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Richard Branson hails Wiggins' successRichard Branson (c) bbcworldservice via Flickr

Richard Branson hails Wiggins' success

Hint of a future Virgin vs Sky bidding war?
by John Stevenson
Sun, Jul 22, 2012 21:27
11

Virgin Group boss Sir Richard Branson has written an enthusiastic note of congratulations to Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Team Sky after today's Tour de France tour de force and hinted that Virgin Group would be interested in sponsoring the squad when the current deal with Sky runs out.

In case you've just come out of a deep cave, Wiggins finished the Tour de France in yellow this afternoon and led out Cavendish to his fourth consecutive Champs Elysees victory.

“When the contract finishes, come see us at Virgin Media!” writes Branson. He might have to wait a while; Sky renewed its support of British Cycling for four years back in May.

The London Olympics starts next weekend. “What a fantastic time for British cyclists to do us proud with such an astonishing performance at the Tour de France,” writes Branson.

“Bradley Wiggins has not only won the Tour de France, he has been supported all the way by fellow Brit Chris Froome, who finished second … backed up by the likes of Mark Cavendish, who claimed a record-breaking fourth consecutive sprint win on the Champs- Élysées.”

You can bet that world+dog will be trying to take the credit for Wiggins' win and Sky's success, and here's Branson staking his claim to Cav's prominence: “Mark was one of the 12 sportspersons Virgin Atlantic picked out back in 2006 as young Olympic 2012 hopefuls with the Flying Start programme. Good to see that prediction coming true!

"Kudos too for Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford, who said in 2009 he would get a British Tour de France winner within five years. And - through gritted teeth - congratulations to Sky for sponsoring the team. When the contract finishes, come see us at Virgin Media!”

He's probably at least half serious. Branson's son Sam is a keen cyclist who rode the full length of the Dallaglio-Flintoff Cycle Slam earlier this year. Branson Senior was scheduled to ride the first few days too, but eventually joined the ride briefly in France. Virgin also sponsors the Virgin Money Cyclone sportive. Branson describes last month's event as “a roaring success”.

Of course the big question if Branson were to sponsor Team Sky is: would we see Fran Millar featured on Richard Branson picking up women?

John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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11 comments

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northstar | 12 years ago
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All aboard....

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andylul | 12 years ago
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Surely he's missed his chance - UK's broken it's TdF Virginity 4

Cannot rule out and egoist like Sir RB getting on the BradWagon - having a telecommunications business among your interests would certainly help (not seeing any pattern here at all)

There are plenty of folk with an excess of wonga that could chuck it at cycling. It's got to be cheaper than F1? And who's to say that have to be cycling fanatics rather than rabid self-publicists. Have we forgotten Bernie Tapie and La Vie Claire?

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Carlton Reid | 12 years ago
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Team Virgin would be something that @tweetersagan would be very interested in.

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Farky | 12 years ago
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Wow, underwhelming welcome for Virgin on here.

Its Marketing, if youve never experienced it, its not about fluffy feel good, its about opportunity, exposure and money. Anyone remember HTC?

Id welcome Mr Bransons money in the sport but why wait 4 years til Sky renew?

Perfectly good GB team needing money on the form of Endura!

They have the same base that Sky/BC had prior to the full on development and buying of riders. Same great leadership and experience, similar science in sport background and riders already capable of winning TdF stages!

Get the cheque book out!

(always love that term "used to do business" as theres usually a reason for the pastence that leads me to disregard anything they say)

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Simon E replied to Farky | 12 years ago
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Farky wrote:

underwhelming welcome for attention seeking bandwagon-hopper Richard Branson on here.

Fixed that for you 3

Most of us are well aware of what sports sponsorship and marketing are about, but feel Branson is likely to jump into cycling just because his main competitor in media/TV has tasted success in the sport. I'm not against opportunism, but I think the Tapie reference is quite apt.

Good point re. Endura, now there's a team bursting with talent looking for more support.

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thereandbackagain | 12 years ago
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Agree with London player too.

Branson's an opportunistic, attention-seeking chancer who's very good at using other people's money to promote him and his brand.

He was very, very, clever with the F1 sponsorship, as he carried very little risk, and apparently little commitment too.

I've worked with people who've had exposure to the Virgin business, and their experiences were universally underwhelming. People seem to think he's some sort of cuddly underdog, which I really don't understand.

I'm no fan of Sky as a brand either, but when they want to do something, they commit.

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A V Lowe | 12 years ago
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I think London Player has a good handle on how this sort of thing works.

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jamjam | 12 years ago
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I can see "Team Virgin" will be a good name... 3

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londonplayer | 12 years ago
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Richard Branson = Attention seeker.

If he thinks supporting Pro cycling is such a good idea, why didn't he set up a pro cycling team 10 years ago?

I've met people who've done business with Branson and, to put it mildly, they wouldn't touch him with 2 barge poles in future.

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RhysW replied to londonplayer | 12 years ago
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On the up-side it could only be good for cycling if another major UK brand began backing a team!

And a comment on basing your business decisions on what your friends think ... really Murdoch (owner of the Sky brand) ... Mr Nice guy ... yep as I thought.

Let cycling be cycling - if somebody wants to promote it let's support it!

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TheHatter | 12 years ago
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why not set up his own team with Froome to rival Wiggins and Sagan to rival Cav? no chance of a boring tour then!

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