{"id":316372,"date":"2025-11-30T12:23:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/316372\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T12:23:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:23:05","slug":"wout-van-aert-weighs-in-on-cyclings-fragile-finances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/316372\/","title":{"rendered":"Wout van Aert weighs in on cycling\u2019s \u2018fragile\u2019 finances"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Wout van Aert\u2019s training resumes, the Visma\u2013Lease a Bike rider is looking at the broader landscape and doesn\u2019t like what he sees. In an interview with De Tijd<\/a>, he says he\u2019s increasingly worried about \u201chow fragile our sport is,\u201d pointing to the financial pressure behind moves like the planned merger of Lotto and Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty, which he describes as a union born of necessity.<\/p>\n

Van Aert argues that cycling\u2019s over-reliance on outside sponsors leaves even major teams exposed. The sport, he says, needs revenue that comes from the sport itself. He points to TV rights and event-driven income as obvious places to start. Drawing a comparison with the NBA, he notes how the league controls its product while still ensuring teams share in the broadcast money. Cycling, he suggests, could learn from that model. (Speaking of the NBA, did you catch van Aert learning how to do free throws with Reggie Miller<\/a> on a recent trip to the U.S.? Worth a watch<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

New ideas are needed<\/p>\n

Part of the solution, he believes, is rethinking the long-held idea that charging spectators somehow undermines cycling\u2019s identity. \u201cWe might be a little too focused on the charm and the folk aspect,\u201d he said. Asking a modest entry fee doesn\u2019t make an event less accessible, he argued. Cyclocross already charges at the gate and remains one of the most grassroots corners of the sport.<\/p>\n

The conversation about ticketing fans for road events was revisited a few weeks ago by former pro Jer\u00f4me Pineau. He proposed on RMC Sport\u2019s Grand Plateau<\/a> podcast that spectators could be charged to access the upper slopes during the 2026 Tour de France.<\/p>\n

Wout van Aert vs. Jackson Goldstone: Who has the skills?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to shock some people. But they\u2019ve created a route that will go up Alpe d\u2019Huez twice. So let\u2019s privatize the last five km,\u201d Pineau suggested. \u201cLet\u2019s charge admission! Let\u2019s have VIPs, let\u2019s create something to make money!\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the ASO does charge for VIP tents at certain races\u2013like Paris \u2013 Roubaix, ticketing on a mountain stage has not happened. And according to the UCI\u2019s David Lappartient, it\u2019s not on the radar.<\/a><\/p>\n

ROI from races<\/p>\n

But Van Aert also questions why the riders and teams themselves don\u2019t see a meaningful return from their participation in marquee races. Big events such as the Tour de France and the Tour of Flanders, he says, \u201cstand or fall with the riders and the teams who show up,\u201d yet teams still don\u2019t receive enough compensation to cover basic participation costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like the minimum,\u201d he says \u2014 adding that the pie could be divided more fairly.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Belgian still hasn\u2019t announced when his \u2018cross season will begin. Last year, he rode a condensed campaign\u2013although he extended it and rode the worlds, where he finished second behind Mathieu van der Poel. The world champion, however, has announced his plans\u2013consisting of 13 races, culminating at the worlds in Hulst, The Netherlands. There, MvdP will attempt to break the all-time win record of seven, which he currently shares with Erik De Vlaeminck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Wout van Aert\u2019s training resumes, the Visma\u2013Lease a Bike rider is looking at the broader landscape and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82,636,15646,12290],"class_list":["post-316372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france","tag-uci","tag-wout-van-aert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}