New Irish pro Conti team (aka The Aquablue thread)

cunavalos

Paul Kimmage didn't mince his words about Rick Delaney a couple of years ago
https://twitter.com/PaulKimmage/status/797075162759831552

Actually the rest of the conversation after that comment is worth a read especially when Johan Bruyneel drops by

wirelessdude01

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Wonder did Dunbar have some prior knowledge as he wasn't on the 3T bike last week.

Couldn't see what he was on , likely a Ridley. Says a lot about the bikes really as most if not all riders would want to be on their trade team bike.

cunavalos

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Wonder did Dunbar have some prior knowledge as he wasn't on the 3T bike last week.

It looks like a very old Orbea judging by the headtube logo from the final stage finish line photo

TGD

Lumen wrote: »

This kind of disorderly disbanding suggests a non cycling problem.

Ya - money.

RobFowl

TGD wrote: »

Ya - money.

Or lack of it to be precise...

Beasty

I've said in the past that Ireland is a small market for advertisers, and those businesses that do put money into sport are much more demanding than they were prior to the recession. We've seen An Post pull out. Even Skoda seem to be adopting a lower profile in Ireland cycling circles.

Advertisers can afford to be choosy, and it's tough out there to maintain any venture like this based on sponsorship alone, and the likes of CI are not going to be putting money into a professional setup.

My take on Aquablue is they thought they saw a market that simply was not there. They were overly ambitious and really needed someone behind them who was prepared to throw their own money at it as I simply cannot see the sponsorship model working in Irish cycling in this day and age

Taxuser1

Eddie will be well sorted anyway. Definitely World Tour bound. Not so sure about Dunne but his level of performance will get him a spot in one of the Belgian pro continental set ups.

P_1

Beasty wrote: »

I've said in the past that Ireland is a small market for advertisers, and those businesses that do put money into sport are much more demanding than they were prior to the recession. We've seen An Post pull out. Even Skoda seem to be adopting a lower profile in Ireland cycling circles.

Advertisers can afford to be choosy, and it's tough out there to maintain any venture like this based on sponsorship alone, and the likes of CI are not going to be putting money into a professional setup.

My take on Aquablue is they thought they saw a market that simply was not there. They were overly ambitious and really needed someone behind them who was prepared to throw their own money at it as I simply cannot see the sponsorship model working in Irish cycling in this day and age

Hard to argue with that really

1bryan

Beasty wrote: »

I've said in the past that Ireland is a small market for advertisers, and those businesses that do put money into sport are much more demanding than they were prior to the recession. We've seen An Post pull out. Even Skoda seem to be adopting a lower profile in Ireland cycling circles.

Advertisers can afford to be choosy, and it's tough out there to maintain any venture like this based on sponsorship alone, and the likes of CI are not going to be putting money into a professional setup.

My take on Aquablue is they thought they saw a market that simply was not there. They were overly ambitious and really needed someone behind them who was prepared to throw their own money at it as I simply cannot see the sponsorship model working in Irish cycling in this day and age

My take on it is along the same lines as Paul Kimmage.

Since the news broke the other day I've been hearing lots of rumours about happenings within the team (as I'm sure have most of you). There is one reason why this team went to the wall - Rick Delaney. He lost interest in his little vanity project and decided he'd had enough. But, RD being RD, he wasn't even willing to see out the year and has left the riders and staff high and dry.

What he's done is despicable and it speaks volume for him as a human being. To put it into perspective, if he was running a small business in Ireland and treated his staff this way, it'd be headline news.

Apparently the majority of the riders couldn't stand him either but contracts are so scarce these days, they put up with him.

With the benefit of hindsight it's clear to see the whole thing was a joke from the outset, sadly.

Beasty

1bryan wrote: »

With the benefit of hindsight it's clear to see the whole thing was a joke from the outset, sadly.

Putting aside personalities for a second, no-one would undertake such a venture in anticipation of failure. He clearly thought there was a chance of success, and maybe his personality contributed to the downfall. I suspect though that anything of this nature was doomed to failure without a proper "sugar daddy" backing it

1bryan

Beasty wrote: »

Putting aside personalities for a second, no-one would undertake such a venture in anticipation of failure. He clearly thought there was a chance of success, and maybe his personality contributed to the downfall. I suspect though that anything of this nature was doomed to failure without a proper "sugar daddy" backing it

agreed, I have little doubt he thought it would succeed. And I believed some of the stuff he said at the outset.

But then I visited the online store. The very means of financing the operation. The online store was dreadful. Technically it was terrible, and price-wise it was far more expensive than any other competitor out there. Despite really wanting to, I never bought anything from it.

It seemed like a half-hearted effort was made into what, fundamentally, the team was most reliant on for survival. That's the bit that I have difficulty getting my head around. How such an astute business man could have been so naive about something that the average Fred (myself included) on the street could have told him, was a bad idea, unless it gave us an option we couldn't not ignore when buying stuff.

I've heard a lot of the guff RD went on with around not getting race invites was untrue too. That they did get some invites which were spurned cos he didn't want to pay the race fees.

Whatever did really happen, hopefully it will come out in the wash eventually.

brocbrocach

Also, to be fair, RD had a bad accident not long ago so may need to tighten ship.
Without being smart after the fact though, a fool could see the gap in the market was a tiny/nonexistent one - without mentioning the fact that the Aquablue website was terrible and that not a lot of work seemed to have gone into widening their product base.
The UCI need to be asked questions too. Aren't all PC and WT teams supposed to guarantee specific funds and to lodge a specific sum in Switzerland, to be used to pay riders and staff if they go to the wall?

TychoCaine

cunavalos wrote: »

It looks like a very old Orbea judging by the headtube logo from the final stage finish line photo

It was an S-Works. Probably his team bike from Axeon Hagens Berman last year.

1bryan

brocbrocach wrote: »

Also, to be fair, RD had a bad accident not long ago so may need to tighten ship.
Without being smart after the fact though, a fool could see the gap in the market was a tiny/nonexistent one - without mentioning the fact that the Aquablue website was terrible and that not a lot of work seemed to have gone into widening their product base.
The UCI need to be asked questions too. Aren't all PC and WT teams supposed to guarantee specific funds and to lodge a specific sum in Switzerland, to be used to pay riders and staff if they go to the wall?

was wondering about that too. If you remember back to the start of this season there was a delay in ABS getting their license as there were still parts of the criteria for that license not being met.

You'd have to think that a fundamental part of any license application would be that money to pay the riders' salaries needs to be guaranteed?

At least I hope that's the case.

lukegjpotter

brocbrocach wrote: »

Aren't all PC and WT teams supposed to guarantee specific funds and to lodge a specific sum in Switzerland, to be used to pay riders and staff if they go to the wall?

I think they must pay up until September's start, or end.
It was one of Johnathan Vaughters "Creative Accounting" techniques to keep Slipstream Sport's (Garmin/Cannondale/Drapac/EF) WT Licence, which was exposed last season when they were trying to save the team.

Perhaps, they are paying salaries, but won't race the team, as those logistics costs money.

buffalo

Short interview with Conor Dunne in the Indo: https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/dunne-its-a-shame-aqua-blue-had-to-end-like-this-37265719.html

"I think the main reason (they won't start the race) is just to protect the salaries until the end of the year, to make sure there's enough money left to pay everyone's salaries," he says.

...

"Rick did his best for us and I don't blame him, he tried his best for the riders to keep the team going. It's unfair to put all the blame on to him because there's more to it," he says. "I don't think they even knew it was going to fall that badly. I think it fell like a house of cards. It just shows how fragile the cycling world is really."

topcat77

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/rick-delaney-has-left-the-group-the-story-behind-the-rise-and-fall-of-aqua-blue/

Full and comprehensive article

Thud

topcat77 wrote: »

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/rick-delaney-has-left-the-group-the-story-behind-the-rise-and-fall-of-aqua-blue/

Full and comprehensive article

Explains Conor Dunnes' non branded frame.

has website been hacked?

http://prepreloved.aquabluesport.com/advert/14

Thud

Thud wrote: »

Explains Conor Dunnes' non branded frame.

has website been hacked?

http://prepreloved.aquabluesport.com/advert/14

Disgruntled employee most likely.

buffalo

Thud wrote: »

Explains Conor Dunnes' non branded frame.

has website been hacked?

http://prepreloved.aquabluesport.com/advert/14

That whole section looks like a test area: http://prepreloved.aquabluesport.com/categories/1

€50k for a pair of cleats? No wonder they weren't selling!

CrowdedHouse

That looks like a pedigree cat though for €4, you could pay 5/600 for a kitten

Verandas Willems Crelen merger with Roompot confirmed

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/verandas-willems-crelan-and-roompot-nederlandse-loterij-merge-for-2019/

lukegjpotter

Rick Delaney has deleted, or temporally suspended, his Twitter Account.  

https://twitter.com/RickDelaneyABS/

jimbobaloobob

lukegjpotter wrote: »

Rick Delaney has deleted, or temporally suspended, his Twitter Account.

https://twitter.com/RickDelaneyABS/

In fairness hes probably right to. Last thing anyone involved needs is all the people who know SFA about the situation and read something somewhere taking pot shots of their own opinions.
Whole situation is a pity but wont be the last. When people like Oleg Tinkov tell you theres no return to be made from pro cyclings investors need take some heed.

How do sponsors see a return in cycling, most of the year out side of the 9 weeks of GT's and most only watch those at weekends, and even then mostly TdF. racing is on during the day and you would have a very niche audience and even then of an age. I know lads who race and would never watch racing outside of GT's

Like people wont buy more Lotto tickets or post more letters id those sponsor teams or race. I can be pretty sure when balding men like me find out how much Aplacine Shampoo is we happily shave our heads.

godtabh

A friend of mine got engaged to one of the AB senior management team on the eve of the annocment. Celebrations maybe muted!

Shedite27

The Cycling Podcast have an interview with Rick Delaney on the episode to be released this evening

CantGetNoSleep

buffalo wrote: »

That whole section looks like a test area: http://prepreloved.aquabluesport.com/categories/1

€50k for a pair of cleats? No wonder they weren't selling!

Will there be a closing down sale? I've actually warmed to navy kit recently and there's is relatively light in branding for a pro team

RobFowl

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Will there be a closing down sale? I've actually warmed to navy kit recently and there's is relatively light in branding for a pro team

They may throw in one of the sh1te bikes for free......

Macy0161

Deleted User wrote: »

How do sponsors see a return in cycling, most of the year out side of the 9 weeks of GT's and most only watch those at weekends, and even then mostly TdF. racing is on during the day and you would have a very niche audience and even then of an age. I know lads who race and would never watch racing outside of GT's

Like people wont buy more Lotto tickets or post more letters id those sponsor teams or race. I can be pretty sure when balding men like me find out how much Aplacine Shampoo is we happily shave our heads.

I'm not saying return on investment in sponsorship isn't an issue, but is that more pronounced here? Would that still be true in "traditional" cycling countries? I watched some of the semi classics, and they had decent crowds for freezing weather midweek.

I think we've been over exposed to Kimmage and Walsh, and whoever OTB gets to kill or distract from any positive cycling news story, which is partly why there isn't the interest in the pro side of the sport.