No sirreee, I am a Leopard fan. Clearly, my favourite Leopard has to be Andy Schleck, and I am a big fan of Frankie (despite his current poisoning problem) not to mention Jakob, Fabian, Jensi and the others.
I wasn't previously a RadioShack fan, not being particularly prone to liking Lance Armstrong: I admire the guy, and have my own opinion about the current doping case, but I'm not a fan.
Then this year, it was hard to like RadioShack, after the truly horrendous way they bought out Leopard Trek, and the unmitigated disaster of not telling the riders, not giving Jensi a contract, etc etc
Then we had the truly appalling things that RadioShack have said to their riders this year, including not paying them, shoving Frankie into the Giro at five days' notice, and the stupid dominance battles over not letting Kim Andersen go to the Tour (and how did that work out for you, Mr Bruyneel? Oh, of course, you weren't there either, were you?).
This behaviour wasn't restricted to just the Leopards: they even shot their own Shack man, Chris Horner, in the foot by telling him that he couldn't ride the Tour - then had to back down due to sponsor pressure, ha ha.
And now with the completely callous way they have dropped Frankie like a ton of bricks - well, I would be surprised if anyone could support them.
So I was heartily amused to read this article in Velonation about the Best Team category, which RadioShack won this year.
It's a good explanation of how a complicated category is determined, and I just laughed and laughed at the ending:
"..the classification will not always be won by the best team."
Too true! I think Sky were the best team in the Tour: best discipline, best consistency, best teamwork, best strategy (allowing that they wanted to win the yellow jersey, not the hearts of the French people) and lots of other "bests".
And what of RadioShack?
Will they even be a team next year? Will half of them (the Leopard half) leave? Only one tiny piece of additional information today - Alpecin, the mysterious possible-new-German-team-sponsor, have suddenly started advertising in the TV coverage of the Tour, and other cycle races. So it does seem that they are putting budget into cycling spheres, which could indicate that they are about to put a lot more money into cycling.
Do we hope so?
Or can we hardly bear the thought of yet more changes, while poor Andy still has a cracked pelvis, and poor Frankie is living the nightmare of trying to prove his innocence.
I quite agree with you: Radioshack is not my team either, for all the same reasons you mention. I guess I don't really have a team at present, just riders I like, many of whom happen to be on Radioshack. Natually that is from following Andy and Leopard. I quite like Chris Horner too. The main dislike I have for RaNT is the administration, not the riders.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with a team working for the team classification, even to the detriment of a particular rider. Many riders suffer for their team aspirations: Froome, VanGarderen, even Cavendish. Zubeldia would likely not have made the podium, but finished in the top 5 at best. That would have been nice for him, and as the article stated, more money. But it is all about glory, isn't it? Once there was clearly no chance for a win, and with the team classification within reach, I think that was a reasonable goal. Maybe even more so in the light of the team issues.
Jens is my favorite and he did great. I was worried about the tone of some of his blog posts though. He often talked about pain and being tired and not recovering as well as when he was younger. I hate to think about him retiring!
Great victory for Wiggins and Sky. Definitely the best team, no matter what the award said. Congrats to all the Britons for the first Tour victory!
emjay
Yes, I can say with certainty that the Shack are most definitely not my team! For another appalling example of their team management, check this out: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fuglsang-may-not-race-again-in-radioshack-colours. Yes, perhaps Jakob should have had a bit more discretion/tact when saying he wasn't going to re-sign with them, but still - isn't this just ridiculous, a bit extreme, and childish?
ReplyDeleteI do feel for Frankie too. I wonder what he's doing now? Probably tearing his hair out trying to find the source of contamination, which must be near to impossible, sadly.
Bris. Gal
P.S. Emjay, I think every cycling fan out there dreads the day Jens announces his retirement. I imagine there would be mass mourning!
Unless Jensi announces that he is merely transferring from rider to coach, or DS, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteNo, there would still be mass mourning! Unless Jensi rides in the team car, and pulls "that" face, the one with the teeth, out of the window at the camera bikes as they pass.
No, even then, there would still be mass mourning!
Or, how about him becoming a cycling commentator ("Go to Eurosport, Jensi!"), as I'd love to hear his interpretation of the road action!
So Jakob's not going to be allowed to race in Shack colours again, hey? That is just so petty. So pathetically petty. All to prevent him getting UCI points which would transfer with him at the end of the season: and while we're on the subject, hey Mr McQuaid, how are your new UCI points rules working out for you, then? They're terrible for the riders!
Coug