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Modeling Performances and Competitive Balance in Professional Road Cycling

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The Economics of Professional Road Cycling

Part of the book series: Sports Economics, Management and Policy ((SEMP,volume 11))

Abstract

In the economics of professional team sports leagues, the concept of competitive balance is well documented. It postulates the necessity of equilibrium between the teams in a league in order to guarantee uncertainty of outcome and thus generate public demand. By contrast, performances and competitive balance are not easy to define in road cycling. This is because cycling can be seen as a team sport but the global team performance usually is of minor importance or even not taken into account at all. A large proportion of cyclists are in support of another rider, meaning that they do not care about their personal result but instead try to help their team leader(s). Moreover, a team leader generally has one specific objective amongst a range of possible ones. This chapter deals with the complex issue of modeling performances and competitive balance in professional road cycling. After a brief review of the literature on modeling performances and competitive balance in cycling, an innovative measure is introduced: competitive intensity in cycling. We illustrate this measure with two stages of the 2013 and 2014 Tour de France, and we discuss its implications.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vélo Club Dolois, Dole, France

    Benjamin Cabaud

  2. University of Stirling, Scotland, UK

    Nicolas Scelles & Stephen Morrow

  3. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Aurélien François

Authors
  1. Benjamin Cabaud
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  2. Nicolas Scelles
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  3. Aurélien François
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  4. Stephen Morrow
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamin Cabaud .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kortrijk, Belgium

    Daam Van Reeth

  2. Norman, Oklahoma, USA

    Daniel Joseph Larson

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Cabaud, B., Scelles, N., François, A., Morrow, S. (2016). Modeling Performances and Competitive Balance in Professional Road Cycling. In: Van Reeth, D., Larson, D. (eds) The Economics of Professional Road Cycling. Sports Economics, Management and Policy, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22312-4_12

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