The Big Picture of Sport News: USA Today Sports, MLB, The chain effect of Stephen Strasburg's record-setting deal

The Strasburg deal leaves massive repercussions in its wake, starting with the likely departure of All-Star third baseman Anthony Rendon, a $300 million contract-in-waiting for pitcher Gerrit Cole, and an enhanced marketplace for the rest of the free-agent pitching class.

• Strasburg already had four years and $100 million remaining on his original contract when he opted out. He had a spectacular season -- going 18-6 with a 3.32 ERA and league-leading 209 innings. He topped that by winning the World Series MVP. Still, no one was quite sure how much more he could command on the open market.
  He turned it into an extra $145 million over three years, a cool $48.3 million a year.
  Why, even at $245 million over seven years, Strasburg sets the record of $35 million a year for a pitcher, eclipsing Zack Greinke’s $34.3 million annual average salary with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

And just like that, it’s now quite possible that Cole, the No. 1 pitcher on the free-agent market, becomes the first $300 million pitcher in history.

• The Yankees certainly will be offering more than $245 million now. Cole should be wearing pinstripes by the end of the week.
  It certainly is a financial bonanza, too, for free-agent starter Madison Bumgarner, whose request for a $100 million deal no longer seems unreasonable.
• The Nationals, who drafted Strasburg with the first pick in 2009, will have paid him about $370 million by the end of his contract, which includes a full no-trade clause and no opt-outs, and perhaps an all-expenses trip to Cooperstown.

References:

USA Today Sports, Opinion: Fallout from Stephen Strasburg's record-setting deal will affect Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon, Bob Nightengale, December 10, 2019.

The Big Picture of Sport News: Total Sportek, 25 World’s Most Popular Sports (Ranked by 13 factors)

Sports journalists have been facing this conundrum of ranking sports for some time now.  For ranking any sport’s popularity it is imperative that we set the criteria for ranking first. For us (Total Sportek) TV viewership isn’t the only criteria for a sports popularity rather it should be the number of other factors combined to get the best popularity ranking.

• These are the factors we consider in ranking the top 25 sports in the world. So lets begin our countdown for the biggest, most popular sports in the World.
• CRITERIA USED.
1. Global base & audience
2. TV  Viewership numbers
3. Number Professional leagues around the world
4. TV rights deals
5. Endorsement & Sponsorship deals
6. Average athlete salary in top league
7. Biggest competition & (number of countries represented)
8. Social media presence
9. Prominence in sports headlines on media outlets (websites, tv)
10. Relevancy through the year
11. Regional dominance
12. Gender equality
13. Accessible to general public worldwide

#1. Football/Soccer

With over 4 billion followers of football, it is by far the most popular sport in the world. Football is one of the most accessible sport in the world and there is hardly anyone in this world who has not kick a ball at some point in their life. Football dominate sports headlines in some of the major countries in the world including almost all European nations like United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain etc. In South America football is more than just a game, it represent dreams and joy for kids in Brazil, Argentina and other latin countries.

Most watched competition in the world: Football World Cup is by far the most watched sports competition in the world. 3.9 billion people tune in at some point during the FIFA World Cup 2014 making it by far the biggest sport competition. While the final of 2014 world cup was watched by as many 700 million people all around the globe.

Highest paying sports competitions: $1.5 Billion is awarded in prize money and bonuses every year in UEFA Champions league, which is the european elite club competition where clubs from 54 countries participate. in fact four of the top 5 competitions with highest prize money are football events (Champions League, FIFA World Cup, Europa League, UEFA Euro).

Most expensive sports TV rights deal: English Premier League (English top football division) is the most watched professional sport league in the world. it broadcast in 212 territories across the world with over 5 billion viewer tuning in to live action at some point every season. SkySports and BT Sports paid over £5.3 billion to get premier league rights in the UK for three years while another £3 billion will be generated from international rights.

Highest Paid Athletes: Top players like Ronaldo and Messi are paid around £300,000 a week in salary by their respective clubs while Ronaldo and Messi also feature in the top 5 of the most endorsed athletes in the world.

Richest Sports Teams: If we talk about the richest sports team in the world, around 30 clubs feature in the top 50 list of most valuable sports teams.

#2. Basketball

Basketball has over 1 billion followers. Its a major sport in USA with NBA generating over $4.75 billion a year in revenue. Established Professional leagues in Spain, Greece, Turkey, Italy, France, Argentina, China and more leagues getting setup every year makes it the fastest growing sport in the world.

Third most powerful sports league in the world: NBA (American basketball league) is the third biggest professional league in all sports behind NFL (American football) and Premier League (Football/Soccer) in terms of revenue over $4.75 billion was generated in 2014 in terms of revenue.

Highest Average Salary: NBA average yearly salary for athlete is around $4.4 million a year, thats second highest average wage of any sport league in the world. While top 40 players in NBA earn more than $13 million a year in salary while top 10 earn more than $22 million a year with Kobe Bryant earning as much as $25 million a year.

Endorsement Deals: Lebrone James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant features in the top 10 list of highest paid athletes with their massive salaries and endorsement deals with take their yearly income well over $50 million a year.

Fastest growing sport: Basketball is also the fastest growing sport on every scale from revenues, to competitions/leagues. More and more professional leagues are getting established in countries across the world, specially in easter european countries like Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Serbia, Lithuania where basketball is easily the second favorite sport.

#3. Cricket

Estimated 2 billion+ followers makes cricket one of the most popular sport mainly in commomwealth countries like England, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, Carribeans and South Africa.

Cricket is a dominating sport in many countries specially from indian-sub continent. Pakistan, Indian, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh while England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are other big cricketing nations with cricket as second favorite sport. Cricket is also very popular in Caribbeans with international team callled West Indies is comprised of players from different countries across Caribbeans. Cricket also has its roots in countries like Ireland, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Holland.

#4. Tennis

A global reach and over a 1 billion followers makes Tennis the most popular individual based sport. It comes up triumph in many of our criteria factors.

Highest prize money in individual sport: All four grand slams, Australia Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US offer huge prize money and the prize money given to winners mens and women singles event is the highest in any of the individual sport.

The most global calendar year: Tennis events divided in four categories (ATP 250, ATP 500, ATP Masters and Grand Slams) takes place around the world throughout every years. Only football has more global venues than Tennis which is coverage in almost every part of the world.

Most prestigious sport event: Wimbledon is not only the most prestigious tennis event but also in all sport. Over 1 billion people tune in at some point during Wimbledon 2015 and 2014. While 17.3 million viewers tuned in to BBC One only in UK in 2013 Wimbledon final.

#5. Athletics

Athletic is by far the most global sport of them all which include several disciplines of course with Running, long jump and other track/field events. Athletics is also the high point of Olympic games as Athletics based sports are the most watched during any Olympic event.

Most countries represented in Athletics: Athletics is the most represented sport in the olympics with athletes from almost all countries participating in some form of the diciplines in Athletics.

Most watched single olympic event: 100m final gold medal sprint race in 2012 Olympics was the most watched event in Olympic history with over 1 billion tv views across the world.

#6. Rugby

Rugby is a major sport in some of the most economical developed countries like All four home nations of United Kindom (England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland) in souther hemisphere countries like Australia, New Zealand and South africa also boost huge popularity in Rugby.

Second most lucrative Sports World Cup: 2015 Rugby World Cup was the biggest Rugby event in history which took place in England and Wales. It generated in access of £250 million in revenue which was alot more than what was expected.

Second most watched & Attended competition: Rugby world cup 2015 was the most attended sports event behind FIFA World cup 2014. Over 2.47 million tickets were sold with around half a million (480,000) fans traveling from oversees (24 countries).

Highest ever TV ratings in UK: ITV’s coverage of opening ceremony and opening England match was watched by 8.7 million UK viewers on average making it the most watched sports event in UK.

#7. Formula 1

550 million people tune in every year at some stage of Formula 1 season which runs from March to November. F1 is by far the most popular motoSport in the world.

Most lucrative motor-sport: As far as the yearly revenue is concerned Formula 1 generate somewhere between $1.5 to $2 billion a year. Which is soundly distributed among 10 f1 teams who in return spend between $100 million to $500 million a season on elite level motor engineers, research & development and of course on driver salaries.

Massive driver contracts: On formula 1 drivers makes around $5 million a year while the top drivers like Sebastian Vettel who has a $50 million a year contract with Ferrari, current world champion Lewis Hamilton who signed a new deal worth $40 million a year two of the highest paid athletes around.

#8. Boxing

Only combat sport in the list, boxing is truly global just like Tennis and Athletics. Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao has dominated the rich list in last 10 years while boxing also boost some of the greatest athletes to have ever lived. Boxing is major sport in countries like USA, Mexico, Latin America, United Kingdom, Philippines, Japan, Russia and some eastern European countries like Ukrain, Poland, Romania.

Highest grossing fight of all times: Floyd Mayweather vs Many Pacquiao was the highest grossing boxing fight of all times generating over $400 million in revenue. While Mayweather took home record $250 from nights work while Pacquiao earned $120. Both fighters has kind of dominated forbes athlete rich-list for best part of last 8 years.

#9. Ice Hockey

By far the biggest winter sport in the world and although it is popular or played in specific countries like Canada, Russia, USA, Scandinavian countries like (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) some easter european countries like Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic it can still boost huge popularity specially during the world championships and european championships.

#10: Volleyball

With no intricacies involved, this sport is as simple as you like. And probably it is the simplicity of this sport that makes it so famous among its fans. Take a trip to the hunger struck African countries or try going to the beaches of Australia, you will find people playing this sport everywhere. On professional level, players with tall heights are preferred because of the extra reach they have so if your height is somewhere to the north of 6 feet, you should fancy your chances in this sport.

Most popular in developing countries: It is quite popular in some of the developing countries with the likes of Brazil, Turkey, South Korea, some easter european nations like Poland, Ukrain other european countries like France, Italy and even in Asian region like China, Japan.

#11. Golf

Just lagging by few million fans, golf is the 8th most famous game. A very docile sport involving no real physical competition and can be played by people of all ages. For too long American Golf Star, Tiger Woods, overawed all his competitors through his exquisite playing abilities but now the sport has got some more representatives who are spreading this game to the farthest of places.

Massive earning potential: Golf’s very own Tiger Woods dominated the athlete rich-list for best part of last 15 years largely down to his very lucrative sponsorship deals with Nike, EA Sports, Gillette and countless other endorsement deals. 

Most Popular Sports In The World (Countdown 11 to 17)

11 Baseball

Most lucrative sport in USA and Japan. MLB (US) and Nippon League (Japan) are two of the top 10 biggest pro league of all sports

12 American Football 

Biggest sport in USA and the most lucrative and powerful professional sport league of all sports is NFL which generates over $10 billion a year in revenue. Super bowl is the most watched sport event in US.

13 MMA 

Mixed Martial Arts is getting more and more popular with the emergence of UFC. Its a big sport in Brazil, USA while spreading across Europe slowly. It highly rewarding financially and might overtake Boxing in a few years.

14 MotoGP 

It is one of the motorcycle racing series. MotoGP is the premium class competition with huge TV following around the world. Mostly popular in Spain, Italy, Netherlands but growing in England, USA, Germany and Middle-east.

15 Field Hockey

Field Hockey has fallen from grace even where it was most popular India, Pakistan. It still has some varied interest but nothing like 20 years ago where it was major sport in India, Pakistan and fairly popular in Australia, Malaysia, Holland, Germany, England and South Africa.

16 Badminton

Huge popularity in Asia specifically countries like Malaysia, China, India, Korea etc. Its more of a hobby sport in Europe and Americas.

17 Cycling 

Very popular in some major european countries like France, Germany, Italy, Spain, England and Netherlands. Tour de France is one of the most watched competition in the world. Cycling is part of school games around the world.

References:

Total Sportek, 25 World’s Most Popular Sports (Ranked by 13 factors).

The Big Picture of Sport News: Velo News, How Remco Evenepoel, Egan Bernal, and other Generation Z riders are changing pro cycling

There’s an undeniable surge of youth within the peloton. It isn’t just one exceptional young rider, but a swarm. What do all these riders have in common? And how could they achieve so much so soon? Other than being fast and young, there are some interesting threads and commonalities. First off, many of today’s new stars have the right DNA. Many of today’s most astonishingly successful young riders also have unbridled ambition. 

• Quite literally, they were born to race. Bernal’s father, though never a pro, was a top-rated amateur in Colombia, and gifted his son with his legendary VO2max that dips into the low 90s.
• Of course, van der Poel’s DNA is almost an unfair advantage. His father was Adri van der Poel, a fabled pro with a nearly 20-year career who won such races as Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. His grandfather is French legend Raymond Poulidor, whose career stretched across cycling’s glory days from Jacques Anquetil to Merckx.
• The riders of Generation Z are here, and they’re suddenly making an impact in every race they start. The leading lights of today were all born in the late 1990s. Or, in Evenepoel’s case, in 2000. The prodigiously talented Belgian is the first WorldTour winner born in this century.
• In many ways, today’s generation is the peloton’s disruptor. Today, Bernal, van der Poel, and those like them, look poised to turn cycling on its head. It’s too early to say how far this vanguard can go, but early indications suggest they could rewrite how we view modern cycling.
• The arrival of these young prodigious riders is disrupting the traditional inner workings of teams at another level. Team Ineos brought Bernal to the Tour last year even though he had never raced more than eight days in a row up to that point. Why? The numbers proved it. 
• The flood of young, charismatic talent certainly comes at a good time for the sport.
• To attract a new generation of fans, professional racing needs young, exciting, charismatic riders. And suddenly the sport is overflowing with candidates to fill the void.
• What’s more impressive is the depth and quality of performances that today’s young riders have been able to deliver. It’s not as if they’re winning a stage at a second-tier event. They’re taking home the biggest trophies on the calendar.
• Cycling’s history is full of riders who make immediate and dramatic imprints in their rookie seasons. Eddy Merckx won the first of his record seven Milano-Sanremo victories at the age of 20. Greg LeMond finished third in his Tour de France debut at 23, and won two years later. And even the controversial Lance Armstrong won the world title at 21, still the youngest ever to earn the rainbow stripes.

Another key factor is that today’s riders are at the cutting edge of the incremental advances that have steadily improved human performance over the past 20 years.

• Better science, nutrition, and technology, which helps any bike racer, only acts as an accelerant when applied to today’s über-talented youngsters. Lighter frames, aero helmets and skin-suits, calibrated diets and recovery, coupled with the granular attention to detail in training programs means young riders can advance their racing development at a staggering rate. If they have the motor, and the skills to back it up, they can expect to perform almost immediately.

Many insiders cite a cleaner peloton for helping to clear the path for young talent to shine.

• The fact that a 22-year-old can win the Tour is viewed by many as a sign that cycling has leveled the playing field dramatically since the days of a peloton at two speeds.
• The world’s blossoming talent pool has delivered a Colombian, a Russian raised in France, a Belgian, and a Dutchman of royal pedigree, revealing the peloton’s ever-larger international reach.

Egan Bernal is poised to dominate the Tour de France unlike any rider in a generation.

• The mild-mannered Colombian has the skills, the temperament, the motor, and the team to potentially reel off one yellow jersey after another. Even Armstrong said Bernal could beat his redacted record of seven Tour titles.
• Egan pedaled into cycling nirvana, breaking the barrier to become the first Latin American to win the Tour de France, and becoming the youngest winner, at 22, since World War II.
• Bernal, is riding to heights unimagined when he joined Team Sky at the start of the 2018 season. Everyone knew he was good, but what he’s been able to realize in the first 18 months of his WorldTour racing career—winning Colombia Oro y Paz and the Amgen Tour of California in 2018, and Paris-Nice, the Tour de Suisse, and the Tour de France in 2019—is beyond words.
• Team Ineos astutely signed Bernal and Sivakov, and counts nine riders who are 24 or younger on its 29-rider roster. Ineos has been on a recruiting campaign the past two years to bolster its aging line of confirmed leaders.
• “At 33, 34, Geraint and Chris are coming to the twilight of their careers,” Brailsford said during the Tour. “I wanted a ‘new’ Chris Froome, basically. So I set myself the challenge of finding him.

Evenepoel ripped through the junior world championships last year, winning both the road race and time trial titles, he catapulted straight to the WorldTour, and bypassed the U23 ranks altogether.

• Something extraordinary happened in the final hour of racing on the twisting roads of northern Spain in early August. Remco Evenepoel, the swashbuckling 19-year-old Belgian phenomenon, rode everyone off his wheel on the final climb at Clásica San Sebastián. Despite a chase from some of the biggest motors in the international peloton, including Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet and world champion Alejandro Valverde, Evenepoel tearfully crossed the line all alone, more than 30 seconds ahead of the charging group. The victory was as emphatic as it was astonishing. 
• More than a coming-of-age moment, Evenepoel’s victory was a declaration of a new era. 
• “This is exceptional,” said Eddy Merckx. “We know that Remco has a large engine. The fact that he is already showing it proves that he is mature early. He is ready for the big job. Can he follow in my footsteps? Maybe he will even get better. Remco has all the qualities to make it happen.”

Mathieu van der Poel has all the makings of a true international superstar for a new age. The Dutch phenom is so talented he can dominate any discipline he chooses. Perhaps van der Poel’s biggest challenge, much like Sagan’s before him, is to stay engaged and motivated (i.e. to not get bored) with the intensity and demands of performance at the highest level of road racing. 

• That’s one reason why van der Poel, led by his father Adri and backed by a multi-year deal with Canyon bicycles, is creating a multi-discipline platform on which his prodigious son can perform.
• He’s already world champion in cyclocross, and is emerging as a dominant force in mountain biking. (He’s won three of six rounds of the XCO World Cup series.) This spring was just a taste of what lies ahead on the road for van der Poel, but first he’ll target the Olympic gold medal in mountain biking in Tokyo.
• Van der Poel is gleefully embracing the various roots and branches of modern cycling. It’s no longer only about the Tour de France. Performance and greatness can be measured not just in results, but in engagements, in interfacing with fans, and with the pure joy of racing.

Tadej Pogačar, the 2018 l’Avenir winner, became the youngest WorldTour stage-race winner at the age of 20, after coming out on top at the Amgen Tour of California in May.

• Similar to Bernal’s five-year deal with Ineos, Pogačar is under contract with UAE through the end of 2023.
• Perhaps it’s no mistake that Joxean Matxin Fernández, now lead sport director at UAE-Emirates, was a talent scout for Lefevere and Klein Constantia.
• “There have always been good riders coming up,” Fernández said. “The big difference today is that a lot more teams are investing in young riders and in developing talent. Before you had to prove yourself to get a contract. Now teams give riders a chance to grow.”

References:

Velo News, How Remco Evenepoel, Egan Bernal, and other Generation Z riders are changing pro cycling, Andrew Hood, November 19, 2019. 

The Big Picture of Sport News: The Washington Post, WADA has concerns with U.S. anti-doping legislation that seeks to clean up sport

The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, named after the whistleblower who helped shine a light on Russia’s state-sponsored doping scheme, has passed through the House and has bipartisan support in the Senate. The bill calls for fines of up to $1 million and prison sentences of up to 10 years for bad actors involved in doping schemes designed to cheat athletes.

• While the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has been a major champion of the bill, its international counterpart, WADA, has voiced concerns about the legislation’s reach. The matter came to a head last week at the WADA world conference in Poland, where U.S. anti-doping officials said the proposed legislation was being intentionally mischaracterized.
• “They don’t want to understand it,” Travis Tygart, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s chief executive, said in an interview this week. “They’re just playing a political game now to a large extent because I think they’re seriously concerned about it actually cleaning up sport to a large extent around the world. And that makes it uncomfortable for some of their friends.”
• The Rodchenkov Act would allow the United States to pursue prosecution for conspirators involved in tainting competitions that involve American athletes and, importantly, U.S. money. Tygart likens the bill’s wide-reaching prosecutorial authority to what’s provided by the Bank and Wire Fraud Act, the RICO Act and the Travel Act, saying “the U.S. government, from a policy standpoint, certainly wants to protect investment by U.S. companies around the world.”
• “It’s a fantastic effort that recognizes that doping is fraud,” he said, “and when it’s done by organizations or institutions — whether it’s a sport organization or a nation — that it’s going to be put on the same level as other types of fraud.” 
• The legislation does not target the athletes necessarily, thus allowing them to step forward as whistleblowers.
• The AP reported last week that WADA has budgeted at least $250,000 for lobbying efforts related to the bill. That surprised some U.S. anti-doping officials, who are quick to note that the United States provided $2.5 million of WADA’s annual budget.

The Washington Post, WADA has concerns with U.S. anti-doping legislation that seeks to clean up sport, Rick Maese, November 16, 2019.

Complementary content:

The Economist, Doping in sport: why it can't be stopped | The Economist, Oct 25, 2019.

Netflix, Icarus | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix, Jul 6, 2017.

Noticiero El Big Picture del Deporte: Marca, Toni Nadal describe cómo formó a la súper estrella Rafael Nadal

De la mano de Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal consiguió 17 de los 19 Grand Slam que brillan en su palmarés. Alabó el maestro las cualidades del alumno y destacó el camino a seguir para diseñar a un gran campeón. 

• "Para mí el reto nunca fue ganar Roland Garros o Wimbledon sino mejorar. Nunca estuve satisfecho con lo conseguido y siempre intenté dejar en él ese punto de instisfacción para que siguiera mejorando".
• "Cuando Rafael comenzó a jugar al tenis había pista, raqueta y bolas. Ahora necesitas videoanálisis, estudios bicomecánicos, estudios estadísticos, nutricionistas, ... y cuando fallamos cuatro bolas tenemos que recurrir al psicólogo deportivo en vez de ir a entrenar un poco más".
• Rafa se formó con solo tres datos: golpea lo mas fuerte que puedas, tira la pelota donde no esté el rival y si es posible dentro de la pista que fuera no va muy bien. Y así llegó al número 1".
• "Yo procuré que mi sobrino estuviera siempre alerta para los cambios que se pudieran producir. Nos acostumbramos a eso".
• 'Nunca una excusa nos hizo ganar un partido' es la frase que Toni escribió en uno de los vestuarios de la Rafael Nadal Academy que ahora dirige y que resume a la perfección la relación de exigencia, trabajo, sacrificio que llevó a Nadal de las pistas de Manacor a ejercer de número 1.

MARCA Sport Weekend 2019: Fabricando una Estrella con Toni Nadal EN DIRECTO​ I Marca

Marca, Toni Nadal: "En 2005 me dijeron que Rafa tendría que retirarse y en 2019 es el número 1 más veterano de la historia", David Menayo, 16/11/2019. 

The Big Picture of Sport News: Media, The complex case of Dr Freeman is undermining cycling credibility

Dr Richard Freeman was absent when his medical tribunal hearing began again in Manchester on Thursday, with his lawyer Mary O'Rourke saying her client had "an adverse reaction to what happened here Tuesday," when O'Rourke had a tense exchange with Shane Sutton and he abandoned the hearing after calling Freeman "spineless". 

• Freeman's legal team has claimed that the Testogel was for Sutton, who allegedly bullied Freeman into ordering the drug for personal use to treat erectile dysfunction. Sutton denied suffering from the condition and hit back when O'Rourke accused him of being a "habitual and serial liar," and "a doper, with a doping history." 
• O’Rourke said she was very disappointed that Sutton had not returned for further questioning and there was discussion on if Sutton's comments would be struck from the record or retained.
• "I don’t need to be dragged through this shitfight that this individual is trying to bring on me,” replied Sutton according to The Guardian newspaper. “I was asked to come here and answer whether I ordered Testogel. I did not."
• The General Medical Council (GMC), that is looking to discipline Freeman for a total of 22 charges including ordering 30 sachets of Testogel testosterone "knowing or believing it was to be administered to an athlete to improve their athletic performance," called Team Ineos consultant psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters as their second witness.
  
• Like Sutton and Freeman, Peters worked for both Team Sky and British Cycling for almost a decade including the period when the Testogel was sent to the Manchester velodrome in 2011. Peters is a renowned pyschiatrist and was the former head of medicine at British Cycling and held a similar role at Team Sky. He remains at Team Ineos in a consultancy  role.

Cycling News, Freeman absent from medical tribunal after adverse reaction to Sutton aggression, November 15, 2019.

Shane Sutton, the former head coach of British Cycling and Team Sky, has refused to return to Dr Richard Freeman’s medical tribunal despite efforts to persuade him to change his mind after he stormed out on Tuesday.

• Sutton was the General Medical Council’s star witness in its case against Freeman, who faces charges that he ordered the banned substance Testogel in order to dope an unnamed cyclist.
• Freeman has already accepted 18 of the 22 charges against him, including ordering Testogel, trying to cover his tracks and lying to UK Anti-Doping when questioned about the case.
• On Tuesday Sutton strenuously denied allegations that he bullied Freeman into ordering the Testogel in 2011 in order to treat his erectile dysfunction, telling O’Rourke: “You are telling the press I can’t get a hard on – my wife wants to testify that you are a bloody liar.”
• Sutton did not reply when O’Rourke accused him of sending Freeman “some pretty hostile texts”, before reading one out: “Be careful what you say,” it read. “I can drag you in – you won’t be the only person I can hurt.”
• Sutton addressed Freeman, who was hidden behind a screen while he was giving evidence because he is considered a vulnerable witness. “He was like the Scarlet Pimpernel. I covered his backside while he was there. Two critical cases of athletes ill and we couldn’t get hold of him. If you bring Steve Peters in, he would verify it all.

The Guardian, Shane Sutton will not return to Richard Freeman tribunal after walkout, Sean Ingle, November 13, 2019. 

Dr Steve Peters, a former head of medicine for both organisations, took the stand but failed to provide any answers as to why a drug that is banned in and out of competition was ordered and stored at the facility or for whom it was intended.

• "I don't know what happened here," Peters said according to the BBC's Dan Roan and the Guardian's Sean Ingle who live-tweeted the hearing. "We've got two men and clearly one of them is lying. There has to be an answer but I'm not in a position to say."
• The GMC alleges that Freeman ordered the testosterone in order to enhance the performance of an unnamed athlete, but Peters doubted that claim, too, calling the allegation "a leap" by the GMC.
  "If we start speculating, an amazing team who've worked so hard for 20 years have this cloud over them, it seemed so unfair."

Cycling News, Steve Peters offers no answers on testosterone delivery in Freeman tribunal, November 14, 2019.

British Cycling's former head of medicine has cast doubt on Dr Richard Freeman's claims that testosterone was delivered to its headquarters on behalf of Shane Sutton, a tribunal has heard.

• Dr Steve Peters told Freeman's fitness to practise hearing that if 30 sachets of Testogel were ordered for Sutton in 2011, he would have known about it. 
• "It feels like I'm being asked being to solve the crime," Dr Peters said.
  "I have a man who's lied to me, another man who is untrustworthy. It's much more likely [Freeman] has used this for himself and there are reasons for that, which I don't want to go into.
• Peters, who was at British Cycling until 2014 and was Freeman's boss, said he doubted the General Medical Council's claim that testosterone would be ordered to the National Cycling Centre if it was to be used for doping.
• During several hours of cross-examination, he revealed the dysfunctional nature of British Cycling at the time and how he did not question why Dr Freeman claimed the testosterone was for Sutton. 
• During the tribunal, it was also revealed:
  I) How Dr Freeman had been previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
  II) How Dr Peter's relationship with Dr Freeman had broken down.
  III) That Viagra was allegedly also part of the Testogel order in 2011. 

BBC, Dr Richard Freeman tribunal: Dr Steve Peters doubts testosterone claims, Alistair Magowan, November 14, 2019. 

British Cycling and Team Sky kept a stock of Viagra for riders in a cabinet because riding for so long gave them “nerve issues”, Dr Richard Freeman’s medical tribunal was told on Thursday.

• On another day of revelations at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester it was also claimed both organisations put glory before athlete welfare and employed two senior staff members who could not be trusted.
• Peters denied the Viagra had been for performance reasons. He also revealed that British Cycling had brought back Sutton into the organisation despite serious incidents with riders after the Beijing 2008 Olympics because he was so good at helping the team win medals. “When he was good he was excellent, everyone said that, provided he wasn’t stressed,” Peters said, before describing Sutton’s “aggressive behaviour” and how he would “go on the warpath”.
• Peters said he was sceptical of the GMC’s case that Freeman had ordered Testogel to dope a rider. “At no time did I see any evidence it was for a rider. That’s a ‘huge leap’.”

The Guardian, British Cycling and Team Sky kept Viagra for riders’ ‘nerve issues’, Sean Ingle, November 14, 2019.

Dr Freeman’s QC, Mary O’Rourke, put to Dr Peters: “If it was ordered to dope a rider, that’s not how you would do it unless you were mad.” Dr Peters agreed and also suggested that an athlete using such a patch would quickly fail a doping test.

• Dr Peters added: “What didn’t make sense is if someone were to cheat they wouldn’t go through the supplier for British Cycling where there’s a paper trail. Initially I thought it must be someone forging his (Dr Freeman’s) signature.”
• Dr Peters painted a picture of Dr Freeman, who he described as a friend, as a disorganised man who was unable to properly keep records and who found a lot of things hard to cope with.
• It was revealed that Dr Freeman had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had been admitted to hospital on several occasions, including in 2011 when he was struggling with the break-up of his marriage.
• Dr Peters did not offer an opinion who he believed was telling the truth out of Sutton and Dr Freeman, saying: “We’ve got two men and clearly one of them is lying. None of it seems to make sense.

The Independent, Steve Peters casts doubt on testosterone patches being used to enhance performance, Eleanor Crooks, November 14, 2019.

The Big Picture of Sport News: L'Équipe, Raymond Poulidor, La legende touchante d'un cycliste qui est entré dans le coeur des gens pour toujours

Légende du cyclisme tricolore, Raymond Poulidor n'est pourtant jamais parvenu à remporter le Tour de France, ni même à revêtir le Maillot Jaune. Mais sa popularité auprès du public était au moins équivalente à celle des grands vainqueurs.

• « Poupou » incarnait selon Philippe Brunel le panache à la française. Bien que malchanceux, il était un coureur qui donnait tout sur son vélo. « C'était une popularité compassionnelle », affirme notre journaliste.

L'Équipe, Philippe Brunel : « Raymond Poulidor, sans doute le cycliste le plus populaire de tous les temps », 13 novembre 2019.

Raymond Poulidor était entré dans le coeur des gens. Sur le Tour de France et partout ailleurs, le célèbre octogénaire, obsédé par la peur d'être oublié, faisait revivre leur jeunesse à ses admirateurs. Auréolé de l'un des plus beaux palmarès du cyclisme français, Raymond Poulidor restera pourtant dans la mémoire collective pour sa réputation de poissard.

• Pour notre journaliste Philippe Brunel, Raymond Poulidor, décédé à l'âge de 83 ans, a su retourner en sa faveur ses malheurs sur la route pour entrer dans le coeur des Français.
• Tour de France 1975 : distancé dans les grandes largeurs par Merckx et Thévenet
  Deuxième l'année précédente, Poulidor est hors du coup cette fois-ci. Peut-être rattrapé par le poids des années, à 39 ans, le héros des Français sombre dans les Alpes (ici entre Valloire et Avoriaz), incapable de suivre le rythme des Peugeot emmenés par Thévenet, futur lauréat, ni celui de son coéquipier Zoetemelk (4e à Paris). Relégué à près d'une heure, Poupou établira son plus mauvais classement (19e) en 14 participations. Il prendra sa retraite sportive deux ans plus tard, après un dernier Tour en 1976 (3e).

L'Équipe, Raymond Poulidor : ces moments qui ont construit sa réputation de poissard, 13 Novembre 2019.

L'Équipe, Entré dans le coeur des gens, Raymond Poulidor représentait aussi la jeunesse de ses admirateurs. 13 Novembre 2019.

« Des fois je me pose la question : est-ce que je serais là devant votre micro si j'avais gagné trois Tours de France ? » Voilà comment Raymond Poulidor revenait sur sa carrière juste avant le Tour de France 2019, il y a quelques mois.

• Le Limousin, décédé mercredi à 83 ans, expliquait alors «qu'on l'avait catalogué comme une vedette dès [s]es premières courses. » 

L'Équipe, Quand Raymond Poulidor se confiait avant le Tour de France 2019, Novembre 13 2019.

La carrière de Raymond Poulidor s'est étirée de 1960 à 1977, avec un ultime podium sur le Tour de France décroché à plus de quarante ans.

• 20 ans : la révélation. 
• Voilà trois ans déjà qu'il a remporté sa première course, en mars 1953, le prix de la Quasimodo à Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat. Mais, en 1956, c'est le grand tournant de sa vie. En qualité de meilleur coureur régional, il est invité à participer au fameux Bol d'Or des Monédières, à Chaumeil, un critérium prestigieux disputé en Corrèze où il côtoie les grandes vedettes internationales. 
• « À vingt ans, j'étais aussi fort que cinq ou six ans plus tard. Je pense que j'aurais pu faire le Tour de France sans problème », estimait Poulidor bien des années plus tard. 
• 30 ans : la resignation.
• En 1966, Jacques Anquetil, son grand rival, fait ses adieux au Tour, non sans avoir la certitude que son partenaire Lucien Aimar va l'emporter aux dépens de Poulidor (3e). Le Limousin a déjà manqué l'occasion l'année précédente, lorsqu'il a sous-estimé un jeune champion italien néophyte, Felice Gimondi, qui a remplacé au pied levé un certain Polidori, forfait. 
• « Poupou » a peut-être laissé passer sa chance dans ces années charnières de la trentaine. Après Anquetil, Eddy Merckx va bientôt arriver...
• 40 ans : la continuation.
• Merckx n'est déjà plus Merckx en 1976, mais Poulidor est toujours là. À plus de quarante ans, il va encore monter sur le podium du Tour, troisième derrière Lucien Van Impe et Joop Zoetemelk. « Je sentais que j'étais limité », avoue celui qui réalise quand même une très belle montée du puy de Dôme, douze ans après son coude-à-coude légendaire avec Anquetil. 

L'Équipe, Raymond Poulidor à travers les âges, Novembre 13 2019.

Christian Prudhomme (directeur du Tour de France) : « Ce qu'il remue en moi est très personnel car c'est lui qui m'avait donné l'amour du Tour. Poulidor était le cyclisme. Il réconciliait des générations sur son nom. »

• Il était de cette génération avec (Eddy) Merckx, (Bernard) Thévenet, qui m'a ébloui.
• Poulidor était le cyclisme. Il réconciliait des générations sur son nom, je me souviens que dans la fameuse étape du Mont Revard (gagnée par Guimard) en 1972, il avait attaqué trois fois, et je revois ma mère et ma belle-mère côte à côte, devant la télévision, partager la même admiration. Je m'étais dit, il fait du bien aux gens. 
• Aujourd'hui je veux retenir sa longévité et son humour. Il y a deux ans, à la présentation du Tour, au Palais des Congrès, nous l'avions fait monter sur scène, face au public, avec Merckx, (Bernard) Hinault, (Miguel) Indurain. Il avait dit : « À nous quatre on a gagné quinze Tours de France. » C'était ce même humour. En dépit des années, l'homme n'avait pas changé. »

L'Équipe, Christian Prudhomme : « Poulidor m'a donné l'amour du Tour », Novembre 13 2019.

The Big Picture of Sport: Cycling News, Ewan recalls mental stress of first Tour de France participation

Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan has admitted that he found the stress of his first Tour de France in July difficult to deal with, and that finishing it was "the biggest relief of my life", despite having won three stages.

• Following years of not being selected to ride the Tour de France with Mitchelton-Scott, Lotto Soudal would give Ewan his first shot at riding the race, but the expectation that came with having a team built around him for the world's biggest bike race was far from insignificant, said Ewan.
• "I went into the Tour with a lot of pressure from a lot of different angles," said Ewan, whose wife gave birth to the couple's first child prematurely, with their daughter still in hospital when he had to leave for the race.
• "I'm proud of the way I dealt with that and performed through it, especially when in the first half I hadn't won and obviously I needed to win.
  "I'd gone to the Tour, I'd done well, I'd done well for my new team, my daughter was born and she was all good. There was so much stress, I guess, leading into the Tour; it wasn't healthy, I don't think," said Ewan.

References:

Cycling News, Ewan recalls mental stress of first Tour de France participation, November 11, 2019.

Complementary content:

Velon, Tour de France 2019: Stage 11 highlights, Jul 17, 2019.

Velon, Tour de France 2019: Caleb Ewan's Stage 16 win, July 23, 2019.

Tour de France, Summary - Stage 21 - Tour de France 2019, July 28, 2019.

The Big Picture of Sport News: Velo News, McNulty will get shot to start a grand tour in 2020

Brandon McNulty, the highly touted all-rounder heading to UAE-Team Emirates in 2020, will have a shot at a grand tour in his rookie WorldTour season.

• Team officials told VeloNews the 21-year-old will have a “complete” racing schedule next season, with plenty of chances to test his mettle in a variety of races, including one of cycling’s three-week grand tours.
• “I’ve already spoken with Brandon and we’d like that he can test himself in a grand tour, be it a Giro or Vuelta,” said Matxin Joxean Fernández, lead sport director at UAE-Team Emirates. 
• “Later we’ll see his evolution. We want him to have the room to race in big races, without unnecessary pressure, but to be able to get a taste of these more important events.”
• “He is a modern rider. He’s a climber who rides well in the time trial,” Fernández told VeloNews. 
• “We are going to offer him all the tools he needs to improve. Not only a strong team and a good calendar, but also something that is not spoken about much in professional cycling, but cariño,” said Fernández, citing a Spanish term for support and affection.
• “We want him to push himself and take some risks just to see if he can fulfill his full potential as a rider.”
• Fernández said McNulty has all the characteristics to emerge as a star rider, and said he need look no further than future teammate Tadej Pogačar as a role model. 

References:

Velo News, McNulty will get shot to start a grand tour in 2020, Andrew Hood, November 11, 2019. 

The Big Picture of Sport News: WSJ, Liverpool Routs City to Seize Control of Premier League Title Race

It’s only November, but already the prospect of a first Liverpool championship seems closer than it has in 30 years. After an emphatic 3-1 victory over Manchester City on Sunday, Liverpool now has a nine-point gap over the two-time defending champions.

• “That’s crazy. Nine points, you can’t imagine that happening,” Klopp said. “But it’s not important, because who wants to be first in November?”
• The challenge for Klopp now is to figure how to keep his team on track with so much runway ahead of it. There is a December with up to nine games on the schedule, including a trip to the Club World Cup in Qatar. There is what Liverpool hopes to be a deep Champions League run to come next spring. And there is the unmistakable pressure of a city so starved for a league championship that an entire generation of players have folded under the pressure.

References:

WSJ, Liverpool Routs City to Seize Control of Premier League Title Race, Joshua Robinson, Nov. 10, 2019. 

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Liverpool v. Manchester City | PREMIER LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | 11/10/19 | NBC Sports

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Noticiero El Big Picture del Deporte: Christian Pulisic, La estela de una nueva súper estrella, 11/9/2019

Christian Pulisic sigue dejando una sólida estela como una nueva súper estrella del fútbol mundial. Cuando Pulisic inicia una jugada ofensiva del Chelsea con el balón dominado su magia brilla e ilumina a su equipo. Pulisic tiene una visión privilegiada del fútbol que materializa, gracias a su talento excepcional, en puro espectáculo, oportunidades de gol y goles: Paredes, driblings, asistencias, y goles. 

Pulisic heads home to double Chelsea's lead v. Crystal Palace | Premier League | NBC Sports

El mago Pulisic lidera al Chelsea para conseguir un nuevo triunfo en la Premier League. Diferentes medios destacan su actuación.

ESPN, Pulisic Watch: How U.S. star is doing at Chelsea, game by game

• How he performed out of 10: 8. For the fifth time in three Premier League matches, Pulisic found the back of the net to cap a very good performance in helping lead Chelsea to a 2-0 home win over Crystal Palace.
• An excellent first touch led to another great scoring chance in the second half right before the hour mark, yet Palace goalkeeper Guaita did well to deny Pulisic's right-footed effort. However, the Spanish shot-stopper could do nothing to stop Pulisic's 79th-minute header that put the three points on ice for the Blues. The goal never would have happened, though, without Pulisic's surgical pass into Michy Batshuayi, whose deflected shot allowed Pulisic to pounce.

Sports Illustraded, Christian Pulisic Scores Again for Chelsea as Blues Earn Sixth Straight EPL Victory

• Christian Pulisic scored his first goal at Stamford Bridge.
• On Saturday, Frank Lampard's starting line-up became the club's youngest in the Premier League but they didn't let age become a factor and showed a tremendous amount of confidence and grit by beating a resilient Crystal Palace 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.

AS, Christian Pulisic anotó el 2 - 0 en la victoria de Chelsea

• Christian Pulisic vuelve a marcar en la Premier League y comienza a convertirse en jugador indiscutible en el XI inicial del Chelsea, esto gracias a sus grandes actuaciones en los últimos partidos en la Primera División de Inglaterra. 
• Christian cuenta con 5 goles en los últimos tres partidos de Premier League.

L'Équipe, Premier League : Chelsea enchaîne un sixième succès consécutif en battant Crystal Palace

• Chelsea a remporté un sixième match d'affilée en Premier League, une première depuis mai 2017, en ultra-dominant le match. Plus de 60 % de possession, 20 tirs à 3 et deux gamins qui marquent : Tammy Abraham (22 ans) et Christian Pulisic (21 ans).
• Dans le sillage d'un Willian excellent, le trio Pulisic-Mount-Abraham a donné le tournis à l'équipe de Roy Hodgson. 
• Les Blues ont ensuite géré, sans jamais concéder de vraies occasions, et Pulisic, qui a d'abord buté sur le gardien espagnol de Palace (59e), a inscrit son cinquième but en trois rencontres de Premier League.

The Big Picture of Sport News: Cycling, Velo News, The 2020 Tour de France will be won in the ITT, not the climbs

The most defining trends of the modern grand tour – (1) world-class time trialists slimming down to extremely light weights in order to win grand tours or, more rarely, (2) natural climbers honing their TT craft to the point where they don’t lose significant time in the race against the clock.

• The fittest and lightest, grand tour machines with world-class time trial pedigrees like Tom Dumoulin, Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome, and Primož Roglič can ride such a high tempo on climbs that pure climbers are unable to build up significant time gaps on them.
• Climbers like Egan Bernal and Vincenzo Nibali have had to hone their time trialing to limit losses against the clock since the time differences they can pull out on their more favored steep mountain summit finishes is limited.

While the time trial does finish on the brutally steep La Planche des Belle Filles (5.9km at 8.5%), it still provides 30km of flat or rolling roads – longer than the total amount of time-trialing in the 2019 route – for the bigger engines to build up time.

• Even with the inclusion of the finishing climb, the scales should tilt in favor of multi-talented riders like Dumoulin, Roglič, and Thomas (or a healthy Chris Froome) – racers who have proven they can outclimb the pure climbers in upwards-tilting time trials.
• This theory is supported by Roglič’s win at 2019 Giro’s opening stage which finished on the steep climb to Madonna di San Luca in Bologna; Froome and Dumoulin finishing 1st and 2nd at the 2016 Tour de France climbing TT on stage 18; and Dumoulin, Roglič and Froome going 1, 2 and 3 at the 2017 TT World Championships, which finished with a 3.5km climb at an average gradient of 9.1%.
• 2020 may offer Dumoulin the best chance in the last several years, but he will have to create a race-winning difference in those 36km if he wants to be the Tour de France winner.

The argument that adding long time trials will balance the route is simply a myth. Pure time trialists don’t win the Tour de France. Riders don’t win grand tours unless they are superior at both climbing and time trialing. 

• The most ITT-heavy route in the last twenty editions was the 2007 Tour de France, which featured a whopping 117 solo time trial kilometers, won by Alberto Contador, a climbing specialist. Dennis simply doesn’t have the ability to climb with the other quality time trialists like Froome, Dumoulin, and Roglic. A rider like Bernal can limit his losses to Dennis in the time trial to a few minutes and then put 20-plus minutes into him the next day on a difficult mountain stage. In fact, Bernal can be a deceptively strong time trialist: he finished only nineteen seconds behind Dennis in the pancake-flat 19.2km time trial in the 2019 Tour de Suisse.

As we’ve seen in recent years at the Tour de France, top riders struggle to put major time gaps into each other in the mountains. The top GC riders tend to mark each other more closely in the mountains when there are fewer time trial kilometers later in the race where they can make back time.

• For example, on the first major summit finish contested by the GC contenders in the 1998 Tour de France (stage 11), the difference between first and tenth place on the stage was 2:03, in 2013 (stage 8) it was 1:45, in 2018 (stage 11) it was 59 seconds, and in 2019 (stage 14) it was 53 seconds. 

It seems quite possible that ultimate victory will be decided or sealed against the clock on Stage 20.

• Those who want to contend for the 2020 Tour should stay diversified – the climbers would be wise to bank some major hours on their time trial bikes and the time trial specialists shouldn’t necessarily throw in the towel just because there are only 36km of ITT.

References:

Velo News, The Outer Line: The 2020 Tour de France will be won in the ITT, not the climbs, Spencer Martin and Steve Maxwell, November 7, 2019.