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This study seeks to examine how a sport league, a unique feature of professional sport, influences the business‐to‐business marketing of teams participating in the sport league.

This study uses a qualitative research design based on a single case study, the UCI ProTour in professional road cycling. The primary sources consist of 27 semi‐structured interviews complemented by written sources and controlled for construct validity, external validity and reliability.

From a theoretical point of view, a sport league is a marketing channel network (a specific type of an intentionally developed business network or IDBN). Theoretical analysis also reveals that the teams' business‐to‐business marketing is positively related to the network's value‐creating system. Empirically, it is argued that the introduction of a marketing channel network has a positive influence on the financial value of the teams' business‐to‐business market but does not result in a change in the business demographics of corporate sponsors.

The study has possible sport‐specific limitations.

Business‐to‐business marketers and sport league managers should pay attention to the characteristics of the sport league as these influence the teams' business‐to‐business market. This is especially valid for sports in which teams rely strongly on sport sponsoring and, to a lesser extend, on gate revenues, television rights and prize money.

For the first time, this study examines and provides data on the business‐to‐business environment of teams in professional road cycling. It contributes to the literature of international sport marketing and professional road cycling, a sport gaining momentum in various countries and which is understudied in comparison to other sports.

Three common glob top encapsulant materials, two epoxy‐based, and one silicone‐based, were characterized prior to temperature cycling using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical spectroscopy (DMS), gas chromatograph‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). After cycling between ‐55 to +125°C, for 1,000 cycles, the same samples were again analysed using DMS and FTIR. For the epoxy‐based samples, the DMS results indicated that temperature cycling in a humid environment can seriously affect the physical and mechanical properties of these samples. FTIR data also indicated that the molecular changes in the epoxy‐based samples appeared quite extensive after cycling, indicating a high level of degradation on the molecular scale. On the other hand, the silicon‐based glob top appeared to have survived the temperature cycling quite well.

This study aims to investigate simultaneous power and thermal loading.

Finite element method simulations coupled with experiments.

The effects of power cycling have been determined.

This paper aims to testify the combined effects of thermal and power cycling loads on the reliability of solder ball joints with barrel- and hourglass-type geometries in an electronic system. The finite element simulation outcomes showed that the maximum strain energy was accumulated at the edges of barrel-type solder, whereas the hourglass-type was vulnerable at the necking side. It was also found that the hourglass-type solder showed a reliable behavior when the sole thermal cycling was exerted to the electronic system, whereas the barrel-type solder was a better choice under simultaneous application of thermal and power loadings. The experimental results also confirmed the finite element simulation and indicated that the solder joint reliability strongly depends on the geometry of interconnection in different operating conditions. An extensive discussion was presented to shed light on the paramount importance of combined thermal/power cycling on the reliability of solder joints.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of conformal coating on the thermal cycling reliability of anisotropically conductive adhesive film (ACF) joined flip chip components on FR‐4 and polyimide (PI) substrates.

Test chips were joined using flip chip technology and an anisotropically conductive adhesive. The conformal coating used was parylene C and it was applied using the vapour deposition polymerisation method. The reliability of ACF joined flip chip components on FR‐4 and PI substrates was evaluated using −40/+85°C thermal cycling testing. Test lots with and without parylene C coating were studied. Additionally, one test lot with initial moisture inside the coating layer and a PI substrate was subjected to the test. The reliability results were analyzed using Weibull analysis and failure analysis was performed to study the failure mechanisms using cross sectioning and optical and scanning electron microscopy.

The results show a clear difference between the FR‐4 and PI substrate materials. PI substrate material proved to be reliable enough to withstand the thermal cycling testing. Two different occurrences of the first failures are seen and analyzed with FR‐4 substrates. The conformal coating layer did not seem to impair the reliability. Parylene C coating proved to be a reliable choice to protect, and even improve, the thermal cycling reliability of flip chip devices.

Usually, conformal coatings are studied in humidity tests. However, it is also vital to know whether the conformal coatings affect the reliability in thermal cycling and there is a lack of reliability studies in this area. This paper gives reliability data for conformal coating users about the influence of thermal cycling.

Professional road cycling has the capacity to be a major worldwide spectator sport, but has yet, in the eyes of many, failed to realize its full potential. There is a growing awareness that profound reforms are crucial for the sport’s future success. The purpose of this paper is to explore the conditions which the sport must address, and define a new business model for professional road cycling.

The paper uses qualitative data to screen professional road cycling’s current business model, and to present a coherent vision on the changes needed to reform the sport. Information was gathered from archival material and from talks with stakeholders.

The paper presents a blueprint for the future of professional cycling. It identifies 6 vital building blocks and 25 specific action points, beginning with the idea that professional road cycling needs a stable business model that produces a valuable core product.

Professional road cycling is is conservative by nature and changes are extremely difficult to implement. This contribution presents a glimpse of one possible future for professional cycling, if cycling’s policy makers acknowledge the need for profound reforms of the sport and are willing to make the necessary changes.

In sport tourism, an undeniable recent participation trend is the gravitation of amateur athletes to participatory sport events, particularly cycling sport tourism events. This trend presents numerous policy, applied, and scholarly opportunities and challenges. Contemporary trends are identified to guide future research addressing cycling sport tourism events. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This is a collaborative initiative between a major global sport event management organisation and established sport tourism scholars. Industry data are drawn upon to identify contemporary sport event participation trends and thus inform a future research agenda.

This paper draws upon industry data and insights to tease out five emerging trends in the participatory sport event sector which scholars should engage with.

Due to the confidential nature of the company data, there were restrictions in the detail which could be reported.

Increasing growth in premium quality, physically challenging cycling sport tourism events is analysed. A five-pronged future research agenda is proposed to address contemporary sport event management issues around measuring event impacts; strategic management of events; and leveraging globalisation and emerging markets.

Based on trends identified in this paper, theoretical concepts are drawn upon to propose a timely, industry-relevant future research agenda into cycling sport tourism events.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the live experiences of urban commuter cycling (UCC).

In semi‐structured interviews, participants described day‐to‐day experiences of UCC in a single English city. Verbatim transcripts were coded using the themes of time, space, body and human relations, and interpreted through the principles of hermeneutic phenomenology.

The nine participants (seven males, two females) were aged 27 to 54. Each regularly commuted by bicycle at least three times per week for “18 months” to “27 years”. Strong influences on commuter cycling included the weather, daily tasks, cycling infrastructure, driver behaviour and the value of cycling for physical and mental well being. The contest for space was central to the UCC experience, with UCCs sensing they lacked respect despite feeling that they were “embodying citizenship” by enacting public policy. Due to their regular negative experiences, many UCCs were now willing to quit cycling and commute by car.

Findings are limited to regular commuter cyclists and do little to describe the passage into regular cycling.

This paper highlights that cycle promoters and health educators may profit from focusing on road user interactions during the rush hour.

This paper addresses the untold day‐to‐day experiences of UCCs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of doping scandals (n=25) in professional cycling Grand Tour events on the primary team sponsor’s daily stock return.

Event study methodology.

Overall it was found that during the time period and events under examination in this study doping scandals had no significant impact on the primary team sponsor’s stock returns.

There is limited research to explain the economic impact of widespread doping in cycling and its commercial shareholders. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between doping scandals in professional cycling and the daily stock return of the involved team’s primary sponsor.

The purpose of this paper is to explore cycling tourists’ experience in Singapore using an exploratory case study.

Tourist’s spontaneous reviews (n=409) posted on TripAdvisor were collected and analyzed through Leximancer.

The software identified 31 concepts grouped into five dominant themes of tourists’ experiences. In order of relative importance, the themes were tour, bike, guide, experience, and cycling. It revealed that most tourists have a favorable impression of their cycling experience in Singapore.

The findings suggest cycling tours can provide tourists with pleasurable experiences. Tourists embark on cycling tours in Singapore to learn more about the city and enjoy new experiences. However, to meet tourists’ expectations, bicycles must be well-maintained and accessible. In addition, tour guides should be attentive and knowledgeable. These have a direct effect on tourists’ satisfaction level with cycling tours.

The purpose of this paper is to explore views about cycling among members of identified community groups living near the Loop Line, a cycling and walking path in a deprived part of North Liverpool, UK.

Following a literature review, qualitative focus group research was conducted among six groups of children, single mothers and older people living near the Loop Line.

The paper finds that one of the strongest reported barriers to cycling for young boys was fear of bicycles being stolen – especially by a peer or someone known to the bike owner who asks to borrow the bike. The existence of high levels of crime and anti‐social behaviour near the Loop Line is creating an unhealthy environment by deterring local people from exercising in their local area. For young girls in North Liverpool cycling has significant image problems, with many saying that they simply would not consider cycling as a regular mode of transport. Organising led rides along the Loop Line may be a potential solution, as this might both help to encourage cycling and increase visibility of cyclists.

Because the research in this paper was conducted among a small self‐selected sample, it should be regarded as a pilot study. Results need to be verified with a larger sample drawn from a wider variety of community groups.

The study has important implications for agencies aiming to improve public health through cycling, and shows the need to consider the broader environmental and social determinants affecting health alongside more traditional health promotion approaches.