Reviving British road racing: an interview with Jon Dutton OBE, British Cycling's CEO

Welcome back to another episode of The British Continental podcast, where we delve deep into the world of domestic road racing, bringing you stories, insights, and conversations with the people shaping the sport. 

In this episode, we have the honour of speaking with Jon Dutton OBE, the Chief Executive of British Cycling. 

Jon has been at the helm of British Cycling since April 2023. With a wealth of experience in sports management and a deep passion for cycling, Jon is uniquely positioned to discuss the current state of British cycling, its future direction, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

We speak to him on the eve of the Tour of Britain Women, an event that British Cycling has stepped in to save and revive after the demise of the Women's Tour and its organiser, Sweespot.

In our conversation, Jon shares the behind-the-scenes efforts that have gone into organising the race, the strategic decisions made to ensure its success, and British Cycling’s ambitions for the Tour of Britain Men too. 

We also revisit the Elite Road Racing Task Force, something we discussed with Task Force Chair Ed Clancy OBE in a previous episode. The Task Force was set up in August 2023 by British Cycling with the aim of energising the elite road racing scene. Its recommendations were published in January 2024, and I ask him when British Cycling will begin to implement the recommendations, given Jon's previous emphasis on the need for the Task Force process to deliver 'immediate progress'.

We conclude by discussing British Cycling’s new sponsorship deal with Lloyds Bank and what that will mean for the sport’s elite level.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to the British Continental Podcast the show shining a light on stories about British bike racing teams and riders at the domestic level.

Speaker 2: 0:26

Welcome back to another episode of the British Continental Podcast, where we delve deep into the world of domestic road racing, bringing you stories, insights and conversations with the people shaping the sport. I'm your host, denny Gray, and today we have a very special guest joining us. In this episode, we have the honour of speaking with John Dutton OBE, the Chief Executive of British Cycling. John has been at the helm of British Cycling since April 2023. With a wealth of experience in sports management and a deep passion for cycling, john is uniquely positioned to discuss the current state of British Cycling, its future direction and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. We're speaking to him on the eve of the Tour of Britain Women, an event that British Cycling has stepped in to save and revive. In our conversation, john shares the behind-the-scenes efforts that have gone into organising the race, the strategic decisions made to ensure its success and British Cycling's ambitions for the Tour of Britain Men, too. We also revisit the Elite Road Racing Task Force, something we discussed with Ed Clancy earlier in the series. It was set up with the aim of energising the Elite Road Racing scene, and I asked John when we are likely to see actions emanating from the task force, given John's emphasis on it delivering immediate progress, and we also cover British Cycling's new sponsorship deal with Lloyd's Bank and what that will mean for the sports elite level. Talking of sponsorship, I'd like to extend our usual thanks to title sponsor Le Col and to our partner sponsor Pro Noctis. Without them both, we simply wouldn't be able to cover the domestic sport in the depth that we do, so thank you very much indeed to them Right.

Speaker 2: 2:10

Without further ado, let's dive into this insightful interview with John Dutton OBE. So, john Dutton, chief Executive of British Cycling, welcome to the British Continental podcast. The first time we've had anybody from British Cycling on the podcast, so it's an absolute honour to have you and to start the very top of the organisation with you. John, I'm speaking to you on the eve of the Tour of Britain Women. Could you just take us back to the moment when British Cycling decided to step in and try and save the race and why you felt it was the right decision to take?

Speaker 1: 2:49

Well, first of all, danny, just to say my pleasure. Thank you for the opportunity and thanks for everything that you do. This has been an interesting journey for us, I think, if we reflect last year not having a women's Tour of Britain. But it's been 125 days between getting UCI approval and getting to the start line on Thursday morning. So it's been a really interesting journey, not without challenge, as I think we both know. Anything on the public highway road racing is really expensive, but my board, executive team, everyone involved, has been determined to have a domestic road race for women and for men, and we start just in a few days time few days time.

Speaker 2: 3:47

What has it taken to put the race on this year? But given that very short time scale you've had for the, for the women's race in particular, what kind of resources and effort has British Cycling ended up having to put in?

Speaker 1: 3:54

Yeah, so we've had to put a team in place. We've got Jonathan Day, managing director of British Cycling events, and Jonathan's had to put a team in place, so we brought people in. We've got a blend of experience people that have worked on Tour of Britain previously, but also some new talent. As we grow British Cycling events as an organisation, obviously it's going to deliver Tour of Britain women, tour of Britain men, but other events. We launched our five-year vision in February, putting together a business plan and then each of the component parts through to the revenue I know we're going to touch on a new partnership with Lloyds, also broadcast negotiations, putting together a route and then the liaison with the local authority, public sector partners, who have been absolutely fantastic, and then just sort of trying to manage the cost but do it over both races. And that's the beauty now, having it in-house, we can trade one against another and make sure that we deliver two fantastic, two safe races with compelling action.

Speaker 2: 5:00

So that's obviously a monumental effort you've had to put in to get the race to where it is now. To what extent has that meant you've, at least in the short term, had to divert resources from other parts of the organisation to make sure the race happens this year?

Speaker 1: 5:15

Certainly in the first instance, and personally it took up a lot of my time. We've been meeting with the board every week, but what we've tried to do over the last couple of months is put dedicated resource. It's really important that we carry on at British Cycling across all the different things, not least preparing for Paris, but also what we deliver from a sports and participation perspective. So as we and we appreciate that organising something in such a short space of time, we'll get a fantastic race with the sort of women, but we want to grow it and it will be a few bumps in the road. I'm sure that we won't. Everything won't quite go according to plan, but that's the nature of live spectator event. So dedicated team over time. We now have a British cycling event that has existed for some time that we've really upskilled, added resource into that. It's got its own dedicated board and that will run and stand on its own two feet as we move forward right, yeah, I mean that.

Speaker 2: 6:26

That links to my next question, actually, john, which was but it's very unusual for a governing body to step in and put on races, particularly at a world tour level event. I can't think of any other examples in the women's world tournament where a governing body is putting on a race. I know the uci used to organize a race in china for the men a while ago, but what kind of risk does that expose British cycling to do you think?

Speaker 1: 6:51

We're trying to mitigate the risk, denny, and I think you're absolutely right. We've done a bit of travelling recently and been talking to other federations as we continue to learn and prepare for the challenging environment that we face. But I don't know any other federation in the world that's attempting to do this. But it's important that we mitigate risk and also protect British Cycling Federation. So in doing that, we have a separate company, a separate board, ultimately a separate resource and overall probably take the next 12 months, we want to have three parts to the organization the federation that does everything that people will recognize Also, then our events arm, which is more of a commercial focus, and then the third bit will be a charitable part to the organization. So we've got three bits of the business, can behave differently, but primarily protect the membership organization British Cycling Federation.

Speaker 2: 7:45

Right, okay, I mean I was going to say also. I mean there's the risk for the organisation as a whole, but it's a risk just putting on the race itself, isn't it? Because obviously the previous organiser I know it's a new event, essentially, but Sweet Spot, who organised the women's tour and the former tour britain, went into liquidation at a time when councils, uh, who obviously traditionally fund a lot of the the race, are facing enormous challenges economically. There's economic uncertainty generally in the uk. To what extent are you, do you have concerns? Are there real kind of challenges and risks there in terms of actually finding the, the funds to, to run the race each year?

Speaker 1: 8:28

yeah, it's a concern, um, and we will in no way be reckless. Um, as we move forward, uh, we want to do things in the right way. We are looking at this over a five-year period. Um, so we appreciate, um, as I said earlier, the cost of of staging road races of any kind, and obviously the more stages you add, the longer in duration, the more the cost will increase.

Speaker 1: 8:49

We're also quite keen to look at the business model, a very traditional business model, very reliant on those host towns and cities. We're so delighted with the people that have stepped forward this time and really enabled us just to make sure that we can deliver something that geographically it makes sense. It makes sense, obviously, for the riders and for the teams coming over. But we really want to look at the business model, we really want to test that out. It is reliant on drawing in commercial revenue and obviously we've been successful with that in the first instance. But I think this is the opportunity of delivering something as a British Cycling Federation, as the family of British Cycling, and looking at some of the opportunities as we move forward.

Speaker 2: 9:32

And you mentioned you have kind of greater ambitions for the race. Obviously it's limited to four stages this year, which I know is not something you want to stick to going forward. Can you just tell me where you see the race heading in the future?

Speaker 1: 9:44

yeah, I mean, we made a big decision, uh, with the men's race, reducing it from eight stages to uh six, and there was two reasons for that, uh, number one in the first instance, just to make it more manageable and more financially viable, uh, but the most important reason is to get as quickly as we can to full parity. So next year subject UCI approval we intend to have six stages on the women's race, six stages on the men's race, and then look at the parkour, look at the compelling races. I've got a personal view that maybe less is more and if we have less stages maybe we can make for more exciting racing. But again, we want to test it out. We want to work with UCI going forward we appreciate it's a very congested calendar both on women and men, and just really sort of find our way forward but be really bold and brave. Denny, that's absolutely in our wheelhouse and hopefully we can attract more people who maybe have never seen these fantastic products before.

Speaker 2: 10:42

Yeah, and with, I guess, a growing events arm to the, to the organization. I mean, I know it's early days yet and you're probably just focused on getting these two races sorted for this year, but do you see that expanding at all? Do you see kind of BC's role as a race organizer in the UK growing?

Speaker 1: 11:01

Yeah, we're going to take our time um on the roadside uh. So, uh, four bits to the five-year event vision road, off-road track uh, and urban uh, but from a road perspective uh, our focus this year has been on tour britain women, tour britain men. Uh, we will look at the national series uh, both road and circuit around, how we can continue sport race uh organizers, but also, uh, about potential, um potential innovation um in that space, um. So, yeah, everything's up for discussion uh, but we're realistic that we can't do it all in one go uh, and we've got to bring people uh with us. So, uh, the world is changing uh, we need to change, we need to modernize, and that's part of what we've invested in uh overall as an organization, uh, but we are um very cognizant of those amazing volunteers, the people that have supported the sport. The sport could not happen without all of those people, and we just want to make sure that we, you know, be really clear with our intentions and bring people with us as we move forward.

Speaker 2: 12:00

Great. And on the men's race, briefly, I know you've got a bit more time to get that organised, but I know in a previous in the media before you've spoken about your ambition to make that a World Tour event too. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Speaker 1: 12:21

UCI. We appreciate that Tour of Britain men has historically been up against the Vuelta and the period where it is before the World Championships this year. It wasn't obviously last year. So we've got an aspiration for that to be World Tour. We are realistic about maybe that can't happen in the next 12 months but that's part of our aspiration and making sure that we get the very best teams. We've also got Rod Ellingworth as our new race director. Rod's been absolutely fantastic and you know he's known throughout the peloton and he's known throughout the team. So we're really confident that we'll get some amazing riders here in September. We are also conscious there are more World Pro Tour riders who are British than ever before racing on the continent and this is an opportunity to see those riders. But World Tour ambitions, but just tempered by continuing to work with UCI on the quite congested calendar every time we look at it. It's not easy to plot a way through that but that's something we're determined to do great and that links, I guess, slightly to where I'm going about the task force shortly.

Speaker 2: 13:33

But the both races the women's tour and the tour of britain women, as it's now being called, and the tour of britain men have been a real boon for uci continental teams in the uk, the british uci continental teams. Obviously you've got six women's teams racing in this year's edition of the tour britain women and it's been a great uh, I guess, proving ground for, for, for riders and it's helped british riders kind of get the attention of foreign teams. They've got pro contracts on the back of that. Zeb Kiffin is a great example. He came sixth last year at the Tour of Britain, got a pro contract off the back of that, I know.

Speaker 2: 14:14

For the women's side, obviously you've got the six UCI continental teams racing a world tour women's event. But the current UCI regulations prevent UCI men's teams, continental teams, racing world tour events. So there's a tension there isn't there between the fact that you want to have a bigger and bolder event and maybe see kind of higher level British riders representing kind of foreign teams in the race versus the need for UCI continental teams in the UK to have that really important exposure.

Speaker 1: 14:45

Yeah, there is tension and perhaps it's an evolution and perhaps it's just something that we have to navigate our way through going forward. But one of the key principles this year was British first. We have a British race director. We're delighted we've got six British continental teams riding in the Tour of Britain women and that wasn't an accident. That was a very purposeful, purposeful commitment and we're going to look at the same again from a men's perspective. But we just have to have a vision, continue to promote our values of British first and the celebration this is all about Tour of Britain overall and navigate our way through.

Speaker 1: 15:26

But I do say, like everything we try and do, danny, there will be a bit of tension, there'll be people that maybe don't agree with our decisions, but we just want to do this in the best way for the sport, so that we can see the best riders compelling, racing, safe racing, but also, as you say, ze uh, what a fantastic uh example last year of uh, someone who's going to go on um because of that uh exposure he got. So, uh, it's all in the mix, uh, going forward. But for this year it's uh, it's probably a bit more straightforward okay, great.

Speaker 2: 15:57

Well, let's move on to the task force, john, because last august you, or British Cycling, announced the a new task force elite road racing task force focused primarily on the elite level. For those listeners that aren't aware, that's kind of the national road series, national circuit series, level of racing and the idea was to kind of work to innovate and energize the domestic scene. And I think at the time, john, in the press release you said that you wanted it to generate actions that BC would implement in 2024 and beyond, and you also spoke of the need for immediate progress. Can you just, going back a little bit, tell us why you felt a task force was necessary in the first place?

Speaker 1: 16:44

I've been here at british cycling just over 13 months and it was clear in the early days that in many of the conversations getting out to races like lincoln, attending many of the national series events, in particular the circuit series that there was a strong feeling that people wanted a conversation. So so we asked Ed Clancy to lead the road task force, populated by people from across the sports, all very representative, and they did an absolutely fantastic job. Their job, their sort of mission, was to come up with a series of recommendations. We published that, as you said, towards the end of last year, and now we've taken the action plan in host. It's been led by the Royal Commission. Heather Bamford's done some fantastic work already on that and the executive team are now leading on it.

Speaker 1: 17:36

Again, being realistic, there are some things. Recommendation number one was to have a tour of Britain women, and that's exactly what we've done. Some of the other recommendations will take more time, denny, and it's the whole ecosystem. It's about some of your world, how we cover events and the profile it brings. It's about having the calendar make as much sense as possible. It's about safety and so on and so forth, and the recommendations are out there for everyone to see. So it will take some time. I'm determined that actions speak louder than words. We're not just going to publish a glossy document and feel good about ourselves. We've got to take action. But I'm also realistic about the environment and, as we have seen once again this year, numbers in some races dropping below elite in particular and some challenges for race organizers. So we are realistic about how tough it is out there. It's just about finding a way through, but we have a real sense of determination to do that.

Speaker 2: 18:41

Great and I might be wrong here, john, but am I right in my understanding that you may have? You weren't obviously part of the task force but you took a close interest and may have sat in on some of the meetings. They had. I mean yeah, what I mean from from what they've said and the discussions you heard there what do you see as the really big challenges facing that kind of middle tier of racing? Because, yeah, what do you see as the big challenges?

Speaker 1: 19:06

I think the biggest challenge is to make them financially sustainable, and there's no easy answer to that. I think everyone wants more high quality, and perhaps it comes back to what I said earlier. We just have to be realistic about the environment that we face. It might be that we have fewer events but more high quality events, but we've got to find our way through it. Danny, I think that was one of the reasons for getting a group of people with enormous talent and wisdom together, and they came to the same conclusion as we did. There is no magic wand, there is no easy answer, and it has to be a multitude of different solutions across a period of time. But yeah, we're absolutely determined and I have taken a personal interest in it, helped establish it, sat in on some of the discussions, was very keen that it was a group that was completely independent, so it was sat listening rather than contributing.

Speaker 2: 20:01

But our contribution now is about moving those actions forward other than uh, contributing, but our contribution now is, um, about moving those actions forward, because this is a a tier of racing which I guess some people have said has been the kind of the forgotten middle, uh, when it comes to british cycling, unfairly or fairly, but that's the criticism that's been laid.

Speaker 2: 20:19

Uh, you know, british cycling's focus has been when, on winning gold medals at the olympics and kind of the big events, some of which we've just spoken about, john, as well as kind of grassroots participation, but it's that middle ground which has been forgotten and I just wonder you know how I mean.

Speaker 2: 20:35

You said, obviously, that these things will take time, but I guess there's a real desire to see change from those kind of really interested in this level of racing, because people have been asking for it for so long and people have seen the issues that are kind of staring at us for so long. And I know that you said at the time you wanted kind of immediate progress and actions that were implemented in 2024. But I guess so far we haven't, I mean until now and it's great that you're on this podcast, we really, really appreciate you being here, john, but we haven't, I mean until now, and it's great that you're on this podcast. We really, really appreciate you being here, john, but we haven't really had any official response about how British Cycling is actually going about implementing and responding to the task force. So I guess, from an outsider's perspective, how can you reassure us that we will start to see some change out of this?

Speaker 1: 21:24

Yeah, I think, overall being held to uh account denny um, and it goes back to what I said previously uh, it's about actions. Uh, it's not about words. Um, I think that our commitment to uh events, our five-year event vision um helps, so we're going to have more dedicated resource in that area of the business. Um, as you say, there is a blend of doing what we do from a performance perspective, but also nurturing and growing the sport. We are more interested in campaigning. We're more interested, I think, than ever before in terms of what our members tell us and how we want to react. But there's only so much resource's, only only so many uh days in the week, so we've just got to find a balance, uh, but we just have a sense of determination to uh listen and do things uh about areas like this that we can make a contribution uh, but it's also for the whole ecosystem.

Speaker 1: 22:16

This isn't uh just about pretty cycling. Uh, it's about everyone um involved and I think, if we can have that big conversation amongst the community, there's so many amazing things that happen. There's so many amazing people. I've met many of them when I've been out and about and we've just got to come together and act. As you say, in the best interest of the sport, but I don't think this has ever been forgotten. I just think we've got to recognise that times are tough and we know that the environment has changed. When we think about the riders, a lot of those riders that were riding on British soil are not doing that anymore, and that's just been, I guess, the globalisation of the calendar and the way that things have panned out. We can either feel sorry for ourselves or we can do something about it, and that's why the Royal Task Force was set up, with an intent to do something about it.

Speaker 2: 23:08

Yeah, you mentioned the need to hold you to account in terms of ensuring delivery. There hasn't been any visibility so far of what British Cycling is doing. Do you think that will change over time? Will we be able to see how you're making progress against the 14 published actions? I know there were 43 actions, I think, in total behind the scenes.

Speaker 1: 23:28

Yeah, absolutely. So a big part of it was about our comms and that's something that we'll be doing over the coming months. So, in between the period, surrey Britain women, surrey Britain men, and having that conversation as we reach the end of the year and kick on into 2025. So, absolutely, and I'm very happy to be invited back on here and come back and speak to you and speak to anyone and just be part of the conversation. But I guess my key message is we need to show leadership and have that determination, but it's for everyone to contribute to, because we don't have all the answers and aren't able to wave a magic wand, and we've also got to be realistic about the environments in which we all know live in. It's harder than it ever has been before.

Speaker 2: 24:13

Yeah, Can I ask you, John it's an unfair question perhaps but how soon do you think we'll see some actions, some implementation, coming out of the task force?

Speaker 1: 24:24

We'll see some communication over the summer months, denny, and we can go back to the published recommendations. As you said, there was a longer list. Effectively, there was quite a bit of duplication in there. Um, but that, that long list, that short list, what's in the public domain? Um, we'll do a summer update.

Speaker 2: 24:41

Uh, yeah, I'm very happy to uh continue to uh receive questions, receive feedback, um, and try and make a difference I guess you've shown, actually with the tour of britain, women and men, I mean, I know that there was a recommendation around these, but the task force was primarily about the elite level of racing, wasn't it? But you've shown what can happen when British cycling really puts its mind to it and kind of puts resources into something, and you've achieved an enormous amount in a very short space of time. Enormous amount in a very short space of time. So I guess you could say that the same you know, with the same kind of level of determination and leadership, that the transformation could be quite substantial at the elite level too if british cycling was able to put that same level of well, determination, if not resource and leadership into into that level yeah, and I think it's across the whole organization, uh, danny.

Speaker 1: 25:34

So we invested in what we call the program of change, which is around modernization, um, and they're some of the key component parts. So, if you take the digital technology, um infrastructure, um, that's something that needs investment and needs improvement. If we take, uh, the work that the comms, pr and marketing teams are doing, if we take broadcast and so on and so forth, so it's not simply about one thing, it's about the whole infrastructure and we are making really great progress on that. We've completed a big piece of work on brand and reputation, which we call our playbook. So all of these things are bubbling away underneath and, yeah, it's just about having the balance.

Speaker 1: 26:15

Um, paris will be a really nice distraction, um, and it's great for the whole uh organization. And when we come out of paris, we're straight into tory britain, uh men, and surrounded by so many other different events and so many other different uh activities. So, um, yeah, it's uh, it's a great time to be chief executive for british cycling. Um, I'm thoroughly enjoying my time, um, enjoying the challenge that it presents, uh, and this is uh, yet yet another um. Will we please everyone? Absolutely not. Uh, will we deliver everything that everyone wants? Absolutely not, uh. But will we uh make progress? I'm, yeah, absolutely committed and determined that we will.

Speaker 2: 26:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 26:53

Yeah, I mean, it's a complex picture isn't it?

Speaker 2: 26:55

I think my major concern, john from the task force and I'll come on to the sponsorship in a minute of Lloyd's but is that a lot of the recommendations were for more review or kind of development of strategies. And I think the risk is that that could lead to kind of a year or two of kind of rumination, of kind of more kind of administration just looking at developing strategies and reviewing things without anything changing. And I got the impression when you announced a task force that you were very keen for, you know, immediate progress. That was one of the phrases to use. You said it wouldn't be a talking shop, and I'm not. You know you've probably answered my question, you've answered this already in your answers, but I guess just my concern is just that the actions or the implementation just might lead to more strategy review things that don't actually lead to concrete action in the short term.

Speaker 1: 27:49

Yeah look, I've gone on record, denny, and happy to say it again, as, as far as I'm concerned, my job description says one line, which is to make a difference, and that's all I'm interested in doing. So are there things that will take more time and need more work? Of course Are there things like let's broadcast every race. That's a great aspiration, but of course that needs investment, and you can come on to talk about how challenging the commercial landscape is and the success that we've had. So it's just being realistic about the things. But I appreciate you're pretty passionate. There are many very passionate people that want to see change and improvement for the good, as do I. I'm also a realist and I think the halcyon days of what we've maybe seen, of what people remember, I don't think they're coming back. We've got to cut our cloth according to the landscape in which we live in. Does that mean to say that everything's going to go in a downward trajectory? Absolutely not the opposite. And hopefully, women, men.

Speaker 1: 28:52

Five-year event vision a social impact program which is really, really important from a public sector investment, and what we are finding is that the conversations we're having with local authorities and city regions, whilst they're great for the future longevity of Tolls of Britain. They're also great for everyone else because they're prompting some really interesting conversations and there is a desire and aspiration to have more events. But it's got to be underpinned by something deeper in our social impact program. We believe definitely does that and all of that's taken some time to curate, so it's just been realistic. But I'll be measured by what we achieve and it starts with financial stability and financial sustainability what we achieve and it starts with financial stability and financial sustainability. The organisation has had some challenges well documented and it's really super important we fix those because if we don't build a solid foundation, if it's built on sand, then we will be in a bad place going forward.

Speaker 2: 29:47

Okay, john, I know we need to wrap up shortly, but in the last couple of minutes you just mentioned financial stability there. I guess the major news from that perspective is the announcement that Lloyds is coming on board as a lead sponsor at British Cycling. Just what difference will that make to the organisation?

Speaker 1: 30:07

It's a game changer, danny. It's a landmark deal, probably more significant given how challenging the commercial uh landscape is. Uh. It's a multi-year deal, um. It's investment into everything we talked about, into the tours, into our five-year event vision, um, and it's benefiting cycling um overall. So um cannot um underestimate the level of significance of this. We're obviously delighted and, again, it's taken some hard work of some talented people to get out there and do something about it, and we've been really busy, had lots of energy since the start of the new year to put a different foot forward in terms of our commercial proposition, and that not only has landed Lloyds, who will be a fantastic partner, but also I've got a really strong pipeline of other people that want to support us as well. So that side of things definitely is much healthier than it was 12 months ago.

Speaker 2: 31:07

Great, and I know that this is perhaps a parochial view from my perspective, but what, if any difference will that make to the elite road racing scene?

Speaker 1: 31:17

Yeah, we're going to take a good look at National Series, both road and circuit. That's probably what happened in 24, but certainly aspirationally 25 onwards how we can support better races and make sure everything is more financially sustainable in the long term. So watch this space, perhaps invite me back on in another six, nine months time and we can talk perhaps in a bit more detail, but this is hot off the press. New deal, but to benefit cycling overall, and that can only be a good thing.

Speaker 2: 31:52

Great. Well, that sounds like a good place to wrap things up. John, I know you've got a busy schedule ahead of you to get everything all the final I's dotted and T's crossed for the Tour of Britain women, so I'll let you get on with that, but I really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to speak to us, john. Thanks so much for your opportunity, danny. Thank you for listening to the British Continental podcast. Find out more news and views about domestic road racing on wwwthebritishcontinentalcouk. You.