Oh yes. This is totally the direction I want to see the sport going in. Take the sponsor who’s pleased enough with a gutsy third-place finish to put the bike in their museum, then dissolve their team. Follow that up by reintroducing the guy who was caught in a police sting at an illicit blood bank with 50,000 euros in cash. 2011 looks like it’s going to be a great year.
Granted, it seems like Cervelo delivered news of the break-up to riders with all the grace and delicacy of a 14-year-old, but I’d rather have a ProTour stocked with the discourteous than once again listen to the banal, amplified “vengas” of the man whose CV is a veritable Cliffs Notes on doping cases in the decade leading up to his arrest: the tutelage of a pre-Festina Alex Zulle, the sudden arrival and equally sudden collapse of Izidro Nozal, the fall of Roberto Heras, and finally, Operacion Puerto.
You’d think, with unemployment running at 20% in the country, the Spanish media—specifically El Diario Montanes, which conducted the interview—might be able to find a reporter with the ability to ask more pressing questions; namely “why the hell would anyone let you near the sport again?”. I’ll gladly advocate for the rights of dopers to return after two years, but a second offense is a lifetime ban; by my highly unofficial count, Saiz is on his 7th or 8th, depending on your feelings on salbutamol. Perhaps someone ought to get on translating these journalism labels into Spanish.
Not that the English media has proven any more effective of late. When Cervelo blamed its dissolution on “subtle” UCI rule changes that would have increased operating expenses, either no one asked—or no one bothered to repeat—exactly what those rule changes were. You’d think, now that the savagely funny flamewars inspired by pieces like this have moved off of USENET and into the comments section, a more incisive approach might be forthcoming from the Journal of Competitive Cycling.
Perhaps they’re content to leave that to The Onion.
I think the Saiz story proves Kohl right. To win meaningfully (not a stage here and there), to be a contender, you absolutely have to dope. This is made easier by hiring the likes of Manolo. Not much has changed in cycling — journalistic or pseudo-journalistic cheer-leading to the contrary notwithstanding.
either everyone dopes or no one dopes, either way it will be an even playing field.
8th attempt and had to re register !!
Have i missed something ?
Cadel delivered a win last year and will be heavily marked this time around.
Geelong and Melbourne are equally flat so i expect ALL will be going over the bumps without resorting to the smaller chain ring. Sprinters will be coasting behind the big guys and since Robbie is one of the smaller guys in the Aussies available he would be difficult to hide behind but he is the most experienced “Chancer ” available .
It isn’t the Alps so he would be up to the task and Australians know that he can & will deliver ! Haussleris new to the Aussie team and may not be fully fit so he will enjoy next year and Cooke is only there as a local lad who may get lucky.
We all want to see another Aussie on the Top of the Podium but this is a lottery and you have to be in it to win !
Good luck to the Team and NO early marks allowed this year !!
CTT- Certainly not the most graceful exit, but to do so seems ever so impossible when rumors start to leak before all involved parties are officially informed.
More complete disclosure, along with better reporting, and news sites (like Cycling News) reporting on News instead of rumors) would probably enable this bitter pill to swallow easier.
At least Cervelo didn’t exit the sport completely, but one has to wonder what form the Garmin-Cervelo partnership will take. Is it a merger (in the corporate sense) as reported (I mean speculated) or is it a sponsorship? What CTT riders will transfer? Is this part of the deal, or are all the riders & staff on a free agent basis?
One silver lining: perhaps the Cervelo kit legacy can convince Jonathan Vaughers to get his riders some grownup clothes.
It sounds like CTT is dissolved, and Cervelo is signing on as a Sponsor…easier than trying to blend 2 teams. Interesting to see who lands where.
I’ll assume Cervelo miscalculated how easy (or not) it would be to attract a money sponsor…
It also sound like Felt walked away from Garmin… There has to be a very interesting side story to that, since I would assume walking away from an established high profile PT team wouldn’t seem to be the expected route for the brand…
and for the sake of tossing out unsubstantiated rumors…Felt to Team Schleck.
Saiz…? Only the UCI would allow that kind of crap to crawl out of the toilet…and award a team license Oh, I hope I’m wrong…
Skippy, are you even on the right blog?
How unfortunate that the CTT stops – no more cool kits, and no more excellent video coverage in the ‘beyond the peloton series’. Although I can’t say I have been following other teams with the same amount of attention one of the reasons for that was in fact the excellent coverage given by the CTT – and no, I’m not literally fortunate enough to be riding one myself. I do hope that all their riders find good homes – Thor for one, but also Ted King and Joao Correia who keep up excellent blogs!
Saiz returning is absolutely a WTF moment for me. He is not the future of cycling – he’s the past and a dirty one at that.
The CTT decision sure was surprising, and it sucks that a motivated sponsor is leaving. But, they are “merging” with Garmin so they’re not completely disappearing. I know, it’s a trifle victory compared to the loss of a good sponsor…but damn, Hushovd + Haussler + Farrar + Ryder in the classics. That’s pretty damn exciting (if Haussler goes to GMin…).
im feeling your article. Im gonna start surfing the internet for more info about this. good looking!!
Looking Better Every Second! look better when you do cycling.