DAVE BRAILSFORD
MARGINAL GAINS MAESTRO
Greeted with at best suspicion and at worst scorn when the team launched in 2010, the Sky chief is now almost unanimously admired by his counterparts on the European pro scene. The emergence of Great Britain as a cycling superpower has involved many individuals but no one would dispute that Brailsford has been its pied piper. Without him there would be no Team Sky and, it’s reasonable to suggest, still no British Tour de France winner.
Brailsford’s power resides partly in Sky’s longterm commitment and budget, which despite his denials is one of the biggest in the sport, and also in his proven ability to affect the future direction of management styles and training methods. His input and interest in how cycling is governed has until now been limited – Brailsford is no Jonathan Vaughters – but that may change slightly with his old boss, Brian Cookson, now holding the keys to the UCI kingdom.