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Bahati optimistic

Published: Dec. 11, 2008
Bahati is optimistic that it will all work out with Rock Racing
Bahati is optimistic that it will all work out with Rock Racing
Photo: Kurt Jambretz/Action Images

National criterium champion Rahsaan Bahati is optimistic about his status with Rock Racing, the team he has ridden for since 2007, even though he appears to have been relegated to amateur status for the 2009 season.

In a blog entry Tuesday, Bahati sounded resigned that his tenure with the team might be over, writing, “I feel happy that I had this opportunity to race as a pro with Rock Racing. I created some great memories and found great friends for life. Unfortunately Rock Racing doesn’t realize that you can’t swap guys in and out or move guys around all year long as it was explained to me. And even if you could, why should I be subjected to that? I won more races than anyone on the team this year, and I expected to be treated like one of the best.”

Bahati, who in 2008 also won the Athens Twilight Criterium, the Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix and two stages of the International Cycling Classic/Superweek, told VeloNews that he learned about his 2009 amateur status Monday after he was alerted to a story posted on VeloNews.com.

“I got on the horn and called the team, but it’s been rough trying to communicate with them,” he said. “That’s how I found out, and it wasn’t cool.”

But he added that he was “still optimistic about everything.”

“I think everything will work out,” Bahati said. “I’m not pissed at anyone. Maybe (Rock Racing team owner) Michael Ball has something up his sleeve, some unforeseen way of doing something and he just hasn’t let me in on the secret. Michael and I have a great relationship, and that’s why I am staying positive. I think it will work itself out, with this team, but if it doesn’t, I’ll move on.”

Rock Racing announced a 27-man roster last month that
exceeds USA Cycling’s limit of 16 riders — a rule that also allows a team a maximum of four extra riders who are specialists in other endurance disciplines, such as track (scratch, points race, pursuit or Madison), mountain bike (cross-country or marathon), or cyclocross, provided that these riders were in the top 150 of the UCI Classification for that discipline sometime in 2008.

Likewise, the majority of a continental team’s riders must have a racing age of less than 28. The team originally submitted 17 names on its continental squad, with 10 names missing. In a seemingly unheard-of situation in domestic racing, Rock — which applied for UCI professional continental status in 2009 but was denied— hired several well-established professionals only to relegate them to amateur status.

Along with Bahati, two-time national TT champion Chris Baldwin, Olympian Glen Chadwick, Cesar Grajales, Caleb Manion, Chepe Garcia, Austin Carroll, Danny Finneran, Ian Moir and Michael Creed were assigned amateur status by Rock management.

However since then, two names from the team’s 17-man roster — Ivan Dominguez and 2006 Australian national champion William Walker — have jumped ship to the Fuji-Servetto ProTour team. While Dominguez’s departure opens the door for another rider over 28, Walker’s does not.

As Dominguez told Velonews.com Wednesday, he did not have a signed contract with Rock Racing. Bahati said he preferred not to discuss the details of a contract.

“I’m not going to speak about my contract,” he said. “I’m willing to speak more about it in the next few days when I learn a little more, but as of now, it’s a strange situation.”

Since USA Cycling released the Continental roster Monday, Rock Racing team representatives have had no comment about the teams’ former professional riders who have been relegated to amateur status.

Should Bahati and the other riders remain amateurs, they would not be able to compete in UCI-sanctioned events but would be able to compete in USCF events, including NRC events, with either the Rock Racing pro or amateur team, so long as both teams aren’t competing in the same categorized event.

UCI rule 2.2.001 (.pdf) states that, “riders belonging to teams with the same paying agent or main partner may not compete in the same race except in the case of an individual event.”

That rule doesn’t necessarily apply to UCSF events. USA Cycling technical director Shawn Farrell said “national rules can vary from UCI rules,” at national-level events, however USCF rule 4A2 (.pdf), regarding stage races, also states that, “Only one team may be entered in a stage race by any given club.”

Bahati said he was under the impression that he would not be able to compete with the Rock professional team at USCF events. “I don’t know all the technical parts,” he said. “My understanding in the past is that you can’t just swap guys in and out, but I don’t know. I just race.”

In 2008 Rock Racing violated the USCF rule at the San Dimas stage race by fielding both pro and amateur teams; Al Wiscovitch, father of Rock Racing rider Jeremiah Wiscovitch, directed that race.

“We ran into some issues last year,” Bahati said. “We had some guys who were registered with USA Cycling as amateurs, and say we tried to enter a race where we could have eight riders, and we tried to also enter four amateurs … we were able to at San Dimas this year, but other promoters don’t allow it to happen because it’s unfair. It’s a situation where you have a Rock team with eight guys and another amateur Rock team with another eight guys — you’d have 16 guys in a race.”

The lack of professional status means that the team’s amateur riders would not be able to race in most European events as well. In 2008 Rock competed internationally at the Vuelta Colombia, the Tour of Qinghai Lake and the Tour of Britain. However Rock’s amateur riders could be upgraded to Rock’s pro team roster during USA Cycling’s official roster change period, which is June 1 through June 25, 2009, so long as the majority of its riders are under 28 years old. Any changes will require a new audit and review process.

Bahati said the highlight of his 2008 season was his national title in Downers Grove, Illinois — the same spot where he won the elite national title in August 2000 as an 18-year old.

“That whole weekend was a career highlight for me,” Bahati said. “My wife came out with me. She’d never been in a limousine before, and we rode to the airport together in a limo. That whole weekend was great, and was the highlight of the season — returning the favor (at the Downers Grove pro-am event) on Saturday, leading Sterling (Magnell) out, and then having the guys helping me win what I have been wanting to win since 2001. That was great.”

If he is not moved up to the pro team, Bahati would not be able to defend his national criterium title; amateur teams are ineligible to compete in events that require UCI trade team status, such as USA Cycling Pro Championships and the others on the 13-event USA Cycling Professional Tour.

In a perfect world, Bahati said, he will be able to stick with the squad and be back in Downers Grove as the defending champion.

“I like Rock,” he said. “I was there from the start, from the beginning in November of 2006. I would love to work things out. If I am going to be an amateur, and I can support my family, and come June they can move me up so I can do the bigger crits at the end of the season, then so be it.

“I want to be happy,” Bahati said. “And that’s one of things I liked about this team, I was happy. I could be myself, I didn’t have to pretend that I was or wasn’t somebody. It was perfect for me. I could be myself, and that’s what made racing easier for me the last few years. Some people may not understand that — ‘being myself’ — but sometimes you just don’t fit in, and Rock Racing was a perfect fit for me.”