Bob Stapleton: force for good in pro' cycling?
Comments
-
good...someone not from within the doping culture that all current management of the sport likely have been when they were riders. Ex pros, ex dopers...not ex pro, not ex doper0
-
Let me turn the question around and ask why someone would consider Bob a force for good?
He's talks a great game but do his actions match those words? He's given a very easy time by the english language press which is something I moaned about last year to Procycling.
For a guy who was clever enough to make a huge amount of money in business he's made some really idiotic choices in his tenure as a team boss.Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
What are the idiotic choices? I agree he is given an easy ride.
But on the face of it much of what he does is the same as JV - who also talks a good game and who doesnt get a tough ride - but who I think is a definite force for good.
Would Stapleton allow Paul Kimmage to 'embed' with the team during the Tour? It doesnt seem likely so maybe that is the difference. There is more to Garmin (which I have much more faith in as a force for good) than just the testing - it's a willingness to talk more openly.0 -
I know from business a little bit. He's trying to help cycling but is still a real outsider, he's easily starstruck by big names in the sport and wants to befriend all the riders. That's quite endearing but pro cycling has had its share of corruption, liars and fraudsters, he needs to realise he's not bidding for mobile phone licences, with rules, lawyers and bankers, he's dealing with one of the most dodgy sports in the world. This means you have to take a pinch of salt when you listen to some riders and you need to ask plenty of questions. He's learning. Still, as nice as he can be, anyone who sanctions the new Columbia kit for 2009 has terrible taste
0 -
There is no way Aldag, Zabel or Holm should be employed in a team.....they should be shut out, like Mussuew from Quick Step0
-
Vaughters probably shouldn't be running a team either, eh?Le Blaireau (1)0
-
I think outsiders are they way to go, as they aren't embedded in the culture.
Then, the name Manolo Saiz pops into my head and I think we'd be better off if teams were run by the UK national health system.
They can't afford any new drugs. :P"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
steve2021 wrote:What are the idiotic choices? I agree he is given an easy ride.
Who remembers when he tried to hire Valverde? Or kept Honchar on the team? Or only found out 9 months in that Aldag had "history". Then managing to have his anti-doping run by some guys who a few months earlier where hooking people up to bags of blood.
Then we've got hiring Hincapie (which may have cost them the sponsorship of T-Mobile), using Zabel as a mentor, Rogers being under suspicion of using the Freiburg clinic and then developing glandular fever
If he's run his business like that he'd maybe have a mobile phone stall on Leather Lane market.Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
iainf72 wrote:steve2021 wrote:What are the idiotic choices? I agree he is given an easy ride.
Who remembers when he tried to hire Valverde? Or kept Honchar on the team? Or only found out 9 months in that Aldag had "history". Then managing to have his anti-doping run by some guys who a few months earlier where hooking people up to bags of blood.
Then we've got hiring Hincapie (which may have cost them the sponsorship of T-Mobile), using Zabel as a mentor, Rogers being under suspicion of using the Freiburg clinic and then developing glandular fever
If he's run his business like that he'd maybe have a mobile phone stall on Leather Lane market.
I think the lack of a winning German rider did for the T-Mobile sponsorship more than hiring Hincapie. They'd been manoeuvring for a way out from the moment they realised they'd no longer be spending their 15 million euro bankrolling Jan's Tour campaign.
Actually they'd been rumoured to have been angling for British names to raise their profile again in UK which is (IIRC) a key market. Oh the irony.
And nailing them on for what was rumoured to be about 30 million euro wasn't bad business either.0 -
DaveyL wrote:Vaughters probably shouldn't be running a team either, eh?
fair point...remove all of them...the EPO era are now in management and in jobs they should not be in as they are not of good, honest character0 -
Dave_1 wrote:DaveyL wrote:Vaughters probably shouldn't be running a team either, eh?
fair point...remove all of them...the EPO era are now in management and in jobs they should not be in as they are not of good, honest character
Surely that is a criteria you could apply to some estate agents, car salesmen, the banking/legal fraternity and football management. Aywhere there are large amounts being handed out you will attract people whose self-interest comes firstM.Rushton0 -
Dave_1 wrote:DaveyL wrote:Vaughters probably shouldn't be running a team either, eh?
fair point...remove all of them...the EPO era are now in management and in jobs they should not be in as they are not of good, honest character
Remove anyone from cycling management who was never involved in doping, and you could probably fit them all into the same car.0 -
Dave_1 wrote:DaveyL wrote:Vaughters probably shouldn't be running a team either, eh?
fair point...remove all of them...the EPO era are now in management and in jobs they should not be in as they are not of good, honest character
Thank goodness for that. Vaughters is clearly doing huge damage to pro cycling at the moment, and his team are just rotten to the core.
Er.Le Blaireau (1)0 -
The point is not what people did in the past, it's their attitude today.0
-
The Lance brigade is as bad as the anti Lance brigade for making non-Lance threads about Lance. Can i make a suggestion, stop being surprised some ppl A) dont like Lance
think he doped C) dont mind expressing there point of view. Most of the agrivation on this forum comes from stuff like this.
Stapelton does a good job of seeming to run a clean team how much of that is true or not your guess is as good as mine. Garmin i think are probably more hardcore about it and i feel like i can trust their results.
I dont think Rogers doped but i honestly cant say one good reason why i think that.Take care of the luxuries and the necessites will take care of themselves.0 -
I was making the point above that if some have gone down the wrong path in the past, today we can give them a second chance if they're willing to admit to past mistakes and learn from them. For example, if Armstrong wants to condemn Dr Ferrari, let's hear it.6288 wrote:
which means you will now delete your last 500 LA posts ... or are you including yourself in this ethos?Kléber wrote:The point is not what people did in the past, it's their attitude today.
But why should I delete my past posts, I've been against doping since my very first post on here. :?0 -
There is no way Aldag, Zabel or Holm should be employed in a team.....they should be shut out, like Mussuew from Quick Step
Never underestimate the zeal of the convert.0
