Cyclocosm

the How The Race Was Won® cycling blog

Menu
  • How The Race Was Won®
  • The Recon Ride
  • The Week in Bike
  • Music
  • Rants
  • Graphics
  • Bikes vs. The World
Menu

Is Something Fishy Here?

Posted on 30 March 2007 by cosmo

Yes, very fast. I am pressed for time. Why is it the less you have to do, the harder it is to find time to do it in? Ah well. Coppi/Bartali Stage 4: Another newbie “breaks the duck”, to borrow Eurosport’s strangely uncomfortable phrase. The stage was shortened due to “harsh” conditions of 8C and rain. Only in Italy, folks.

In Spain, Francisco Ventoso won again. Can’t tell if he’s that good, or the rest of the field (sprinting wise) is that weak. Meanwhile, Alberto Contador wrapped up the GC because he had orders to win. Ordering a rider to win – brilliant! Is that Johan Bruyneel a tactical genius or what?

If you’re as cynical as I, you’ve noticed that’s three wins for Puerto refugees in as many days (1. Scarponi’s stage, 2. Contador’s stage 3. Contador’s GC). Not that I think Puerto’s sufficiently incriminated these guys (or anyone) to the point that they shouldn’t be racing, but consider these results in the light of David Millar’s note yesterday (broken by Velonews, I think!):

“To me, the buck stops at team management. They can’t just go around and blame it on the riders…They should know what’s going on, they should sign the right kind of riders. [It won’t stop] until the teams and the sponsors take responsibility.”

It’s a good point: the first thing Walter Godefroot did to deflect drug use allegation against his team in the 90’s was say “there was no organized team doping” (my italics). Patric Lefevere, too, after recent accusations against him, immediately denied his and the squad’s role, without commenting on individual riders.

I still despise the ProTour’s Puerto blackball, but it has done a good job of sweeping any suspected rider down to second-tier teams – which is a bit disturbing when you see how smaller squads (Tinkoff, Acqua-Sapone) have really shown up so far this year. And the hottest ProTour team? Gotta be Disco, whose off-season acquisitions (Basso, Contador, Davis) we perhaps the most risque.

Not really sure where I’m going with this, and I wouldn’t have time to take it there even if I did, but could it be that smaller teams, with less media spotlight, have perhaps turned a blinder eye to the actions of their riders than the big guys? Or could Discovery be as lenient with rider oversight as it is with adhering to its backroom Euro deals?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About the Author

a headshot of Cosmo Catalano

Best known for his How The Race Was Won® video series, Cosmo Catalano began blogging about pro cycling from a bike shop in 2005. Between then and now, he's designed cycling infographics, built cycling web apps, and supplied cycling content to print and broadcast media, all in the name of backing up his near-endless criticism with proof that it can be done better. He complains about cycling on Twitter at @Cyclocosm.

Newsletter

Tip Jar

How The Race Was Won® Video Archives

How The Race Was Won p/b CyclingTips - Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift

Archive

All Categories

Search

© 2025 Cyclocosm | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme | Privacy Policy