Originally Posted by cmq2:
“Pro-cycling is an international sport raced by trade, not national, teams. However, this thread often makes it quite clear that nationality is seen as the principal reason for backing a rider or team.”
Some of the teams do market themselves as representing particular areas. Chris Froome is marketed as a British rider. The achievements of the most successful riders from Britain are used to promote cycling in this country.
Even if Froome was British because Britain is where he was born and lived all his life, Team Sky's success wouldn't be entirely British. However, the way cycling is covered by the media means that only the winner of a race gets a mention. People who weren't watching the TDF don't know who else was riding with Froome, or who finished second or third.
Remember on Friday when Froome gained time after crashing? That makes little sense when presented without any additional information, but that is how it was presented.
If there were 10 British riders in the TDF and none of them were in the top 10 GC positions and none of them won a stage, how much would the general public hear about it from sports bulletins?
The national media encourages this attitude of only caring about sports participants from the UK. The public isn't used to the non-tribal cooperative culture of cycling.
I remember when the Tour de France was in Yorrkshire. Some people spoke about it as if it ended on the second day. All they could say about it was that it came to Yorkshire.