In recent weeks, AA Drink folded and the initial reaction to this was full of fear.  What was going to happen to the riders and the staff? Will there be a future for them, can they keep riding, or will the sport be robbed of top talent that plays its role in developing future generations?  Gladly, the strength in depth of the sport was there for the riders to find new homes.  On top of this, the re-emergence of teams like Bigla, who have signed Emma Pooley, shows that the sport is developing itself a strong second tier.  That level is firmly where I see my team at the moment; working hard to provide a place between pro teams and clubs.  The fact that Emma Pooley commented that her taking a year out wouldn’t be a good idea when considering 2016, shows this sport is packed full of talent and it takes constant involvement and improvement to shine, even for the most naturally-gifted of riders.

Although we don’t have a set of regulations giving us the tiered registration structure that men’s teams have, we seem to be creating it for ourselves.  In other areas there are some important but small changes to the UCI regulations regarding entering races.  For me the key change will be the removal of the requirement to offer the leading national teams a place in World Cup races.  As I’ve said in my ramblings before, having national teams in these events can be destructive.  Although the fine details of the rule changes are yet to be published, it looks like taking a positive step.  There’s also the introduction of .HC events which will add prestige and interest to these events.   If we now have people in and out of teams working to make a better environment for women’s racing, we have for sure turned at least part of the corner.

The tangled turns of Spaghetti Junction

The road we are on looks far less like spaghetti junction right now.   I would be a strong advocate of a group of interested individuals from the sport getting together to form a working group who could provide recommendations to the UCI on how to progress our sport.  Perhaps it could even go further and provide some guidelines to new teams and races on development, sustainability and media interaction.

We also have a new band of media-savvy teams, which combined with vastly increased attention from news sites, means women’s cycling is forcing itself onto front pages on a far more regular basis.  There also seems to be a general levelling out of teams at the top.  Super teams are less dominant and the chasing pack has formed very strong units like HiTec Products and Dolmans.  Not only does this drive forward the top of the sport, but it also provides team like mine with the hope we can follow their lead, and create stable but competitive teams that can in turn reward sponsors with both media and results.

From a UK perspective we now have five riders being placed on an Australian-run, Italian-based, British-registered pro team. These young riders are going to get a chance to sharpen their road racing teeth at the highest level, whilst keeping up their track focus.  Perhaps this is the toe in the water for Sky women’s team; I suppose that will become clear over time.  I’m sure it will be a strong outfit and it should provide hope to other British riders that they can succeed on the world scene.  There are so many British pro road riders now, something that didn’t seem possible a few seasons ago.  When I launched FBUK, which was Britain’s first ever UCI trade team for women, there were just a couple of European-based pros outside of the National Team.   Personally, I’d love to see British investment and British riders going to a truly British team.  I’m not talking an exclusively British team, but a British core of funding and riders at Professional level, importantly including British staff learning to take the sport forward.   There are several teams in the UK capable of stepping up to UCI level and with the addition or retention of top class riders could make an impact on the world scene.

However if I put my personal frustrations aside, I guess the creation of international teams is potentially good for the sport.  Examples in cyclo-cross of geographically-biased professional teams are potentially destructive to the sports progression.  So I guess we’ll see how this works out over time.

So perhaps the doom and gloom era is over. Positive notes seem to be playing over women’s cycling, even if it’s not a full symphony orchestra yet.  We need to keep this push going, further engage fans, support events and continue to build key stepping stones for progressive riders.  If my little team can make a difference, so can one local to you.  I’m already looking forward to the UK’s key events in 2013, and I’m working very hard to forge links with overseas teams to provide riders with further opportunities to shine in events that best suit them.  If more teams and leaders of the sport can work together and create one powerful voice, then I think we have a real chance to speed up the progress and push women’s cycling mainstream.

Perhaps it won’t be long until the phrases used around women’s cycling are “progressive,” “strong,” and “leading the way.”

* * * * *

9 November 2012 Footnote: Stef has written a companion piece in response to the many questions he received following publication of this article. You can read it here.

* * * * *

Stefan Wyman is the Owner, Sports Director and Manager of the Matrix Fitness/Prendas women’s cycling team. Previously a rider himself, Stefan entered the world of team management in 2004 with Team FBUK. Specializing in women’s racing, Stefan has experienced huge success; not only in developing riders on the road as a Director Sportif (DS), but also as one of the main engines behind the scenes.

In major races, he has led his team to many successes, including a stage win and young person’s jersey in the 2009 Trophy d’Or, World Cup podiums in Cyclo-Cross, and multiple national championship victories.

We are grateful that Stef has lent his voice to us; you can find him on Twitter @ds_stef, and on the web with his team – @onthedrops – at http://www.onthedrops.cc/ and at #fanbackedwomenscycling

Part 1 – Spreading the word of women’s cycling.  There are so many great people that follow the sport already, but it seems to me the key to growing the sport from this direction is getting these fans mobilised and together.  We tend to have cyber fans. They are awesome, and proud to be following the sport… scary I know.  The biggest fan I know is Sarah Connolly (@_Pigeons_ on Twitter).  Sarah is a “British Super Dooper Über Massive Huge Slightly Barmey Snarky Passionate Sweary Wicked Awesome” fan.  Now there isn’t room in the world for many of these fans.  She rocks, and if you don’t think so, I have no time for you, period.

I’ve taken Sarah to races in Europe, and to race in the UK. Seeing how Sarah comes alive at these events and her personal battles of professionalism verses fanism are hilarious to watch and be a part of.  So it strikes me that having Sarah at more races is a key to joining a lot of dots.  ‘Sarah’ is, of course, fans in general.  We need these fans to come out to events, participate and feel (and make) the atmosphere that is women cycling.  It’s a great place to be and so accessible.  So follows Sarah’s lead and let’s get the streets lined with fans, not just for the ‘feature’ events. Let’s create our own feature events. Let’s tweet the hell out of races and make an impact. Let’s take photos and use social media, and fill it with firsthand knowledge; and let’s do it together.

To conclude part 1, if you feel the need to go to events and need event information, look within the group of existing fans and send John Orbea (@Cyclopunk on Twitter) a message. He is the man with the info and as a fan he is taking the sport forward. We need more people like him.

Part 2 – Fan-backed teams. This is a subject that had hit my email inbox HARD this week.  The general feeling is these don’t work. But, as normal, I have a slightly different feeling about that.  I feel that in the new world of social media and ease of information there is an opportunity for it to work.  As it stands (and of course I reserve the right to change my mind, be talked into different things, or be proved wrong), I feel there would need to be some simple rules if it were to run alongside my (or any) existing team:

1. It would need to not be the primary source of funding.
2. Salaries to riders would not be dependent on it.
3. It would be run by a small, but perfectly-formed, committee (I hate committee set-ups, so that really hurts me so much to say).
4. A large part of the fund would be used for promotional events for the good of growth and development, not racing cost.

Ok, so that’s a wishy-washy list, and it’s clearly not final, but at the moment they are the thoughts in my head to keep the possibility of this happening very real.

“What’s the return?” or “What do I get back?” are the common questions.  The simple answer is “satisfaction.” Know you were part of something.  You lose £1 or $1 a year or whatever you put in, but you gain the knowledge that you tried something.  You become part of a group of people that could be mobilised (As in Part 1 above) and who could raise the roof on the finish line of events.  You can be part of a group that allows a team to get real commercial backing to pay riders.  You get to feel good about yourself.

So it’s early days and maybe it can’t work. This isn’t my plan; it’s been put to me, and my email inbox. Is there the support for this kind of venture? Who knows?  You tell me.

On 1 January this year, when Matrix Fitness – Prendas started, it has 23,981 people in its Twitter community when you added the following of its riders and sponsors.  Today it has 81,042 in that community.  That shows the potential power of a small team. £1 from each of those people and we can almost change the world.

Part 3 – Fans’ innovation. I always talk on here about innovation, and it’s been a-maz-ing to see the take-off of the most exciting fan-led project in women’s cycling in the eight years I’ve been involved in it.  The aforementioned Sarah and her partner in crime, Dan (who can be found on Twitter @entendered), have launched the Unofficial Unsanctioned Social Media Jersey.  This jersey idea, which I’ll let you read all about yourselves, is basically where fans pledge some money, and from this fund, riders in real-life actual races get some money based on the votes given by fans for their performance.

Women’s races have low prize funds, women riders don’t often get paid, and many riders have to pay to get themselves to professional races with their ‘professional’ teams.  So if the UCI, organisers and teams can’t help, perhaps Dan and Sarah can.  They are real-life super heroes who may well have started something a lot bigger than they first though.  But this is the best example of fans having an immediate, and huge, impact on women’s racing right now.

So far it has raised $2,000 and in the next few days could go even higher, so please check it out and if you are feeling flush, pass on a dollar or two. Every little helps I’m sure

In many ways, women’s cycling lacks history; certainly compared to the men’s side of the sport. This era of raised interest in women’s cycling is a chance to make a new kind of history for the sport, in a new, interesting and socially inclusive way.

Above all, fans are needed, respected, and appreciated.  We, as a team, take the time to speak to them, to interact and to pass on our reasons why we do things.  We aren’t always going to agree, but we can compromise, or agree to disagree.  We are all entitled to our opinions, but above all we care about the same sport, so let’s see if together we can make an impact for 2013.

Finally, I got told yesterday “Depends how keen you are to see your sport succeed??” – The answer is VERY. But that doesn’t mean I can do everything single-handed. Fill every race with 80 riders, pay riders, provide press coverage, fill the Internet with interesting stories from riders, photos and videos.  But I try hard.

Perhaps if we work together, people won’t need to say things like that to me and save my blood boiling quite so often.

Michael Zijlaard has run his team in great style and has constantly raised the game for others. Their imposing tour bus casts shadows on lesser outfits in the tiny parking areas at women’s races.  Their steely-faced mechanics professionally ensure no speck of dust remains on the bikes before their star-studded lineup of riders challenge over every kind of terrain.  It looks like an embarrassment of riches that highlights the skills of Zijlaard as a business man as well as team manager.  It’s because of this the alarm bells chime loud and clear when people like him have issues gaining and retaining sponsors.

But perhaps it raises an important question about the structure of women’s teams.  Do they focus too much on the ‘front end’ of the team?  Are we too focused on squeezing as many result-scoring riders into the lineup, rather than adding behind-the-scenes stars that can schmooze potential sponsors and provide the VIP experience to existing partners that make backing a women’s team a no brainer?  Now I’m not suggesting it happened this way with AA Drink; Michael and Leontien (Leontien van Moorsel – Former World and Olympic Champion and original Queen of Dutch Racing) made a formidable partnership by controlling and managing their team and environment with Pro Tour efficiency.  But is this lack of back office focus by a majority of teams the reason so many only get to mediocre levels and then fizzle away?   In recent times, it’s a rare sight to see a Pro Tour team owner/manager behind the driver’s wheel of a team car.  Yes they are there and involved, but they are focused on press, partners and maybe giving an outside-in perspective on their teams’ performances.

My team is a mere morsel compared to AA Drink, but we share the same struggle. Much of our press is self-generated though our website and riders blogging.  Major cycling sites fail to pick up our releases or convey our news and performances, giving us a tough start when it comes to impressing sponsors.  Each year we have a few calm months during the spring classics where our focus is 100% on racing. We can carefully plan our riders’ seasons, their development, and even dream about their futures in this great sport – a sport that is obviously going to turn the corner and then fulfil all of our wildest fantasies.  But as the end of June approaches and we turn up to the national championships, attention has changed. We need results, we need to impress. There is a much bigger focus on the here and now.  A medal, two medals, will it be enough?  A stripey jersey backed up with some solid results in other races, surely that will take the pressure off?  The reality is it won’t, and the tough side of women’s cycling and its harsh financial realities kick in.

From 1^st June my entire focus has been on 2013.  Survival is the key, growth is a privilege.  That struggle bears a great weight on your shoulders.  My success in making this team survive, and the same for Michael, is something that we take seriously, but there comes a point where that pressure is no longer feasible.  I’m sure Michael could have gone public and ‘begged’ for help, but why should he?  Few people have ever done as much for the sport as the Zijlaard van Moorsel family.  They deserve better, they deserve to enjoy their lives and above all they need to be praised for what they have achieved.  Constantly challenging the norm and raising the bar – that respect should also go to AA Drink, who as a company have invested huge amounts of money in a sport that others shy away from – I for one tip my hat to all of them.

I also feel that hope is still there. That legacy of what has been achieved by this outstanding cycling couple quickly appears to allow the riders of the AA Drink team to continue as a unit in the coming season.  Increasing numbers of men’s team are picking up on the potential of women’s cycling and making the informed choice to back the sport. Rumours are rife of new squads backed by men’s teams in the whispering circles in managers’ meetings. In this circumstance I hope ‘the no smoke without fire’ rule of thumb is true.

The sport will go on. It has its super teams, and it has its middle ground.  It has people that care, and people that want to innovate to ensure a great and strong future.  This case is currently under the microscope, but it will soon be under the carpet.  It’s certainly highlighted to me the need for bringing in more help behind the scenes.  Keeping the knowledge of soon-to-retire riders in the sport is very important.  The mere thought of Ina Teutenberg in a managers’ meeting would raise the pulses and bring sweat to the brow of UCI Commissaires around the world.  To get these people driving team cars, leading tactical debates, and commanding the respect of young and developing riders is going to be key by inspiring future stars with their firsthand knowledge. Putting business people behind teams into an office environment and providing real-life return and unique experiences to those that choose to be partners is a priority.

We are close to something great, but the final kilometres are very steep.