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Quinn Simmons is the new Quinn Simmons

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I'm still wondering what happened when the team talked to him. I have a feeling that he didn't handle it well which is why he is on hold now. Can they get past it? If he was 'not nice' in the meeting, I have a feeling that he will be moving on.
I just looked at his twitter account and noticed the tweets in question have not been deleted. That is quite significant, I feel...
 
I think you mix up.
He was world class at junior level at ski mountaineering with a medal at the 2017 World Championship, not XC skiing. XC skiing might not be a super big sport, but I'm pretty sure Ski Mountaineering is a lot smaller. XC skiing is atleast in the Olympics and stuff.

Ah, you're right, I'd forgotten. Although ski mountaineering is pretty big here depending on the event.
 
So apparently the fact that his team has suspended him has also been deleted. Trek has pulled him out of the races for the foreseeable future. If you want to know why, you'll have to google it because according to the forumrules, it can not be discussed :tearsofjoy:
I came here to find out. I guess I was late because they deleted all the posts related to what he said.
 
I am aware that the sponsor in question feature very visibly on his twitter profile, but I really wonder what obligations riders have on SoMe platforms and if it is part of their contract, or discussed over the contract talks. In some lines of work you are encouraged to promote your employer, not to mention those where you use a professional account, but the lines can at times be a bit blurry between personal profiles and official ones.

...

[I am not sure whether it is permitted to discuss CPA's role in protecting riders' freedom of speech, so without any green light I won't go down that road]
 
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I just looked at his twitter account and noticed the tweets in question have not been deleted. That is quite significant, I feel...

Yes, my strong suspicion is that the suspension is a result of his reaction to being told to pipe down or an accumulation of previous incidents or both. The initial comment by the team carefully did not treat his opinions (which I accept we are not to discuss) as the problem so much as him getting into social media rows about them. Then a while later the posts don’t come down and he gets suspended.

What happened in between is what’s of interest... and probably also the part that effects his prospects the most. I suspect that some other WT teams might be more concerned about a refusal to stop creating a PR mess when instructed to than about his views. Thing is though he’s a big talent, he will find a ride even if his tenure at Trek ends.
 
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Okay, looking at this from a non-political but egoistic personal angle: The decision probably hurts my cq-team. But I don't have to see his clearly affixed beard.
Boy, does he seem proud of that beard!

It’s a shame to see this happening to a young American prospect, we don’t have many. But such is life—I don’t go around saying things in my Twitter account that would embarrass my employer either, though I’m often tempted. He needs to grow up. I doubt that “grow up” is the message he’s getting in his circle of friends, however.
 
I just looked at his twitter account and noticed the tweets in question have not been deleted. That is quite significant, I feel...
So maybe its something along those lines: Trek: "please take those posts down", QS: "no...". If I remember correctly, QS made a negative comment about Trek's stance on the use of their bikes recently (can't share specifics here...), so this was at least strike two for him. EDIT: maybe strike three with the Williams situation.
 
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I'm still wondering what happened when the team talked to him. I have a feeling that he didn't handle it well which is why he is on hold now. Can they get past it? If he was 'not nice' in the meeting, I have a feeling that he will be moving on.
It could also be something that was causing hassle behind the scenes before this. In my experience at least the people who are very vocal and controversial on twitter also are in the workplace and then no one is surprised when something like this happens
 
I am aware that the sponsor in question feature very visibly on his twitter profile, but I really wonder what obligations riders have on SoMe platforms and if it is part of their contract, or discussed over the contract talks. In some lines of work you are encouraged to promote your employer, not to mention those where you use a professional account, but the lines can at times be a bit blurry between personal profiles and official ones.

...

[I am not sure whether it is permitted to discuss CPA's role in protecting riders' freedom of speech, so without any green light I won't go down that road]
You’re right that social media is an extremely tricky thing for employers and employees right now. For instance, my company has been on a big social media push the past year or so, and we are strongly encouraged to use our personal Twitter and/or Facebook accounts to comment on, “like, or retweet items that promote our project work or individual Achievements of colleagues. However, if I decide to make a blog post, online article, or substantive Twitter discussion having to do with our field of work, I am supposed to “clear” it with the executive committee to get their okay. They don’t care if I like/dislike dog and cat videos, but they are very concerned about strong opinions I might voice about topics related to our work as a company. It’s tricky territory, and it’s not an employee-friendly situation. Fortunately, I just decide to blow off any posting (well, aside from this forum) if I start to get annoyed about it.
 
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I think this was at least strike 3 for Quinn. He also was involved in a bit of a public embarrassment related to Cory Williams, from what I read in since deleted posts. I don't know details, can't find them here now, and a quick Google search revealed nothing, but it appears he has a habit of prioritizing self-expression against the interests of his sponsor, and I imagine there have been prior conversations related to this.
 
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Boy, does he seem proud of that beard!

It’s a shame to see this happening to a young American prospect, we don’t have many. But such is life—I don’t go around saying things in my Twitter account that would embarrass my employer either, though I’m often tempted. He needs to grow up. I doubt that “grow up” is the message he’s getting in his circle of friends, however.

He just needs to win races, i.e. the people who make mountains out of molehills & lose their minds over inconsequential social media nonsense shouldn't impact the prospects of a professional athlete.

Imagine if guys like Indurain etc. were on social media & people judged/condemned them for benign political views which are most definitely not illegal? Meh, what a bad joke this whole story is.
 
He just needs to win races, i.e. the people who make mountains out of molehills & lose their minds over inconsequential social media nonsense shouldn't impact the prospects of a professional athlete.

Imagine if guys like Indurain etc. were on social media & people judged/condemned them for benign political views which are most definitely not illegal? Meh, what a bad joke this whole story is.

You're making my point for me. "Lose their minds", "nonsense", "condemned", "joke", "political" and my favorite, "illegal". Sounds like a Simmons-level rant on Twitter. If you haven't, maybe consider taking it up there instead of here. Twitter loves a good hyperbolic rant or two...or a thousand..., and politics are welcome.
 
He just needs to win races, i.e. the people who make mountains out of molehills & lose their minds over inconsequential social media nonsense shouldn't impact the prospects of a professional athlete.

Imagine if guys like Indurain etc. were on social media & people judged/condemned them for benign political views which are most definitely not illegal? Meh, what a bad joke this whole story is.
Two things two point out:
1st, contractual obligations are legal obligations in the sense that if they are explicit re:not damaging the employer’s image or brand, then the contract can be terminated (I.e., fired) or can be brought to court for breach of contract.
2nd, if Indurain had a social media account while he was racing, he would have posted about getting the harvest in before it rained :)
 
Two things two point out:
1st, contractual obligations are legal obligations in the sense that if they are explicit re:not damaging the employer’s image or brand, then the contract can be terminated (I.e., fired) or can be brought to court for breach of contract.
2nd, if Indurain had a social media account while he was racing, he would have posted about getting the harvest in before it rained :)
Sean Kelly would have just posted " " while nodding and shaking his head at the computer
 
Boy, does he seem proud of that beard!

It’s a shame to see this happening to a young American prospect, we don’t have many. But such is life—I don’t go around saying things in my Twitter account that would embarrass my employer either, though I’m often tempted. He needs to grow up. I doubt that “grow up” is the message he’s getting in his circle of friends, however.

Agreed. When all is said and done he is just a brash young kid doing his growing up in the glare of public view (by his own choice to turn pro so soon).

His views are far from rare in certain sections of society in his country and like most people I would suspect he largely mixes with people who hold similar views. The big difference is that they are not representing global brands and need to be mindful of presenting an image that will be widely respected.

Hopefully there is someone in the background who he will listen to that can instil in him the need to be less abrasive publicly. Possibly a figure like Greg Lemond could be reached out to.

It’s not too late for him now and if he shows some maturity he could race again with Trek as soon as the late classics this year or more likely early 2021.
 
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Boy, does he seem proud of that beard!

It’s a shame to see this happening to a young American prospect, we don’t have many. But such is life—I don’t go around saying things in my Twitter account that would embarrass my employer either, though I’m often tempted. He needs to grow up. I doubt that “grow up” is the message he’s getting in his circle of friends, however.

You're right, we don't have many. Listing them would be around 5? The obvious in Kuss and Powless. Then after them Jorgensen and the Garrison brothers. Those the ones I can think. Although Jorgensen has a friend he keeps trying to help find a team.
 
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Must be more to it than just his tweets as from what I can see there is no malice or devisive tones to them at all. I think it's ridiculous teams get so involved in things like this in the first place. I guess they would prefer to have robots riding for them.
I tend to agree that there's probably more to it than the tweets, but I wonder if maybe you're missing the coded message in his "Bye" tweet. This is what Trek-Segafredo mentions in their initial response. My guess is that they asked him about it, didn't like the answer and suspended him. Plus he's just getting into Twitter rants beyond that tweet. That his tweets remain up seems to indicate he's not backing off his stance.

But obviously all speculation at this point.
 
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You're right, we don't have many. Listing them would be around 5? The obvious in Kuss and Powless. Then after them Jorgensen and the Garrison brothers. Those the ones I can think. Although Jorgensen has a friend he keeps trying to help find a team.
Interesting to note though, that there are 8 (or perhaps 9) U.S. riders on the start list for the Giro this coming weekend, which must be close to one of the largest contingents ever in a GT. Though most are not up-and-coming riders you’re speaking about.
 
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