The Baku Cycling Propaganda Project

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Time to shine some light on one of the most irritating teams in recent cycling history: the Synergy Baku Cycling Project CT team.

While on the sportive side of not much interest (apart from some Clinic stuff regarding their current crop of old dopers like Pliushin or Eibegger), the team is slowly but steadily spreading some good ol' political propaganda around - showcasing one of the most disgusting dictatorships in Eurasia (link).

Centered around the Tour de Azerbaijan (earlier versions were called Heydar Aliyev Anniversary Tour), the main purpose of the team is to glorify the despotic Aliyev family: the old "president" Heydar Aliyev (link) and the new one Ilham Aliyev (link) (who's also heading the AZE olympic committee), managed by the General Secretary of the Cycling Federation of Azerbaijan - a certain Farhad (you guessed it) Aliyev.

The other purpose is pure political propaganda: fighting the old war rival of Armenia (link). You don't find a lot of cycling teams that 'have paid respect to the spirit of all martyrs' (link). Or who 'light a fire to fight the liar' (link).

Sadly Azerbaijan has - thanks to oil and gas ressources - enough money to finance all this stuff. And more: European Games no one needs or wants elsewhere (link), Olympic bids (link) or even ****ty song contests (link).

So can we expect some reaction from the UCI? Think again: the team manager was a certain David McQuaid (link)...

 

[LaFlorecita]

Me thinks Aunt Susan will not like this thread...

 

[pastronef]

Me thinks Aunt Susan will not like this thread...

ehehe you are right Flo

 

[GP Blanco]

Time to shine some light on one of the most irritating teams in recent cycling history: the Synergy Baku Cycling Project CT team.

While on the sportive side of not much interest (apart from some Clinic stuff regarding their current crop of old dopers like Pliushin or Eibegger), the team is slowly but steadily spreading some good ol' political propaganda around - showcasing one of the most disgusting dictatorships in Eurasia (link).

Centered around the Tour de Azerbaijan (earlier versions were called Heydar Aliyev Anniversary Tour), the main purpose of the team is to glorify the despotic Aliyev family: the old "president" Heydar Aliyev (link) and the new one Ilham Aliyev (link) (who's also heading the AZE olympic committee), managed by the General Secretary of the Cycling Federation of Azerbaijan - a certain Farhad (you guessed it) Aliyev.

The other purpose is pure political propaganda: fighting the old war rival of Armenia (link). You don't find a lot of cycling teams that 'have paid respect to the spirit of all martyrs' (link). Or who 'light a fire to fight the liar' (link).

Sadly Azerbaijan has - thanks to oil and gas ressources - enough money to finance all this stuff. And more: European Games no one needs or wants elsewhere (link), Olympic bids (link) or even ****ty song contests (link).

So can we expect some reaction from the UCI? Think again: the team manager was a certain David McQuaid (link)...

Maybe they could start their own competition with Katusha and Astana.

 

[roundabout]

Re all the Aliyevs, I am not sure that the cycling fed guy is related to the current despot

 

[manafana]

Would expect Azer develop there own Astana, funny thing is you would be hard pushed to find a bike in Baku been ridden.

 

[PeterB]

Would expect Azer develop there own Astana, funny thing is you would be hard pushed to find a bike in Baku been ridden.

Cycling sport is ideal for this kind of promotion. You just buy riders, and off you go - you can start travelling to races all around the world, earning goodwill for your country everywhere you appear. Unlike with a football team for example, or national team in any sport, a cycling team does not need to qualify to competitions - it is very likely a team will get invited to many places just thanks to its sheer existence, if you buy the right riders. So it has little to do with developing cycling culture in your country.

 

[manafana]

Cycling sport is ideal for this kind of promotion. You just buy riders, and off you go - you can start travelling to races all around the world, earning goodwill for your country everywhere you appear. Unlike with a football team for example, or national team in any sport, a cycling team does not need to qualify to competitions - it is very likely a team will get invited to many places just thanks to its sheer existence, if you buy the right riders. So it has little to do with developing cycling culture in your country.

to be fair Astana has been setup to also develop cycling in the country not the case for Baku so far.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

the baku team has been developping cycling locally tremendously and so has their national fed. don't know what you guys are talking about. also their riders have been improving a lot and been send to many races including wc's in recent years. also just a few km over the border with iran cycling has always been huge in iranian azerbaidzjan and tabriz region

 

[Christian]

Interesting stuff Bye Bye Bicycle, thanks for sharing. I knew more or less what is going on but I didn't know a lot of the details. Who is the liar they were fighting by lighting a fire? Also, can you say "Light a fire to fight the liar" ten times in a row?

But I agree with other posters that other teams have similarly questionable politics or ethics... and I'm sure Ryo is right too...