Team Boss Of The Year.... not.

Not exactly breaking news, but time that Schleckland made a comment on it, for the sake of the lovely Jakob, if for nothing else.

"What is he on?!" comes to mind.

 Ass-t'na's owner, the unlovely Mr Tinkoff, already has a reputation for being a sexist, racist, homophobic oik, after several quite nasty episodes on Twitter.

Then, recently, he was openly telling journalists that he thought Peter "Jammy Dodger" Sagan was not earning his salary, as he'd failed to win anything in the early part of this season.

Now, he's given an interview to Gazzetta dello Sport in which he states quite openly that he is looking for legal ways to reduce Sagan's salary, despite giving him a contract specifying that salary.

How to motivate your team - "not" !!!!

This man really is a complete idiot. He appears to be cut from the same cloth as Mr Becca, the so-called family friend behind the ill-fated Leopard-Trek episode, mister "oh yes I'll back you for four years" Becca who then ran out on them after less than two years, having not realised that sponsorship IS NOT INVESTMENT!! golly, how many times will I have to say that: when you invest, you expect to get your money back and you hope to make a big profit.  When you sponsor, you GIVE AWAY the money,  and you hope to get publicity and respect - but you certainly don't your money back, let alone make a profit.

Tinkoff even has the nerve to describe his team as his toy, and hints strongly that he is getting bored with his toy, and will throw it away one day soon.

Poor Jakob.

We all worried about the doping thing when he went to Ass-t'na: we worried about Mr EPO-Removed-My-Eyebrows Vinokourov having an undue influence over him; we worried about him having to work for Nibali and Contador and never having a chance to ride for himself - but we didn't realise he'd be riding for a team owned and managed by a childish man who thinks he can throw away the careers of 28-odd riders just like that *snaps fingers*.

We all know that when riders change teams, they rarely win anything for the first year. It's almost a tradition: have a great year, win tons of races, get offered lots of huge contracts, take the best one, move teams, ignominious quiet season. Look at Philly Gilly going to BMC, not a win in his first year. Thor Hushovd, ditto.

Yet Tinkoff will happily suggest that he'll throw away the team, putting all those riders through the misery of finding a new team and having to settle in again. Just because he can.

Anyone would have put money on Sagan having a quiet year this year - anyone who knows anything about pro cycling, that is, and it does rather appear that although Mr Tinkoff is a big fan of cycling, and rides a bike himself, he doesn't actually know a great deal about it.

This is all contriving to make Uncle Bjarne look like a much better manager: you only have to look at how he handled Contador, buying him only to have a ban fall upon him (which seems, in retrospect, more and more unfair as clenbuterol is now being found in meat quite regularly) yet he kept the rider on, despite not getting any races out of him, and then easing him back into racing. Now he is being rewarded, with Contador back onto winning form despite broken legs, dislocated shoulders and goodness knows what else. And yet Tinkoff gave him the sack. *shakes head*

Tinkoff, on the other hand, is publicly telling Sagan that he's not worth the money, and saying he is going to find a way to reduce the salary. I bet that poor old Sagan is wishing it was only a 2-year contract!

The only sensible thing to come from Mr Tinkoff's mouth is the concept that there needs to be a new way of paying riders, although I'd take that further and say there needs to be a new way of funding the teams altogether.  It's ridiculous for an "open" non-stadium sport to be run in the same way as sports who have ticket-income. It puts the teams at the mercy of the sponsors who may run out of funds or lose interest *dark look* at any moment, it creates horrendous instability and it must make the sport even harder to organise, when you don't know for sure how many pro teams you are going to have, from year to year.

However, Mr Tinkoff doesn't care about all that, he just wants to get results. I'm not a huge Contador fan *grinds teeth and mutters "39 seconds" under breath* but I hope and pray that he wins the damned Giro, just to keep Tinkoff happy.

Sorry, Richie!