Dominance or Deceit in Professional Cycling: The Perceived Reality of Team Sky

No one sport hasfaced greater scrutiny from stakeholders in the sport industry than cyclingand, in particular, road cycling. A history of the use of performance enhancingdrugs has tarnished the legacies of some of the sport’s biggest names and mosthigh profile races, like the Tour de France. In recent years, after admissionsfrom arguably the sport’s most-known name, Lance Armstrong, one team haveseemingly been at the forefront of success in professional road cycling,winning all three of the sport’s Grand Tours (Giro d’Italia, Tour deFrance, and Vuelta a Espana)since 2012, including winning seven of the last eight Tours (2012-2019) – TeamSky (now Team Ineos). These successes have repeatedly been questioned by themedia and other stakeholders and, given the context, it is hardly a surprise.This chapter discusses how the apparent culture of cycling has altered thedialogue of success in the sport, how Team Sky have been perceived within thisdialogue, and what they, in particular, have done and can do to try to restoretrust in performances and, indeed, governance of the sport more broadly.