Egon van Kessel not going back to Garmin-Cervelo women's team
Here's a link to the translated version. And the story concludes worryingly:
According to him there is great unrest in the women's team Garmin-Cervélo. The fact is that some riders looking for shelter elsewhere.
6 months ago
Monty.
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He doesn't sound very impressed with Vaughters' communication skills...
Maybe a little less tweetin’, and more takin’ care of business, JV?
Because the men's team really, really, really needed Thomas Dekker
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
He probably got a pretty cheap 1 year contract
and like it or not (Teach! Teach! I know the answer!), probably pays off very well in publicity.
"Beer helps." -- Ant1.
JV hinting at a private sponsor picking up Dekker's salary?
@NoMapNoCompass @lioneljbirnie. You’re assuming Dekker is an expense for me.
Could be, and could be a smokescreen.
If they *are* employing Dekker because someone else is paying for him
then that doesn’t do that much for my confidence.
"I’m hoping for the Mortirolo-Gavia combination, then we can ride down to Bormio for ice cream." Emma Pooley on the Giro Donne
The idea that Dekker's
signing undermined the Garmin-Cevelo’s women’s team is at this point utter speculation. Given Dekker’s desperation for riding again in the ProTour, er, World Tour, whatever, with some shred of credibility, I’d suspect in the same spirit of utter speculation that JV could get him on the cheap.
The simple fact is that Garmin-Cevelo has to do battle with some real powerhouse teams next year, and they will be doing so as an underdog in every race. So, what? They should let people go—Dekker?, Rassmussen?, van Summeran?, Danielson?, van de Velde?— so they can fund their women’s team?? Yeah right. The men’s team takes priority, and it should.
by Le Sprinteur on Nov 25, 2011 7:10 PM EST up reply actions
It's easier than making priorities though
It’s about honoring basic commitments you make. Slipstream voluntarily signed 9 women to ride for a UCI team for two years, 2011-12. Presumably the revenue to finance that commitment was also in the budget (because teams otherwise tend to sign for 1 year when their sponsorship is not secure in place). So whatever decisions on new signings they made for 2012 should be done in light of the expenditures they were already committed to.
No one forced them into committing for two years but once they did it is a pretty clear responsibility to live up to it before spending their money elsewhere. Just imagine the uproar had the same been done to a men’s team with the same timing. It would make the Geox move look like nothing. And what would the consequences be for the WT licence if a similar thing was done to a men’s team?
by Jens on Nov 26, 2011 3:30 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
agree
and, honestly, I’d prefer to see Vaughters decide to cut back the men’s side to the bare minimum required to meet WT standards (ala Euskaltel) in order to give the women something approaching equity.
But then again. I think the World Series concept is a good idea, so obviously I’m clueless.
I just don't see it.
They make a commitment for two years. O.K. What sort of commitment did they make, really, that would obligate them to sacrifice the interests of the men’s team? To pay salaries for the women? J.V. has already said he will pay their salaries. So, it appears the legal contracts with individual women will be honored, even if they race for another team. What’s in doubt is whether he can fund their race program. How is he committed to that, at the expense of the men’s team? That I don’t see. Did it go like this? “O.K., Egon, Emma, Liz, I want to support a women’s team for two years. And, this is an iron-clad commitment. If I can’t raise the additional funding over what I want to spend on the men’s team, I’ll sacrifice the men’s team to make sure you can race for two years.” Somehow, I doubt J.V. committed himself to that.
by Le Sprinteur on Nov 27, 2011 6:54 PM EST up reply actions
The raceprogram thing is iffy because we don't know how their contracts look
If it was a men’s contract there would be a clause about WT/ProC or whatever but there is only UCI/non-UCI and you are probably right, there isn’t an outspoken promise that the team will do this or that raceprogram.
Still it’s easier than that I think. When they signed they had the budget to run the team two years, otherwise they wouldn’t/shouldn’t offer two year contracts. Nothing has changed there, Slipstream haven’t lost any sponsor. They just failed to get an additional one. So what they are doing essentially is re-allocating funds that were earmarked for the women to the men.
And there is no risk of “sacrificing” the men’s team. There is nothing that says they have to have 30 riders, 30 is the maximum 23 the minimum. What they might have had to sacrifice probably is their ability to be competitive in some shit-small races running simultaneously to some bigger races.
by Jens on Nov 28, 2011 1:49 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Two-year signings could well have been speculative, a gamble
Or differently phrased: an investment to attract sponsors.
"Beer helps." -- Ant1.
But if you're a rider, offered a 2 yer contract, it's not at all unreasonable to expect
that you’ll be racing for two years….
Aka Pigeons!
by Sarah Connolly on Nov 28, 2011 7:06 AM EST up reply actions
Vaughters always amps the marketing return angle
And he also frequently pushed the “underdog” angle.
He has the leverage, via social media and traditional media outlets to REALLY push his commitment to fund a good women’s team, were he inclined to pursue that direction.
And, veering back to the men’s side of things for a bit, way to plant that stiletto in Dekker’s back, Mr. Vaughters: if someone else is funding Dekker’s salary, how does it help Dekker’s self-esteem for that information to bruited about?
Dekker salary was just random DDIFP speculation, though, wasn't it?
Mmm, speculaas.
"Beer helps." -- Ant1.
"You’re assuming Dekker is an expense for me."
said by Vaughters. How else is that to be interpreted? If he had said “costs me money” I could see how he meant “will pull in more revenue than I pay in salary” but “an expense” is pretty unambigous.
Giving Vaughters a little latitude on that phrase
compared to, say Hushovd, or indeed practically every other rider he has retained and/or hired – If Dekker on minimum wage or thereabouts then Dekker represents a “saving” hence he may have used the phrase he did.
Yeah, perhaps
That doesn’t make much difference regarding R Mc’s point though. “That dude is so shit he costs me next to nothing”
Exactly.
Either it means “who cares, he’s cheap” or “who cares, we don’t pay his salary”. Neither of them very encouraging.
by blackswangreen on Nov 28, 2011 6:11 PM EST up reply actions
Yup, returning dopers can't cost a lot
especially when their first season back clean is so shite.
As I recall . . . .
. . . Cervelo Test Team was merged into Garmin with the explicit understanding the women’s team that already existed would be continued.
This last year, Darth Vaughters already cut the ladies budget back from what they had as the Girls of ‘e’.
I am, sadly, not surprised by this action.
What would Deming do? (+8:00 GMT)
by Ryan_Liles on Nov 28, 2011 3:35 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Cervelo always ran on the idea that everyone was part of a single team
I don’t remember ever reading that the women were there “at the expense of the men’s team” If JV’s talking about looking for a different sponsor and funding it out of the men’s budget then it doesn’t sound like the commitment was ever there. Just whatever was in the contract with Cervelo. And since Vroomen was squeezed out from there, they don’t too seem to have much enthusiasm for sponsorship deals of any sort.
Dekker the Younger probably still has enough money left from his Rabo days
to ride for free this year. What with the Porsche and the newly built Belgian villa.
"Beer helps." -- Ant1.
Or what I suggested elsewhere,
that JV thinks Dekker will more than pay for himself by all the publicity he gets, from cycling or otherwise.
"Beer helps." -- Ant1.
But I didn't think you were allowed to "ride for free", were you?
I wouldn’t’ve thought you could sponsor yourself, either.
I understand full well there are probably things that can’t be said, but depending on somewhat ambiguous statements isn’t helping Vaughters & Garmin any.
I feel very sad about all this.
"I’m hoping for the Mortirolo-Gavia combination, then we can ride down to Bormio for ice cream." Emma Pooley on the Giro Donne
Lance
rode for $1 one year, didn’t he?
De cross gaat out that door.
by Chris Fontecchio on Nov 25, 2011 2:52 PM EST up reply actions
no, UCI came out saying he was payed a salary from the team.
The “charity” stunt from LA appeared to be a bit of empty PR.
I think Dekkers minimum salary will have to be covered by the team, however the cash could just be passed through from a private sponsor.
Certainly for the Dutch market, Dekker is worth every dime.
This week he appeared on a popular show, where I don’t think I’ve ever seen an active cyclist before. The guy is just easily marketable.
by blackswangreen on Nov 25, 2011 3:49 PM EST up reply actions
well, here in Denmark 90% of the population loves M Rasmussen and
sees him winning TdF sometime in the future.
Could be a nice project for JV ;)
The Chicken is even a genuine celebrity, Dekker is not quite at that level.
by blackswangreen on Nov 26, 2011 4:26 AM EST up reply actions
That was the plan
It was mentioned in relation to Di Luca and Katusha. But they’re not allowed to race for free, in Armstrong’s case it was said that he gave the money to a charity.
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Nov 25, 2011 3:09 PM EST up reply actions
The minimum salary was for jet fuel.
TdU appearance fee ($1M?) was for one of the installments.
A few of the Footon riders were rumoured to ride for free
well technically they brought a sponsor to the team whose money at least matched the salary paid.
Garmin's womens
team on the chop block? CN is running an article on budget cuts at slipstream.
Very ominous indeed
Focus on easy first. If that's all you get, that ain't half bad - Caballo Blanco
If the UCI were serious about developing the sport
then teams would get some credit for what they do beyond just running a men’s team. Garmin for their women’s and development teams, Cofidis for their track and paralympic riders, Rabo for CX and MTB stuff. Instead we have the absurd situation where the top team at the start of 2011 was formed on the whim of a rich sugar daddy and folded when he got bored.
by Monty. on Nov 28, 2011 4:02 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Wielerland have a vagueish sounding story
AA Drink could be interested in a few more signings. I don’t know if this has any real substance or if they just rang up the manager of the one team that seems to have room for a few more riders and asked “would you be interested in signing x,y and z.”
They had a really big team this year, so I wasn't surprised when they seem to have lost more riders than signed for 2012
but they could definitely do with a tiny mountain goat-esque climber, and Iris Slappendel and Noemi Cantele should rock the Classics….. not sure if a team could manage Armitstead, Olds and Wild, but any team would want Sharon Laws & Carla Ryan….
Aka Pigeons!
by Sarah Connolly on Nov 29, 2011 4:29 AM EST up reply actions
Is this a good place to bury bad news?
There’s a really odd drug bust story on the Italian sites. Forno d’Asolo rider Francesca Faustini has been banned for a year, curiously back-dated to run from 26th October 2010, as a consequence of something the prosecutor of Padua did.
More doping news.
Might as well post this here as well, as it’s vaguely Garmin related. http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/10525/Former-BigMat-Auber93-team-doctor-arrested-in-doping-case-riders-heard-as-witnesses.aspx Jonathan Vaughters is showing some schadenfreude on twitter
One race lost already
the GP GFM Meccanica – Gattatico, an Italian domestic one, won’t be back in 2012.
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