Podium Cafe: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:



Around SBN: Want to help build SB Nation? We're hiring! Bar-right-arrows



Is T-Mobile Making History?

Yesterday's press conference where T-Mobile unveiled its overhauled squad should become a memorable event in Cycling's internal drug war. For a lot of reasons I don't think we thoroughly digested yesterday.

If the whole "new, clean T-Mobile" thing still results in embarassing positive tests, then T-Mobile's efforts will perhaps be remembered as a new cynical low for the sport. But assuming otherwise, for now, here are some pretty serious takeaway points on how maybe -- just maybe -- T-Mobile is going to save Cycling.

On the flip...

Star-divide

  • First off, T-Mobile has been one of the sport's most generous sponsors -- the most, for all I know -- for some dozen years. And their response to a drug scandal that not only supposedly destroyed the sport but hit their own squad squarely on the noggin? Four more years!

Perhaps a more pragmatic person would simply say they are too deeply invested in Cycling to pull out completely now. But rather than pulling back -- say, cutting funds or committing to one year at a time -- T-Mobile is making a dramatic statement that they still believe in the sport.

This could send ripples across the sponsorship landscape... let's face it, companies advertising on jerseys probably don't care about doping, they just want eyeballs directed at their logos. That's marketing. But they do tend to behave like sheep, and if there were a wave of sponsorship revulsion at Cycling, sponsors would find themselves staying away in droves and parroting each other's sanctimonious scolding of the sport. Once one big sponsor says "we quit" it makes it harder for others to not do the same. Well, T-Mobile is saying, "we ain't going anywhere. We want to fix this." So reports of a sponsorship famine are probably premature, if not dead.

Very cool! If I could get out of my Verizon contract right now, I'd switch to T-Mobile service in about two seconds.

  • Take a look at how T-Mobile is approaching the team concept:
The team has also introduced a new medical and training program. The rider's medical supervision will all be done at the University of Freiburg and there will be strict internal controls, including increased training controls and many tests done by the team medical staff. Each rider is to have a health profile established, containing their physical data, results from lab testing, and samples from controls - and it will include a DNA sample.

Until now, all training had been left to the individual rider. He could seek his own trainer - no questions asked - and could, but wasn't required, to use the team medical facilities. That will now change. All training will be coordinated by a central source, who will check out all the trainers. They will send all the data to this central source, which will analyse it and work with the trainers to develop training programs.

Am I missing something, or isn't this also a HUGE development?? Have teams done this before? Perhaps this has been tried from time to time, but at least most recently, at the top levels, riders have followed their own individual programs, especially top riders. I'm sure as far as wattage is concerned there isn't much difference between the more or less collective training models, and riders all like to be closer to home when they can, you'd think.

But regarding doping, this might make a rather large difference. Putting the entire team on the same medical and training program could have at least three positive effects I can think of:

  1. It physically prevents riders from working with a doping doctor... if you're training with Dr. X, you're not training with Dr. Y. No longer will their riders be associated with shady characters on an extensive basis. Remember, the doping doctors have not only been dispensing products but often working closely with riders throughout the season, so the whole meds/training program works in synch.
  2. It creates a much tighter system of internal surveillance, which if done right should be virtually foolproof (you'd think).
  3. It creates a HUGE psychological barrier against doping! I'm really going way beyond my knowledge and experience here, but it seems like it's infinitely easier for a rider who trains alone or in small groups to give in to doping than it would be when you're more closely connected. Wouldn't you find it much harder to go against a closely-knit system, which all of your teammates have bought into, than the old "don't ask, don't tell" arrangement?
So, some disclaimers... obviously I'm nowhere near close enough to the inner workings of a Pro Tour team to speak with authority here. This is pure conjecture. And I don't think it necessarily wipes out doping, even if all teams go this route. The drugs will always be around... like all forms of risk, you can only hope to reduce it to acceptable (background) levels, rather than wipe it out 100%. And finally, as always, my natural state of mind is somewhere between "naive" and "wildly optimistic."

Nonetheless, T-Mobile's new program really looks like it could throw some major roadblocks up in the path of the dopers. Perhaps it's only a part of the solution; we still need the races, the UCI, and the individuals to do their part. But what T-Mobile has done, in two short months, is reformulate the team structure so that the teams and the sponsors are now possibly a large part of the solution to the doping crisis. Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but I say "respect" to the T-Mob for really, really trying.

0 recs | Comment 7 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

I am optimistic
if for no other reason than it looks like someone actually wants to take a stab at curbing cheating.

Among the things I absolutely love are the DNA samples, restriction of trainers and doctors to ones approved by the team, and establishing baseline data that will constantly be referenced during the season and beyond. This should go a long way towards getting and keeping all riders on the same page and in the fold. At the very least it will make it harder for riders who want to cheat to do so. Let's not be naive, for those who want it bad enough there are always ways, but the chances of them slipping up somewhere and being caught or exposed just got higher.

T Mobile should be commended for doing more than paying lip service. They've put their money behind their mouth and I hope it yields them big results.

by Drew on Sep 28, 2006 3:13 PM EDT   0 recs

This is just the type of comprehensive
approach that is needed to curb the cheaters.  I guess it takes a sponsor that has long term interest in the sport to have a go at this, though, given all the crazy stuff that went down with Phonak, you have to think that sponsors are controlling protocols do some degree.  

When all is said and done the panopticon approach, DNA and close anti-dope monitoring, seems the only way to curb doping.

It looks like T-Mob has made the call that cycling is a great market for them and taking the "high" road on doping, even if it hurts results, is the best way to appeal to that market.  This supports the "it's the money, stupid" argument for why cycling must clean up.  

by ELVISGOAT on Sep 28, 2006 5:33 PM EDT   0 recs

It's not PR
It's simply enlightened self interest.

I'm sure sponsors are finally insisting on more than the Director's "word" that the team is clean.

They'd like concrete action. I'm sure T-Mobile wasn't about to sign a new contract unless the team made some serious efforts.

And they have, starting with Stapleton, and now with their anti-doping program.

Of course, team-wide anti-doping efforts are only effective if the doping is being done by individuals. If the team is actively supporting doping (or simply looking the other way), it's going to offer more cover than before to the riders...

Still, if I was a rider I'd be happy to see this. The better the doping controls, the better the odds that I"m not going to lose my livelihood to a doper...

by TCWriter on Sep 28, 2006 5:39 PM EDT   0 recs

I applaud the effort
But I'm not sure how new it is.

Certainly the longitudinal testing evolved in France and has been adopted by the German federation. (Does anyone know if it applies to foreign riders on German teams? Will someone like Rebellin be longitudianlly tested, or just the Germans?)

Also CSC has contracted with Danish doping researcher Rasmus Damsgård to help keep his riders on the straight and narrow. I don't know the science behind it, but this guy apparently can explain how Basso passed the strict longitudinal testing program he had been under last spring.

Anyway, I applaud T-Mobile, but they are not the only ones going to extreme lengths to convince their sponsors that they aren't secretly doping. I hope the tests work and can provide the transparancy everyone hopes for. But to be perfectly honest, I'm just glad they didn't pull a Squinzi.

by Koppenberg on Sep 28, 2006 6:49 PM EDT   0 recs

What may be revolutionary
is if the rider contracts themselves, their contracts with the team, include a bunch of commitments to this inclusive program. It's one thing for a team to avail itself to a doctor or a university or other source of science; it's something more if in fact the riders are contractually bound to participate, to the exclusion of anything else they may be doing.

by Chris... on Sep 28, 2006 6:59 PM EDT   0 recs

Sorry I don't have the link
Businessweek online has an interview with Bob Stapleton about the changes at T-mobile.  I thought it was a good article.

by flying dog on Sep 29, 2006 3:38 PM EDT   0 recs

Also a good interview at cyclingpost.com
We can expect to see T-mobile in the USA at California, Georgia and Montreal-Boston.

by flying dog on Sep 30, 2006 6:36 AM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Every sprint, every cobble, every mountain pass from the world of Pro Cycling

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Amorison_small
Ranking the Strongest Team
Demoncats008_small
The Inaugural Alleycat- January 20th, 2009- Free Alleycat and Free Beer‏
Folsomcx_small
Cancellara aims for Ardennes
Csc_-_cvv_and_dz_small
Rotterdam Six Day: Day 4 Live Thread #2
Small
Podium Café Trivia Gang:
Copy_of_pineapple_face_small
Techs Mechs Q2: Old Wheels
Copy_of_pineapple_face_small
Techs-Mechs: Campy Q?
Small
Rotterdam Day 3 **now over**
Tdf_07_natural_break_small
Rotterdam Six Day Thread: Day 2, Part 2
Hincapie_silhouette_small_small
25 Sexiest Men in Sports - Did Benna Make the List?

Post_icon New FanPost All FanPosts Carrot-mini

Our Sponsors!

FanShots

Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.

Recent FanShots

Cycling.tv 2009 calender
2008 NRC In Review - Remix!
Rabo's training camp
Cervelo Test Team Kit.
If a picture is worth 1000 words......
Six Days of Rotterdam Live Here
Baden Cooke signs with Vacansoleil
Fun cycling quizzes
Pro Women's MTB Downhill Film - SHOOTING STARS
Canuck update - Interview with Svein Tuft

Post_icon New FanShot All FanShots Carrot-mini


Site Meter