Froome’s new team to face fracking protesters
Chris Froome helped officially launch Team Ineos on Wednesday ahead of the Tour de Yorkshire as the former Team Sky plot to build on a decade of outstanding success.
Chemicals company Ineos, founded by Britain’s richest man, Jim Ratcliffe, confirmed its takeover of the British outfit in March after Sky ended a 10-year commitment.
Deep-pocketed Team Sky won six Tour de France titles in the past seven years and racked up eight Grand Tour victories in total but were mired in controversy for using special exemptions to administer drugs that can enhance performance.
“This is a momentous day for the team, our fans and cycling in general,” said team principal Dave Brailsford. “We are hugely excited about the future with Ineos at the helm.”
Environmental protesters are expected to line the route of the four-day Tour de Yorkshire, beginning on Thursday, to voice their anger at Ineos’s record on fracking and plastics.
Wednesday’s media conference was held far from the public gaze in a pub in North Yorkshire. Brailsford defended the new owners of his cycling team, speaking alongside Ratcliffe and four-time Tour de France winner Froome, who unveiled the new team kit.
“I’m not an expert in chemicals, I’m an expert in trying to make Chris ride his bike faster,” he said. “But when I did come to educate myself I realised there’s a very simplistic view and when you dive down into it and take the effort you can find out there’s a very different view. I’m very comfortable with the situation we’re in.”
Brailsford said where Sky had promoted recycling campaigns, “if anybody can do anything about it, it’s these guys”.
Ratcliffe defended his company’s operations, saying Ineos had pioneered new methods of recycling plastic. On fracking, he said the majority of environmental groups he has met are “ignorant” of the facts, and said it was a cheap source of energy.
Team Dimension Data rider Mark Cavendish will join Froome on the start line for the race in the north of England, hoping to battle the likes of Katusha-Alpecin’s Marcel Kittel in the anticipated sprint finishes.
Defending Tour de Yorkshire champion Greg Van Avermaet and 2017 winner Serge Pauwels will also be taking part. Tiger Woods’s epic victory at the Masters was the sporting equivalent of the moon landing and has triggered a ticket frenzy for the PGA championship, PGA of America chief Seth Waugh says.
Woods completed a fairytale comeback at Augusta on April 14, winning the 15th Major of a career that had once seemed in irreversible decline after a series of lengthy injury layoffs.
Waugh said Woods’s emotional win has triggered a new wave of perfectly timed Tigermania, as the PGA Championship tees off in its new May slot in the calendar in just over two weeks’ time.
While tickets for the final two days of the May 16-19 championship at Bethpage Black had already sold out, Woods’s victory had sent demand surging.
“Tiger, you know, he has impact, sort of the moon landing,” Waugh said of Woods’s Masters win.
“It’s not golf; it’s ‘where were you when?’ kind of stuff.
“The impact immediately afterwards was extraordinary in terms of ticket sales. We were basically sold out for the weekend, but the requests just poured in across the board.”
Woods has already won a Major at Bethpage Black, triumphing at the New York course in 2002 when it hosted the US Open.
Waugh said he expected Woods’s history at the course would also feed into the sense of anticipation as the tournament neared. “We absolutely now know that the fan base will be cranked up and we hope that it will have the same effect that he had his first go-around on participation,” Waugh said. “Hopefully we can ride not only the wave and excitement about watching him play, but others, you know, wanting to play.”
Waugh said the PGA opted to shift the championship from its traditional slot in August in order to better pace the season.
“We always felt there was this excitement that happened in April [after the Masters] and then a bit of a letdown from the golf calendar,” he said.
Woods’s Augusta victory had all but guaranteed the move would pay off, Waugh said. “Couldn’t be more excited. We think we made a great decision, but we’d rather be lucky than good. We thought it was smart; it looks brilliant, now.”