Riis says ... Schleck LIED ?!?!?

[Ruxen1989]

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=11057

Excuse me Riis but what kind of behavior is that? I find it disgusting that he got Contador to apoligize to Schleck. Riis intervined in their friendship for publicity reasons and it payed off.

 

[NashbarShorts]

With the exodus of the Schlecks and now the pending loss of Contador, my prediction for 2011 is that Battlin' Bjarne is going to be forced out of retirement and will lace up as his team's GC contender.

In the end, age will prove to high of a hurdle to overcome, however Bjarne will be competitive -- and finish just off the podium --, thanks in part to his new nickname, "Mr. 70%".

 

[Darryl Webster]

With the exodus of the Schlecks and now the pending loss of Contador, my prediction for 2011 is that Battlin' Bjarne is going to be forced out of retirement and will lace up as his team's GC contender.

In the end, age will prove to high of a hurdle to overcome, however Bjarne will be competitive -- and finish just off the podium --, thanks in part to his new nickname, "Mr. 70%".

Surely the UCI would take the opertunity to give him a( VERY OVERDUE) two year suspension for his self confensed PED use?

 

[Christian]

All I can say is that if you've got a succesful team with good morale, then the DS would know about what offers are being proffered.

What I do know is that riders with a good relationship with their DS tend to put their cards on the table.

You confuse Directeur Sportif with Team Manager. At Saxo Bank, Kim Andersen was the DS and Bjarne Riis the manager.

So my guess is the Schlecks (and some others) had a very good relationship with Andersen, while Riis was more in the background, especially last year. The riders spent very much time with Andersen and the other DS's (Torsten Schmit is switching too), while Riis was probably out of the picture for the most time, in search of a sponsor. That is, in my opinion, why there was a lot going on within the team which Riis had no clue about, he was simply too busy trying to secure a sponsor.

 

[HoustonHammer]

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.

You realize that the bold statement above is illogical, right? You seem to be saying that A couldn't have happened before B, because B was a result of A. How could Saxo Bank have known that AC was a real possibility if BR hadn't already been talking to AC?

As for perhaps not leaving Astana, I guess we'll never know, and I don't have any evidence to the contrary. But my recollection was that he was only with Astana this year because he really had no choice. I thought the universal assumption before the season was that he would serve out his contractual commitment and move on.

 

[issoisso]

The EPO monster does not accept lies

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Actually, the more I look into this, the more I think that the whole 'lie' might be a bit of a smoke-show. It allows BR to have continued courting sponsors, while the riders could covertly court other teams. Everybody wins...

 

[Polyarmour]

Riis tells an enormous porky pie just days after accusing the Schlecks of lying.

“I think Contador will be acquitted,” Riis told Politiken. “I believe in his innocence and I am convinced that he is a clean rider. I believe his explanation that the detected drug traces come from the Spanish steak. I can see no other explanation.”

He can see no other explanation?

As in, he can't see the most probable explanation, a blood transfusion?

Yes Riis is playing politics to save his skin and he doesn't mind slandering a few people along the way.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Yeah, tainted cow is the ONLY explanation...

Is this guy a politician, or what? We may be looking at McQuaid's successor...

 

[Moviefan1203]

If Riis says something, then it must be true. He's a doper who has been defending another doper. What a guy.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

He's just a doper, defending another doper, who's playing a doper...

I think I heard something like that before...

 

[Moviefan1203]

Riis is a lying son of a *****!

 

[La Pandera]

Seems like the majority of the team bailed because Riis was just like them, sell out to the highest bidder.

The Shlecks probably got wind of Riis romancing Contador, and realized they'd be riding in support of Team Clen. After all Andy and Bert are buddies.

Cancellara flipped when he got wind of this and felt like last nights red light date (they don't let you write W***e [hor] on CN):

"Saxo Bank team boss Bjarne Riis may be willing to let one of his top riders out of his contract, but if anyone wants time trial world champion Fabian Cancellara, it will come at the steep price of €3 million."

and they all went Maca Loca!

"It seems the sponsorship from Maca Loca has facilitated the arrival of Cancellara to the team by covering the cost of his 1.83 million Euro contract buy-out payment to Saxo Bank."

The Schleck's were going to bail way before the Riis/Contador hook up occurred. It was rumoured as far back as the Giro that there was a Luxemburg project in the works. Are we to believe that the two top Luxemburg riders weren't already a part of it? Also when it became a rumour to us as fans it likely had been in the works for months prior to that.
There was obviously some bad blood between Riis and Andy, I would guess as a result of Andy's seemingly free spiritied nature. A conflict that is in contrast to the Contador/Bruyneel one (2009) where Contador rode his own race, which was contrary to the strategy Bruyneel had in mind.

Additionally one has to wonder about the cavalier attitudes of Andy, O'Grady and Cancellara at the Vuelta while Frank Schleck was battling to get on the podium. We hear about the professional cyclist's life being one of sacrifice, denying one's self of life's everyday pleasures to be able to perform at their best for themselves and their teammates but obviously somewhere along the way these three lost that loving feeling. Maybe excerpts of the Riis' book were leaked the trio were none to pleased with how they were portrayed....or exposed.

 

[La Pandera]

Let me add that Riis was within his rights to ask for an honest answer when asking if a rider is planning on leaving the team considering he was furiously trying to find sponsors for the team for 2011. Without a commitment from his top riders he couldn't very well successfully attract sponsors. When the Schleck's told him they weren't bailing when in fact they had a plan in the works with those starting up the Luxemburg team, and then that news began to surface in the media, I'm sure whatever prospects Riis had dwindled significantly.

At the same time with the precarious situation that existed at Team Saxo Bank at the time, Riis and any potential sponsors knew that those riders in the final year of their contracts would be, at the least, putting out feelers to see what teams were interested AND other teams, like vultures circling a dying animal were likely making contact with all concerned even those like Cancellara who still had a year to honor on his contract.

Ultimately it was all about: 1. Self preservation 2. Staying with the group your most familiar and comfortable with and 3. Dollars. Team Luxemborg seems to have a bottomless pit of dollars to offer prospective riders and Riis could never match what they were offering. We all can assume that getting Contador on board was the primary draw of the sponsors and he doesn't come cheap. In the end, for those that say the primary reason for mass exodus of Saxo's talent was due to some character flaw of Riis', how does that explain why those that stayed didn't also bail like Gustav Larrson and Richie Porte? In some cases riders sometimes simply need a change of leadership/scenery.

 

[La Pandera]

Riis is a lying son of a *****!

What should one expect? Contador is likely the reason Riis was able to get a sponsor. Would it be smart to publicly demonize your potential bread winner before he's been officially proven to have cheated? Even McQuaid is quoted as saying that the rumours bout the traces of plasticizers being found in Contador's sample are simply that, rumours. Riis is simply covering his own behind until the final verdict comes in.

Plus, with the advent of Twitter, it's just a matter of time before we get responses from the accused "liers".

 

[Christian]

What about this one:

"Breschel and Fuglsang would like to stay with Riis"

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fuglsang-breschel-would-like-to-stay-with-riis (published June 30th)

I'm not saying they lied, but the Schlecks might have said the same thing and then for some reason everyone decided against Riis?