Untill David Brailsford’s arrival in 2003, British Cycling were going through a mediocre century. They had won just a single Golden Medal in Olympic Games since 1908 and no British rider had ever won Le Tour de France.

Under his lead, British Cycling won 18 Golden Medals among 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. Brailsford then became Sky Team General Manager and he led not one but three British riders, Wiggins, Froome and Thomas, to win Le Tour.

How did Brailsford manage to turn an historically unexceptional team into the Cycling World elite? His success was based on “marginal gains”, the addition of a lot of small improvements which can make a big difference.

Brailsford’s idea was based on the marginal gains principle. If you can gather all the factors that influence a rider’s performance and improve them in a 1%, the addition of these little improvements will better this performance considerably.

Brailsford and their team made a hundred different small ajustements, from redisigning the saddles to altering the diet depending on the kind of route, from changing the lotions to massage the riders’ legs to finding the best way to wash their hands. No detail was left to chance becouse even the tiniest one could make the difference between victory and defeat.