Garmin Cervelo Dismiss Matt White

[hubbard]

yes, trent lowe appears to be setting himself up to be floyd landis the second

 

[Granville57]

If I were Trent Lowe, and I knew other guys on the team were doping, I would bring them all down.

Hmmm, I suppose if he was thinking of exiting the sport anyway. Otherwise he would have to go down with the ship too: 2-year ban, doper AND blackmailer, loss of wages, bad rep all round, etc.

This most definitely does not fit into JV's carefully crafted argyle illusion.
Uglier things to come, for sure.

 

[Barrus]

yes, trent lowe appears to be setting himself up to be floyd landis the second

allright this is pure and complete speculation, but do all you guys remember what Landis said a few days ago about Garmin being US Postal 2.0? Perhaps he already knew about this Lowe business, or heard about it through the grapevine, and perhaps more rumours are circulating. I'm not saying this with any kind of certainty, it is complete speculation, but I do find the timing of both these statements quite particular and although it is almost certainly a complete coincidence, it is fun to speculate

 

[Sanitiser]

Where does it say Trent Lowe was sick? Speculating it seems Lowe would not be the only one being sent to Del Moral when Vaughters and Co. checked their .pdf attachments. Hence the scapegoating of White and not Lowe.

 

[Nearly]

Where does it say Trent Lowe was sick? Speculating it seems Lowe would not be the only one being sent to Del Moral when Vaughters and Co. checked their .pdf attachments. Hence the scapegoating of White and not Lowe.

Not Lowe!!!? You are kidding - he has been accused of blackmail pure & simple!

One scenario here is that the contractual dispute is settled for an undisclosed sum and the 500K is explained away as actually a contract claim (with some adviser/s taking the fall).

 

[Granville57]

allright this is pure and complete speculation, but do all you guys remember what Landis said a few days ago about Garmin being US Postal 2.0? Perhaps he already knew about this Lowe business, or heard about it through the grapevine, and perhaps more rumours are circulating.

It is intriguing. I've always maintained that it would be unwise to underestimate Floyd's knowledge on a LOT of things.

That being said, I'm still not clear on the timeline of Floyd's recent "allegations." That Neil Browne article only states, "Landis writes..." and then goes on with USPS 2.0 bit. But I am still led to believe that although this may a new release on Floyd's part, the content stems from the original batch of emails he sent out early last year. Which of course implies that he had known about this for quite some time. Hmmm.

 

[bobbins]

1 rider against a large organisation like slipstream doesn't stand a chance. They shaft him for his wages and he's left teamless (not their fault) so without any other options he plays the only card he has.

Slipstream aren't coming out of this very well are they? They are starting to look just as dodgy as the other teams.

Would be good to see JVs phone history and emails since this kicked off.

 

[Sanitiser]

Okay I got confused.
23rd- Matt White dismissed because of initial Lowe information
24th- Lowe now realises he's probably going to be let go or blackballed or whatever so he blackmails Garmin that he'll expose something more sinister to fund his retirement.

 

[BroDeal]

Hmm, the 500k claim was not in the timeline. Martin Hardie was the guy who put on the New Cylcing Pathways conference. Hard to picture him in a 500k shakedown of Garmin, but who knows.

It was hard to picture Catlin giving advice on how to classify testing as research so that athletes would not be sanctioned if they tested positive. The Hardie involvement is more interesting than Garmin, Lowe, or White. It is one more piece of evidence that shows how thoroughly corrupt the system is. You cannot trust any of these mofos. There are no good guys anywhere.

 

[thehog]

Some interesting tweets by Neal Rogers editro of Velo News


@Ride_Argyle statement claims Trent Lowe sent PDF of UCI blood work, with del Moral's name on letterhead, to team doc and @Vaughters in 2009

@Ride_Argyle statement claims that in breach of contract negotiations, Lowe demanded €500,000 or he would go public with del Moral visit

Lowe threatened to release certain info on garmin unless they payed him 1/2 a million euros. Slipstream now have said that Lowe went to del Moral for health checks every quarter.

Good to know the UCI is using trusted labs for their blood testing! Del Moral! Is a UCI testing agent?!!

 

[ingsve]

1 rider against a large organisation like slipstream doesn't stand a chance. They shaft him for his wages and he's left teamless (not their fault) so without any other options he plays the only card he has.

Slipstream aren't coming out of this very well are they? They are starting to look just as dodgy as the other teams.

Would be good to see JVs phone history and emails since this kicked off.

What exactly is making Slipstream seem dodgy? White made a bad referral and got fired for it. Lowe then got his quarterly health checks by a doctor in his own town, health checks that he is free to do at any doctor he whiches. Going to del Moral might make Lowe look suspiscious but I can't see how it would reflect on Slipstream given how they have handled the situations they do have a say in (White dismissal).

 

[ingsve]

Good to know the UCI is using trusted labs for their blood testing! Del Moral! Is a UCI testing agent?!!

As they stated in the press release- The visits by Lowe had nothing to do with the blood passport or any other anti-doping measures. It was simply the regular health check that all riders need to go through and which they are free to do with any doctor they choose without breaking any regulations.

 

[Sanitiser]

1 rider against a large organisation like slipstream doesn't stand a chance. They shaft him for his wages and he's left teamless (not their fault) so without any other options he plays the only card he has.

Slipstream aren't coming out of this very well are they? They are starting to look just as dodgy as the other teams.

Would be good to see JVs phone history and emails since this kicked off.

They look negligent so far. Nothing more for now.

 

[Nearly]

As they stated in the press release- The visits by Lowe had nothing to do with the blood passport or any other anti-doping measures. It was simply the regular health check that all riders need to go through and which they are free to do with any doctor they choose without breaking any regulations.

So why focus on blood test as they have in this part of the Slipstream statement:-

"It is critical to note that this blood test was a third quarter UCI health check test, a procedure mandated by the UCI to ensure the health of the riders, and not an anti-doping measure. This health check has nothing to do with the biological passport or ASDI. UCI health check blood tests may be done at any laboratory of the rider's volition and do not have to follow any of the handling guidelines that anti-doping tests must.

The PDF was not discovered in our original investigation as that investigation was focused on the referral made by Matt White. It is also important to note that blood tests in Spain do not require an order or attendance from a physician and that there does not seem to be any violation of team policy by Trent Lowe in connection with the performance of the mandated UCI blood tests."

Fee fi fo fum I smell some dissembling here. Why bother to require notification of the blood tests let alone to the boss if they are so insignificant?

 

[ingsve]

So why focus on blood test as they have in this part of the Slipstream statement:-

"It is critical to note that this blood test was a third quarter UCI health check test, a procedure mandated by the UCI to ensure the health of the riders, and not an anti-doping measure. This health check has nothing to do with the biological passport or ASDI. UCI health check blood tests may be done at any laboratory of the rider's volition and do not have to follow any of the handling guidelines that anti-doping tests must.

The PDF was not discovered in our original investigation as that investigation was focused on the referral made by Matt White. It is also important to note that blood tests in Spain do not require an order or attendance from a physician and that there does not seem to be any violation of team policy by Trent Lowe in connection with the performance of the mandated UCI blood tests."

Fee fi fo fum I smell some dissembling here. Why bother to require notification of the blood tests let alone to the boss if they are so insignificant?

As stated, they are mandated by the UCI to do these tests and the reason for the notification is so they it can be sent to the UCI in line with that mandate. Are you suggesting they should not notify the UCI of tests that they UCI requires notification of? I guess you could call that insignificant but I would call it routine.

 

[bobbins]

Any forthcoming press releases from Slipstream had better be pretty comprehensive and answer al of these questions or they are going to look pretty shabby. Claiming not to notice letterheads is too much like 'I left my homework on the bus' and in this age of suspicion isn't going to cut it.

 

[Spare Tyre]

Hmm, the 500k claim was not in the timeline. Martin Hardie was the guy who put on the New Cylcing Pathways conference. Hard to picture him in a 500k shakedown of Garmin, but who knows.

-dB

Martin Hardie's alleged involvement in blackmail is the weirdest part about the whole story for me.

ETA: Does anyone know if he has made a statement or twittered something in relation to the allegations?

 

[Sanitiser]

He's a law lecturer. Maybe he decided to act pro bono because he thought Lowe was part of the USPS 2.0 system and was going to get Landised.

 

[euanli]

Yeah the Hardie connection is weird

 

[euanli]

As for the team bike thing, I thought it was common practice when a guy switches team, at the end of October he hands his old bike back (or keeps it), and for the following season he rides his new bike, but has to wear the kit of his old team until December 31 (for example when Danny Pate switched to HTC, he would have to wear his Garmin kit until December 31 2010, but from November onwards he rides a Specialized bike, the one he would use in 2011).

@leguape @euanlindsay ... No. I require riders to get written permission from past teams before attending our early camp.

Link

 

[Nearly]

As stated, they are mandated by the UCI to do these tests and the reason for the notification is so they it can be sent to the UCI in line with that mandate. Are you suggesting they should not notify the UCI of tests that they UCI requires notification of? I guess you could call that insignificant but I would call it routine.

Yes sorry was not focussed on the mechanics of advising the UCI - if advised by the team then yes the team doctor would need to need to be made aware but would you expect JV to be copied on insignificant/routine matters? The bigger issue is why neither noticed DEL MORAL at the top. Also, if Lowe was ill at the time you might expect both to pay particular attention to the "health check".

Also if the team was in contractual dispute with Lowe before any of this blew up you would imagine his file would have been rather carefully scrutinised.

On the other hand Slipstream seem to have acted decisively and quickly even though this would bring maximum attention upon them, throwing intially 2 and now 3 under the bus in the process. It is a very high risk and ill considered strategy if they have anything to hide so you would like to think they do not.

I remain skeptical until we know more.

 

[craig1985]

Link

Fair enough. Thanks

 

[Bailey]

I just realised there a 'Clinic' thread on this topic. I posted this thought in the other one:

If Vaughters is to be praised (by cyclingnews included) for maintaining such strict "pedantic" standards in this sport, and for sacking his staff on such highly technical bases, then why doesn't he also consider maintaining his own high, pedantic standards when it comes to reading his own emails when he receives them? Or when keeping tabs on his rider's records and correspondence to him, and any implications therein?

I think Vaughters should practice what he preaches. IMO he's lost credibility on the whole "Garmin is righteous so we have to be strict on ourselves" line he often pulls out...unless he holds himself up to his own standard and resigns.

How many other emails and correspondence has he and his staff overlooked over the years?

 

[this_is_edie]

That's a very interesting and valid point.

What seems the most odd about all of this is that Lowe seems to have been willing to blackmail Slipstream based on the his own actions!
That just seems like a particularly twisted threat, as if to say, "Pay up, or I'm going to reveal what I myself did."

If we follow that logic further: Lowes is acknowledging something damaging, or at the very least scandalous in his own behavior. So how would he then be able to walk away without being tarnished?
Would he have gone on to claim something like, "Oh yeah, there was doping going on at Garmin...ME! See how bad those guys (me) are over there under JV's watch?"

Very strange indeed.

This story isn't over yet.

Exactly, this makes no sense to me at all. What is Lowe trying to blackmail them about?

 

[hrotha]

Exactly, this makes no sense to me at all. What is Lowe trying to blackmail them about?

Maybe something along the lines of "A Garmin DS sent me to a doctor who offered to make me a doping plan. I didn't go through with it. Look at my horrible 2009 and 2010 results, not doped. Also when they found out I wasn't cool with it they stopped taking me to the important races. I rode the 2008 Tour de France and that was it."