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Doping Problems, the new cycling or Anglo-Saxon influences in the peloton? To Geert Leinders it's all secondary to one thing: ,, The game," said the Belgian cycling doctor in Ghent restaurant Warempel. ,,That's what fascinates me. It started when I was a medical student, and after 25 years I'm still fascinated by the game. Everything else around it really does not interest me."
Leinders (54) said goodbye in late 2009 after fifteen years as doctor of the Rabobank team, only to return this season, surprisingly at British Sky. ,,My departure at Rabo has been interpreted by many people as a final farewell," he says. ,,but that was never my intention. Since 2005 I've been doing cultural sciences studies at the university. I wanted to graduate and had to finish some courses. So it was a good time for me to take a break."
His departure was silent, as Leinders worked for years in silence at the Rabobank team. Others will tell you that as a doctor and trainer he was a very decisive factor behind the success of Michael Boogerd and Erik Dekker. ,,Until 2003 I had a very decisive role, until the departure of Jan Raas. But with the new management around Theo de Rooij I became less and less relevant."
The outside world linked the reduced influence of Leinders to the Rasmussen-affair. The Danish yellow jersey was taken from the Tour in 2007 by sponsor Rabobank because he lied about his whereabouts in June, when he was untraceable for doping inspectors. Director De Rooij was replaced by banker Harold Knebel. Leinders, just like team leader Erik Breukink, was exposed to strong criticism and could no longer be part of the management of the team. Never thought about resigning? "I'm not going to say anything about that. Too personal. Theo de Rooij is a good friend of mine. That friendship could suffer under the statements I would like to make about it. "
He doesn't blame De Rooij for anything. "Theo just took his political responsibility, and put himself offside because of that". I did not feel happy about it, it was not a pleasant time. But what was my share and interest in that whole situation? When a rider rides well and you say it's your job, you also get the *** when it ends badly. But I never said that. Anyways, I think the involvement of team doctors in cycling should not be exaggerated. "
For Leinders the final balance of the Rabobank team is positive. ,,It was the fifteen best years of my life, between 35 and 50, an important period in a career. I have so many happy memories that I want to keep. After 2007, many things changed for the team and for me, especially outside. But I have no reason to be sour about anything."
After almost 25 years as team doctor in the traditional European cycling culture he now faces the acclaimed Anglo-Saxon approach of British Team Sky. "There are more similarities than differences. The larger team budgets and sponsors from outside the European culture, that has been the big change in cycling. More than the so-called Anglo-Saxon approach. Teams are increasingly engaging in a business corporate structure, rather than depending on the experience, expertise and enthusiasm of individuals. So you get a different model in which cycling teams are regulated. You can see that with teams like HTC, Garmin and Sky."
Whether that is better? "What do you do with Philippe Gilbert? He is with Omega Pharma-Lotto in the old model and quite successful in recent weeks. And where was HTC? Wonderful business model, all new, brought in many new things from outside of cycling. But I have not seen them, they were never pronouncedly present. I mean to say: it is the winners who decide what is the right culture to lead a team."
With Sky, Leinders limits himself to the role of team doctor. "I feel comfortable in that role. But more and more you turn into a company doctor, rather than a sports doctor, which in today's cycling are no longer part of the team structure. If a rider feels he must have someone like that [i.e. a personal sports doctor], then he should look outside the team. For the image of the sponsor that is a good thing. Whether it is good for the health of the cyclist, is something else. "
The International Cycling Union UCI wants to limit the contribution of the team doctors even further by a total ban on injections. "I think it is a good discouragement. But in the Giro, for instance, now I cannot give any medical treatment to a rider in shock? I cannot do my job responsibly. And who will control such a ban? Then you have to hold raids in hotels, looking for products that are not even on the doping list."
Superfluous, Leinders finds it [the ban on needles]. "Because of the improved controls and test nowadays there are better possibilities to maintain a level playing field. Just look at what they can find nowadays, in minute concentrations. The improved labs ensure that cycling is better in my mind with regard to the abuse of products. Controllable, scientific, same for everyone. The rest is cosmetics."
Doping-free sport? "Look at the Giro: plenty of mountains that go over 2,000 meters. Sport is increasingly about spectacle. The balance between higher spectacle and clean sport is becoming untenable. It is not salable that you have a squad every year that is cleaner, but climbing higher every year with speeds up. Then you get believers and non-believers. But the vast majority of the audience does not care about it. Just as no one interested in Real-Barcelona wonders how big the debt of both clubs is, and whether that is fair to Anderlecht or Ajax."
Solving the doping problem is impossible, says Leinders. "Politicians or administrators say: if you want to solve it, then it can be solved. As if it is a choice. Who does not want it solved, is a bad guy. But that is far from the truth. You do not choose, it's a fait accompli. I've seen it happen in the nineties. Then there was a product [epo, Ed.] that one could not detect. I was there, the product was there. I cannot erase it. I've always thought carefully about how to deal with it. That's the only thing you can do. Zero tolerance is politics, it has nothing to do with cycling."
The new cycling? "Nonsense, innovation has always been there. Think of it as shedding your skin. The snake gets a new skin, but underneath it remains the same snake. He takes his past and his problems along with him into the present. Now people think its all gone in one go. But that's not the case. I was recently asked to participate in a TV program titled: "How clean will the 2011 Tour be?" Now I'm really not going to participate in that."
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