'Professional' Cycling Teams Faced with New Imperatives to Maintain Professionalism

摘要

Media coverage of doping scandals has taken the general public behind the scenes of performance production in cycling. Now that their practices have been made visible, teams are obliged to produce credible performances whilst at the same time asserting an acceptable professional identity. Professional cycling teams are unequally placed to deal with this new situation. Those with significant techno-scientific resources, backed by sponsors with global objectives and who are less attached to their local roots, find it easier to adapt. Some of these globalised teams evolve the standards of performance production; they thus contribute towards reducing the work autonomy of the other teams and modify what it means to be a professional group. In this article we first identify the structural changes particularly in terms of transparency and doping prevention that have turned performance production upside down. We then strive to understand how teams are adapting to these changes by adopting new production methods. Finally, we analyse the effects of these adaptations on the riders' workloads and on the performances produced. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.