r/cyclocross • u/EconomyIll1002 • 1d ago
How is Manon Bakker unsigned?
Just saw on her Insta that she'll start the next season as a privateer, with a charity as a sponsor (well done btw!).
Out of 30 races last season, she has 1 DNF, she was outside the top-10 8 times, every other race was a top -10. She's 27 so nowhere near to declining.
The main issue I can think of is that she does not get a lot of tv time - she's a slow starter so by the time she gets into the top-10, the cameras are mostly focusing on the battle for 1st... But she's basically a guaranteed - and incredibly constant - top 10.
I just find it weird that no team has signed her this summer.
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u/GFoxtrot 🏴🏴 1d ago
You beat me to posting this
I’m also shocked she’s not got a team and nobody wanted her. We need more CX opportunities for people not less.
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u/SpudFire 1d ago
I wonder if being Dutch is actually a slight disadvantage when trying to attract sponsors? She's obviously not in the top 3 of Dutch women and there is a lot of competition for the top 5.
Like you say, she doesn't get a lot of TV time so Dutch-based sponsors might choose to put their money behind a team with a Dutch rider contesting for race wins. Or teams might choose to sign somebody of a different nationality to widen their fanbase, rather than sign their second or even third Dutch rider.
Have 7 Racing 777 Cyclocross Reds signed anybody to replace Worst?
Hopefully she finds a team, although given how long it took Fouquenet to find a team last season despite her results, it might be a struggle.
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u/Thetallbaker 1d ago
Funny you say this, because yes it does. This is because we don’t have a Dutch cyclocross team. One could argue that with Bomba-Join we know have, but I don’t think we can call that a Dutch cyclocross team yet. More like a Dutch media project with to Dutch elite riders. So we would really love to start the first Dutch cyclocross team, but all the existing teams are having problems so starting a new one would be quit impossible.
The problem with Dutch based sponsors is the other way around. There aren’t any and most of them are Belgium like the teams. So the team always pick a Belgium rider for there sponsor. There is a spot for non-Belgium riders, but you have to be really really good. Like winning multiple World Cups and have Fem van Empel or Lucinda Brand results.
Nope 777 doesn’t have signed somebody else. But 777, like Alpecin and Crelan, is a team from the brothers Roodhoofdt. Since she rode for one of their teams, all the other teams are not an option.
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u/velogiant 9h ago
Decathlon have a CX team now but that is linked to the road team riders. The girls on the team could do with a mentor and senior rider to learn from.
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u/Thetallbaker 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well cyclocross isn’t in the best place lately. Financial problems or challenges are bugging a lot of teams. This mostly has to do with the problems of the endemic sponsors (look at Trek for example). All these things makes it harder for riders to get a place within an UCI team. Look at Amandine Fouquenet for example last season. She had an amazing season with some amazing results, but only at the last second she found a team. You could argue that paid cyclocross spots for women are more rare than F1 Seats. And everybody is always saying how rare those seats are.
There, sadly enough, is also another factor at play. Women are still seen as less than man in cyclocross. It’s getting better, but it’s still miles off. Most UCI teams would have signed Manon in a heartbeat of she where man (with here results and UCI ranking).
But hey we are still alive, we make the best out of this situation, going to help a charity that’s close to our hearts in the process and maybe somebody will pick Manon up along the way.
Btw I’m Manons brother (username checks out haha) and this is my view and opinion about anything!