Dave Brailsford Explained

Honorific Prefix:Sir
David Brailsford
Fullname:David John Brailsford
Birth Date:1964 2, df=yes
Birth Place:Shardlow, Derbyshire, England
Discipline:Road and track cycling
Role:General manager
Manageyears1:1997–2014
Manageteam1:British Cycling
Manageyears2:2010–

Sir David John Brailsford (born 29 February 1964)[1] is a British cycling coach and performance director. He was formerly performance director of British Cycling and is currently team principal of UCI WorldTeam .[2] He is currently working with French football club Nice and British football club Manchester United as part of his role as Director of Sport at Ineos.[3] [4]

Early life

Brailsford was born in Shardlow, Derbyshire, and moved as a toddler with his parents and siblings to Deiniolen, near Caernarfon in Wales:He attended Ysgol Deiniolen and Ysgol Brynrefail, and learned Welsh.[5] [6] In 1984 he gave up his job as an apprentice draughtsman with the local highways department to travel to France, where he raced for four years as a sponsored amateur for a team based in Saint-Étienne. He has described his years in France as a time of learning:He returned in 1988 to study for a degree in Sport and Exercise Sciences and Psychology at Chester College of Higher Education and then an MBA at Sheffield Hallam University.[7] [8] [9]

Career

Early career

Brailsford spent some of his early career working as an export sales manager at Planet X Bikes.[10] He was first employed by British Cycling as a consultant in 1998, after Lottery funding began the previous year.[11] Brailsford became programmes director before becoming performance director in 2003 following the departure of Peter Keen.

'Marginal gains' philosophy

At British Cycling, Brailsford was noted for the concept of 'marginal gains':Brailsford's approach involved the constant measuring and monitoring of key statistics such as cyclists' power output, and training interventions targeting specific weaknesses, for example the relative weakness of Bradley Wiggins in mountain racing.[12] As well as looking at traditional components of success such as physical fitness and tactics, it also entailed a more holistic strategy, embracing technological developments, athlete psychology, and everyday life:

Peaking in the mid-2010s at the height of Brailsford's reputation, 'marginal gains' philosophywas discussed beyond cycling in the UK mainstream media.[13] Brailsford's '1% Factor' was also discussed in business circles in the UK and internationally.[14] [15] In UK education policy, the Social Mobility Commission argued in 2014 that improvements in the academic performance of disadvantaged students in British schools could be compared to "the success of [the] British cycling team: the aggregation of marginal gains".[16] Writing on the 2016 EU referendum, the political commentator Tim Shipman cited "the philosophy of the Team Sky cycling team" in making the argument that "tiny improvements" made by the Remain campaign could have changed the referendum's result.[17]

Latterly, the philosophy has been criticised and ridiculed, including by Wiggins.[18] [19]

Great Britain cycling team

At the 2004 Olympic Games Great Britain won two cycling gold medals, their best performance since 1908.[20] Under Brailsford's leadership, the cycling team continued to improve, winning multiple world championships in road, track, BMX and mountain bike racing. Great Britain led the cycling medal table at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, winning eight golds at both, while British cyclists won 59 World Championships across different disciplines from 2003 to 2013.[21]

In reference to the success, Brailsford noted: "The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together."[22]

Team Sky/Team Ineos

In 2010, Brailsford also became the manager of the new British-based professional team, .[23] In this role he oversaw Bradley Wiggins', Chris Froome's and Geraint Thomas' victories in the 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 Tour de France.[24] [25] In April 2014, Brailsford resigned as performance director at British Cycling to concentrate on his Team Sky responsibilities.

Team Sky became Team Ineos in May 2019, due to a change of sponsor. Brailsford remained as team principal after the changeover.[26]

In December 2021, Brailsford was appointed Director of Sport at Ineos, overseeing a growing range of teams and disciplines sponsored by the group, including French football club Nice. His role as Team Principal at INEOS Grenadiers cycling team continued unaffected.[27]

Doping controversy

In March 2018 the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee published the report Combatting Doping in Sport. Chapter 2 of the report, "British Cycling and Team Sky", focused on Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) gained by both organisations for the use of drugs on the WADA Prohibited List, citing the defence used by Wiggins and Shane Sutton that TUEs were used to "find gains" and put oneself "back on a level playing field" with rivals. The report alleged in particular that the drug triamcinolone had been "used to prepare" Wiggins "and possibly other riders supporting him" for the 2012 Tour de France, "not to treat medical need, but to improve his power to weight ratio ahead of the race". It concluded that Team Sky had crossed an "ethical line" by exploiting this loophole "to enhance the performance of riders".[28]

Following the publication of the report, Brailsford was defended by Chris Froome.[29]

Honours

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Shuttleworth. Peter. Cycling's Taff at the top. BBC Sport. 17 August 2008. 5 September 2021.
  2. Web site: Ineos Grenadiers. UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. 2 January 2021. https://archive.today/20210102023102/https://www.uci.org/road/teams/TeamDetail/15241/1001552/279. 2 January 2021.
  3. Web site: Sir Dave Brailsford is appointed Director of Sport . 2023-05-25 . OGC Nice . en.
  4. Web site: Chris Marshall-Bell . 2022-10-12 . Dave Brailsford is living in a caravan in Nice as he tries to rescue his football experiment . 2023-05-25 . cyclingweekly.com . en.
  5. News: Penisarwaun mum's pride as Brailsford wins Sports Personality of the Year award. 18 December 2008. North Wales Live. 14 November 2019.
  6. News: Wynn. Nigel. Sir Dave Brailsford appears in Welsh language TV soap opera. Cycling Weekly. 25 January 2016. 14 November 2019.
  7. News: Sky Sports looks at Sir Dave Brailsford life and career. Sky Sports. 30 April 2014. 18 November 2019.
  8. News: Cycling: Chester graduate Brailsford honoured for GB Olympic cycling achievements. Cheshire Live. 16 January 2009. 14 November 2019.
  9. Web site: GB Cycling chief on track for honorary degree. Sheffield Hallam University. 18 December 2009. 14 November 2019.
  10. Web site: Richards. Brant. Brailsford for the Chop. Planet X. 1 March 2013. 14 November 2019.
  11. News: Fortheringham. William. Sky to sponsor British Tour de France team. The Guardian. 26 February 2009. 14 November 2019.
  12. News: Slater. Matt. How Dave Brailsford and Team Sky stormed cycling. BBC Sport. 5 February 2013. 11 April 2014.
  13. News: Syed. Matthew. Viewpoint: Should we all be looking for marginal gains?. BBC News. 15 September 2015. 13 November 2019.
  14. News: Harrell. Eben. How 1% performance improvements led to Olympic gold. Harvard Business Review. 30 October 2015. 19 November 2019.
  15. Web site: London Business Forum. Sir Dave Brailsford – The 1% Factor. YouTube. 1 December 2016. 20 November 2019. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/NQxYlu12ji8. 2021-12-12 . live.
  16. Maslen. Joseph. Cracking the Code: The Social Mobility Commission and Education Policy Discourse. Journal of Education Policy. 34. 5. 2019. 599–612. 10.1080/02680939.2018.1449891. 149726651. 22 September 2020. 12 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210712144939/https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/2418/1/Maslen%202018a.doc. dead. Web site: Accepted manuscript. Institutional open access repository. 21 October 2019. 12 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210712144912/https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/2418/. dead.
  17. Book: Shipman, Tim. 2017. All Out War: The Full Story of Brexit. revised and updated. London. William Collins. 592. 978-0-008-21517-0.
  18. News: Lewis. Tim. Golden aura around marginal gains is beginning to look a little tarnished. The Guardian. 20 October 2019. 14 November 2019.
  19. News: Cary. Tom. Sir Bradley Wiggins says marginal gains is 'load of rubbish' and calls Victoria Pendleton 'bit of a milkshake'. The Telegraph. 26 March 2017. 19 November 2019.
  20. News: Slater. Matt. How GB cycling went from tragic to magic. BBC Sport. 11 April 2014. 14 August 2008.
  21. Web site: GB Cycling Team medal history: Medals won by the Great Britain Cycling Team at world championships, Olympic Games and Paralympic Games since 2000. British Cycling. 11 April 2014.
  22. News: 2015-09-14 . Viewpoint: Should we all be looking for marginal gains? . en-GB . BBC News . 2023-01-09.
  23. News: Fortheringham. William. Sir Dave Brailsford quits performance director job at British Cycling. The Guardian. 10 April 2014. 15 November 2019.
  24. News: Bradley Wiggins wins 2012 Tour de France. 22 July 2012. BBC Sport. 15 November 2019.
  25. News: Tour de France: Chris Froome wins 100th edition of race. 21 July 2013. BBC News. 15 November 2019.
  26. News: Team Sky become Team Ineos as new sponsor owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe is confirmed . BBC Sport . 19 March 2019 . 3 January 2020.
  27. Web site: Grenadiers. The Ineos. Sir Dave Brailsford appointed Director of Sport at INEOS. 2021-12-17. www.ineosgrenadiers.com. en.
  28. House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. 2 March 2018. Combatting Doping in Sport. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcumeds/366/36606.htm. House of Commons. London. 2. British Cycling and Team Sky §74, 109–110. 14 November 2019.
  29. News: Skelton. Jack. Chris Froome 'completely backs' Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford after doping report. BBC Sport. 9 March 2018. 14 November 2019.
  30. Web site: MBE For Dave Brailsford. British Cycling. 15 June 2005. dead. 23 November 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20080306101328/http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/gbr/News2005/20050615_mbe_brailsford.asp. 6 March 2008.
  31. News: Baker. Andrew. Golden generation gain their just rewards. The Telegraph. 31 December 2008. 19 November 2019.
  32. News: Richardson. Simon. Dave Brailsford receives knighthood from the Queen. Cycling Weekly. 28 February 2013. 19 November 2019.
  33. News: Sports Personality 2008. BBC Sport. 14 December 2008. 16 December 2008.
  34. News: Sports Personality: Cycling's Dave Brailsford is coach of the year. BBC Sport. 16 December 2012. 16 December 2012.
  35. News: Cycle coach Dave Brailsford receives freedom of Erewash. BBC News. 19 December 2012. 14 November 2019.
  36. Web site: British Cycling Hall of Fame: Seven new inductions at international gala dinner. British Cycling. 28 October 2016. 14 November 2019.
  37. Web site: Sir Dave Brailsford opens Sports Centre named in his honour . Bangor University . 17 October 2022.

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