THE
LEADING
VOICE
OF
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
SPORTS PERFORMANCE & TECH AUG 2015 | #16
Talking Mountain Bikes With Two World Champions We discuss the challenges of mountain biking with Jerome Clementz and Tracy Moseley, two world champions in the Endura event.
The Technology Behind The Tennis At Wimbledon
The Most Powerful Man In Cycling Data
Sean Foreman investigates the use of technology that helps the most famous tennis tournament in the world run every year.
Robby Ketchell, Chief Data Scientist at Team Sky, talks to us about the use of data at the world’s most data driven, and successful, cycling team.
and successful, cycling team.
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ISSUE 16
EDITOR’S LETTER Welcome to the 16th Edition of Sports, Performance & Tech.
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s we are now midway through the summer, we have seen some go the most exciting sporting events take place, such as the Tour de France, Wimbledon and Copa America. We have also started many domestic soccer leagues and sports fans are assessing their teams through early season games.
Jerome Clementz and Tracy Moseley, about their use of technology and training techniques whilst on and off the bike. As the success of athletes is often down to mental aptitude, we look at how Steve Peters’ work has impacted on some of the most successful sports people in the world today.
We are covering all bases in this issue as we look at some of the key elements in each of these sports.
At the Tour de France, athletic meetings and F1 races we have seen the importance of aerodynamics. With this in mind, we have done some investigation into the potential improvements that aero-design has, including taking a look at Rapha’s new aero-jersey as a prime example.
Sean Foreman investigates the technology behind the tennis at the world’s most famous tennis tournament; Wimbledon. We also look at how sports analytics are making a considerable impact on the way that people place their bets, something that will be increasingly important in the upcoming premier league season.
As always, if you are interested in contributing or have any feedback on the magazine, please contact me at ghill@theiegroup.com
Following the win by Chris Froome in the Tour de France, we talk to Robby Ketchell, the Chief Data Scientist at Team Sky. As the head of data at the most data driven team in cycling, is he the most powerful man in cycling data?
In addition to this, we investigate four new technologies that are going to have a significant impact on performances for a variety of sports and athletes. We also talk to two world champion mountain bikers,
George Hill Managing Editor
Are you are looking to put your products in front of key decision makers? For Advertising contact Euan at ehunter@theiegroup.com
CONTENTS 04 | 4 WAYS THAT TECHNOLOGY WILL IMPROVE SPORTS
18 | THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN CYCLING DATA?
We have seen the use of technology increasing in sports, and alongside this increase in effectiveness, we discover four new technologies that will have a positive impact.
Robby Ketchell, Chief Data Scientist At Team Sky, talks to us about the use of data at the world’s most data driven, and successful, cycling team.
09 | THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND THE TENNIS AT WIMBLEDON
22 | AERODYNAMICS AT THE HEART OF PERFORMANCE
Sean Foreman investigates the use of technology that helps the most famous tennis tournament in the world run every year. 10 | THE KEY TO WINNING: IS IT ALL IN THE MIND?
Is winning more about mental strength than people think? We look at the world of Steve Peters to see how removing the ‘chimp’ can make all the difference. 12 | TALKING MOUNTAIN BIKES WITH TWO WORLD CHAMPIONS
We discuss the challenges of mountain biking with Jerome Clementz and Tracy Moseley, two world champions in the Endura event. 16 | SPORTS ANALYTICS MARKET TO REACH 44.7BN
The next six years are going to see a considerable rise in the value of the sports analytics industry, Euan Hunter explores why this is going to be the case for them.
With the importance of down force and smooth airflow, we look at what difference it actually makes in sport.
MANAGING EDITOR| GEORGE HILL EDITOR | JAMES OVENDEN SIMON BARTON ART DIRECTOR | CHARLOTTE WEYER CONTRIBUTORS | EUAN HUNTER WILLIAM TUBBS SEAN FOREMAN
brought to you by
26 | HOW PEOPLE ARE BEATING THE BOOKMAKER WITH SPORTS ANALYTICS
The growth of data in sports has also seen the increased ability to predict sporting outcomes. We investigate how people are taking advantage whilst betting.
WAYS TECHNOLOGY
CAN BENEFIT SPORTS
4 WAYS TECHNOLOGY WILL BENEFIT SPORTS
WILLIAM TUBBS, HEAD OF SPORTS
S
ports are, by their very nature, highly competitive, and participants will look for any edge in their quest to be the best. Happily, there’s also a lot of money in sport, so there are many people willing and able to do what they can to help. Where the line is for gaining that edge can be murky though. Massive doping campaigns, covered up by aggressively lying and destroying other people’s careers, like Lance Armstrong, are bad. Technology, on the other hand, is largely good. It has already had numerous benefits for many different sports, and is set to continue benefiting them in ways previously unthought of.
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Big Data can pinpoint a number of metrics useful to assessing performance, both during competition and in training
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1.PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE 1. Big Data can pinpoint a number of metrics useful to assessing performance, both during competition and in training. One example of technology being used in-game is SportVU technology, which was originally developed for tracking missiles. Created by STATS LLC, SportVU uses three cameras per half court to gather data on 11 data points (10 players and the ball), tracking each point 25 times per second. From this, the system provides a wealth of data from which to evaluate, draft, and compensate players. It can even suggest to the manager how best a team should be constructed. In training, there are now a plethora of wearables that are set to be a boost to athletes’ fitness, providing large quantities of data for analysis. This can pinpoint areas of weakness in physical performance which a coach can use to fine-tune training methods. Biomedical software has also been developed that can monitor every movement in an athlete’s kinetic chain - their muscles and joints, so as to fine-tune technique. Most importantly perhaps, it is helping to individualize regimes. Therefore, instead of athletes simply following fixed training routines that happen to be popular at the time, the regimes can be tailored to get the best from each individual. 2. FAN FAN ENGAGEMENT ENGAGEMENT 2. The digital age has already seen clubs that were traditionally only followed by local fans expand their reach globally. Matches and events are now beamed all over the world on television and the internet. The web in particular has allowed sports fans to enjoy virtually any sporting event around the globe in real time. Further, thanks to mobiles, iPads and readily available wi-fi, it is not even necessary to be in the home, and updates on the activities of your team are constantly at the ready. Social media has also provided them a platform on which they can interact with others in real time, and even the players themselves. Giving the fan a participatory role so that they feel as involved in the team as possible is vital, and by analyzing social
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4 WAYS TECHNOLOGY WILL BENEFIT SPORTS
media activity, it is easy to look at how people are interacting with the team on a day-to-day basis. More importantly, clubs can use Big Data to improve the fan experience, gathering information about how they are watching and their enjoyment. As home viewing experiences becomes more and more advanced, with 3D TVs for instance, clubs will have to enhance the stadium experience to guard against any drop off in numbers. For many teams and sporting events, ticket sales are a massive part of their income, and they will need to ensure that these continue to come in. The wealth of real-time statistics is not only a boon for performance, it also makes the game more compelling for fans, with their oftenobsessive nature meaning that many will pore over them. 3. SAFETY SAFETY 3. Preventing injuries is paramount to any club. Per Reinhall, Mechanical Engineering Department Chair at the University of Washington and CTO of VICIS, points specifically to the benefits headware technology will have for kids playing NFL, following the many concussions in the sport. He argues that without a solution to the issue, the NFL will likely not survive. Injuries can be devastating for players, and may have huge consequences for team performance. The same data taken from biomedical software to note muscle and joint movement can also be used to analyze potential signifiers such as an imbalance of movement, which could suggest an injury in its early stages.
has long been “ There an exclusionary
nature to many sports anyway thanks to the clubhouse culture
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4. DEMOCRATIZING DEMOCRATIZING SPORT SPORT 4. Sport technology is often seen as expensive. There has long been an exclusionary nature to many sports anyway thanks to the clubhouse culture, and the access to better equipment wealthier children have has enhanced it. Many of the Big Data tools now available however are fairly cheap, and in many ways it is enabling poorer young people to get into sport at an early age. William Tubbs Head of Sports, The Innovation Enterprise
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Digital Innovation for a Wearable Future z
z
z
9 & 10 September 2015 | San Francisco
Wearable Tech
in Sport Summit
Speakers Include
Wearable Tech in Sport San Fran
+1 415 692 5514
sforeman@theiegroup.com
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THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND THE TENNIS AT WIMBLEDON SEAN FOREMAN, VP OF SPORTS Wimbledon is the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. One billion people tuned in over the course of the two-week event this year, but the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) doesn’t rest in its quest to drive engagement and promote its product around the world. They look to provide broadcasters, players and coaches with as many stats as possible to enhance the Wimbledon brand. IBM has been a partner of Wimbledon for over 25 years. IBM looks at the 3.2 million data points that are captured during the tournament to provide detailed information for every point of the Championships. They then feed all of the data into systems running IBM Watson and InfoSphere Streams, which can then be compared with the tens of millions of data points gathered from previous tournaments.
Cognitive Analytics “ Watson has been programmed with
the last 10 Wimbledon tennis annuals for analysis
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Watson Cognitive Analytics has been programmed with the last 10 Wimbledon tennis annuals for analysis. When you ask it a question regarding stats at the tournament, Wimbledon data analysis brings together Watson cognitive computing power with this database to determine if it should search within the existing database, which contains all Wimbledon history back to the 1870′s. If not, it looks at Watson’s data based upon the context of the search query and what data is relevant for the question asked. Watson shows the % accuracy when answering and updates how many tweets per minute are sent. IBM use tennis professionals to analyze the data, reasoning that it is easier to teach them about data than it is to teach a data scientist about tennis.
looks at the 3.2 million “ IBM data points that are captured during the tournament
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For the 2015 tournament, IBM used a new early warning system to provide fans media-ready updates that were usually released within 120 seconds of the breaking news event. The intent seems to be to have everyone share moments in real time, even those not in attendance or watching on television. So for example, a fast serve is discovered to have broken the speed record almost immediately, and a tweet is posted with an image and graphic within minutes. Social media analytics is another way that data is being utilized at Wimbledon. Again, IBM analyzes tweets to establish how many are coming in, the context that players and the tournament are being mentioned in, and who the real influencers are that are discussing Wimbledon on the social media platform. This last one is the most important, as it requires a degree of subtlety. It is not simply a case of engaging with people who have a large number of followers, their real influence also needs to be measured, and whether they are looking for problems that Wimbledon can solve. All of this information is not just available to viewers, it is also made available to coaches within 20 minutes of the game finishing. The value of immediacy should not be underestimated, not only for driving engagement with fans, but ensuring that players and coaches can leverage the data so that they can optimize the insights and maintain peak physical condition, and work on issues in style and any deficiencies in their game as quickly as possible. Sean Foreman Vice President of Sports, The Innovation Enterprise
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THE KEY TO WINNING: IS IT ALL IN THE MIND? JAMES OVENDEN, ASSISTANT EDITOR
THE KEY TO WINNING: IS IT ALL IN THE MIND?
T
he success of an athlete is often put down to several factors; form, fitness and lifestyle generally being seen as three of the key reasons for success or failure.
Andy Murray is a prime example of this as he had always been tipped for greatness and has achieved a considerable amount in his career, but his mental toughness has consistently been called into question.
The truth is that it has more to do with what is happening in their head than what is happening within their body. Of course, their body is the vessel through which performances are achieved, but their mind is where the difference between winning and losing takes place.
Take his defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final in February, which was so severe that Pat Cash is reported as saying that he ’melted down and collapsed’. He was frequently heard shouting ‘how many times?’ during the match when points were being lost. In the fourth set he won just 11 points.
We have seen a huge amount of success coming not only from the way teams are training, but where and who they are training with.
He showed leading up to that point that he was physically capable of winning the match, but his mental toughness failed, which is why he eventually lost the match.
A winning mentality is a frequently used phrase, but it is accurate, as the use of psychologists in some of the world’s top teams have shown. Being able to assess mental aptitude is essential to knowing how successful a player will be when thrown into a specific situation.
Dr Steve Peters embodies the importance of mental toughness in sport, and has been behind some of the most successful athletes of the past 10 years, spearheading wins in a wide variety of sports.
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We have seen a huge amount of success coming not only from the way teams are training, but where and who they are training with.
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Two of the most successful Olympians in British history, Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton, put their success down to the work they have done with Dr Peters, with Pendleton claiming that he is ’the most important person in my career’. He has also worked with Bradley Wiggins and Ronnie O’Sullivan, two of the most successful British sportsmen of all time. He discusses the use of their brain as a machine which has two sides, the human side and the chimp side. The chimp is the side that puts thoughts into your head that aren’t necessary and the human is the side that tries to control it. His job is to put together a system where elite athletes can control these emotions and not allow the chimp to take over.
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Even some of the most experienced and successful athletes are in danger of losing control, in Steve’s words: ‘Anxiety starts getting the better of them. They start saying things like, 'I really don't want these feelings, I really don't want these thoughts, and they're stopping me from competing at my best'.
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How much of any athlete’s performance is about mental toughness and how much is about physical strength?
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‘Chris [Hoy] is a very anxious man at times. In the keirin, his chimp can threaten to take over six or seven times.’ It is no coincidence that it was 2004 when Chris Hoy broke onto the scene at the Athens Olympic - it was the same time that he started working with Dr. Peters. He is quick to point out that this kind of work is not needed with every athlete. Some can do it naturally, whilst others need to have support to get the chimp off their back. The question is how much of any athlete's performance is about mental toughness, and how much is about physical strength? With the monkey off their back, how many of the lesser known athlete’s could end up as world beaters? James Ovenden Assistant Editor Sports Performance & Tech
TALKING MOUNTAIN BIKES WITH
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TWO WORLD CHAMPIONS SIMON BARTON, ASSISTANT EDITOR
R
oad cycling has become the dominant form of cycling in recent years. This has been boosted by the celebrity status attained by cyclists like Lance Armstrong, Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, who have dominated the sport.
However, many of the leading riders within the cycling discipline have cut their teeth through mountain biking, with riders such as Peter Sagan who has won the green jersey at each of the last four Tour de France races and Cadel Evans, who won both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, both starting in the discipline. Arguably, it also requires more complex technology as the terrain being ridden varies so much. Where a road cyclist will generally cycle on tarmac or cobbles, a mountain biker will be required to cover gravel, mud, roots and grass, so the diversity of technology needs to be increased. There needs to be effective suspension that allows huge bumps to be absorbed, whilst also allowing powerful pedal strokes to be effectively fed through the chain.
I train with new “ When products I always think about how it feels and if it could be improved.
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the technical sections, you can’t use you fitness, and it works the other way around’. Tracy also believes that technical skills are needed to perform at the highest level: ‘Mountain biking requires a big mix of fitness, endurance as well as technical skill, so you need to spend a lot of time working on all of these elements of your riding. The skills you need to have also are influenced by the weather and the terrain you ride on, so again practicing in different environments is key to success’.
So it was interesting to talk to two of the world’s top mountain bikers, Tracey Moseley and Jerome Clementz, about their experiences with new technologies and training techniques in mountain biking. Tracy is the reigning Enduro World Champion and has been at the top of the mountain biking world for the past 20 years, having won the Junior British National Mountain Bike Championship at the age of 15. Jerome is similarly a specialist in Enduro, and was World Champion in 2013, having also been in the sport for around 2 decades. With the excitement currently surrounding road cycling and the articles written about how road cyclists and track cyclists train, I was interested to hear what different approaches were taken in mountain biking.The biggest difference is the concentration of technical training, where many of the other aspects remain similar, such as fitness and explosivity. According to Jerome, ‘If you’re not fast in
With both athletes having worked in the sport for a long time, I was also keen to get their opinions on the changing technologies within mountain biking, given the development of new materials and innovative designs. One of the interesting aspects is that both discuss increasing stiffness of bikes, which allows for a better power transfer from pedal strokes through to the drive train. The other
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important aspects they discuss is how the technology has been designed around their performances, with ‘The dropper seatpost, tubeless tyres, one chainring transmission, adjustable geometry on the fly being prime examples according to Jerome. Given the success of both Tracy and Jerome, they naturally have several sponsors who provide them with performance equipment. Both are sponsored by Osprey for their rucksacks for instance, and I was curious about the relationship with them and other sponsors. It used to be the case that equipment was developed, then handed to athletes. Today we are seeing a far more symbiotic relationship, where athletes give feedback to companies to improve their range of equipment. This is something that both Jerome and Tracy have experienced throughout their time in professional mountain biking. For instance, Jerome states: ‘When I train with new products I always think about how it feels and if it could be improved. The brand are really interested in this feedback and they listen, adjust and come back with better products all the time. Most of the time it’s not big changes, but small details that make the performance and general feeling better for us and for the final user’. Tracy has had similar experiences: ‘I spend a lot of time working with all my sponsors as racing and riding as it creates a great test environment for products. Osprey, my pack sponsor, are one of the companies I work with and feedback to with regard to how I find the different packs work with the different demands of my training and racing’.
biking gives “ mountain you a really good all round skill base “
15 Finally, given the skillsets required for mountain biking and the relatively niche nature of the sport, I wanted to get their opinions on where there were crossovers to other sports. As mentioned before, we have seen several high profile road cyclists move from mountain biking, but I wanted to see their thoughts on a less traditional transitions. Both believe that the skills learnt in mountain biking provides a broad base which can be transferred. Tracy, for instance, believes, ‘mountain biking gives you a really good all round skill base, you need great balance and you need to be resilient to riding in all weather, so these things can really help many other cycling disciplines’. Jerome’s experiences also point towards the multi-sport benefits that training on a mountain bike brings: ‘There is no reason that this [mountain bike skills] could not work for other sports, we’ve seen rider like Shaun Palmer doing well in Motocross or Snowboard, Nicolas Vouilloz, winning rally car races and even Fabien Barel in the National Bobsleigh team!’. Simon Barton Assistant Director Sports Performance & Tech
SPORTS ANALYTICS MARKET
TO REACH $4.7BN BY 2021
EUAN HUNTER, MANAGER, SPORTS ANALYTICS SUMMIT
W
hen Arsène Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996, it was commonplace for team bonding sessions to take place in a pub. Seen as a way of encouraging camaraderie, it was deemed the sure-fire way of creating a ‘strong dressing room’, where players would fight for one another on the pitch. This might be true, but alcohol’s never been an athlete’s friend. Putting the health implications
aside, if a player drank the night before a training session, his efforts would rarely compare to if he had gone to bed at a reasonable time. This would have a direct impact on matchday performance and cost the team valuable points. Wenger understood this and slowly but surely started to wean his players off the bad habits which had been allowed under previous managers. His sophisticated approach to player development, and the policies
SPORTS ANALYTICS MARKET TO REACH $4.7BN BY 2021
he implemented, were perhaps the catalyst for sport’s keen interest in analytics, at least in English football anyway. A new report outlines that sports analytics will be worth $4.7 billion by 2021. This is likely to raise a few eyebrows, especially considering that the industry’s current value is around $125 million. This surge in value will be caused by the increasing accessibility to cloud computing and an improved infrastructure which will allow for smart phones and tablets to play a bigger role in training programmes.
a player drank the night “ ifbefore a training session,
his efforts would rarely compare to if he had gone to bed at a reasonable time
One of Arsenal’s rivals, Manchester United, have been keen users of data. We spoke with Tony Strudwick, Head of Athletic Development at the club, who informed us that they use analytics to maintain squad balance. Yet soccer is just one of a number of sports making use of analytics. The NBA, for example, ranks its team depending on their analytical ability. Interestingly, the Los Angeles Lakers, one of basketball’s most iconic teams, have yet to be convinced about the value of analytics. Along with the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks, they are members of the ‘non-believer’ category, which many feel inhibits them from effectively analyzing team performance. The fact that the Lakers remain unconvinced shows that analytics still has room to grow. We shouldn’t just concentrate on elite sport. Amateur sport is having a real impact on the rising valuation of sports analytics as well. Through applications such as ShotTracker, casual players can also take advantage of data to improve their game. Gamification also plays an important role here, and gives amateurs more incentive to practice. The $4.7 billion future valuation placed on sports analytics shows just how far the space has come in a relatively short-period of time. There’s a long way to go, but with major sporting institutions and amateur athletes still to tap into, there’s no reason why it can’t meet its valuation by 2021. Euan Hunter Manager, Sports Analytics Summit The Innovation Enterprise
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Los Angeles Lakers, “ the one of basketball’s most
iconic teams, have yet to be convinced about the value of analytics
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THE MOST POWERFUL
MAN IN CYCLING DATA? GEORGE HILL, MANAGING EDITOR
W
hilst athletes and coaches used to be the sole recipients of the data, today it is permeating through every part of sport, from the ways in which fans interact with their favourite teams, through to how bars in stadiums are stocked. Throughout this transformation, some sports have moved from focussing on tradition and what has worked for decades, into powerhouses of data. The best example of this is cycling, where traditional training techniques were still being used and
unfortunately improvements tended to come from the use of illegal substances rather than pure athleticism. The rise of data use has seen this doping culture more or less obliterated as teams like Team Sky and Giant Alpecin have seen huge successes whilst publicly avoiding performance enhancing drugs. In fact, the policy of marginal gains implemented by Sir Dave Brailsford at Team Sky would not be possible without the extensive use of data and data gathering techniques. This same policy was responsible for
Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome winning the 2012 and 2013 Tour de France races. With this approach now being adopted by several other teams, the race is now on to implement marginal gains 2.0. To help with this search, Team Sky brought Robby Ketchell on board to help with their analytics and data programmes. Despite admitting that they are doing this better than any other cycling team at the moment, Brailsford admits that “We are, but even the most sophisticated data-driven
THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN CYCLING DATA
companies such as Google and Facebook are constantly evolving and changing”. This makes Robby the man in charge of the data at the most data driven cycling team in the world. Is he therefore the most powerful man in cycling data?
wants to get “ Everyone to the point where they
can do Big Data Analytics, but to get there we need to do a lot of setup by warehousing and cleaning our data
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Robby’s role at Team Sky sees him working with their data to find the small incremental improvements that will hopefully bring about further improvements to the team. He has an impressive history of success with the Garmin-Sharp (now Cannondale -Garmin) team, where he worked with cyclists such as David Millar and Bradley Wiggins. Ahead of his presentation at the Sports Analytics Innovation Summit in San Francisco, we spoke to Robby about the change in cycling, his role at Team Sky and the datafication of sport in general. Innovation Enterprise: Do you think that cycling has now become a numbers based sport? Robby Ketchell: Numbers have always been a big part of sports, not just cycling. Endurance sports in general have recently become more and more data dependent with new sensors that measure aspects of physiology and physical performance. Cycling has grown to become more of a numbers aware sport with similar sensors, social media and using humans as sensors, onboard devices, and software dedicated to the analysis of all of the data collected. Team Sky’s success has been based largely on the idea of marginal gains, where do you see marginal gains 2.0 taking us and how will powerful data gathering/analysis tools help with this?
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Marginal gains is the concept of continuing to improve every aspect of performance a little bit at a time. Now that cycling has become a data rich environment, we're continuing to seek improvements in the way we collect and interpret data. We try to improve our performance by using data to make better informed decisions. The Pro-Peloton is likely to change considerably in the next few years with new technologies, such as disc brakes, being introduced in 2016 - how important will data be in the integration of these to improve performance? Every time new equipment is introduced into the sport, sponsors and teams spend a lot of time analyzing the performance of these innovations by either going to labs like wind tunnels or testing in the field with devices like the BATbox [a box that sits at the front of a bike to calculate air resistance]. In addition, the athletes spend some time testing the equipment and giving feedback so that we can optimize performance. This is something that's important to the design of any innovation, whether it be a piece of software or a new aerodynamic wheel, getting the user's feedback helps drive the development. Using data in conjunction with some of these subjective measures is important to improve the performance as well as ensure the safety of the athletes. Do you think that professional sports, and cycling in particular, are close to being able to utilize traditionally business focussed products like Hadoop, to help analyze performances? It all depends on the goals and setup of each organization on whether using these tools is appropriate. Everyone wants to get to the point where they can do Big Data
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THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN CYCLING DATA
that cycling has “ Now become a data rich environment, we’re continuing to seek improvements in the way we collect and interpret data
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Analytics, but to get there we need to do a lot of setup by warehousing and cleaning our data. Without these initial steps, the analytics part is either not possible or only possible for smaller projects. New tools are being developed every day that help with this and as long as they're used correctly they can provide a significant improvement to how teams share information and discover new possibilities. With the proliferation of data being available in sports, do you think this has had an effect on the ability to identify potential doping cheats? We now know so much more about the athletes due to increased data collection. Athletes now have a footprint that didn't exist in the past, which has allowed authorities to track performance gains and losses, health, and monitor events that weren't possible a few years ago. This puts authorities in a powerful position in regards to eliminating doping, but it also comes with a big responsibility. No matter how sophisticated technology gets, it is critical to take the results of any analysis within context of the sport and the environment. Having worked within sports science, especially within cycling, for a number of years, how has the appreciation and understanding of data changed since you first began? I think the biggest change is the understanding that data can be used to discover new possibilities. Previously, we used to do experiments with a hypothesis that something would occur, and if it did we would say we were on to something. Now we are finally getting to the point where people ask us to look at the numbers and see if we can learn something. You can hear from Robby about his work in sports data at the Sports Analytics Innovation Summit in San Francisco on September 9 & 10.
ie.
PUSH THE BOUNDARIES WITH DATA
SAN FRANCISCO, SEPTEMBER 9 & 10
SPORTS Wearable Tech ANALYTICS INNOVATION SUMMIT
in Sport Summit
Speakers include:
Speakers Include
9 & 10 September 2015 | San Francisco Wearable Tech in Sport San Fran Sports Analytics San Fran
+1 415 692 5514 +1 415 692 5514
sforeman@theiegroup.com sforeman@theiegroup.com
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AERODYNAMICS AT THE HEART OF PERFORMANCE GEORGE HILL, MANAGING EDITOR
A
erodynamics have become one of the cornerstones of several sports today. Formula 1 teams fight to have the most aerodynamic cars, athletes wear skin tight lycra and cyclists wear skin suits so tight that they need assistance just to put them on. The importance of these is never more clear than in Formula 1, where due to the forces being exerted on the cars and the drivers, it would be impossible to drive without effective aerodynamics. Rather than just being the best way for a car to travel through the air, aerodynamics in Formula 1
creates downforce, essentially acting as the opposite of a plane’s wing. This allows the cars to corner significantly faster than they otherwise would be capable of. Each car can produce 3.5 g of lateral cornering force, which is 3.5 times the weight of the car. This would clearly be impossible to keep on the road if it were not for downforce. One of the most interesting aspects of modern Formula 1 cars is that their aerodynamics are so effective that in theory they could be driven upside down. There have even been attempts to artificially create suction underneath the car, such as the Brabham BT46B in the 1970’s which had a huge fan
AERODYNAMICS AT THE HEART OF PERFORMANCE
that sucked the car to the road. However, the importance of aerodynamics on speed is also vital and not creating disturbed air on a car is equally important, as this is what causes drag and slows it down. Therefore the downforces created by the car cannot disrupt the flow of air across the top of the car, it is a complex process and is why Formula 1 is considered to be the most complex aerodynamics sport in the world.
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| REVIEW RALPHA PRO- TEAM AERO JERSEY
To help with this we are going to be using the Rapha Pro-Team Aero Jersey, which we have been using over the past few weeks to help prepare.
Aerodynamics are not only important in motorsports though and cycling has seen a huge impact from the use of aerodynamics. The idea of ‘marginal gains’ has only realistically been well known since Team Sky started using it to great success in 2010, but it was having a considerable effect almost 30 years ago. In fact the 1989 Tour de France was won by aerodynamics as Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon in the final stage time trial by 58 seconds, due to his superior aerodynamics.
LeMond beat “ Greg Laurent Fignon in the final stage time trial by 58 seconds, due to his superior aerodynamics
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The importance of aerodynamics when in the saddle are certainly not to be sniffed at. As far back as 1990 Rainer Pivit published in German magazine Radfahren that: ‘In a 40-km time trial the rider equipped in such a way [with aerodynamics in mind] is 3 min 6 seconds faster than his conventionally equipped colleague
The jersey itself has several important and impressive features to help with aerodynamics. These were created in conjunction with Team Sky, quite a pedigree given their recent Tour de France victory.
stretchy fabrics and durable stitching used on every seam. The ventilation is good, with side vents allowing for air flow and the material being natural wicking, meaning that moisture is quickly moved away from the body.
To help with increased aerodynamics they have used a high-stretch performance fabric which allows them to move the shoulder seams further down the back, and redesigned the pockets to sit as flat as possible. As we are yet to try out the jersey in our aerodynamics test, we cannot comment on the technical performance of this, but you can certainly feel the difference when riding.
The fit of the jersey is naturally tight given the necessity for a lack of aero drag, however, it is still comfortable as it is cut for tightness, so it is not like simply putting on a t-shirt that’s too small. It means that this is not a jersey for the occasional cyclist, it is for those who will really benefit from the technology rather than trying to look professional on a weekend jaunt.
In addition to this, the material is coated in coldblack™ technology which meant that despite testing out the black coloured jersey often in 35˚C/95˚F, it oddly never felt hotter than if I had been wearing a white or light colored jersey. The construction of the jersey is also strong with
Coming in at £130/$195 it is not cheap, but given the quality of the materials, stitching and ventilation, you would be hard pressed to find a better aero-jersey (at least from a quality and comfort perspective).
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AERODYNAMICS AT THE HEART OF PERFORMANCE
with the same power, because his aero drag is less by around 21%’. We are seeing that new bikes are being built with aerodynamics at their heart, such as the new Specialized Venge, which goes as far as placing the front brake caliper behind the fork to reduce drag. This was after taking data from Specialized’s own wind tunnel, which also found that shaving their legs can save a cyclist between 50-82 seconds over 40km, which in cycling terms is a massive amount. It is not only in endurance sports where it has an effect though, we have seen that marginal gains can be found in sprint events. A study as far back as 1986 showed that reducing wind resistance by only 2% across 100 metres would save a sprinter 0.01s, certainly a marginal gain over a competitor. With modern materials and construction techniques, this 2% is simple to find and athletes can save up to 10%, or 0.05 seconds. The gains that we can see from effective use of aerodynamics for everyday amateur athletes are clear and we are presently working on an article to investigate the use of aerodynamics, which we will be releasing in the next few months. George Hill Managing Editor Sports Performance & Tech
their legs can “ Shaving save a cyclist between 50-82 seconds over 40km
“
25
ie.
MAXIMIZING PERFORMANCE WITH TECHNOLOGY & DATA
MANCHESTER, NOVEMBER 4 & 5
SPORTS Wearable Tech PERFORMANCE & TECH SUMMIT
in Sport Summit
Speakers include:
Speakers Include
9 & 10 September 2015 | San Francisco Wearable Tech in Sport San Fran Sports Performance in Manchester
+1 415 692 5514 +1 415 692 5514
sforeman@theiegroup.com sforeman@theiegroup.com
HOW PEOPLE ARE BEATING THE BOOKMAKER WITH SPORTS ANALYTICS WILLIAM TUBBS, HEAD OF SPORTS
could be “ analytics putting an end to the
days of half-baked guesswork based on hunches and supposed expertise
“
HOW PEOPLE ARE BEATING THE BOOKMAKER WITH SPORTS ANALYTICS
I
n Matthew McConaughey’s film, Two For The Money, McConaughey plays a sports consultant who makes it big predicting NFL winners for people to bet on. Things go wrong for him when he stops doing his research and starts relying exclusively on his intuition, and he steadily loses his fortune. Predicting the outcome of sports matches has funded the careers of such so-called experts for years, many of them charlatans with slick hair and premium rate phone lines. But analytics could be putting an end to the days of half-baked guesswork based on hunches and supposed expertise, and turning the tide against bookmakers. A number of firms, such as Swish Analytics and numberFire, are applying predictive algorithms across professional sports. Analytics usage in the arena is now widespread, driven by pioneers like Billy Beane. Teams are subsequently now producing more data than ever, and much of it is readily available to fans. And sports betting analytics is set to keep growing. Currently worth $125 million, it is set to reach a valuation of $4.7 billion by 2021.
Football is “ American still notoriously difficult to gain an edge in
“
All of this additional information means that gamblers - and anyone looking to help them get an edge - are shifting away from the qualitative data that was traditionally used to predict outcomes, and they’re utilizing quantitive data instead. Swish Analytics, for one, is scraping every piece of information they can from every corner of the internet, in particular Twitter, and feeding it into prediction models to get a better idea of the likelihood of a result. They add to this real-time data, like the weather and umpires. By combining mathematically derived metrics with advanced algorithms, they find patterns that change the unstructured, and often misleading, data around sports into extremely accurate stats and predictions.
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utilizing “ they’re quantitive data instead “ The use of analytics methods to gain an advantage is easier in some sports than others. American Football is still notoriously difficult to gain an edge in, having such a high number of variables that too much of it comes down to chance. With an oval ball, you can’t even guess which direction it’s going to bounce. NFL teams also only play 16 games a season, which means its sample size is smaller and it’s harder to find patterns in the data than in, say, baseball and basketball, which have longer seasons and far more games. It is also important to remember that watching sport is still an important part of betting. What you see with your eyes is also data, and relying solely on analytics as a means of predicting an outcome, yet having no knowledge of the game, is likely to put you at a significant disadvantage over someone who does. Bookmakers are used to making money, and they are not likely to give this up in a hurry. They have access to the same predictions and metrics, and can lengthen and shorten odds accordingly to negate a gambler’s advantage. However, the number of games and the number of sports that they have to cover means that they are spread a lot thinner, and for a devoted shark, analytics can certainly give them the edge. William Tubbs Head of Sports, The Innovation Enterprise
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