"A percentage of those image rights should go to the teams and riders" - Luke Rowe proposes changes to cycling's TV coverage and laments emergence of Veloviewer
Cycling
With his twelve year stint in the professional peloton coming to an end at the end of the 2024 season, INEOS Grenadiers stalwart Luke Rowe is set to join the performance staff at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team for 2025 as a sports director.
In conversation with Rouleur though, the experienced Welshman has answered a series of interesting questions with typically engaging answers from the road captain-turned-podcaster-turned-sports director. One particular question was how Rowe would change cycling for the better if he could. "You go to the Tour de France, and they say: ‘You’re going to ride your bikes for three weeks, you’re going to fund the riders and everything else, we’ll film it and publicise it, we’re going make loads of money and we’re not going to pay you a single percentage of the money we sell the footage for’. A percentage of those image rights should go to the teams and riders," he responds thoughtfully. "It’s a big way for the sport to take a step forward, and the only way to improve the sport."
Some of the more modern changes to racing in the latter half of Rowe's career haven't been as well received by the 34-year-old though. "Veloviewer. Everyone knows everything nowadays – you can click through an entire parcour and see everything if you spend enough time," he explains. "But pre-Veloviewer, you didn’t know what was coming, and you had to be smarter. You’d know the wind was coming from the right, but you wouldn’t know if it was exposed or not, so you’d be looking at the hedgeline, for forests, for residential areas. You were rewarded as a road captain for doing a better job without Veloviewer, but now, even if you’re not switched on, you can click through Veloviewer and know everything."
"Pre-Veloviewer, in races in Holland, you’d be like, ‘Watch out for Visma, they’re the local guys, they know the roads and know where to make a move’," he adds. "But now that doesn’t count for anything because everyone knows everything."
As mentioned, in 2025 and beyond, retirement from racing and a career as a sports director looms for Rowe at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale. As such, Rouleur ask: What makes a good DS? "Calmness under pressure. The peloton is a really nervous, hostile place, everyone has a place to be and is on edge, and if a DS is screaming, it’s only inflating those emotions. What you want to do is calm riders down, and that’s why I always said Nico Portal was the best DS I ever worked with and I believe, potentially, ever existed," Rowe answers. "He’d get the point across, but he had such a calming way of speaking and dealing with people. Even if it was all going wrong, he had a way of making you feel positive about yourself."
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- Call it how you want, in order to win which matters to him, even if it’s for the team as lead-out, he has to and tries to be in top shape 10 out of 12 months, whether that’s a bunch of peaks, a couple of prolonged peaks or just that his general level is so good he can win anytime without peaking is a new discussion.Jumpyjohn08-01-2025
- I think he’s right and mental attitude is one of the biggest factors at elite level, especially over 3 weeks.Jumpyjohn08-01-2025
- Enforcing cease and desist isn't working. The site is still live (8 Jan 13:55 CET)leodis08-01-2025
- You’re both right but also both (me too) biased by this endless indoctrination through the expectations of others (no cyclist is worth mentioning without a tdf legacy) and sorry Fred but the part about him having to win the whole thing is misguided, Cavendish is venerated by most and he might not have even reached 50th in the how many editions he did (about double Merckxs). As rightly said Mathieu rides for HIMSELF (aside obligations) take it or leave it, I really don’t think he (and most others, even Cav or Pog) lie around in bed at night worrying or strategising about how to cement a place in history. We are lucky to witness a period where some of the best cyclists are (aside from money) motivated in the right way, you can often see in the authentic way they celebrate crossing the line after a huge effort, MVDPs are some of the best, 100% dedication, my favourite was the communion with his grandfather when he won that stage, it was visibly (worth seeing again if available) so powerful, I even think the only reason he tried the TdF at all (he’d never really shown any interest personally and I’m pretty sure it was a business “obligation” was in hommage to his grandfather who meant so much to him. Once done I think he realised he doesn’t enjoy it (should he (any of us actually) force himself to do a job he isn’t enjoying?) and saw no more reason to continue but being open he accepted to try something new, lead-out man and did it admirably. His riding career has now probably “peaked” and he’ll want to focus on those things personally still important before it’s too late and leads to regrets. I am sure he’ll regret his luck/carelessness at Olympics more than anything TdF related and among future goals, that will be his number 1 rectification target and sorry for those TdF obsessors (who often watch nothing else all year) but for many the Olympics are more important than eg the Tour, no matter what the majority of cycling thinks, and they have that right.Mistermaumau08-01-2025
- To MVDP, even if he wins 10 stages of the TDF, if he can't be overall champion (GC), he still loses.. so he thinks he has nothing to gain. He'd rather win a hundred minor races than frustrate himself trying to win the grandest race of them all. The mindset of a winner, you say? Maybe, but I don't think so. Nevertheless, he's a great cyclist. Monuments and classics, one-day races are his thing. He can ride a one-day 300 km race and win it, but a 3,500 km race spread over 21 days? Forget it.. he can win a stage or two, wear the yellow jersey for a day or two, (no mean feat, by the way) and finish in 50th place just the same, not even good enough for a podium, and he doesn't like it. To him, it's a waste of time.FredMan08-01-2025
- i’m with you on this… ALL IN for the xco world’s. a legacy of World Champion in four disciplines. that’s one for the ages…OCexile08-01-2025
- i’ve said before that i worry for mathieu’s place in history because he only has one tdf stage. cycling pundits place SO much emphasis off tdf wins that many of them still rate wva as superior to van der poel, which can ONLY be based on wout’s 9 tour wins (which impressively DO come over the whole spectrum of tdf parcours). as a fan of mvdp i wish he’d dedicate a couple years to racking up 5 or 6 more stage wins. that said, mathieu matches to his own drummer. he gets bored easily. and ultimately he’s gonna decide all in his own what does and don’t capture his interest and imagination. that’s one of the things i like BEST about him, so if he’s done with the Tour then that’s that, au revoir…OCexile08-01-2025
- I reported this in March of 2024. There was a bogus Facebook ad.davbott08-01-2025
- Does that mean that the Rapho jersey that I just purchased is a fake?
santiagobenites07-01-2025 - Utter rubish, if you think he peaks over 12 times trains, races, rests in 1 year you are living in cuckoo land.Senna196007-01-2025