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More reader reactions: ASO v. Astana

Published: Feb. 15, 2008

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.


    Editor’s note: We could run each and every one of the hundreds of letters we received regarding ASO’s exclusion of Astana from its events, but then we wouldn’t get anything else done today. So following is a representative sample of the arguments raised. And thanks to everyone who chimed in.





A note to Versus: I’ve quit watching
Editor:
In reference to Neal Rogers’s recent article concerning Versus's coverage of European professional cycling events on Cyclism Sundays, I was inspired to email Marc Fein of Versus the following:

    "Mr. Marc Fein: Please be advised that should ASO continue to reject Team Astana from the Giro and the Tour de France, I will personally boycott watching all their organized events on Versus and work to discourage anyone in my cycling community of Kansas City from doing the same. Tell that to your sponsors and ASO. Only your withdrawal of funds from televising rights to ASO will convince that organization to settle its dispute with the UCI. I'm sorry — Team Chipotle (the so-called other American pro team) is not the issue. Fairness to all professional cycling teams is the issue and again sponsorship and television dollars are the only thing that ASO will understand."

I guess that I'm getting pretty sick of watching the ASO/UCI feud. Bull riding is looking better all the time. Thank you.

Ron Johnson
Overland Park, Kansas

Same here
Editor:
Since ASO has decided to exclude Astana and some of the best riders in the world, I think that I will not invite the Tour de France coverage into my home this year. This is a huge disappointment and saddens me greatly since watching on TV and following the Tour each July is my sports highlight of the year.

Tad Dorsey
Pella, Iowa

Me too
Editor:
I will not watch any ASO events this season. I will enjoy following all of the other races. There is plenty of cycling besides the ASO-run races.

Chris Bognar
St Louis , Missouri

And that goes for VeloNews.com, too
Editor:
For the last 15 or so years, through all the drug-crazed news and fallen heroes, I remained an unflappable fan of professional racing. I traveled twice to the TdF to watch Lance Armstrong, raced for many years in the U.S., and faithfully renewed my OLN/Versus subscription each year - to watch for one month. I always hoped that clean cycling was worth the wait, even worth the disappointment of cheering what appeared to be men of heart and skill to later discover they were cheaters.

Now, as it seems we are on the precipice of a clean sport, I realize I've been a fan of a sport of men, controlled by children. Nothing about it but the fact riders get paid seems "professional" anymore. The playground bullying and childish verbal slap fights of ASO, the Giro organizers, and the UCI has reached a level that my fan-ittude (the attitude of a fan that helps him overcome reason and still hope in the face of diversity) cannot rise above.

To think of the sacrifices to attain greatness and read of the crushing defeat of the dreams of Levi Leipheimer, Alberto Contador and the others, is more than I can stomach. I am defeated.

Nothing personal, but I removed my VeloNews.com bookmark. I am in mourning. I'm going for a ride - right after I switch my OLN/Versus subscription for the NFL Network.

Michael Simpson
Fairplay, Colorado

Other things to do in July
Editor:
ASO is killing pro cycling by banning Astana from this year’s Tour. Once again the Tour organizers deal another blow to the hope of young kids worldwide by denying three of the best riders in the world the chance to race.

Tour organizers only want clean teams in the race – then why not ban every team that has had a positive test result over the past three years? At least then we can applaud the stance. But as it stands all we can do is make plans to cut the grass and all the odd jobs that never get done in July.

Kenneth Ramsay
Dundee, Scotland

ASO punishes fans, sponsors
Editor:
The people running cycling have finally lost all their marbles. The Giro and Tour don’t invite Astana (whose sponsor stuck with it and coughed up another $15 million). Who, exactly, are they penalizing by doing this? The dopers and their leadership are gone. They are proving to big sponsors like Astana and other potential sponsors that cycling is not worth the risk. First it was the dopers, and now it’s the UCI or race organizers like ASO that will ruin the sport.

Dopers suck, but so do labs that leak test results, the go-nowhere Operación Puerto, UCI infighting, and shortsighted race-organizing zealots like ASO. Thanks for penalizing the fans and sponsors, ASO.

Tom Kraus
Wayzata, Minnesota

Let’s pump up the Tour of California
Editor:
ASO has turned the Tour de France into a joke. Maybe it is time to show ASO that the TdF isn't the only game in town.

Move the Tour of California to July, expand the race to three weeks and include serious mountain stages in the Sierra Nevada. Run the course through scenic parks like Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Redwoods. Offer more prize money than the Tour (and pay it on time!) Then invite all the ProTour teams and the best American domestic squads.

Given the current environment, it would be interesting to see who attends.

Tom Brown
Las Vegas, Nevada

Now hold on just a minute . . .
Editor:
This isn't as black and white as it seems. Contador is linked to doping allegations, and the Discovery/Astana management didn’t seem to care too much that Ivan Basso was tainted, hiring him up and bucking a trend in pr- team management that seemed to be trying to force the dirty guys to the sides.

Yeah, its going to be a crap Tour — thanks, ASO — but honestly I think that Johan Bruyneel has a bit of a blasé attitude towards doping and maybe he needs to clean up his stuff. For him to stand on the sidelines and act all innocent, like some victim, is pretty disingenuous.

It sucks for guys like Chris Horner, and those that manage to compete without a cloud of allegations over their heads, but some of that onus needs to go back to Bruyneel. You'll see - it'll all come out one day.

Kevin Rosmanitz
Calgary, Alberta

ASO was right
Editor:
I fully support ASO's decision to bar any team from the Tour. It's their property and they have a right to protect their franchise. That being said, it's completely ridiculous to have barred Astana this late in the game. Sponsors paid big money for Tour exposure. Riders were signed based on the Tour, and prepared for it. New doping controls were put into place. The team management was revamped.

Four or five months ago, banning Astana would have been fine, but now it reeks of political b.s. A doping ban would have been no less impactful, but at least in that situation, there's an appeals process.

I'm done with supporting pro cycling. It's become the WWF.

Curtis Bayer
Lake Arrowhead, California

Yeah, what he said
Editor:
I am one that agrees with the decision made by the ASO. I understand the frustration from many fans, but as an avid fan myself, I will be happy not to see the suspicious Contador riding this year. Regardless if you like him or not, he will always have a cloud of suspicion hanging over his head with regards to the Puerto affair. Let's get this wonderful sport cleaned up.

Brian J. Repplinger
Kansas City, Missouri

Astana has a bad rep’
Editor:
I don't think that the ASO not allowing Astana into any of their events for 2008 is that big of a deal, really. Think about it a little. Yeah, they have a totally new adminstration, director and riders, but that doesn't change what happened last year. Use the NCAA for an example. If a school has violations that a former coaching staff comitted, the current players and coaches are the ones who suffer.

I do feel bad for Alberto, Levi, Chris and Johan, but they went to a program that had a lot of questions. They should have been a little smarter when making their contract decisions for 2008. Astana has had a bad reputation for a number of years now.

I also agree that the sport is getting too political but I like to look beyond the politics and watch the races because I love the sport.

Matt Hickman
Altamonte Springs, Florida

ASO is simply defending its brand
Editor:
Disappointment that some of the best riders might not be racing in July is understandable, but to lay blame solely on ASO discounts the position in which ASO finds itself.

Many charge ASO with abusing its power as race organizer or being politically motivated. Perhaps, but we should consider that ASO is also profit-motivated, and is taking steps it deems necessary to protect its brand. In that sense, it is acting responsibly on behalf of its investors and race sponsors.

ASO is in the Tour to make a profit, just as the New England Patriots or New York Yankees are in their respective sports. However, unlike football or baseball, the prospect of doping poses a threat to the Tour's ability to attract sponsors and media coverage, and thus directly threatens its profitability. Indeed, the German television networks' threat to pull the plug on coverage of last year's Tour had to be a real wake-up call to ASO.

Yes, Astana has new management and many new riders. However, don't forget that the same was true of last year's Astana team, which had risen from the ashes of the Liberty Seguros squad. ASO reluctantly allowed them entry having been assured of a clean host of riders by the team's new management. Obviously, they got burned in a big way.

Thus, despite Bruyneel's reputation, the risk of another doping positive by an Astana rider in the Tour may have been too great a risk for ASO to take. Bruyneel and company no doubt conducted their own risk assessment in terms of the viability of an Astana-sponsored team, so their exclusion, fair or not, should not be a total surprise.

Jason Schroeder
Boulder, Colorado

Bruyneel is late to the anti-doping party
Editor:
I applaud ASO’s decision to exclude Team Astana from the 2008 Tour de France and other 2008 ASO events. Why is ASO wary of Team Astana? Perhaps because the new management at Team Astana is the old Team Discovery management.

Johan Bruyneel was a Johan-come-Lately to the anti-doping battle. Entering 2008, when a slot in the Tour was no longer assured by ProTour membership, Bruyneel suddenly sang the praises of independent team monitoring à la Team CSC and Team Slipstream. But is was a very different, quite smug Bruyneel this time a year ago, with a Tour invite assured, who was dismissive of the very same efforts, instead trotting out the worn, pointless “We have never failed a test” rationale.

ASO might still remember that Bruyneel not long ago sought to bring a certain Ivan Basso with him to their Tour. Indeed, Bruyneel has yet to show any genuine remorse for having signed Basso in late 2006, despite very strong evidence of his links to Fuentes’s blood doping factory, uncovered by Operación Puerto, already at the time Bruyneel signed him.

ASO might also be thinking of the harsh, dismissive treatment Bruyneel and his former Tailwind Sports organization gave their former doctor, Prentice Steffen, for once having blown the whistle on a then lily-white Tyler Hamilton and the U.S. Postal Team.

ASO could even be thinking of the list of Bruyneel’s former protégés, who, upon leaving his team, proceeded to tarnish the Tour and the sport quite dramatically. Roberto Heras. Tyler Hamilton. Floyd Landis.

If Bruyneel and his Kazakhstani backers are genuine in their dedication to clean sport, then perhaps they should do as ASO suggests: spend 2008 racing clean and above reproach. Then I’m sure ASO will give them a fair chance to shine in the Tour.

Apollo Anderson
Summit, New Jersey

Reaction smacks of jingoism
Editor:
So Astana, a team that was clearly playing dirty during last year's Tour, is excluded from ASO events for a year and VeloNews readers are up in arms. Aren't these the same people who've been calling for sanctions for team management when riders from that team get caught doping? Is it unreasonable that ASO expects a dirty team to take a year and prove they're ready to play by the rules before admitting them to their events?

I suspect that if this team were run by anybody other than Johan Bruyneel, and had a roster without Levi Leipheimer, people would be applauding this decision. I, for one, think it's great that ASO is standing up and saying that there will be real consequences for teams that break the rules.

Meanwhile, Slipstream, an American team well known for its antidoping program, looks on track to race in this year's Tour. It's got a roster full of talented and exciting young riders, good management, and a generally great attitude about the sport. And your readers are threatening a boycott of the Tour this year?

By all means, tune out if you don't want to see everything that's right about the future of cycling or see the birth of what might be the next American powerhouse team. From here, it seems like the prospects for an exciting, clean Tour are getting better and better. I'll definitely be watching.

Dan Seaton
Portsmouth, New Hampshire

The Tour is the greatest race in the world
Editor:
While I am saddened by the ASO’s decision not to invite Astana to the TDF I am also a little surprised by how strongly your readers have responded to the announcement.

I understand and acknowledge that Astana is under new management and is committed to racing clean, but there are still several individuals involved with this team who have questions raised about their own pasts, including Alberto Contador and the sainted Johan.

The second question that enters my mind is would the largely American readership of this magazine react so strongly if it had been a continental team rather than the reconstituted and renamed Discovery team that had not been invited? Furthermore, even though Astana was not invited there is still a strong chance of American representation through Slipstream, and even possibly High Road given the ASO’s inclusion of both teams in Paris-Nice.

In one of your articles, you mentioned that cool heads need to prevail. This advice may also apply to your readers.

Let us remember that the Tour is the greatest bike race on Earth. It has been around a long time and has survived numerous scandals over the years. It will, undoubtedly survive this. It is unrivaled for spectacle and thousands, if not millions of fans will continue to watch the spectacle regardless of who rides the Tour.

On another note, maybe it is time to return to national teams to downplay the commercialism that is destroying the sport.

Peter Parker
Quito, Ecuador



The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.