Carboncrank said:
That does not mean he got paid when he was supposed to.
I don't know what the specifics are, but that is just an example of how no pay-gate was used an abused to the benefit of someone else's master plan. By this I'm not saying rider x did not get paid amount y at time z, I am
informing you that the majority of riders got paid what was specified in their contracts.
You may argue that that is the case because of the pressure put on the team by western media outlets, and that would be a valid argument. But I'm not going in that direction. I'm talking about this
nasty habit, on the part of some western media outlets, of taking something Lance Armstrong says and passing it along as fact, not even bothering to check with the other side of the argument, namely the Astana team sponsors.
And, again, by this I'm not saying that that there may have been some truth to the no pay-gate scandal. Thus us, the interested idiots, are forced to put the pieces of the puzzle together with little or no information available. In my case, since I do not trusth anything LA or JB say, I opine that these two crooks were cooking something up by the time AC won the Giro.
You have to understand, JB and LA are, above all, businessmen and they will jump at the first opportunity that comes around. I guarantee you, and I'd bet my left testicle on this, that LA's ego detests, HATES, the idea of anyone challenging his record. So we have what has happened to Astana during the past 2 years: LA's ego trip.
Look, Astana almost lost his license over it.
"The UCI had threatened to rescind the team's ProTour license after the team's wages were reportedly not paid for two months."
Yes, you miss the "reportedly". I mean, you have to understand that western media outlets are not in the business of "reporting" or "informing". The "reportedly" is the layman's equivalent of "I heard from my dentist's friend's granfather's personal trainer's mother-in-law's gardener"... Do you see what I'm trying to get at?
Now you cranks want to claim Johan and Lance conspired to make it all up? how frikin' idiotic.
Idiotic? Really? You mean LA doesn't have a foundation and sponsors, he most likely met during his numerous black-tie affairs, that were eager to finance his comeback and show the whole wide world the "superiority" of American sportmanship? Do you mean JB did not want to run to the Money Man (LA) when he heard the "I will only work with Johan Bruyneel" even though he had a contract with Astana (which most likely is the turning point when the Kazhaks smelled the shít piling up and decided to hold back on the
moola)?
Saying Contador became the cyclist of the moment in 09, or even 08 sounds pretty stupid considering he'd already won the tour de Frikin' France by then. And more stupid to think they'd want to get rid of him even last year when he was clearly the favorite to win tour.
No, I am saying that The Plan was under way by the time AC won the Giro: They were trying to tire AC out of Astana. I mean, you don't call your biggest star from vacation and make him do the Giro! You nurture the guy. You make sure he does only enough races to keep or gain form but not to get burned out, especially knowing Alberto wanted the Vuelta and not the Giro.
But... Alberto turned out to be tougher than expected and he became a liability to The Plan, which explains the subsequent personal attacks from Johan Bruyneel and even Lance Armstrong himself. I sincerely DOUBT that LA wanted AC at Radio Shak. The Texan's ego wouldn't have allowed it. I mean, even after AC won the Tour, the Vuelta and the Giro JB was still saying he wasn't sure (about AC). Can you friggin believe it??? Think about it, what would lead a person to say something like that when your guy has just won the three toughest races in the world in a period of a little over 1 year?? You're not sure?? You're a fúcking idiot Johan.
He was thrilled to get the chance to be in the Giro that year. They all were. A last minute invite was far better than no invite at all. You see, (sarcasm on) the Giro d'Italia is what the call a Grand tour event. It's one of three pillars of the sport. (sarcasm off)
Yes, Johan wanted to be there, but make no mistake, Alberto DID NOT want to do the Giro that year. The Spaniard was being set up to fail.