Radioshack not selected for Tour of Spain

Slideshowbob

http://johanbruyneel.com/news_articles/pressreleasenoninvitevuelta.html

I find his comment:

“It is high time for ‘professional’ cycling to become professional. The structure of our sport needs to change towards a model of other successful professional sports like soccer, tennis, Formula 1, etc."

to be quite disturbing !!

Soccer, tennis, F1 all had alledged Operation Puerto links eh!??

RobFowl

Not too much sympathy here.

Feel sorry for Skil-Shimano and Vacansoleil both of whom got no grand tour rides this year at all. Makes no sense when you see some of the dross that did.

Leroy42

The Vuelta is fast becoming an irrelevance, it is only seen as a grand tour because of history, not because of the quality of the race or the field.

Clearly the Giro and Tour and now the big ones, and with the push on to bring the ToC to mini-tour staus and therfore try to bring in the big american market I think the Vuelta is in some some difficult times.

Not giving an invite to one of the top teams is stupit and shortsighed. I am sure it is because the team is effectively a vehicle for Lance and the TdF, but it has proved strong and made an impact in many big races. While I agree with the sentiment, they are effectively closing off a major source of interest from the US, which is a big market.

on_the_nickel

"2 x TdeF Stage wins
13 Grand Tours
Author
Teacher
World Traveler
Philanthropist"

You forgot to add w*nker there, Johan.

ednwireland

Leroy42 wrote: »

The Vuelta is fast becoming an irrelevance, it is only seen as a grand tour because of history, not because of the quality of the race or the field.

Clearly the Giro and Tour and now the big ones, and with the push on to bring the ToC to mini-tour staus and therfore try to bring in the big american market I think the Vuelta is in some some difficult times.

Not giving an invite to one of the top teams is stupit and shortsighed. I am sure it is because the team is effectivelyLance and the TdF a vehicle for , but it has proved strong and made an impact in many big races. While I agree with the sentiment, they are effectively closing off a major source of interest from the US, which is a big market.

i disagree
and lance probably isnt going to be there, what are they going to add sprinters overall contendors, i doubrt its anything to o with anti lance but the vuelta i guess is massive in spain and they have to accomodate spanish riders and teams (especially with people like you calling it an irrelevance)
to satisfy tv and sponsors, radioshack without lance is an irrelevance and i would think the organisers have weighed up the propspect of a lightweight radioshack team vs a spanish team/ rider gunning for stage victories and/or the overall

Leroy42

but therein lies the problem. I agree that Radioshack sans Lance is not really much, although Kloden, Levi etc probably beg to differ.

However, with the Vuelta slipping down the pecking order, turning in on itself is not really the answer, they need to spread the word wider than just Spain.

Albeit it a different league, but the Tour of Ireland with big names certainly brings with it much bigger coverage than say the Ras with more local (which I agree with) but largely unknown (outside of cycling) names.

I don't beleive it is anti-Lance either and agree it is probably just looking at trying to get more Spanish teams etc in the race, just don't agree that it is the way to go. It's like a Grand Slam event not selcting Djokivic (sic?) because they want Murray to do well. Thats fine for smaller events, but the tag of Grand Tour means that they should have the best available.

Chips Lovell

Interesting move. I think the fact that the team's principal figures are under federal investigation in the US may have played a part in it. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the Tour invites were sent out after the Landis thing broke. Disinviting someone is a bigger deal than not inviting them in the first place. Also the Vuelta organisers don't have to worry about snubbing a multiple winner and a podium finisher from last year, like the Tour does.

Leroy42 wrote: »

Clearly the Giro and Tour and now the big ones, and with the push on to bring the ToC to mini-tour staus and therfore try to bring in the big american market I think the Vuelta is in some some difficult times.

I'm sorry, but the Tour of California is light years below the Vuelta in terms of status. It was essentially a pre-season race until this year and, with the exception of a small number of riders, is now a training race/PR exercise for people resting between the spring classics and the Tour.

There's far more prestigeous one week races on the calendar.

NickDrake

I wonder has it anything to do with Levi being in trouble re Landis and Kloden in trouble for blood doping in the German university??

Maybe the Spanish just don't want a dirty team in the Vuelta??

Chips Lovell

NickDrake wrote: »

Maybe the Spanish just don't want a dirty team in the Vuelta??

If they wanted that, there'd be very few Spaniards in the race. If the Landis thing was a factor, they don't want to risk it blowing up in the middle of the race.

RobFowl

NickDrake wrote: »

Maybe the Spanish just don't want a dirty team in the Vuelta??

That post's made my day

NickDrake

RobFowl wrote: »

That post's made my day

Ha I know the Spanish teams are dirty but were they ever as bad as US Postal/Discovery and now RadioShack?

Do you think RadioShack are clean?

The Spanish will always stand by their own which is understandable

Liamo08

NickDrake wrote: »

Ha I know the Spanish teams are dirty but were they ever as bad as US Postal/Discovery and now RadioShack?

Yes every bit as dirty, I don't think US Postal/Discovery/RadioShack were doing anything the rest weren't. Probably just doing it a bit more effectively.

Junior

NickDrake wrote: »

Ha I know the Spanish teams are dirty but were they ever as bad as US Postal/Discovery and now RadioShack?

Do you think RadioShack are clean?

The Spanish will always stand by their own which is understandable

Ever heard of Operation Puerto ? No ? Spain was the last place I thought Radioshack wouldn't be welcome.

NickDrake

Junior wrote: »

Ever heard of Operation Puerto ? No ? Spain was the last place I thought Radioshack wouldn't be welcome.

Ya heard about it. it wasnt just Spanish riders involved in that.

ednwireland

Bruyneel added that he believes there’s an abuse of power in the sport and he’s disappointed that Radioshack, a new sponsor to cycling in 2010, isn’t rewarded for its financial commitment to the ProTour team.

hmm what about all the ongoing sponsors as well johan
sour grapes
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bruyneel-speechless-after-vuelta-snub

“I am not only surprised, I am speechless,” said Bruynee

if only