When Astana met their registration requirements, forced myself to believe that Team Astana will be strong enough to help Alberto Contador to win the 2010 Tour de France. Seeing in the news that Oscar Pereiro had signed on helped a lot. He's had tough times, and I thought this would be a great way for him to go out. But this contract dispute tarnishes it all. If the details I've read are true, it's like the Kazakhs have another hostage situation.
If he ends up on the team because lawyers made it happen, it's tarnished, and it would be really tough for him to be as motivated as he was a week or two ago. Reading that Sainquer was under a lot of pressure to negotiate down his salary or cancel the contract even though the team only has 23 riders throws open the financial concerns again. If they won't honor the contract, but its existence keeps him from signing elsewhere, that makes for really bad karma going into a training camp where trust will be key.
I'm also curious as to the timing, since they claim to have hastily agreed to the contract. The team needed to have the minimum of 23 riders signed by the November 20 deadline. When they recently announced the riders attending camp, Josep Jufre was suddenly on the list. Was he signed after the deadline, with Astana using Pereiro as a placeholder to save the license and then tossing him in the bin when they found someone more attractive to fill the spot? I'm not sure I can root for a team that behaves that way, if it happened.
The only way for me to feel good about the whole thing, and the team for 2010, is to get Pereiro in camp by the first day. I'm living on unemployment benefits, but if someone wants to start a fundraiser to make up the difference in salary and get Oscar on the team, I'll kick in ten dollars American. That's a small price to pay these days for a bit of extra hope and confidence for the new year.
Otherwise I'm rooting for a positive drug test from someone anf a get out of jail free card for Contador. Cheers
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/per...very-probable?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=news_headlines
If he ends up on the team because lawyers made it happen, it's tarnished, and it would be really tough for him to be as motivated as he was a week or two ago. Reading that Sainquer was under a lot of pressure to negotiate down his salary or cancel the contract even though the team only has 23 riders throws open the financial concerns again. If they won't honor the contract, but its existence keeps him from signing elsewhere, that makes for really bad karma going into a training camp where trust will be key.
I'm also curious as to the timing, since they claim to have hastily agreed to the contract. The team needed to have the minimum of 23 riders signed by the November 20 deadline. When they recently announced the riders attending camp, Josep Jufre was suddenly on the list. Was he signed after the deadline, with Astana using Pereiro as a placeholder to save the license and then tossing him in the bin when they found someone more attractive to fill the spot? I'm not sure I can root for a team that behaves that way, if it happened.
The only way for me to feel good about the whole thing, and the team for 2010, is to get Pereiro in camp by the first day. I'm living on unemployment benefits, but if someone wants to start a fundraiser to make up the difference in salary and get Oscar on the team, I'll kick in ten dollars American. That's a small price to pay these days for a bit of extra hope and confidence for the new year.
Otherwise I'm rooting for a positive drug test from someone anf a get out of jail free card for Contador. Cheers
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/per...very-probable?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=news_headlines
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