Botero to Rock and Republic

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited November 2007 in Pro race
According to Cyclingnews Botero is off to R&R for 2008.

I wonder what their DS Mr Andreau makes of that? If he's got a beef with doping and didn't just make anti-Armstrong statements to shut his wife up, surely he must resign?

:roll:
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.

Comments

  • phil s
    phil s Posts: 1,128
    The more I read about this team the more I dislike the whole set-up. Shame, their kit's kinda groovy
    -- Dirk Hofman Motorhomes --
  • jimmythecuckoo
    jimmythecuckoo Posts: 4,718
    Agreed, nice kit, awful ethics...
    http://fendrieneu.home.blog
    My blog and pod...
    Beers of Belgium Cycling Club UK
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Are they the new Team Evil TM?
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    andyp wrote:
    Are they the new Team Evil TM?

    That's gotta be LPR.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    iainf72 wrote:
    That's gotta be LPR.
    They are Team Irrelevant surely? They only ride the Italian calendar and only hire people with shady pasts, i.e. Nardello, Jose Enrique Guttierez and now Salvoldelli and Di Luca.

    Rock and Republic have a pantomime villain of an owner with a win at all costs mentality, have hired a Puerto renegade and have tattoos. That's got to make them the evilest?
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    They're the anti-Slipstream.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    andyp wrote:
    iainf72 wrote:
    That's gotta be LPR.
    They are Team Irrelevant surely? They only ride the Italian calendar and only hire people with shady pasts, i.e. Nardello, Jose Enrique Guttierez and now Salvoldelli and Di Luca.

    Good lord man. The last 3 have links to all the dodgy doctors of recent years and look at their results in the Giro. 2 of the last 3 winner and a guy who came 2nd in the year neither of them won.

    And they're Swiss. All the best evil teams are Swiss. Phonak / Astana.

    R&R are more like a yobbish team.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • GroupOfOne MkII
    GroupOfOne MkII Posts: 1,289
    andyp wrote:
    Are they the new Team Evil TM?

    What about Astana MkII (or MkIII I suppose)? Then again I suppose they have got a new anti-doping scheme and got rid of all the bad eggs haven't they :wink:
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    iainf72 wrote:

    And they're Swiss. All the best evil teams are Swiss. Phonak / Astana.


    Agreed. It must have something to do with the ready availabilty of mountain lairs.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • drenkrom
    drenkrom Posts: 1,062
    If ethics is anywhere on your list of priorities when it comes to cycling teams, you really shouldn't be a Rock & Republic fan to begin with. I find the signing kind of weird, as I can only imagine Botero getting his arse whupped on the US crit circuit. That alone will get me out to races R&R go to that are within driving distance.
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    I think R&Rs "USP" is to present the image that they are a bunch of hard-living, drug taking riders. The reality is that USADA will be all over them like a rash and the guys wouldn't get a chance to dope even if they wanted to. In any case I can't imagine there is sufficient contract and prize money on the US crit circuit to warrant sigining up to one of Michele Ferraris "sure it's only some intervals" training programmes.

    If R&R had signed up a string of innocuous riders and had a CEO that didn't make such daft statements, we wouldn't have a thread about them. What was it Oscar Wilde said about the only thing worse than people taliking about you?
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    LangerDan wrote:
    What was it Oscar Wilde said about the only thing worse than people taliking about you?

    Was it "People who cheat at sport"?

    You have a good point. Trying to make yourself sound dodgy for marketing purposes is operating at a higher level though.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    But is it any worse than trying to make yourself sound whiter-than-white for marketing purposes, iain? :wink:
    Le Blaireau (1)
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    iainf72 wrote:
    LangerDan wrote:
    What was it Oscar Wilde said about the only thing worse than people taliking about you?

    Was it "People who cheat at sport"?

    You have a good point. Trying to make yourself sound dodgy for marketing purposes is operating at a higher level though.

    Nothing novel about that. Keith Richards has actually spent the past 20 years living on a diet of Complan and Wurthers Originals.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • drenkrom
    drenkrom Posts: 1,062
    LangerDan wrote:
    In any case I can't imagine there is sufficient contract and prize money on the US crit circuit to warrant sigining up to one of Michele Ferraris "sure it's only some intervals" training programmes.

    You have clearly never seen the prize list of a big US crit. The culture is completely different to Euro road racing, but the purse up for grabs can sometimes make the minor classics pale in comparison. Good thing, as you are right on the money when it comes to contracts. US crits really have to be seen to be understood. It's a world apart. And the bad boy attitude of R&R resonates deeply with the criterium crowd.

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