The topic of economic power of teams and the sustainability of the cycling system is always a much-debated issue: Director Stagi wrote about it in his editorial published in tuttoBICI in October, and on tuttobiciweb pages you could also read statements from French manager Emmanuel Hubert and Dutch executive Natascha Knaven, just to mention a few.

Now Bjarne Riis, a professional for fifteen seasons and then long-time team manager of teams like CSC and Saxo Bank Tinkoff, also weighs in on the topic.

Interviewed by Danish publication feltet.dk, the 61-year-old native of Herning emphasized the increase in economic resources needed to manage a team and, recalling the years when he managed his teams, stated: "When my team was at its peak, we had 85 employees under contract, now most large teams have around 120 employees. Today more is needed to manage a team."

Riis continued his reasoning by criticizing those who think the economic disparity between teams makes cycling boring. "Having a very high, potentially unlimited budget is important, but it's equally crucial to be good at managing it. Large teams like UAE Team Emirates and Lidl Trek, for example, follow the rules and have been good at hiring capable people skilled at finding athletes with great potential." And further: "Currently, there are no economic limitations or salary caps, these are the rules and other teams must become better and manage accordingly."

The 1996 Tour de France winner also expressed an opinion on Visma Lease a Bike, which has his compatriot Jonas Vingegaard as its lead rider: "I believe the yellow team is economically very far from UAE Team Emirates, Lidl Trek, and Red Bull Bora. Visma Lease a Bike seems to me like a team lacking money, because many of their strong riders are leaving. It's not that they don't want to keep them: they chose to focus strongly on Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard, but their teammates are changing teams, simply because Visma cannot afford to retain them."

Finally, Riis also went out on a limb by stating that in the future we might see several team mergers and, emphasizing again that team management costs have increased compared to his time, the Danish manager said: "I don't understand why there aren't more teams merging yet, as high-level performance requires resources, so it would make sense for many teams. But, in the shoes of a team owner, I understand that it's difficult to give up leadership, even if from an organizational perspective it would make sense for the company. Because it's about relinquishing power, just as happens in all large companies that need to be streamlined for better management."