indicates that he is likely to lead the team at every three-week race where Pogačar doesn’t take the start line. This suggests that every other GC contender could see their chances to contest wins at three-week races to decrease dramatically. With all of the sport’s biggest one-day races being won by just four riders spread over three teams during the last two seasons, UAE’s talent depth could see the same trend take hold during the grand tours, too.
Although it has generated little media attention, the nomination of Tadej Pogačar as one of the nominees for this year’s prestigious Laureus World Sportsman award is notable. The award is given each year to the international sportsman who best demonstrates supreme athletic performance and achievement. The competitive legend of Pogačar only continues to grow, particularly after his other-worldly performance last weekend at Strade Bianche, but this award also recognizes sportsmanship and leadership. It was first awarded in 2000, when Nelson Mandela proclaimed that “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.” The organization is chaired by U.S. track legend Edwin Moses, and its vision is “to use sport as a powerful and cost-effective tool to help children and young people overcome violence, discrimination and disadvantage in their lives.” Other nominees for the award this year are Dutch Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen, Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, French swimmer Leon Marchand, and Swedish pole-vaulter Mondo Duplantis. Regardless of the outcome it is an honor and acknowledgement for which both Pogačar and the overall should be proud; the only cyclists to be nominated in the past were Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador and Chris Froome. The awards will be announced in late April.
The U.S. tariffs tournament being played out in global trade economics is starting to hit home, much to the chagrin of the cycling industry. The industry in general has continued to swirl in unstable patterns, with Giant and Specialized both reporting negative news last week regarding deadstock and low sales, and Merida – which has a major stake in Specialized – also reporting losses. None of this was unexpected given earlier reports that both brands, and Merida by association, had seen 2024 sales numbers suppressed due to discounting on prior year models. Giant also had reduced orders in its OEM business. Specialized, like Trek, is also saddled with significant real estate debt due to its expansive network of self-owned retail outlets. One sales area that has been keeping the retail industry afloat is the resale market, as evidenced by the death/rebirth of The Pro’s Closet earlier this year; however, the new tariffs will increase the cost for imported steel and aluminum products – everything from common bike refurbishment components like chains, spokes, and cables to seat posts and stems – and this could put additional pressure on local bike shops and used bike sales. More and more analysts seem to think that 2025 won’t be the rebound year that the industry needs, and further corrections including brand closures, shop closures and potential intra-industry mergers may play out in the remaining three business quarters.
The midweek GP Oetingen in Belgium and Sunday’s Trofeo Alfredo Binda in Italy provided some much-anticipated fireworks for fans of women’s pro cycling. The Fenix-Deceunink team was firing on all cylinders at 1.Pro Oetingen race, even without star rider Puck Pieterse, who was saving her matches for the Italian WWT UCI event. Julie De Wilde received a perfect setup over the tough, cobbled finale and powered to a sprint win over Sofia Bertilozzo (UAE). The Trofeo turned out to be an extraordinary affair, with the final hour’s multi-lap circuit serving up attack after attack amongst the sport’s heavy hitters. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx), Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), Pieterse, Marianne Vos (Visma-LAB), and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE) played multiple cards in bids to either solo or tease out the right breakaway mix for the finish, with Van der Breggen and Vollering continuing to build their competitive feud with several catch-and-counter moments over the final laps. The favorites came together for a sprint finale after the aggressive tactics neutralized the chances of any late breaks, and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) bolted to a thrilling third victory in the race over Movistar’s young sensation, Cat Ferguson. If the rest of the season’s one-day races continue to play out this way, fans won’t be able to look away from the action for more than a moment.
That “can’t look away” sentiment defined virtually all of women’s sports throughout 2024 and into the start of 2025. A recent report shows that ad spending on women’s sports was up a whopping 139% last year. This is essentially proportional to a 131% increase in hours of televised coverage across many cornerstone women’s sports such as basketball and tennis, for example, leading to a total ad investment of over $244 million last year. Critically, the diversity of brand representation in the marketing study shows that women’s sports are attracting a deeper mix of lifestyle, health, and fitness labels into the marketplace, while maintaining strong ties with insurance, finance, and beauty brands. In short, big brands are finding women’s sports to be a sure bet when it comes to connecting with their target markets and converting ad exposure to consumer purchasing decisions. The hard math points to exciting opportunities available in women’s pro cycling, but the missing ingredient is still the lack of consistent coverage. This report hopefully provides the sport’s planners and broadcast partners with more incentive and leverage to increase their programming presence and find new ways to showcase the best races and rivalries to a broader audience.
Supplementing this was another report last week from the venerable Bank of America, entitled “Sports: More Than Just a Game” – also highlighting the rapid growth across all sports in the United States. According to this report, the average American consumer now “spends an average of $1,122 on sports annually, encompassing everything from athletic equipment to attending games.” The big drivers of these sorts of numbers are of course events like the Super Bowl, the NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament, the Masters golf tournament and other marquee events. This report also cites the growing impact of women’s sports on these increasing spending levels and audience figures. Going forward, events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to be held in North America, and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are likely to drive these figures even higher. While niche sports like pro cycling contribute only a tiny fraction of these numbers, the overall trend is positive across the board, and once again underlines the criticality of access and consistent television coverage. People want to watch sports, but the sports have to be available.