Landa disrespects contador and Spain

[Pricey_sky]

Fair play to him, a non-violent protest is fine by me. Stood up for his beliefs.

 

[Andro]

Re:

Don't see the issue.

This. People who are getting angry about this need to get a grip.

 

[sartoris]

Re: Re:

Aru is not Spanish and had his hat off. Landa should done the same. Contador had his had I hand over his chest, Mikel should've stood like Aru. I am not Catholic but if I step into a church I would take whatever head garment I am wearing, just our if respect even though I am firmly against Catholicism. On the other hand why do organizers in most professional sports keep on playing national anthems? They are professional athletes bit Olympic amateurs.

Indeed. He does not have to put his hand on his chest or anything like that but like any other athlete he should pay respect when the national anthem is played. See Aru. He is Italian but removed his hat for the Spanish national anthem. Landa removing his cap would not have meant he feels he is Spanish, it would just show he respects other athletes.
This comes across as a bit childish IMO "look at me I am not taking off my cap because I hate Spain "

Exactly, Flo. That's what I meant. All respects to his personal feelings, but it was a matter of etiquette. Let's hear what he's got to say though. Peace everyone!

 

[BYOP88]

Imagine the grief he'd (possibly) be getting if he did take his cap off.

I see no issue with it, if he was cussing or something then yes.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Aru is not Spanish and had his hat off. Landa should done the same. Contador had his had I hand over his chest, Mikel should've stood like Aru. I am not Catholic but if I step into a church I would take whatever head garment I am wearing, just our if respect even though I am firmly against Catholicism. On the other hand why do organizers in most professional sports keep on playing national anthems? They are professional athletes bit Olympic amateurs.

Good luck with getting rid of nationalism!

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

Imagine the grief he'd (possibly) be getting if he did take his cap off.

I see no issue with it, if he was cussing or something then yes.

Would be like Sir Sean Connery honouring St George's Cross

 

[PeterB]

I can very well imagine it was not deliberate. A week ago the same happened to me. I was present at the sport ceremony playing our national anthem and I completely forgot I had my cap on. I realised midway the song and then decided to keep it on for the following two reasons:
1. I was really cold on head
2. It appeared to me as rather out of date habit, from the times hats were worn not because of weather, but because of status. In those times it was more an act of submission and giving respect, but nowadays it just feels strange. So I kept it on, but there is really no reason to doubt about my respect towards my homeland

 

[WheelofGear]

I don't think you can compare all Basques to a terrorist organization like ETA. That's like comparing all Irish people to IRA or all bikers to Hells Angels.

Maybe he didn't even thought about it.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Well, people who are offended then probably will have died of shock seeing the Spanish Cup Final yesterday.
I, for one, find this amusing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hhXRL_yLr-Y

Freedom of expressing ones opinion in a non-violent manner.

Oh dear!

Now I understand what Landa was doing.

Probably should move to a more political forum!

 

[Rollthedice]

Imagine if he had won and they had to play a hymn he doesn't feel he represents him. What then? Hope he'll win a GT soon and sort out the cap issue.

 

[Moviefan1203]

Certainly a very disrespectful gesture that I was very disappointed to see.

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

Aru is not Spanish and had his hat off. Landa should done the same. Contador had his had I hand over his chest, Mikel should've stood like Aru. I am not Catholic but if I step into a church I would take whatever head garment I am wearing, just our if respect even though I am firmly against Catholicism. On the other hand why do organizers in most professional sports keep on playing national anthems? They are professional athletes bit Olympic amateurs.

Indeed. He does not have to put his hand on his chest or anything like that but like any other athlete he should pay respect when the national anthem is played. See Aru. He is Italian but removed his hat for the Spanish national anthem. Landa removing his cap would not have meant he feels he is Spanish, it would just show he respects other athletes.
This comes across as a bit childish IMO "look at me I am not taking off my cap because I hate Spain "

Exactly, Flo. That's what I meant. All respects to his personal feelings, but it was a matter of etiquette. Let's hear what he's got to say though. Peace everyone!

maybe because this is the first time he is standing in podium as GC classification? Dunno, he probably forgot or didn't realize it, carried by moment?. But if he looked back and watched the video again on YouTube later in the month, he might regretted how he was perceived by the public. I don't think, it was intention to disrespect though. I agree, it's about etiquette.

 

[HiroAntagonist]

Quiet resistance is always going to have a happy place in my heart. If that was his intention, then more power to him.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Out of interest hrotha from which part of Spain are you? (I seem to remember Catalunya?)

Nope, Madrid!
Maybe I should have saved this information for later, though. Spanish nationalists never expect a guy from Madrid to hold my views, so the reveal always throws them off (usually after they've made fools of themselves for a couple of posts ).

Ah okay, not sure why I thought you were Catalan

 

[jens_attacks]

Who cares? Everyone can have its own country, i know i do!
These things in the 21th century really? Tits or GTFO

 

[Fernandez]

The poor guy took to many things these three weeks

 

[Mr.White]

Classless!

 

[coinneach]

Re:

Aru is not Spanish and had his hat off. Landa should done the same. Contador had his had I hand over his chest, Mikel should've stood like Aru. I am not Catholic but if I step into a church I would take whatever head garment I am wearing, just our if respect even though I am firmly against Catholicism. On the other hand why do organizers in most professional sports keep on playing national anthems? They are professional athletes bit Olympic amateurs.

Yeh, right, if you were Catholic, you wouldn't bother with Protestant rubbish like that.
If he keeps his sponsors cap on, that's up to him, and the organisers, who can fine him if it's against the regs.
I think cyclists get a small cut from sponsors for wearing caps on the podium.
Mikel strikes me as a nice young innocent man, the way he admitted his teams alegence with Katusha was welcome and honest....he's a terrific talent, and that's what we should be focusing on.

 

[Red Rick]

I think it's pretty meh. It's not like its major, but he's now going on a small streak of whiny/disrespectful actions, which I think he could probably do better. I know very little of the Spain vs Basque situation though, but I don't think I've see a lot of *** about this in cycling before, except for the Vuelta avoiding Pais Vasco until 2011.

The 'I could've won the Giro' comment really did it for me though

 

[WheelofGear]

At least Landa is not acting like the Basque fans.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

At least Landa is not acting like the Basque fans.

I've never seen them do anything strange, they love cycling

 

[The_Cheech]

Re:

It's not comparable with Aru's reaction, as Italy has no real grievances against Spain. When/if those grievances are resolved, the most radical Basque nationalists will most likely take off their caps without second thought.

I don't think he disrespected Contador, either. It had zero impact on Contador's moment on the podium.

What "grievances" are you talking about? LOL.

The only grievance Basques ought to have is that they enjoy fiscal privileges worthy of, and granted by, a king. A successor of whom they now publicly boo and denounce like a bunch of pussies (even though he actually goes out of his way to speak Basque too).

In cycling, as in anything in life, honor and respect DO COUNT. Hence what Landa did is wrong. Under no circumstances should he have kept his hat on. F*cking PERIOD.

 

[WheelofGear]

Re: Re:

At least Landa is not acting like the Basque fans.

I've never seen them do anything strange, they love cycling

Yeah, so much that you can't even see the cyclists when they are riding through the orange swarm.

 

[The_Cheech]

Re: Re:

Out of interest hrotha from which part of Spain are you? (I seem to remember Catalunya?)

Nope, Madrid!
Maybe I should have saved this information for later, though. Spanish nationalists never expect a guy from Madrid to hold my views, so the reveal always throws them off (usually after they've made fools of themselves for a couple of posts ).

Ah okay, not sure why I thought you were Catalan

He could be from the Basque Country living in Madrid for all you know.

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

What "grievances" are you talking about? LOL.

The only grievance Basques ought to have is that they enjoy fiscal privileges worthy of, and granted by, a king. A successor of whom they now publicly boo and denounce like a bunch of pussies (even though he actually goes out of his way to speak Basque too).

Your inability to so much as acknowledge those grievances perfectly illustrates why Landa had good reason not to take his cap off.