Waiting for the Other Shoe

by Chris Fontecchio on May 25, 2006 2:18 PM EDT in News

Now that we know Manolo Saiz is on a fast track to indictment, now that Liberty Seguros is no longer a cycling team, there is one HUUUGE question to be answered, and soon:

Who will hire Vino?

[editor's note, by chris] Moved to the flip... with the caveat that current reports are that Liberty will keep riding for now. And with the warnings that Vino might not be an innocent victim here.

Poor Alexander Vinokourov, sitting on his lawn with a "Will win Tour de France for Food" sign. Actually, the truth is more like, within 24 hours, he won't be able to leave his house due to the scrum of media and directeur sportifs pressing forward.

Assuming Liberty doesn't try to carry on through July (which is completely unclear), there are two alternate possibilities: the Coast-Bianchi quickie reincarnation, or the jump to another squad. I'm not aware of any sponsor who can step in and run a team, although it's not like they email me this kind of information... but the big negative factor is that Saiz built the team, so unlike Coast where they just needed a title sponsor, the ex-Liberties would need a whole new management. Hell, half the team could be in jail by July, for all we know.

So Vinokourov could go to anyone who's ready to hire, right? We'll see, but if he is you can eliminate the burned bridge (T-Mobile); the teams who don't need a Tour leader (CSC, Phonak, Gerolsteiner, Caisse d'Epargne, Davitamon); and the teams who don't hire non-Basques (Euskaltel). I would also rate low the likelihood of him landing with anyone who has mixed leadership for the Tour -- namely, Discovery -- after Vino's experience at T-Mobile. And none of the Italian teams are at all serious about the Tour.

Some options:

Quick Step! They hired Garate and Rujano for the grand tours, but these guys look more like lieutenants in July -- exactly what Vino needs! They also have seemingly unlimited funds, and there's no team time trial to consider. The only downside for Vino would be their focus on helping Boonen win the Green Jersey... but the truth is, Boonen needs no more than one or two riders to help him, if that.

Any of several French teams. The feel-good story, where a French team actually has something to do in the Tour de France. Also, the Kazakh riders (and many of the eastern bloc guys) tend to have a special connection to France through some development program they all started in in St. Germain. Last summer's hot rumor was Credit Agricole, and they're undoubtedly still hiring. Not sure anyone can offer him money or support though.

Saunier Duval. Intriguing... they grab guys on the fly somehow. And with David Millar, Koldo Gil, Jose Gomez Marchante, etc., they have a squad of guys who don't quite have a realistic shot at winning but could make a great supporting cast. My wild card.

Rabobank. A very long shot... if they really think Menchov can compete, then they're off the list along with the other teams who think they're all set. Also, they're Rabo, so doing something to strengthen their hand seems impossible. But if Menchov felt like working for a fellow ex-Soviet, and the Chicken jumped in to help as well (while nabbing his KOM points)... like I said, it's too sensible to happen, but it could work.

Tweet Comment 13 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

If Liberty is not allowed to go on

and no other title sponsor signs on, I could see QS making a bid (Zabel won the Verte jersey for years with limited help), Saunier Duval, or one of the following French teams: Cofidis, CA (Hushovd could also challenge for Green), AG2R, or the Bun Boys (Bouyges Telecom). In short, any of them.

Vino came up riding for Casino and he already speaks French so he'd fit right in with any of them. And most of them already have a former eastern bloc guy riding for them which could further seal the deal.

by Drew on May 25, 2006 2:32 PM EDT reply actions

Vino

Great overview, but you're dodging the primary concern: Is Vino going to fall with the rest of his team? Is drug use a reason he had so much trouble with T-Mobile? How soon are these kinds of investigations achieve their primary goals, which is to clean up cycling so the investigations are no longer necessary?

by Tiki on May 25, 2006 2:34 PM EDT reply actions

Fair point

That would certainly moot the question. He'd head directly to Cofidis.

by Chris Fontecchio on May 25, 2006 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions

I hear...

The McCartney team is looking for clean riders...

by TCWriter on May 25, 2006 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions

This is all assuming

he's not caught up in the doping investigation.

As to when these invesigations will clean up the sport, you might as well ask when people stop watching reality tv.

by Drew on May 25, 2006 2:48 PM EDT reply actions

Vino's guilty until proven otherwise...

Sadly, nobody's going to touch Vino unless the Spanish police give him a clean bill in the investigation, even if he is clean.

I dunno; the rumblings behind this one - and the fact that Saiz isn't some assistant DS without a pedigree - suggests that we may soon be looking back at the Festina affair with fondness...

by TCWriter on May 25, 2006 3:40 PM EDT reply actions

Already do

Anything that puts Richard Virenque in proper perspective can't have been all bad. Sorry Drew.

by Chris Fontecchio on May 25, 2006 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions

In the meantime

let's give the riders the benefit of the doubt. I agree that this has the potential to make Festina look like 3 guys passing around a joint on the beach during spring break, but we'll just have to wait and see.

What realy alarms me about the potential scope of the cheating (if reports are to be believed so far) is:

two or three rented apartments not being lived in but being used for blood transfusions and manipulation
a defendant holding a day job at a blood laboratory of some kind
Saiz being pinched holding lots of cash and lots of bags of frozen blood (100-200 depending on which account you read)

This is like Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider stumbling across thr enormous heroin stash in the French Connection. They're shocked at the size of it.

by Drew on May 25, 2006 3:51 PM EDT reply actions

This reminds me of...

Ralph's DUI arrest....

by Peter Fontecchio on May 25, 2006 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Not appropriate to name names before the police do

But, there are two things to keep in mind:

The 60k euro worth of blood and supplies Saiz picked up wasn't for his personal use.
The police have, supposedly, a list of 100-200 names attached to the blood not to mention several months worth of surveilance video on comings and goings at the transfusion lab. Now I'm not clear on whether autologous transfusion is a violation of Spanish law, so it is possible this will be like the San Remo raids: everybody was caught doping, but very few ended up being sanctioned or charged.

So, without naming names, I'll speculate that certain riders have more to worry about than finding a ride for July.

by Koppenberg on May 26, 2006 12:55 PM EDT reply actions

I'm pretty sure...

All the materials were for Saiz's dog. He's pretty fast.

by TCWriter on May 26, 2006 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Nice try Frankie

by Chris Fontecchio on May 26, 2006 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions

CN is now reporting that

in addition to the blood they recovered over a thousand doses of anabolic steroids and hormones. They investigation apparantly has over 4 months of telephone, photograph and video evidence of athletes coming and going at the apartment of Fuentes were all the evidence was seized.

Pablo Anton the co-owner of Active Bay is saying that they will continue to race out the season with Wurth as the sole sponsor, Liberty pulled about 70% of their operating budget though so look for some changes to be forced to deal with the smaller budget.

by Clydesdale on May 26, 2006 1:55 PM EDT reply actions