Energising the elites

Ed Clancy is heading up British Cycling's elite road racing task force. Can he invigorate a moribund scene?

- Ed Clancy

People know me from the track, but the elite domestic road scene was such a big part of my career. I raced for many road teams, including JLT Condor and Vitus, during the glory days where city centres were rammed with spectators for the national circuit series and Nocturnes. Even the premier calendar had a great buzz about it. So many of my pals made a good living out of domestic racing and we were regularly on television. But all this began to deteriorate around 2018. Then Covid struck and then an economic downturn. That's why the task force exists: to energise the domestic scene.

The task force is composed of stakeholders across the sector, from Phil Jones, MD of Brother UK who's a big cycling fan and has sponsored cycling teams for years, and Steve Fry, co-owner of sports marketing agency M2 Sports, to current riders Jo Tindley and Monica Greenwood and race organiser Chris Lawrence. We've run through phases of 'diagnosis' and 'discovery', seeking as many voices as possible, and have identified three key challenges: sporting pathways, commercial, and PR and media.