Wow. People defend the riders no matter what. Riis couldn't have been courting Contador in advance, because Saxo Bank only decided to continue sponsorship during the TdF when they found out Contador was a possibility. And Contador probably would have continued with Astana as his people said if the team hadn't messed up the equipment for the Time Trial yet again and made him suffer because they gave him wrong information about how close Schlecklet was to his time.
Riis is a team manager, and in that position has the same rights and responsibilities as any team manager. He can't just let things slide because he might have dome things as a rider. The OP seems to think that because of Riis' past, he has no right to impose rules on his employees, and they can lie to him as much as they want. A multi-million dollar organization with sponsors and a high media profile can't operate that way.
Bruyneel lies all the time, and contradicts himself in the press, but that doesn't mean that his employees are allowed to lie to him. Rassmussen lost his shot at the Tour de France not because he was caught doping, but because an announcer said during the Tour that he had been in Italy when he claimed to be in Mexico. Are you saying that if he was riding for Riis, his lying would have been OK?
The Schlecks lied, and you're not angry at them for lying to their employer, but upset with him for not keeping quiet about the lie? So Omerta extends beyond doping, and riders can say or do anything they please, but the people who pay their salaries don't have a right to the truth?
A lot of people here don't believe the detailed La Gazzetta dello Sport story about Schleck and O'Grady staggering in at five in the morning. They don't believe independent reports from various cities in Spain where real human beings not related to cycling say they saw those two guys and Cancellara out partying during the race. Some guy out on the town at his usual club sees a couple of pro cyclists show up during a race, and the word of him and others can't be trusted because the rider said things differently.
Cancellara bailed during a stage of the Vuelta and left the country without talking to his boss or anyone. People who aren't Riis say that Cancellara was negotiating with the new team in December 2009, while he still had TWO YEARS left on his contract. He had to act badly at the Vuelta to make it so Riis could no longer work with him, so he could get out of an agreement he had signed but had no intention of honoring. Then out of the blue he blames Riis and Contador for his leaving, not expecting that anyone would call shenanigans.
I don't know much about Riis, but I managed people for years, and have two Management degrees, and I know what it's like to have employees show up drunk, and lie, etc. I also know had employees lie to other employees about their own situation, knowing that as a responsible manager, I had to respect their privacy and the truth.
So in this case a boss was lied o, and people go ballistic not at the liar, but because they feel the guy deserves to be lied to? If so, you get what you deserve from this sport. I read tons of articles in tons of languages to get to the truth about the Vuelta story. I believe that three guys got drunk a number of times during the race, two got tossed out, and the third went AWOL. All three have since lied to the press, and dome so in a way to make other people look bad.
Go ahead and treat them like heroes, and believe whatever they say, even if they change their story, and pro cycling will keep on the way it is because no one holds anyone accountable.
And for people wondering about Bruyneel's lies, go look at Wheel Gate, and him telling the world that Contador didn't buy his own TT wheels, and then quietly telling Marca a couple of months later that Contador did, and including a lie as to the cover story. Another was during this Tour when Contador showed up at the Radio Shack bus with gifts of watches, and later the infamous photo was posted where it looked like Lance was screaming at Alberto during the race. Bruyneel said that Lance and Alberto talk to each other in the peloton all the time, and would talk to each other again the day Lance couldn't be bothered to accept the watch. When Lance got grilled over the photo, he said that he hadn't spoken to Contador in a year, and that even though it was a one time event, he couldn't recall what he had said.
People will continue to lie in the sport as long as journalists are willing to print anything they say, and fans will believe it. And threads like this one that attack a guy for something he did years ago because he went to the press and exposed the lies just perpetuate the problem.
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