Sky drops bombshell with cycling pull-out

BRITISH media company Sky on Wednesday said it would axe its sponsorship of cycling giant Team Sky after next season, ending a partnership that has delivered six Tour de France titles in the past seven years.

Team Sk y have clocked up eight Grand Tour wins since their formation, but they have a lso been plunged into cont rover s y for usi ng specia l exempt ions to ad mi n i ster drugs that can enhance performance.

The outfit, which has 322 wins in total since 2010, will operate for the last season as Team Sky in 2019 and could continue under a different name if a new backer is found.

“The vision for Team Sky began with the ambition to build a clean, winning team around a core of British riders and staff,” said team principal Dave Brailsford.

“We are proud of the part we have played in Britain’s transformation into a cycling nation over the last decade,” he added.

Sky’s announcement closes an extraordinary chapter in cycling which began with the dream of creating Britain’s first Tour de France champion – which seemed overly ambitious at the time.

But Bradley Wiggins made it reality in 2012, before Chris Froome won four Tour de France titles and Geraint Thomas became Sky’s third winner of cycling’s landmark event this year.

Deep-pocketed Sky are known for Brailsford’s meticulous and innovative application of ‘mar- ginal gains’, the theory that many small advantages in areas as diverse as wind resistance, diet and sleep quality can add up to a significant improvement in performance.

However, Sky’s image was clouded in the controversy over so-called therapeutic use exemptions, after a damning British parliamentary report said the team crossed an “ethical line” by using the loophole to administer drugs to enhance performance.

The Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee report said MPs believed that triamcinolone, used to treat asthma, “was being used to prepare Wiggins, and possibly other riders supporting him, for the Tour de France”.

Sky were also in the crosshairs for a suspected anti-doping violation over a mystery package reportedly destined for Wiggins in 2011, although a UK AntiDoping investigation concluded with no charges brought.

Sky was also caught in a longrunning doping controversy that began when Froome returned an adverse doping test for elevated levels of the asthma medication salbutamol, on his way to victory in the Vuelta a Espana in 2017. He was cleared 10 months later.

Sky began its involvement with the sport in 2008, when it successfully teamed up with British Cycling to increase participation and support the country’s elite riders, who became a major force at world events.

“After more than a decade of involvement, I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved with Team Sky and our longstanding partners at British Cycling,” said Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s chief executive.