Radioshack Crying after Lombardia snub

[Anonymous]

I was going to put this one in general, but shack posts tend to lead to endless discussion so i figured it may as well have its own.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010...ack-cries-foul-over-lombardy-exclusion_139646

Shack have been left out of Lombardia and are threatening court action

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

seriously if you hate bruyneel/lance and any team they race for then this is your best year ever and so it is

 

[Beech Mtn]

I guess Bruyneel wasn't able to get his buddies in the UCI to lean hard on the race organizers on his behalf. Too bad, so sad. I hope RCS takes this opportunity to leak some juicy details about past dealings and why they are dissatisfied with the Shack.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Odd, that they choose to go to bat over Lombardy, but did nothing more than tweet hard without a vengeance, over their Vuelta omission.
Smacks of a creeping desperation.

They are yet to grasp the fact that the pariah status of Lance and now, Levi, far outweighs the pulling power of the Shack second team.

 

[L'arriviste]

Liquid football!

I like this trend a lot. We've seen it with Zomegnan at the Giro and now organisers everywhere are just saying no because, hey, they can!

What's bad for Lombardia is bad for the sport.

 

[craig1985]

Odd, that they choose to go to bat over Lombardy, but did nothing more than tweet hard without a vengeance, over their Vuelta omission.
Smacks of a creeping desperation.

They are yet to grasp the fact that the pariah status of Lance and now, Levi, far outweighs the pulling power of the Shack second team.

I was thinking after their decision that the Tour of California >>>>>>>>> the Giro d'Italia, I guess the saying what comes around, goes around. Levi is too soft to race Lombardia IMO, preferring to beat up at Utah and Gila. Too bad though, I would of liked to have seen Machado given a chance to do what he does best, and just animate the racing.

 

[Clemson Cycling]

I was thinking after their decision that the Tour of California >>>>>>>>> the Giro d'Italia, I guess the saying what comes around, goes around. Levi is too soft to race Lombardia IMO, preferring to beat up at Utah and Gila. Too bad though, I would of liked to have seen Machado given a chance to do what he does best, and just animate the racing.

In all fairness, the Tour of California was a much bigger race to the team's sponsors since it is the largest race in the only country they do business in

 

[Nick C.]

Pretty funny stuff really, they snub the Giro their DS has spent the past decade focusing only on the Tour with a belated focus on the cobbled classics and the occasional notice of the Giro/Vuelta when Contador, Heras and salvodelli were there otherwise eithe rnot participating or sending packfill, just like they do in the other classics other than the odd year when LA did Liege or Amstel. So why not give a nod to a national team that would be thrilled to be there. I must say tho guys with aspirations of a career of their own on the team must be killing themselves, is it any wonder Boonen got out of there as fast as possible.

 

[hrotha]

I don't know what to think of this.

On the one hand, HA! Bruyneel, you totally had it coming. I love this.

But on the other hand, if they had a contract then yes, it's perfectly fine to sue. But why the hell would they have an agreement? Also, I don't think there's anything wrong with Radio Shack skipping the Giro if they felt they couldn't send a competitive team because they had to compete in other races that were more important to them. It's exactly what Euskaltel did, and when they do it everybody agrees it's the honest thing to do. Then again, Galdeano and Gerrikagoitia aren't Bruyneel, and you reap what you have sown as they say.

 

[guilder]

American sponsors will take note. The sport isn't worth the pettiness, particularly from 2 nations (ITA, ESP) with the most offenses.

 

[Anonymous]

American sponsors will take note. The sport isn't worth the pettiness, particularly from 2 nations (ITA, ESP) with the most offenses.

American sponsors will take pause from backing a team with Armstrong/Bruyneel involvement.

Garmin, HTC/Columbia and BMC are all fielding teams there.

 

[Race Radio]

American Sponsors take note.

When you sponsor a team make sure that you are actually going to get a full team, not 9 guys for July and a bunch of 3rd tier riders getting minimum wage for the rest of the year. When sponsoring a rider and DS who have made petty feuds their lifetime hobby do not be surprised if your team is not invited to the big parties.

 

[thehog]

I was thinking after their decision that the Tour of California >>>>>>>>> the Giro d'Italia, I guess the saying what comes around, goes around. Levi is too soft to race Lombardia IMO, preferring to beat up at Utah and Gila. Too bad though, I would of liked to have seen Machado given a chance to do what he does best, and just animate the racing.

Machado? Huh? Why the talk on this guy. What did he do? Like ever?

 

[powerste]

But on the other hand, if they had a contract then yes, it's perfectly fine to sue. But why the hell would they have an agreement? Also, I don't think there's anything wrong with Radio Shack skipping the Giro if they felt they couldn't send a competitive team because they had to compete in other races that were more important to them. It's exactly what Euskaltel did, and when they do it everybody agrees it's the honest thing to do. Then again, Galdeano and Gerrikagoitia aren't Bruyneel, and you reap what you have sown as they say.

Agree - no reason they have to go to certain races and no reason they should be automatically invited to them, either. And ditching the Giro would lead one to reasonably expect a Lombardia non-invite.

But it does beg the question, what kind of agreement, and why? Also, why fight over the Lombardia exclusion? As Clemson pointed out, Rat Shack only exists in the US, so the ToC and TdF are the only races that matter to its marketing execs.

Overall, I like the idea of the teams and race organizers having more autonomy over who races where. I always saw the ProTour as a UCI power grab.

 

[movingtarget]

It is funny. Funny that race organisers from two of the countries with the worst records for doping offences have decided that all of a sudden, Armstrong and his team are outcasts. Oh well the pro cycling world never makes much sense to me. I am no Armstrong apologist but I hope that the team avoids both races in the future. Problem solved.

 

[Nick C.]

It is funny. Funny that race organisers from two of the countries with the worst records for doping offences have decided that all of a sudden, Armstrong and his team are outcasts. Oh well the pro cycling world never makes much sense to me. I am no Armstrong apologist but I hope that the team avoids both races in the future. Problem solved.

I thought it was more a matter of not having any use for a team that will send packfill to the race. They can give the spot to any number of smaller national teams who might actually try to animate the race. Look at the Vuelta.

 

[Grand Tourist]

I think Radioshacks 'point' is they were offered & accepted a slot on the Giro di Lombardia which was subsequently withdrawn. They're basically arguing there is a contractural breach.

 

[L'arriviste]

I thought it was more a matter of not having any use for a team that will send packfill to the race. They can give the spot to any number of smaller national teams who might actually try to animate the race. Look at the Vuelta.

I agree. Anyway, it's their party and they can choose the invitees that they think will make their race work best. The organisers are not the ones cheating or fielding naff half-teams, are they?

If there's a contract at issue, then that's where the problem is. Forget everything else.

 

[theswordsman]

In all fairness, the Tour of California was a much bigger race to the team's sponsors since it is the largest race in the only country they do business in

But lots of teams managed to do both. And they spent months as the self-proclaimed Dream Team, bragging about how many leaders they had. One of their riders (I read the interview at Astanafans) said that the Giro had been on Bruyneel's black list since the year before, and that the main reason the team wasn't there was because Armstrong and Zomegnan fought about money.

I just realized that it was probably that same statement at Versus that had Lance block me (I blocked him during the 2009 Giro) on twitter even though I didn't send him tweets.

 

[Mellow Velo]

So, assuming AZ isn't dishing out payback for Armstrong's Giro behaviour, what is the RCS's motivation behind the Radio Shack non-invites?

Do Davey or Moray have a theory, other than the one put forward that feelings were hurt, when RS, in the interest of their sponsors, placed California over the Giro?

 

[flicker]

I like this trend a lot. We've seen it with Zomegnan at the Giro and now organisers everywhere are just saying no because, hey, they can!

What's bad for Lombardia is bad for the sport.

Why would radio shack be bad for lombardia? Is it that they have Lance Levi and Bruynell, some of the most hated on this forum? Is it that they chose not to ride the Giro? Or is it the dreaded Lance thing?

 

[theswordsman]

I don't know what to think of this.

On the one hand, HA! Bruyneel, you totally had it coming. I love this.

But on the other hand, if they had a contract then yes, it's perfectly fine to sue. But why the hell would they have an agreement? Also, I don't think there's anything wrong with Radio Shack skipping the Giro if they felt they couldn't send a competitive team because they had to compete in other races that were more important to them. It's exactly what Euskaltel did, and when they do it everybody agrees it's the honest thing to do. Then again, Galdeano and Gerrikagoitia aren't Bruyneel, and you reap what you have sown as they say.

That's the thing. Is it normal for a brand new team to sign some kind of agreement in January for the last race of the year? Since 25 teams are invited, at that time wouldn't they have expected to be there anyway? It's fun that they're trying to rush CAS to a decision. We'll see how much power JB has in the international community these days. If there's any kind of an Ethics clause the decision should be fun to read.

They're seeking "compensation". Are they after money, or do they want to try to scare organizers for what could be a nasty year next year, or does JB just want to take someone to court and be in with a chance?

If it's a simple breech of contract, why does the name of the attorney they hired feature in the story?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Machado? Huh? Why the talk on this guy. What did he do? Like ever?

Machado once was almost able to stay with Contador on a climb. Almost.

 

[eleven]

American Sponsors take note.

When you sponsor a team make sure that you are actually going to get a full team, not 9 guys for July and a bunch of 3rd tier riders getting minimum wage for the rest of the year. When sponsoring a rider and DS who have made petty feuds their lifetime hobby do not be surprised if your team is not invited to the big parties.

I don't think American sponsors are too concerned that the American team they sponsor to promote stores in America is left off the invite list for a race 99.98% of Americans have never heard of nor care about, nor gets reported on SportsCenter.

 

[joe1265]

Not having teams like RS at their races will only continue to push the Giro, Vuelta and ToLomb onto the back burner of pro cycling.

There's about 10million emerging US cycling fans who are "aware" of the TdF, Paris-Roubaix and some of the other Spring Classics. They have no idea about the Vuelta, Giro and most of the post-TdF races.

This will only push those races to the backburner while the Tour of California and Tour of Colorado take hold.

Where does a company like Specialized get more bang for the buck? Giro di Italia or Tour of California where the GOVERNOR-ATOR Arnold Schwartzenegger is giving away the first leaders jersey???? What do you think makes the headlines from California, across the Pacific Rim and over 1/2 of China?