Background
Brailsford was born in Shardlow, Derbyshire and brought up in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon in Wales, as a result of which he speaks Welsh.
Brailsford was born in Shardlow, Derbyshire and brought up in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon in Wales, as a result of which he speaks Welsh.
Brailsford competed in France for four years as a sponsored amateur racing cyclist before returning to the United Kingdom at 23 to study for a degree in sports science and psychology at Chester College of Higher Education (awarded by the University of Liverpool) and then an Master of Business Administration at the University of Sheffield Management School.
He was formerly performance director of British Cycling and is currently general manager of Team Sky. Brailsford has been involved with cycling throughout his career and spent some of his early career working as an export sales manager at Yorkshire Bike importer and distributor Planet X Bikes. He was first employed by British Cycling as an advisor when Lottery funding began in 1997.
British Cycling soon established its headquarters at the Manchester Velodrome, an Olympic-standard track, and Brailsford became programme director before becoming performance director in 2003 following the departure of Peter Keen.
Brailsford is credited with championing a philosophy of "marginal gains" at British Cycling: "The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together" Dave Brailsford (2012) As well as looking at traditional components of success such as physical fitness and tactics, Brailsford"s approach focused on a more holistic strategy, embracing technological developments and also athlete psychology. He is noted for his emphasis on constant measuring and monitoring of key statistics such as cyclists" power output, and developing training interventions that target any observed weaknesses.
Under Brailsford"s leadership, the cycling team continued to improve, winning multiple world championships in road, track, BMX and Mountain bike racing. In 2010, Brailsford also became the manager of the new British-based professional team, Team Sky.
As Sky Team principal he oversaw both Bradley Wiggins" and Chris Froome"s victories in the 2012, 2013, and 2015 Tours de France.
In April 2014, Brailsford resigned as performance director at British Cycling to concentrate his efforts on leading the ever more successful professional team
He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2005 Queen"s Birthday and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2009 New Year.