"It's clear, cycling is evolving" - Stefan Küng barely recognises the sport from when he started

Entering his 10th season in the peloton at World Tour level, Stefan Küng has recently been a vocal advocate of change within the safety parameters after his brutal crash in the individual time-trial at the European Championships. 

It's not just in the world of rider safety that the Swiss is seeing vast changes from the days when he started out with BMC however. "It's clear, cycling is evolving. It's growing in importance, on a global scale. I remember when I turned professional, or when I was at BMC, and that stopped, there was barely anyone to take over the license. Now, 8 teams would like to be in the WorldTour and are not," he explains to Cyclism'Actu.

The continually changing nature of cycling sponsorship and the subsequent names of teams hasn't effected Küng's own team though. "There are more and more successful teams, with very important sponsors or patrons. Fortunately, we can rely on two reliable and efficient sponsors," he explains. "Groupama and FDJ are there, they want to be there alongside us and we are one of the 7 best teams in the world."

"Certainly, cycling is changing, perhaps it is at a turning point, I don't know, with the contracts bought out, etc... Here too, we must evolve with that," he assesses. "It's up to organizations like the UCI to evolve, we can't always stay on the old model. Before, we signed contracts for 2-3 years, now young people sign for 7, even 8 years. We have to evolve with this."