think some suspected this in tennis before but it would take a giant conspiracy to do in cycling now given outside agencies involved as UCI has outsourced its testing so seems unlikely from a theoretical/practical point compared to the past

or this by 1984 Vuelta winner Eric Caritoux who makes Ventoux AOC wine these days (not my pic, and yet to taste any)

[opens GIF archive]

was thinking of a profile photo too 👍

quite, and RCS should ask for payments rather than promises. Ideally the EBU could take it so the racing is free for many at least in Europe. I know RCS saw positives and negatives in the last deal, that selling rights got money but at the expense of their reach

This was a key element of One Cycling hoping to start in 2026. They thought they'd have an immediate advantage by being able to share out RCS's new broadcast rights. Alas, it hasn't happened. History tells us rights typically last for four to five years.

yes, would make sense given DAZN is tied to the same Saudi fund linked to One Cycling

it'll still be free on RAI

and would you like the cycling add-on as well? 😉

suggest the GCN+ era was the peak, almost every race in one place and it worked in Europe, South America, Asia etc, and a reaonable price too. But good for subscribers like us, but less so for reaching ordinary households

...but IRIS has brokered several deals with streaming platform DAZN so it could be there, that would mean Eurosport no longer the "home" of all the World Tour races. Anyway, news to look out for, especially if you plan to subscribe to a service once the road season starts.

I was looking up the name and apparently it's France's most popular brand, found in 8 out of 10 fridges there... But the headlines all said it's just sold by Nestlé to a Spanish company 😉

he's supposed to be joining Lidl-Trek but could be that there are negotiations and arbitration over his contract, normally deadline to resolve is the end of this month

...BTW the pig's name is Herta, which it shares with a popular French brand found in supermarkets 🐷 🥓