Why did Lance leave Motorola?

[Polish]

Lance left Motorola at the end of the 1996 season and signed for Cofidis.
Does anyone remember the reasons?
Anyone know the reasons?

Lance left Eddie B's Motorola just before Thom Weisel and Eddie formed US Postal right?

If Lance was not struck down by cancer, he would have been racing AGAINST the "white-bagger's" at USPostal at the 1997 TdF.

Probably would not have done all that great.
No cancer survival transformation. No high cadence etc etc etc.

Then after Cofidis dumped Lance - he signed with US Postal.
But again, why did Lance leave in the first place?
Did he know something we don't know?

 

[DomesticDomestique]

I demand to know who hacked Polish's account.

 

[MacRoadie]

Is Lance still under investigation by half the Western World?


Thought so...


Just checking.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Lance left Motorola at the end of the 1996 season and signed for Cofidis.
Does anyone remember the reasons?
Anyone know the reasons?

http://nytimes.com/1996/05/13/sports/13iht-sam.t_3.html

 

[MacRoadie]

http://nytimes.com/1996/05/13/sports/13iht-sam.t_3.html

Well, there goes the whole "Lance leaves teams because he doesn't want to be involved in doping" idea.

Next one should be rolling out soon...

Of course, Polish will be back here first with some incomprehensibly outlandish spin on his original not-so-nuanced post, but this thread will be on page 2 by the end of the day.

 

[VeloFidelis]

Lance left Motorola at the end of the 1996 season and signed for Cofidis.
Does anyone remember the reasons?
Anyone know the reasons?

Lance left Eddie B's Motorola just before Thom Weisel and Eddie formed US Postal right?

If Lance was not struck down by cancer, he would have been racing AGAINST the "white-bagger's" at USPostal at the 1997 TdF.

Probably would not have done all that great.
No cancer survival transformation. No high cadence etc etc etc.

Then after Cofidis dumped Lance - he signed with US Postal.
But again, why did Lance leave in the first place?
Did he know something we don't know?

For the money!

 

[VeloCity]

I thought he had already committed to Cofidis before USPS got organized?

And wasn't part of Armstrong's deal with Cofidis that they had to sign Andreu as well? How times change.

 

[Zigster]

people forget how awful Motorola was. They would hire European pros with decent FICP rankings to get into races. Within a year these guys would have no results, effectively decimating their careers - Max Sciandri comes to mind.

 

[VeloFidelis]

people forget how awful Motorola was. They would hire European pros with decent FICP rankings to get into races. Within a year these guys would have no results, effectively decimating their careers - Max Sciandri comes to mind.

Really?!... I recall 92 & 93 being some of his best years as a professional. You might want to fact check yourself on that one

 

[Polish]

http://nytimes.com/1996/05/13/sports/13iht-sam.t_3.html

Thanks for the link. Good article.

Well, there goes the whole "Lance leaves teams because he doesn't want to be involved in doping" idea.

Next one should be rolling out soon...

Of course, Polish will be back here first with some incomprehensibly outlandish spin on his original not-so-nuanced post, but this thread will be on page 2 by the end of the day.

Hey, it was worth a shot.

But I WAS following Pro Cycling back then - I just forgot the reasons for Lance changing teams. With hindsight we now know that both Motorola and Cofidis had doping programs back then.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, it was worth a shot.

But I WAS following Pro Cycling back then - I just forgot the reasons for Lance changing teams. With hindsight we now know that Motorola, Lance, and Cofidis had doping programs back then.

There, fixed that for you.

 

[pmcg76]

Lance left Motorola at the end of the 1996 season and signed for Cofidis.
Does anyone remember the reasons?
Anyone know the reasons?

Lance left Eddie B's Motorola just before Thom Weisel and Eddie formed US Postal right?

If Lance was not struck down by cancer, he would have been racing AGAINST the "white-bagger's" at USPostal at the 1997 TdF.

Probably would not have done all that great.
No cancer survival transformation. No high cadence etc etc etc.

Then after Cofidis dumped Lance - he signed with US Postal.
But again, why did Lance leave in the first place?
Did he know something we don't know?

I think that question relegates you to the bottom of the fanboy table. Any fanboy that even needs to ask that question is not worthy of Lance's affections.

 

[bhilden]

This was probably covered in the NYT article, but Lance didn't leave Motorola, Motorola left Lance. The company decided to end it's sponsorship at the end of 1996 so all the riders had to find new teams. Don't read anymore into it. It was that simple.

BTW, it was a great warehouse sale at the team's base in Pewaukee, WI when the sponsorship ended.

 

[Polish]

I think that question relegates you to the bottom of the fanboy table. Any fanboy that even needs to ask that question is not worthy of Lance's affections.

Hey, I have forgotten more from the 90's than many Clinic posters even knew in the first place lol.

I do remember NOT being a big fan of Lance back then.
Kind of snotty. Like a Ricco, except very talented.
Big Big Mig Fan. Big LeMond fan back then too.

An inlaw worked at Motorola in that time frame.
She thought the Motorola cycling team was a company employee team.
Like softball or something.
She once asked me what Division Lance worked in lol.

 

[MacRoadie]

Hey, I have forgotten more from the 90's than many Clinic posters even knew in the first place lol.

Ok, NOW you've gone full ***...

 

[Polish]

Ok, NOW you've gone full ***...

Many Clinic posters were in pre-school or elementary school in the early 90's.
At least one mod too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POjRqJDvAjk