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Radioshack Vuelta exclusion – "speechless" Bruyneel hits backJohan Bruyneel © Montgomery

Radioshack Vuelta exclusion – "speechless" Bruyneel hits back

It's not fair, and I'm going to fight to change the way the sport is run… being the gist...
by Tony Farrelly
Tue, Jun 15, 2010 09:46
5

Yesterday's decision by Vuelta organisers, Unipublic, not to award one of six wildcard entries to Lance Armstrong's Team Radioshack has brought a withering response from team boss Johan Bruyneel who, in a statement on his website, has vowed to work to change the way the sport is run.

Under an agreement agreed between Unipublic, the UCI and 16 of the ProTour teams in 2008, those teams plus six wildcards are invited to this year's race. Teams admitted to the ProTour after 2008, like Radioshack and Team Sky have to rely on wildcard places – the latter got one, Radioshack didn't. Katusha, and Garmin Transitions were the other ProTour teams to make it in, the other wildcard went to Cervelo Test Team and two Spanish Pro Continental outfits (see the full list of teams below).

Team Radioshack are currently 8th in the UCI team rankings and they also have two riders, Tiago Machado and Janez Brajkovic, whose recent performances have seen them jump up the rider rankings. News of their failure to get a wild card entry broke yesterday and this morning Johan Bruyneel let rip declaring "I am not only surprised, I am speechless" at the decision.

"I cannot accept or understand this decision. With Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloden, Chris Horner and Jani Brajkovic we had four potential Vuelta winners on the roster we sent to Unipublic… Our 2010 Team goals were the Tour de France and the Tour of Spain. That’s why -  together with the need to perform well in the Tour of California – we skipped the Tour of Italy this year."

That decision to miss the Giro, looks to have cost Radioshack dear, along with the perception that the team is set up solely to focus on the Tour de France. Perhaps not surprisingly, Bruyneel doesn't see it quite that way though although he may see the irony in Unipublic, in which Tour de France owners ASO have a 49 per cent stake supposedly criticising RadioShack for focussing on the Tour de France.

"Up until now it has never been accepted that a team manager stands on a soapbox to defend the rights of the teams and the riders. We always have to accept; we don't have many rights.

"After (the Vuelta decision), I take it as a personal mission: from now on I will fight for the interests of the cycling teams. It will be more than just a goal. I will work for it as hard as I've worked for my own team.

"In cycling there are three parties: UCI, organisers and teams/riders. Unlike in other professional sports, the teams and riders are the main actors who are never heard. I will fight for our rights and for other things that rightfully belong to us but we never get.

"There is an abuse of power. Some organisers take away the hunger of potential sponsors to invest in our sport. It is unjust that a new sponsor (RadioShack), coming into cycling with a lot of enthusiasm, is not rewarded for their financial input.
'For me it is hard to explain to my sponsor that 21 other teams are apparently better than us - especially when it isn't true. These actions are unfair to our sponsors as well as a blow to our fans.

“It is high time for ‘professional’ cycling to become professional. The structure of our sport needs to change towards a model of other successful professional sports like soccer, tennis, Formula 1, etc. Today, this is happening to our team and sponsors, tomorrow it could be any other team. Even if some parties don’t like to see or hear this, I will do anything which is in my power to contribute to making this happen.”

Bruyneel's toys exiting the RadioShack pram may not unduly perturb Unipublic who may well point out that RadioShack are more than happy to pick and choose their races when it suits them - missing the Giro for the Tour of California, because the latter gave more exposure to their title sponsor in its home market, And while even Bruyneel's greatest detractors would have to agree that there must be a better way of organising racing than the present set up, his formula for success would appear to amount to giving power to the sponsors with little regard for the sport's history except where it coincided with a sponsor's marketing plan.

Team list Vuelta 2010

ProTour teams:

Ag2R La Mondiale
Astana
Bbox Bouygues Telecom
Caisse d'Epargne
Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
Euskaltel - Euskadi
Footon-Servetto
Française Des Jeux
Lampre-Farnese Vini
Liquigas-Doimo
Omega Pharma-Lotto
Quick Step
Rabobank
Team HTC - Columbia
Team Milram
Team Saxo Bank

Wildcard entries:

Andalucia - Cajasur
Cervelo Test Team
Garmin - Transitions
Sky Professional Cycling Team
Team Katusha
Xacobeo Galicia.

Vuelta
Team RadioShack
La Vuelta 2010
Johan Bruyneel
Tony Farrelly

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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5 comments

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Simon E | 13 years ago
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"It is unjust that a new sponsor (RadioShack), coming into cycling with a lot of enthusiasm, is not rewarded for their financial input."

Translation: we told the sponsors we would be doing this race but I'll have some explaining to do back in the board room.

This is about the distribution of power and control in pro cycling rather than 'fairness' or sponsor obligations. After all, if RS were included someone else would not make the cut. But would the team manager be crying to the press like this about it?

How many years has Bruyneel sent a strong team to the Vuelta chasing GC anyway? The team have been open about their single-minded focus on the TdF in the past, perhaps that has not worked against them now.

But do I care? Nope. Hopefully it may mean that Anglophone Vuelta coverage may be more interesting than if RS were present.

Avatar
Roadkill | 13 years ago
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Do you know who I am! Tell them Lance...

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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Problem is that at the moment the series doesn't include the Grand Tours and a number of the other major races.

Of course you are right Cat1, RCS own the Giro and what I should have mentioned (and have now) is that ASO own a large chunk of Unipublic. Top marks to Bruyneel for cheek though as you say, he's accusing Unipublic of doing to him exactly what he does to race organisers.

Avatar
STATO | 13 years ago
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I was trying to think of a way they could do it, like maybe a series? so you sign up and get/have to do all events in that series... but that would mean you only get the same teams in each race, what you would need is some sort of 'wildcard' to allow other teams in while still protecting the ones who had agreed to do all of them....

oh wait, isnt that what they have?

Avatar
handlebarcam | 13 years ago
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The Giro is organised by RCS, not Unipublic. But the point still stands, why should Bruyneel think he can pick and choose which grand tours his team can be bothered with, but the grand tours should not be able to choose not to invite his team? It isn't Unipublic's fault that he now has to find something else to buy Leipheimer and/or Klöden's loyalty to Lance in the TDF, other than team leadership at the Vuelta.

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