Motivation, Eastern-bloc style

curium
curium Posts: 815
edited March 2015 in Pro race
Read this story over on cyclingnews about Tinkov chewing out Riis over the 'lack of results' so far this season.
According to L’Équipe, the Russian entrepreneur had a public row with team manager Bjarne Riis during Tirreno-Adriatico. Angered by a haul of just one win since the start of the year, by Alberto Contador’s loss to Nairo Quintana in the mountains at Tirreno and Rafal Majka’s poor showing as team leader at Paris-Nice, Tinkov demanded that the Dane take over the duties as lead directeur sportif and relegate Steven de Jongh to a seat in the second car.

When I recall the stories about 'poor-performance' letters allegedly sent out to Astana riders by management (See Fredrik Kessiakoff's account and this story about Nibali receiving letters), I can't help but make a link and wonder if this style of man-management is inherent to certain sporting cultures, namely Russia and former eastern-bloc countries or if it is similar at all the big teams.

Comments

  • dolan_driver
    dolan_driver Posts: 831
    It is just as well then that Peter Sagan didn't post a DNF at Tirreno-Adriatico! :lol:

    DD.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,150
    The realisation has dawned on Tinkov that he's blown $4 millon a year on a rider who only won six races last year - mostly minor ones. He could have got Kristoff or Degenkolb for a third of the price if he'd waited a year.

    If you're over paying a rider it's your fault Oleg, not theirs.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,612
    I thought he only cared about the big races, not the number of wins?
    _
  • Macaloon
    Macaloon Posts: 5,545
    Oleg Trumpoff puts his head through the door for a light-hearted motivational chat:

    "Don't worry about it Bjarne, I just lost it there when Lord Sugar took the p1ss out of my entrepreneurial acumen."

    bladerunner-still2-lg.jpg
    ...a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    I thought he only cared about the big races, not the number of wins?

    He tweeted saying if Sagan had lost the jersey he wouldn't have cared, because its such a small thing.
  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    Macaloon wrote:
    Oleg Trumpoff puts his head through the door for a light-hearted motivational chat:

    "Don't worry about it Bjarne, I just lost it there when Lord Sugar took the p1ss out of my entrepreneurial acumen."

    bladerunner-still2-lg.jpg
    :lol::lol::lol:
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  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    Maybe the riders could tape 'Shut up Olegs' to their top tube
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    Shut Up Oleg!

    Now there's a banner for this year's Tour. :D

    Where's our resident banner maker extraordinaire, Frenchie with his cardboard box and marker pens?
    Correlation is not causation.

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