I Watch Cycling In July said:
I reciprocate your thoughts
Two separate visits to Del Moral's clinic.
One for routine health check blood tests mandated by UCI, not a medical consultation, not against team policy, not referred by Matt White (at least according to Slipstream's statements). But the results form, with the doctor's name, was copied to JV and Steffen.
The other visit was, according to slipstreams claims, a medical consultation including VO2 testing. That visit was against team policy and Lowe was referred by Matt White. There have been no public statements about what documentation the team received after this. Did the team doctor get a copy of the results? Are team members obligated to reveal all their medical information to the team
? Did Slipstream pay the bill? If so, was payment processed by an office clerk, or someone who should have recognized the clinic name?
I guess what I feel is priority here is understanding the order in which these happened. VO2 visit first, at White direction, then the UCI Health Check.
If White directs Lowe to Del Moral, it will be a critical point to understand if White and Lowe both "knew" this was against policy, or if only White "knew" and still directed Lowe to the referral with the assumption that if White was sending him, it must be OK.
Your follow-on questions are "must answers" in my book for Slipstream to come out of this looking like an isolated case where White made simple but fatal error by advising Lowe in an improper way. If they are implicated at all past White, then they are proper screwed.
So far, we have been told about documentary evidence of one visit only. The visit that was NOT a breach of policy. In an ideal world, Steffen would have noticed the name and taken some appropriate action. I certainly want to know why that didn't happen. The explanation better be a good one too, or I'll view Steffen much as I view Alan Lim. But so far, nobody has disclosed a direct breach of policy, which would justify Steffen being immediately dismissed.
Yes, but it took days for this to be revealed, and provided many perceived (by me) inconsistencies and contradictions, adding to the confusion (intentional?) of the issues.
The rider does matter. The rider is also in breach of policy if he used a doctor who is not approved by the medical team. That is the essence of what Slipstream is claiming. They cannot be seen to protect such a rider.
I would agree that the rider is technically in breech. The rider does have the dilemma of either A: trusting that his boss had obtained the permissions required for it not to be a breech, B: risk insubordination and possible discipline for not complying with the direction, or C: knew full well, along with White that they were doing something against policy and went along with it.
To me, I guess it really only matters if the option is C, where had the rider still been part of the team in 2011, he'd likely have been sacked as well.
If it were A or B, then citing medical confidentiality closes that issue directly and preserves the good name of the rider, as he'd really been a victim of the circumstance.
I don't really buy Slipstream's claims though. When asked when the team new about the visits to Del Moral, White gave a 'no comment'. Now Lowe's lawyer claims Slipstreams statements are inaccurate and they will talk directly with the team. If $$ change hands quietly, after JV's loud claims of extortion, I will consider all questions about slipstream answered.
Nor do I, not given the handling of the situation, the "outing" of Howe, the firing of White, and the still unknown but probable negligence/incompetence of Steffen.
It is still not adding up. Nonetheless, JV is tossing out quotes about eating his own pan-fried testes, so as to further his arguments with a convincing self-mutilation wager. Not the quality of statement the sponsors are probably looking for at present.
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