Wiggo

StevieJ

I see Cavendish is heading over to Omega Pharma.

wotsthat

It continues to go t*ts up for Armstrong as he loses three of his main sponsors and millions in income.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19978608

His claims on innocence are looking less credible by the day. He can't come clean otherwise he's looking at a perjury case. He's stuck.

vivatifosi

wotsthat wrote: »

It continues to go t*ts up for Armstrong as he loses three of his main sponsors and millions in income.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19978608

CNN this morning were saying that he's up to nine lost sponsors. Among these now are his equipment suppliers. They also made the point that he would be hit far harder by his loss of sponsorship income than say, Tiger Woods, as these days sponsorship was his source of income, rather than a source.

On a slightly different note, what do people think of Team Sky making all its team - riders and support - sign a notice saying that they have not participted in drug taking, or they will be sacked?

Generali

StevieJ wrote: »

I see Cavendish is heading over to Omega Pharma.

Yup. They can't have Cav in the team, plus one or two lead out men, and support Wiggins and perhaps Froome too to General Classification victories.

Cav shouldn't be doing domestique work either.

It's good to see Team Sky have let him go rather than forcing him to buy himself out of the team as is their right under his contract AIUI.

Generali

vivatifosi wrote: »

On a slightly different note, what do people think of Team Sky making all its team - riders and support - sign a notice saying that they have not participted in drug taking, or they will be sacked?

I think T Mobile used to do the same thing. I reckon it's a good thing as the team can sue riders that damage the brand by doping like Chelsea did to their credit with Mutu.

Team Sky have invested a lot of money into cycling and with all the talk of riding clean they are going to look like a bunch of mugs if someone tests positive and they don't come down very strongly on that rider.

purch

Rabobank have announced that they are ending all their professional cycling sponsorship from the end of the year. :eek:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/uk-cycling-rabobank-idUKBRE89I0DH20121019

They cite the USDA report as the main reason.

"We are no longer convinced that the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport. We are not confident that this will change for the better in the foreseeable future," Bert Bruggink, Rabobank board member, said in a statement.

purch

StevieJ wrote: »

I see Cavendish is heading over to Omega Pharma.

.......don't forget the Quickstep.

Brucie would be most upset :eek:

Generali

purch wrote: »

Rabobank have announced that they are ending all their professional cycling sponsorship from the end of the year. :eek:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/uk-cycling-rabobank-idUKBRE89I0DH20121019

They cite the USDA report as the main reason.

"We are no longer convinced that the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport. We are not confident that this will change for the better in the foreseeable future," Bert Bruggink, Rabobank board member, said in a statement.

It's what will force change onto the sport. To be fair a huge amount is now being done, especially with the blood passports. The idea, AIUI at least, is to track changes to riders' blood chemistry. A big spike in a hormone or other part of blood chemistry would be picked up.

This Armstrong thing saddens me. It's not enough to say, "They were all doing it." He and his like have come very close to destroying professional cycling.

chewmylegoff

vivatifosi wrote: »

On a slightly different note, what do people think of Team Sky making all its team - riders and support - sign a notice saying that they have not participted in drug taking, or they will be sacked?

what's the point of it? if you have illicitly taken drugs (and/or are currently doing so), then what possible effect could something like this have? you would just sign it anyway and hope you didn't get caught. it's not as if you'd go to prison for perjury if you were found out, it doesn't have any force...

Kennyboy66

chewmylegoff wrote: »

what's the point of it? if you have illicitly taken drugs (and/or are currently doing so), then what possible effect could something like this have? you would just sign it anyway and hope you didn't get caught. it's not as if you'd go to prison for perjury if you were found out, it doesn't have any force...

The advantage for Sky is that they would be able to sack a rider immediately who signed this and was subsequently discovered to have doped.

They could also sue for any payments they had made to that rider.