procycling Blog
http://www.bikeradar.com/blogs/article/allan-davis-no-way-out-14045
Martin Hardie Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 2.22pm
The accepted mantra within cycling is that it is 'cleaner' than most other sports and that its anti-doping procedures are transparent and out in the open for all to see. Whatever the reality in terms of comparative cleanliness it is arguable that the lack of transparency in the anti-doping procedures and decision making system is doing as much damage to our athletes as doping itself.
The case of Allan Davis is a glaring example of this sorry state. Last weekend in the Australian national championship road race at Buninyong, Davis hung in with the leading group until the penultimate climb of the day. But as he emerged out of the eucalypt-lined climb, off the back of the group, he cut a solitary figure. Solitary in more ways than one.
Over the past five years Davis has emerged as one of Australia's most promising professional cyclists. But now, even with the possibility of a new team in sight he finds his career at an impasse.
Last year Davis found himself caught up in the Spanish Operación Puerto investigation. The popular wisdom is that he was cleared of any wrongdoing in what started as an investigation into the importation and supply of unauthorised Chinese medicines to Spain before blowing up into the huge blood doping affair that had strong links to the world of cycling. But the reality is that he and the other cyclists were never targeted as wrongdoers, he and the other cyclists were never anything more than mere witnesses.
The problem for Davis and others is that documents leaked from the Spanish Guardia Civil set out what seem to be extensive doping programs for the 2005 season. Subsequently, the Australian Anti Doping Sports Agency (ASADA) found that Davis had no case to answer. But still his career remains in limbo.
Davis faces both career and emotional ruin within a system whose administrators claim has turned a corner and embraced a cultural change. But it is that very system and its emphasis on secrecy and privacy that has left him in the unenviable position of being unable to prove his bona fides.
It is a system that promises athletes that they can 'have it all', that has impressed them into taking up the tools of the trade and doing what they need to do in order to obtain victory for themselves, their team and their country. But at the same time this system is happy to leave them on the sporting scrap heap in order to protect the interests of sponsors and administrators who seek to hide behind this facade of cultural change.
Davis should and could ride in the Pro Tour again, but given the level of suspicion surrounding doping and cycling, whether he does or not remains uncertain.
It is kids like Davis that carry the political and emotional can. Once suspicion looms, they are virtually hung out to dry. They are caught up in cycling's code of silence, the attempts to shift the sports power base outside of Old Europe, and in Davis' case the inability of ASADA to provide any information to the public as to how it reaches its decisions. In any event who would want to come clean and 'fess up when in all probability, that act of good faith would see you liable to face criminal prosecution for doing what was the sporting norm?
A Year Zero in cycling or any other sport is an impossibility. The slate cannot be wiped clean overnight or because the sporting hierarchy state publicly that a cultural change has occurred. Maybe the only way forward is a moratorium on prosecutions for past offences. A moratorium that is accompanied with some form of truth and reconciliation which must be a process that in includes those at the level of the sport's administration and its sponsors who have benefited from the old system.
Talk of cultural change in cycling requires something more than bland statements about a zero tolerance policy to doping and the prosecution of kids caught up in a system created and perpetuated by their elders. It requires sporting administrators to bite the bullet and admit their complicity in the old ways.
It also requires young athletes being given real career paths that extend beyond their time on the bike. Early and broad life education must be a part of any athlete's sporting development. If athletes were given real career planning and options by Government funded organisations, rather than being pushed to achieve 'it all' within the short athletic life span, they may well be in a position to develop real life skills that might just see them avoiding the mistakes of the past. Skills that will allow them to see their careers as something else than make or break opportunities that will end when they reach their mid thirties, leaving them with them to cope with the physical and emotional scars that doping brings about.
If not, kids will continue to fall into the traps that have been laid down for them by the past examples of their elders.
Martin Hardie is an Australian working on a PhD in law on the globalisation of cycling and the criminalisation of doping. He contributes to Procycling.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
A Cyborg Counternarrative of Lance Armstrong
Ted Butryn and Matthew Masucci concluded their article "It's Not about the Book. A Cyborg Counternarrative of Lance Armstrong" (published in the Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Volume 27, No. 2, May 2003, pp.124-144) in the following terms:
"From our perspective, whether Armstrong used any performoance-enhancing drugs while he competed is secondary to the larger question of why sporting bureaucracies are intent on rigourously policing the borders , which are suspect at least, between "calculated training" and cyborg corporeality, even as the postmodern conditions render their attempts futile and absurd. Sport fans have come to accept elite performances that are largely recognized as being aided by technology, and yet the "natural" classification remains the chosen mantra of elite sport. It is a question that deserves the further attention of scholars from within and beyond the sports studies community."
Interestingly they also note in the article that whenever Armstrong, the post modern cyborg feels the need to defend his achievements it is done, not on by reverting to a similarly post modernist rational but by reverting to modernist notions of purity, hard work, and a unified natural and single identity. The implication is that by reverting to these defences from another time he is somehow complicit in maintaining the modernist notions of body and naturalness which in this day and age serve more as unrealistic forms of enunciation rather than being forms of expression which are in touch with the reality of the processes they seek to defend and reflect. That is their is a large distance between the modernist defence of hard work, naturalness and purity and the post modernist reality of a fine tuned cyborg that brings together technology and the human body.
Whist Butryn and Masucci have focussed upon Armstrong in the context of cyborg theory, they are right to point our attention and to suggest further research in relation as to why the "natural'" classification remains the chosen mantra of elite sport".
The question becomes: why do we cling on to these modernist notions to the extent that any crossing of the invisible line, and even rejection of these notions becomes a mattter for the criminal law?
"From our perspective, whether Armstrong used any performoance-enhancing drugs while he competed is secondary to the larger question of why sporting bureaucracies are intent on rigourously policing the borders , which are suspect at least, between "calculated training" and cyborg corporeality, even as the postmodern conditions render their attempts futile and absurd. Sport fans have come to accept elite performances that are largely recognized as being aided by technology, and yet the "natural" classification remains the chosen mantra of elite sport. It is a question that deserves the further attention of scholars from within and beyond the sports studies community."
Interestingly they also note in the article that whenever Armstrong, the post modern cyborg feels the need to defend his achievements it is done, not on by reverting to a similarly post modernist rational but by reverting to modernist notions of purity, hard work, and a unified natural and single identity. The implication is that by reverting to these defences from another time he is somehow complicit in maintaining the modernist notions of body and naturalness which in this day and age serve more as unrealistic forms of enunciation rather than being forms of expression which are in touch with the reality of the processes they seek to defend and reflect. That is their is a large distance between the modernist defence of hard work, naturalness and purity and the post modernist reality of a fine tuned cyborg that brings together technology and the human body.
Whist Butryn and Masucci have focussed upon Armstrong in the context of cyborg theory, they are right to point our attention and to suggest further research in relation as to why the "natural'" classification remains the chosen mantra of elite sport".
The question becomes: why do we cling on to these modernist notions to the extent that any crossing of the invisible line, and even rejection of these notions becomes a mattter for the criminal law?
Kafka on Wheels One.
Kafka on wheels, the phrase coined by the doyen of the Spanish cycling media, Carlos Arribas, is a pretty fair description of the state of cycling within which the 2006 Vuelta a España found itself. The race kicked off in the shadow of suspicion and doubt. Like K, la Vuelta was the subject of allegation without detail, nothing positive, just a heavy air of suspicion. Everyone knew something had happened, everyone knew something was happening, everyone knew something was going to happen, but nobody knew exactly what. Everyone had their version, but nobody would say what it was. Whether it was real or not wasn't in issue, all that mattered was that there was suspicion.
In the wake of the 2005 Heras disaster and the subsequent police investigation, sponsors couldn't be found or pulled out. The organisation was forced to slim down and the weekend viewing times were shoved forward to the early afternoon, leaving the bigger moneyed sports to bath in the light of prime time TV. La Vuelta started in the twilight, late one steamy summer afternoon in Malaga. The twilight of a Kafkaesque summer, or more, in which we have yet to have a definitive grand tour winner .....
It started hot, under the twilight skies of Malaga with its beaches lined with restaurants, their fried sardines and anchovies, and their lovely chilled white wine. The days that followed were a furnace, steaming hot, under the Andulacian and Extremadurian sun. Steaming hot as well from the pressure of Operacion Puerto and the post-Tour environment. Suspicion, confusion, doubt were everywhere. When Zabel won the first of his two stages on some self confessed and self produced adrenaline, some wondered aloud whether it was not long before that, along with all pleasure and endorphines, would soon be on the banned list. Nothing in life is black and white, and cycling, like everything else in this life, is simply beyond good and evil.
The Vuelta 2006 – a battle as epic as Stalingrad.
This years Vuelta on its surface had all the overtones of one of history's great battles between good and evil. It was in one way reminiscent of one of military history's great battles and turning point in the fight against the Nazis. Stories passed down to us younger generations, tell of how during the time of the Second World War, people throughout the world sat by radios and waited for newspaper reports of news of this bloody encounter. It was a battle that raged over three separate calendar years, but it was, like the Vuelta, a fight that some believed could be, if won by the forces of good, see a turning point in history.
Whether life can be reduced to good and evil, one things is for sure, the race's three acts, conjure the spectre of the Red Army's fortunes on the eastern Front. Alexandre Vinokourov forced onto the back foot and near defeat in Act One. An intermezzo of wave after wave of attack and counter attack, as the challengers, notably Vino and Alejandro Valverde, firing all they could muster, only managed to further entrench a bloody stalemate. And then, in the final act, wave after wave of devastating Khazak attacks, which finally saw the riders from the East dominate and destroy their opposition, simply through their own will to power, cunning and strength.
Kafka on Wheels Two.
Kafka on Wheels most certainly. Astana the team, not the company, nor the city, is dragged in as many directions as the compass holds. On the road it seems that Vino and Kashechkin ride the pointy ends of the race without any team support. Of the road you wonder if some of their support are sometimes the type that you would better off without.
After Vino disassociated himself from Manolo Saiz, he strengthened his ties with one of the east's growing economies, the State of Kazakhstan and its industrial powerhouses. He looked to Tony Rominger for advice and to negotiate the team's Pro Tour licence. He contacted his ex team Telekom director, Walter Godefroot, and asked him to come out of retirement in order to take over the helm in 2007.
Rominger, seems to be intent on signing all those that he manges, the stories abound, Kloden, as co-leader, Santi Perez back from two years off for, they say, having his blood confused with Tyler's, who of course, he says, had his blood confused with that of his vanishing twin. It is not at all clear that Vino wants to go back to the old days of T-Mobiles confused leadership, where he always played second or Third fiddle to Jan or Klodie, whilst being acknowledges by Armstrong as, the dangerous one.
In another direction Astana is being pulled by the followers, or they say, those indebted to or simply just need Manolo Saiz. They say they are holding out the hope that the Spanish police and judiciary will quietly put their files away in a back room and let them start anew. That it is all a part of a conspiracy against Manolo, some say, for setting up the Pro Tour. Old Liberty riders, not in the race, have been told to keep their mouths firmly shut if they want a job in the future. it was a team which throughout the race was two or maybe three teams all going in different directions at once. Whether this was a factor on the bike as well, we just don't know, but when it mattered the others massed like Banesto, ONCE or US Postal of old, the Khazaks roamed like a two man wolf pack, wild nomads of the steppes, always ready to bite at the heels of the favourites and their praetorian guards.
When Neil Stephens, for now Astana's second in charge on the road, was asked if he was “staying with this mob next year?” His response was “depends who you mean by this mob?” Or maybe, what you mean by the mob? Stevo, a loyal Saiz stalwart, is one of a few who, they say, are putting their bets on the police forgetting about it all. Or than Saiz was just a client, nothing more than a client of the evil doctors.
Astana a team that might next year be one, or two, both or neither with a Pro Tour license. Astana, a team whose liberty is in no way secured. But for now is being driven by the mighty cossacks in their quest to break free of decadent Europe's clutches. Where they go, if they go, well it all depends on The Trial. But which trial is that? The one is Spain, in The hague, in Switzerland or in Astana - a myriad of legal investigations, prosecutions, appeals and disputes in overlapping jurisdictions, blood law, human rights law, company law, team licensing law, drug trafficking and health and pharmaceutical law. Simply more Kafka on Wheels.
But maybe, just as Kafka himself thought, the solution is not one of more law and lawyers from above, but in fact a greater sense of ethics from below.
The Hope of Braver Souls.
There are some brave souls who are willing to speak. Rabobank's Pedro Horrillo, former bike courier and philosophy student, was brave enough to try and jump the peloton in the race's final kilometre in Madrid. Unfortunately, he was only to be run down by Zabel's disciplined train. In the winter you can often see Pedro heading out of town on his mountain bike, with a backpack of full of books, looking for a quite place to read and to ponder the world. So it wasn't surprising that as the race headed out of Malaga, it was philosopher Pedro who was brave enough and happy enough to lay his cards on the table.
In June he took on the role of the peloton's spokesperson at the Spanish National Champs when the riders decided against proceeding as a protest at them becoming the focus of criminal investigation. Pedro doesn't deny a problem, but he is not fond of the strong arm tactics of the police, or for that matter like most, the UCI Vampire wake up calls after 200 kms in 40 plus degree heat. At the moment he is one of the few with the courage and the where with all, to discuss the situation facing cycling in an intelligent and considered manner. He made it it clear that this year's Vuelta was a chance for everybody involved in cycling to make a fresh start. During the race he noted that the days were long and hard, but that some of the incredible craziness of the recent past seemed to have disappeared- thanks he thought to the repercussions of Operacion Puerto.
Recognising that the problem facing the sport was more than a few bad apples, and that the solution requires more than that the heads of a few scapegoats to roll, Pedro called for everyone involved throughout the machine of the cycling industry to end the lies about what really goes on. And it is a problem that won't be solved by simple calls for riders to stop cheating or being clean. Nor will it be solved by criminalising those caught in the machine, or dragging them out of bed at 6 am to await the taking of blood. In Malaga, he said that this Vuelta was a chance for the peloton, and for the cycling industry as a whole, to either win back or lose the love and admiration of the fans forever.
And as if to highlight the current loneliness of the sport, as he rode in 43 degree heat, across the sparse and uninhabited landscape of Extremadura - a landscape that reminds one of being on a solo training ride out somewhere between Bourke and Longreach; he pretended that the stumpy scrub that he could see was really thousands of excited fans whose faith in the sport had been finally restored
Whilst Pedro is not alone, his bravery is still not that of the majority. During those early days of La Vuelta there was much talk of a new start for cycling. Those implicated in Operacion Puerto off the race continued the denials. And the cone of silence still falls wide and heavy over cycling. The calls for a cleaning out of the cheats and their bodies continued, but at times they seemed like mock outrage, the outrage of those in the know, but with a firm eye on the future funding of the sport. Sometimes there just seems to be too many careers, too many companies and too many families and lives that fear what a new age might bring.
Kafka on Wheels Three.
One step forward , three steps back. What an upside down world it is. La Vuelta finished on the streets of Madrid, with the weather starting to turn to autumn. Spain had succumb, just as a degenerate Europe of old had, to wave after wave of assaults from the Cossacks and Tartars of the East. This time the Cossacks came wielding new metals and technology, they came riding carbon fibre horses, one of them hastily painted gold, but they were still ferocious and they still carried their ancient banner to the summit. But still the old ways tried to reassert themselves and claim their place in this new world.
Basking in the autumn light at the start of the final stage, still indignant and unrepentant, still loudly proclaiming his innocence on procedural grounds, was none other than Floyd Landis. Parading himself proudly, accompanied, as always these days, by his mate and rapid recovery adviser, Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero they visited their (now ex?) Phonak teammates and then paid homage to the Cossacks. Landis and his fixer mate, the style merchant, Perdi. Some say they should be regarded as the two, as much as many others, who have put us where we are today. Floyd Landis, smiling, mouthing the lines “I have nothing to hide”, quickly following it up with that of the defendant: “My lawyers have stated that I should make no further comment”. Perdi, mute, playboy glasses, strutting the bantam rooster walk of a man who like so many in the industry think they are untouchable.
Noone is Indispensable.
When the stage to la Covatilla was planned it was meant to be a tribute to the then Vuelta patron. Now it seems like a tribute to something else. And Heras is never seen, never speaks. Heras the Hermit is somewhere around here, holed up, until who knows when.
The banner at the foot of La Covatilla says "A Vuelta without Heras is like a bike without wheels". Pedro Horrillo thinks that ... well in reality nobody is indispensable. Everyone in this world lives a precarious existence. La Covatilla, the first grand encounter, and Perdiguero, confident of Landis at Phonak and not the machine he was not so long ago, climbs off, symbolically at the foot.
The pressure, the continual dope tests, the hypocrisy "I've had enough" he claims. Perdi who had helped Aitor Gonzalez move closer to victory here four years ago, Perdi, who had advised Landis on how to recover after cracking on Stage 16 of this year's Tour, Perdi who had helped so many others make their mark on La Covatilla's slopes: Santi Blanco, Aitor Gonzalez, Santi Perez, Oscar Sevilla,, and of course, Roberto Heras.
Stuey's View
When asked if cycling was able to emerge from the Operacion Puerto and Landis scandals, Stuart 'Grady responded told Bicycling Australia that “Well I think we are. Of course we are going to come out of it, it's just that there is a few heads that need to roll and it's hard for cycling short term, but it's definitely good long term...
O'Grady thinks that one of the problems facing cycling and the reason for the sport being under the thumb more than any other at the moment is a result of there being “too much money involved in football and athletics and you know cycling is the easy target. It is the anyperson's sport, and it is not a rich sport, so it is the easy one to target”.
He continued saying that “it's obviously that there are people in all walks of life, in a job, or whatever, you know who decide to cheat, you are always going to have cheats in the world, you are never going to get rid of that.” He believes that some riders are still “trying to beat the system, so I guess that's cheating, people looking for the easy way out, people looking for more money, there's people looking for fame, there are too many reasons ,and now you know sport is such a big business, and people are prepared to take the risks ... they are not getting hard enough consequences, the consequences are not tough enough ... I mean if someone goes positive, it should be a life ban, your out of the sport ... then you would have a lot less people playing Russian roulette.”
In the wake of the 2005 Heras disaster and the subsequent police investigation, sponsors couldn't be found or pulled out. The organisation was forced to slim down and the weekend viewing times were shoved forward to the early afternoon, leaving the bigger moneyed sports to bath in the light of prime time TV. La Vuelta started in the twilight, late one steamy summer afternoon in Malaga. The twilight of a Kafkaesque summer, or more, in which we have yet to have a definitive grand tour winner .....
It started hot, under the twilight skies of Malaga with its beaches lined with restaurants, their fried sardines and anchovies, and their lovely chilled white wine. The days that followed were a furnace, steaming hot, under the Andulacian and Extremadurian sun. Steaming hot as well from the pressure of Operacion Puerto and the post-Tour environment. Suspicion, confusion, doubt were everywhere. When Zabel won the first of his two stages on some self confessed and self produced adrenaline, some wondered aloud whether it was not long before that, along with all pleasure and endorphines, would soon be on the banned list. Nothing in life is black and white, and cycling, like everything else in this life, is simply beyond good and evil.
The Vuelta 2006 – a battle as epic as Stalingrad.
This years Vuelta on its surface had all the overtones of one of history's great battles between good and evil. It was in one way reminiscent of one of military history's great battles and turning point in the fight against the Nazis. Stories passed down to us younger generations, tell of how during the time of the Second World War, people throughout the world sat by radios and waited for newspaper reports of news of this bloody encounter. It was a battle that raged over three separate calendar years, but it was, like the Vuelta, a fight that some believed could be, if won by the forces of good, see a turning point in history.
Whether life can be reduced to good and evil, one things is for sure, the race's three acts, conjure the spectre of the Red Army's fortunes on the eastern Front. Alexandre Vinokourov forced onto the back foot and near defeat in Act One. An intermezzo of wave after wave of attack and counter attack, as the challengers, notably Vino and Alejandro Valverde, firing all they could muster, only managed to further entrench a bloody stalemate. And then, in the final act, wave after wave of devastating Khazak attacks, which finally saw the riders from the East dominate and destroy their opposition, simply through their own will to power, cunning and strength.
Kafka on Wheels Two.
Kafka on Wheels most certainly. Astana the team, not the company, nor the city, is dragged in as many directions as the compass holds. On the road it seems that Vino and Kashechkin ride the pointy ends of the race without any team support. Of the road you wonder if some of their support are sometimes the type that you would better off without.
After Vino disassociated himself from Manolo Saiz, he strengthened his ties with one of the east's growing economies, the State of Kazakhstan and its industrial powerhouses. He looked to Tony Rominger for advice and to negotiate the team's Pro Tour licence. He contacted his ex team Telekom director, Walter Godefroot, and asked him to come out of retirement in order to take over the helm in 2007.
Rominger, seems to be intent on signing all those that he manges, the stories abound, Kloden, as co-leader, Santi Perez back from two years off for, they say, having his blood confused with Tyler's, who of course, he says, had his blood confused with that of his vanishing twin. It is not at all clear that Vino wants to go back to the old days of T-Mobiles confused leadership, where he always played second or Third fiddle to Jan or Klodie, whilst being acknowledges by Armstrong as, the dangerous one.
In another direction Astana is being pulled by the followers, or they say, those indebted to or simply just need Manolo Saiz. They say they are holding out the hope that the Spanish police and judiciary will quietly put their files away in a back room and let them start anew. That it is all a part of a conspiracy against Manolo, some say, for setting up the Pro Tour. Old Liberty riders, not in the race, have been told to keep their mouths firmly shut if they want a job in the future. it was a team which throughout the race was two or maybe three teams all going in different directions at once. Whether this was a factor on the bike as well, we just don't know, but when it mattered the others massed like Banesto, ONCE or US Postal of old, the Khazaks roamed like a two man wolf pack, wild nomads of the steppes, always ready to bite at the heels of the favourites and their praetorian guards.
When Neil Stephens, for now Astana's second in charge on the road, was asked if he was “staying with this mob next year?” His response was “depends who you mean by this mob?” Or maybe, what you mean by the mob? Stevo, a loyal Saiz stalwart, is one of a few who, they say, are putting their bets on the police forgetting about it all. Or than Saiz was just a client, nothing more than a client of the evil doctors.
Astana a team that might next year be one, or two, both or neither with a Pro Tour license. Astana, a team whose liberty is in no way secured. But for now is being driven by the mighty cossacks in their quest to break free of decadent Europe's clutches. Where they go, if they go, well it all depends on The Trial. But which trial is that? The one is Spain, in The hague, in Switzerland or in Astana - a myriad of legal investigations, prosecutions, appeals and disputes in overlapping jurisdictions, blood law, human rights law, company law, team licensing law, drug trafficking and health and pharmaceutical law. Simply more Kafka on Wheels.
But maybe, just as Kafka himself thought, the solution is not one of more law and lawyers from above, but in fact a greater sense of ethics from below.
The Hope of Braver Souls.
There are some brave souls who are willing to speak. Rabobank's Pedro Horrillo, former bike courier and philosophy student, was brave enough to try and jump the peloton in the race's final kilometre in Madrid. Unfortunately, he was only to be run down by Zabel's disciplined train. In the winter you can often see Pedro heading out of town on his mountain bike, with a backpack of full of books, looking for a quite place to read and to ponder the world. So it wasn't surprising that as the race headed out of Malaga, it was philosopher Pedro who was brave enough and happy enough to lay his cards on the table.
In June he took on the role of the peloton's spokesperson at the Spanish National Champs when the riders decided against proceeding as a protest at them becoming the focus of criminal investigation. Pedro doesn't deny a problem, but he is not fond of the strong arm tactics of the police, or for that matter like most, the UCI Vampire wake up calls after 200 kms in 40 plus degree heat. At the moment he is one of the few with the courage and the where with all, to discuss the situation facing cycling in an intelligent and considered manner. He made it it clear that this year's Vuelta was a chance for everybody involved in cycling to make a fresh start. During the race he noted that the days were long and hard, but that some of the incredible craziness of the recent past seemed to have disappeared- thanks he thought to the repercussions of Operacion Puerto.
Recognising that the problem facing the sport was more than a few bad apples, and that the solution requires more than that the heads of a few scapegoats to roll, Pedro called for everyone involved throughout the machine of the cycling industry to end the lies about what really goes on. And it is a problem that won't be solved by simple calls for riders to stop cheating or being clean. Nor will it be solved by criminalising those caught in the machine, or dragging them out of bed at 6 am to await the taking of blood. In Malaga, he said that this Vuelta was a chance for the peloton, and for the cycling industry as a whole, to either win back or lose the love and admiration of the fans forever.
And as if to highlight the current loneliness of the sport, as he rode in 43 degree heat, across the sparse and uninhabited landscape of Extremadura - a landscape that reminds one of being on a solo training ride out somewhere between Bourke and Longreach; he pretended that the stumpy scrub that he could see was really thousands of excited fans whose faith in the sport had been finally restored
Whilst Pedro is not alone, his bravery is still not that of the majority. During those early days of La Vuelta there was much talk of a new start for cycling. Those implicated in Operacion Puerto off the race continued the denials. And the cone of silence still falls wide and heavy over cycling. The calls for a cleaning out of the cheats and their bodies continued, but at times they seemed like mock outrage, the outrage of those in the know, but with a firm eye on the future funding of the sport. Sometimes there just seems to be too many careers, too many companies and too many families and lives that fear what a new age might bring.
Kafka on Wheels Three.
One step forward , three steps back. What an upside down world it is. La Vuelta finished on the streets of Madrid, with the weather starting to turn to autumn. Spain had succumb, just as a degenerate Europe of old had, to wave after wave of assaults from the Cossacks and Tartars of the East. This time the Cossacks came wielding new metals and technology, they came riding carbon fibre horses, one of them hastily painted gold, but they were still ferocious and they still carried their ancient banner to the summit. But still the old ways tried to reassert themselves and claim their place in this new world.
Basking in the autumn light at the start of the final stage, still indignant and unrepentant, still loudly proclaiming his innocence on procedural grounds, was none other than Floyd Landis. Parading himself proudly, accompanied, as always these days, by his mate and rapid recovery adviser, Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero they visited their (now ex?) Phonak teammates and then paid homage to the Cossacks. Landis and his fixer mate, the style merchant, Perdi. Some say they should be regarded as the two, as much as many others, who have put us where we are today. Floyd Landis, smiling, mouthing the lines “I have nothing to hide”, quickly following it up with that of the defendant: “My lawyers have stated that I should make no further comment”. Perdi, mute, playboy glasses, strutting the bantam rooster walk of a man who like so many in the industry think they are untouchable.
Noone is Indispensable.
When the stage to la Covatilla was planned it was meant to be a tribute to the then Vuelta patron. Now it seems like a tribute to something else. And Heras is never seen, never speaks. Heras the Hermit is somewhere around here, holed up, until who knows when.
The banner at the foot of La Covatilla says "A Vuelta without Heras is like a bike without wheels". Pedro Horrillo thinks that ... well in reality nobody is indispensable. Everyone in this world lives a precarious existence. La Covatilla, the first grand encounter, and Perdiguero, confident of Landis at Phonak and not the machine he was not so long ago, climbs off, symbolically at the foot.
The pressure, the continual dope tests, the hypocrisy "I've had enough" he claims. Perdi who had helped Aitor Gonzalez move closer to victory here four years ago, Perdi, who had advised Landis on how to recover after cracking on Stage 16 of this year's Tour, Perdi who had helped so many others make their mark on La Covatilla's slopes: Santi Blanco, Aitor Gonzalez, Santi Perez, Oscar Sevilla,, and of course, Roberto Heras.
Stuey's View
When asked if cycling was able to emerge from the Operacion Puerto and Landis scandals, Stuart 'Grady responded told Bicycling Australia that “Well I think we are. Of course we are going to come out of it, it's just that there is a few heads that need to roll and it's hard for cycling short term, but it's definitely good long term...
O'Grady thinks that one of the problems facing cycling and the reason for the sport being under the thumb more than any other at the moment is a result of there being “too much money involved in football and athletics and you know cycling is the easy target. It is the anyperson's sport, and it is not a rich sport, so it is the easy one to target”.
He continued saying that “it's obviously that there are people in all walks of life, in a job, or whatever, you know who decide to cheat, you are always going to have cheats in the world, you are never going to get rid of that.” He believes that some riders are still “trying to beat the system, so I guess that's cheating, people looking for the easy way out, people looking for more money, there's people looking for fame, there are too many reasons ,and now you know sport is such a big business, and people are prepared to take the risks ... they are not getting hard enough consequences, the consequences are not tough enough ... I mean if someone goes positive, it should be a life ban, your out of the sport ... then you would have a lot less people playing Russian roulette.”
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tour Down Under – The future of Cycling in a global world?
Adelaide is a small grid like (cuadricular) city known as the city of churches. It is laid out on a hot dry plain wedged between the Mount Lofty ranges and the Southern Ocean. To the south the Ocean stretches to Antarctica. The landscape in colour is reminiscent of the plains of Castille Leon. However here there is a lot less water than any part of Spain.
Immediately inland lie some of Australia's best vineyards, the regions of the Barrossa Valley, the Claire Valley and McLaren Vale. Beyond that Adelaide sits in isolation. It is surrounded on three sides by the vast Australian interior, an open flat wasteland fit for the making of films such as Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Mad Max. Out here are mines of opals, gold and uranium and there are the atomic waste lands of Maralinga, where in the 1960's Aboriginal people where exposed to the devastation of the British Atomic tests.
Adelaide is the only one of Australia's original colonial capitals that was not created as a penal colony. It was settled in the mid nineteenth century by a more puritan middle of English who were followed by a wave of Germans who established the local wine industry. It became a colony distinct from the rest of Australia and seen from the east as a backwater. In its isolation it has remained more conservative than the eastern coast capitals and has always sought to boost its image through the staging of 'great' events. In the 1970's its most progressive government sought to put Adelaide on the map with the creation of the Adelaide Arts Festival which has blossomed into a cultural event of world standing. In more recent times Adelaide hosted the first Formula One Grand Prix held in Australia before losing it to the much more cosmopolitan and savvy Melbourne.
Partly in response to the loss of the Grand Prix ex cyclist Mike Turtur convinced the South Australia Government to support the initial Tour Down Under held in 1999. The inception of the TDU and its brash marketing style contributed to the death of one of Australia's great classic stage Races, the Commonwealth Bank Race. The humble Bank Race, where riders such as Jan Ullrich, Jens Voight, Robbie McEwen, Nick Gates and Matt White cut their teeth, is now long gone.
The TDU has turned itself into the premier Australian race, but beneath the hyperbole there is an ever present sense of insecurity amongst the race's organisers. Adelaide always seems to fear losing its 'major events' to Melbourne or one of other the Eastern State capitals. It might be this insecurity that drives the hyperbolic style surrounding the races promotion. A style that has already ruffled a few feathers in Europe and it might also explain some of the overt micro management and control that pervades the race's organisation.
Today Adelaide hosts the TDU and a few touring car races. Both are seen as integral to the State's economy. The importance of the TDU to the State's economy is exemplified by the race's number one backer, the State Premier, Mike Rann's comments on the announcement of the race obtaining Pro Tour status when he compared the importance of gaining Pro Tour status with the expansion of South Australia's massive gold, copper and uranium mine, Olympic Dam.
This statement in itself says something about how cycling and the TDU is viewed in South Australia. Unlike in old Europe, here cycling is firmly linked, not to a century of racing tradition, but to the global economy and increasing the State's finances. Who in Old Europe would ever consider comparing the staging of one of the great classic bikes races to something like the ability to mine and export more uranium?
Mike Rann obviously feels that money speaks volumes in the new global Pro Tour world and intends to travel to Europe later this year to meet with UCI President Pat McQuaid to discuss future plans and funding for the event.
More than a place to train in the Sun?
Since its inception the TDU has been seen as a good place for a few European teams to come and escape the cold and dark of the northern winter. It has also been a place for Australian riders to try and impress the visiting Europeans in the hope of themselves moving north to the centre of world cycling tradition. The race has been more than often won by a rider who manages to escape in a breakaway which survives as the peloton behind sits up and enjoys the good weather and conditions. If there is one thing that said about the TDU gaining Pro Tour status it is that the manner in which the race is played out has changed.
This year not one of the races escapes succeeded in staying away until the finish. Each day saw a bunch sprint and those sprints were dominated by the possible next big thing from Rostock Andre Greipel. His only real rival in thee sprints and in the end the General Classification, being Oiartzun's Australian hero, Allan Davis.
Many of the European riders were surprised at the way they race progressed. The amiable Pablo Lastras said that the team had thought that the trip would provide a chance for a good training session (bien entrienamiento) "but with the competition that has been here, it has been a real race ... I am enjoying these races that make yup the new formula of the Pro Tour, such as the Tours of Germany and Poland ... I like this idea of the globalisation of the Pro Tour, it gives us the ability to see the world, to meet new people and new cultures so from that perspective I think it is a good idea".
One visitor to the race was Cadel Evans who observed that "in the past the race has often been decided by small breaks getting away, I have been in that situation myself in the past being able to escape on Willunga Hill" (the TDU's one climb which is itself barely a three km category three climb) "but this year it really seems to have changed. With the top teams here, the style of racing has changed. It is a Pro Tour race now, the teams seem prepared and the race is being much more controlled. In some ways it seems like a mini Tirreno Adriatico this year. With the sprinters winning the race has changed. It is a lot more predictable, a more European defensive style of racing."
Past winner, Luis Leon Sanchez was of a similar mind. "I have noticed a lot of changes in the way the race is ridden. This is my third Tour Down Under and this year the level of racing is much higher, I think all they lack is a stage to break it up a bit more ... maybe we could climb Willunga Hill two times – that would make it more selective. This year it has been very different to the other years, with the Pro Tour teams here it has been much more competitive and controlled."
Some of those who have commentated or written about the race are not sure that making it harder is a good thing. Phil Latz, Managing Editor of Australia's oldest cycling magazine 'Bicycling Australia' believes one of the keys to the race's success has been that it is not too hard. He thinks that the TDU is more successful than the Tour de Langkawi which has many stages of great difficulty. "It is too early in the season to have too many tough stages."
Commentating on the race where Phill Ligget and Paul Sherwen. They are the Englsih speaking equivalents of Carlos de Andres and Perico Delgado. Unlike the Spanish pair Phil And Paul have a worldwide audience and have witnessed the globalisation of cycling at first hand.
Phil Ligget, known as the 'voice of cycling' in English, has commentated for TV since the days of Hinault and LeMond. He thinks "that to be honest the race has changed a lot ... it has obviously changed by the fact that it has got Pro Tour status now … you have all the top teams. But at this time of the year I don't think you can expect all of those teams to bring their top riders. The teams are just giving their young riders a chance to stretch their legs because they don't really want to race flat out in January when their expected to ride and win the Tour de France in July. But the thing with the Australian people is that they love this event, it has had on average about 70,000 spectators everyday and you can't get much more than that in this small town really because there is not a huge population once you leave Adelaide. But the crowds have been big since day one, the very first time the race was run in 1999 the crowds were huge. but some of the riders are saying the race itself has changed because it is Pro Tour, they are saying that it is a bit boring but if you try and make the stages too hard at this time of year the riders will rebel by going slower ...."
Phil's co-commentator Paul Sherwen who himself rode the Tour de France a number of times in the 1970's and 1980's (Fiat - La France, La Redoute – Motobecane, La Redoute, La Redoute - Cycles MBK, Raleigh – Weinmann, Raleigh – Banana) thinks that "the race this year came down to a fight between four or so teams – the one's with sprinters in form. Because of that and because these are very strong Pro Tour Teams, even if they are without some of their best riders, their professionalism means that they can nail back the breakways in the space of the final ten kilometres with ease. So as you have seen, they let a small break go, take the pressure off themselves and then pull in the last ten to twenty kilometres to bring it all back together for the sprint. That is a change that has occurred because of the race's Pro Tour status".
Business Class – Tourist Class
For many of the European Directors and riders attending the TDU for the first time the most impressive thing has been the races organisation. Riders and team Directors flew to Australia in First Class aboard one of the race's sponsors Malaysian Airlines. Mechanic and masajistas on the other hand travelled tourist class. A similar division was evident in relation to the press. Two categories of press existed – the 'hosted media' and the rest. Hosted media enjoyed access to the race's various gala events and dinners. They obviously worked in close cooperation with the TDU and at times some appeared to be an extension of the race's organisation rather than independent voices. One small example illustrates this relationship. A 'marcha ciclo turista', the 'Mutual Community Challenge Tour' was held in conjunction with Stage 4 of the Tour. Stage 4 was the hottest day of the race with the temperature peaking at over 36 degrees. During its live coverage of stage 4 (there was no live television coverage of the race until the last stage) cyclingnews.com reported that a number of the marchas 3,403 participants were being given medical treatment for heat exhaustion on the side of the road. Within minutes of cyclingnews.com reporting this fact its editor was asked by one of the organisations media liaison staff to remove the reference to the medical treatment. Cyclingnews.com, one of he race's 'hosted media' quickly complied. It was a small detail but shows the level to which the Tour's organisation is prepared to go in micro managing its image.
Having said that there were many aspects of the race's organisation that were very impressive, Pablo Lastras said that his first visit to Australia had been a "unique experience, very impressive, overall because of the fans and the organisation – the organisation is very good".
Spanish cycling's 'Mr Marketing' Saunier Duval's Matxin was similarly impressed. "For us this is not an opportunity for us to train in the sun. It is a Pro Tour race, and things like the team's classification are very important for us in the overall context of the season. The Tour Down Under made us a very good offer, they wanted us to come earlier but this time of the year is hard for us, with out team presentation and the traditional Dia de los Reyes holiday which is very important in Spain ... our problem was not about coming, but the dates that they had originally proposed. The economic and other conditions are very good … so we have come with riders that need to start the season with good form. .... Next year what they need to do is add another harder stage to try and make the race a bit more difficult and interesting ... the climb is not very hard and they need something to make a selection … we didn't come for a holiday but to race in the Pro Tour."
In Europe the races have tradition and the dates ... what I think needs to happen is that some of the organisers of races in Europe should come down here and see the level at which the TDU is organised. Then they might realise that they are not as important as they think they are ... there is a lot to be learnt from the way this race is organised for races in Europe. There is more to organising a race than tradition and the dates ... what I have seen is that in the countries with less cycling tradition organise the races much better than the way races are organised at home."
The TDU's special guest, Miguel Indurain enjoyed the races atmosphere. "What is impressive about the race here is that is more than just bikes, it is a cultural event each day and the it brings more people to the race ... each day is like a fiesta, a cultural event ... In Spain it is just a bike race but here they combine it with marchas cicloturistas, tourism promotion, music and other things. I think it is good to see the Pro Tour being globalised, we cant just cut these new countries out of cycling .... the number of fans here is very impressive and cycling here is much more mixed with many people involved, women, men, children. In Australia you have a small population but with a very strong sporting tradition – in Europe you are either professional or you don't do anything. It is starting to change at home but here sport is much more a question of lifestyle."
Close Finish
In the end the race came down to the final sprint on the final stage. Stage Six and the Tour itself was in the end decided by a question of mathematics between Team High Road's Andre Greipel and ex Discovery and Liberty Seguros rider Allan Davis. In Australia a win for Davis was being promoted as a way for him to find his way out of the post Operacion Puerto maze and maybe as a way for him to obtain what he has yet to gain this year a contract with a Pro Tour team. There was an obvious nationalistic groundswell of support for Davis who is being promoted in Australian as an innocent victim of the Spanish doping scandal.
Davis's makeshift team UniSA had the support of other Australians in the race, most notably the support of Stuart O'Grady's CSC team who pulled the peloton at crucial times to try and set up the intermediate sprints or to neutralise the dangerous escape of Luis Leon Sanchez, Nicolas Portal, Koen De Kort, Wim and Francesco Gavazzi. If the group had stayed away and Sanchez had won the sprint the finish would have been a three way affair.
UniSA did not seem capable of neutralising the attack of Sanchez and it was left to CSC to do so in the penultimate 5.5km lap. Davis needed to finish first in the final sprint with Greipel no better than third if the Australian was to achieve the victory. In the end Davis finished second behind the German powerhouse. Greipel in all took out four of the races 6 stages the overall. He also won the misnamed Glenelg Classic, short criterium held the Sunday before the Tour.
After the race Greipel acknowledge the work of his teammate Scott Davis – the brother of his rival on the day Allan Davis. In many ways it was possibly the hardest day in the lives of the two Oiartzun based Queensland brothers. Allan Davis feels that his career is in purgatory as it becomes increasingly difficult for him to find a way out of his Puerto predicament. He is a victim of cycling's old ways, the secrecy laws governing the Australian Sports Anti Doping Agency and the Australian Federation's mismanagement of the situation.
Soon after the race finished the likeable country boy, Allan, quietly left the hotel with his family without waiting for the Tour's final celebratory dinner. Two hours later, his brother Scott sat in the Hilton Hotel's bar with his teammates and Director celebrating the High Road victory. Greipel had spoken to Scott Davis at the start and said that he understood his difficult situation. Scott told El Pais that "it was difficult and it was playing on my mind quite a bit - I had divided loyalties, but in the end I am a professional and I rode for my team against my own brother who really needed to win this race in order to get his career going again ... It was hard, but I did the job I am paid for".
As the other teams, the race organisers, politicians, friends, sponsors and 'hosted' media entered the Hilton's Grand Ballroom for the Celebratory Dinner, Scott Davis asked permission for his wife to attend with him. There was of course a spare seat, that of his brother Allan. Scott's request was refused and as a result the celebratory dinner of the First Pro Tour event to be held outside of Europe proceeded without the race's winner and team. High Road left the hotel to eat pizzas at a restaurant around the corner. It was a sad end to what could have been something much greater – all that was needed was a little understanding of the toughness of the day for the Davis brothers and a little humility and flexibility on the part of the races organisers.
Immediately inland lie some of Australia's best vineyards, the regions of the Barrossa Valley, the Claire Valley and McLaren Vale. Beyond that Adelaide sits in isolation. It is surrounded on three sides by the vast Australian interior, an open flat wasteland fit for the making of films such as Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Mad Max. Out here are mines of opals, gold and uranium and there are the atomic waste lands of Maralinga, where in the 1960's Aboriginal people where exposed to the devastation of the British Atomic tests.
Adelaide is the only one of Australia's original colonial capitals that was not created as a penal colony. It was settled in the mid nineteenth century by a more puritan middle of English who were followed by a wave of Germans who established the local wine industry. It became a colony distinct from the rest of Australia and seen from the east as a backwater. In its isolation it has remained more conservative than the eastern coast capitals and has always sought to boost its image through the staging of 'great' events. In the 1970's its most progressive government sought to put Adelaide on the map with the creation of the Adelaide Arts Festival which has blossomed into a cultural event of world standing. In more recent times Adelaide hosted the first Formula One Grand Prix held in Australia before losing it to the much more cosmopolitan and savvy Melbourne.
Partly in response to the loss of the Grand Prix ex cyclist Mike Turtur convinced the South Australia Government to support the initial Tour Down Under held in 1999. The inception of the TDU and its brash marketing style contributed to the death of one of Australia's great classic stage Races, the Commonwealth Bank Race. The humble Bank Race, where riders such as Jan Ullrich, Jens Voight, Robbie McEwen, Nick Gates and Matt White cut their teeth, is now long gone.
The TDU has turned itself into the premier Australian race, but beneath the hyperbole there is an ever present sense of insecurity amongst the race's organisers. Adelaide always seems to fear losing its 'major events' to Melbourne or one of other the Eastern State capitals. It might be this insecurity that drives the hyperbolic style surrounding the races promotion. A style that has already ruffled a few feathers in Europe and it might also explain some of the overt micro management and control that pervades the race's organisation.
Today Adelaide hosts the TDU and a few touring car races. Both are seen as integral to the State's economy. The importance of the TDU to the State's economy is exemplified by the race's number one backer, the State Premier, Mike Rann's comments on the announcement of the race obtaining Pro Tour status when he compared the importance of gaining Pro Tour status with the expansion of South Australia's massive gold, copper and uranium mine, Olympic Dam.
This statement in itself says something about how cycling and the TDU is viewed in South Australia. Unlike in old Europe, here cycling is firmly linked, not to a century of racing tradition, but to the global economy and increasing the State's finances. Who in Old Europe would ever consider comparing the staging of one of the great classic bikes races to something like the ability to mine and export more uranium?
Mike Rann obviously feels that money speaks volumes in the new global Pro Tour world and intends to travel to Europe later this year to meet with UCI President Pat McQuaid to discuss future plans and funding for the event.
More than a place to train in the Sun?
Since its inception the TDU has been seen as a good place for a few European teams to come and escape the cold and dark of the northern winter. It has also been a place for Australian riders to try and impress the visiting Europeans in the hope of themselves moving north to the centre of world cycling tradition. The race has been more than often won by a rider who manages to escape in a breakaway which survives as the peloton behind sits up and enjoys the good weather and conditions. If there is one thing that said about the TDU gaining Pro Tour status it is that the manner in which the race is played out has changed.
This year not one of the races escapes succeeded in staying away until the finish. Each day saw a bunch sprint and those sprints were dominated by the possible next big thing from Rostock Andre Greipel. His only real rival in thee sprints and in the end the General Classification, being Oiartzun's Australian hero, Allan Davis.
Many of the European riders were surprised at the way they race progressed. The amiable Pablo Lastras said that the team had thought that the trip would provide a chance for a good training session (bien entrienamiento) "but with the competition that has been here, it has been a real race ... I am enjoying these races that make yup the new formula of the Pro Tour, such as the Tours of Germany and Poland ... I like this idea of the globalisation of the Pro Tour, it gives us the ability to see the world, to meet new people and new cultures so from that perspective I think it is a good idea".
One visitor to the race was Cadel Evans who observed that "in the past the race has often been decided by small breaks getting away, I have been in that situation myself in the past being able to escape on Willunga Hill" (the TDU's one climb which is itself barely a three km category three climb) "but this year it really seems to have changed. With the top teams here, the style of racing has changed. It is a Pro Tour race now, the teams seem prepared and the race is being much more controlled. In some ways it seems like a mini Tirreno Adriatico this year. With the sprinters winning the race has changed. It is a lot more predictable, a more European defensive style of racing."
Past winner, Luis Leon Sanchez was of a similar mind. "I have noticed a lot of changes in the way the race is ridden. This is my third Tour Down Under and this year the level of racing is much higher, I think all they lack is a stage to break it up a bit more ... maybe we could climb Willunga Hill two times – that would make it more selective. This year it has been very different to the other years, with the Pro Tour teams here it has been much more competitive and controlled."
Some of those who have commentated or written about the race are not sure that making it harder is a good thing. Phil Latz, Managing Editor of Australia's oldest cycling magazine 'Bicycling Australia' believes one of the keys to the race's success has been that it is not too hard. He thinks that the TDU is more successful than the Tour de Langkawi which has many stages of great difficulty. "It is too early in the season to have too many tough stages."
Commentating on the race where Phill Ligget and Paul Sherwen. They are the Englsih speaking equivalents of Carlos de Andres and Perico Delgado. Unlike the Spanish pair Phil And Paul have a worldwide audience and have witnessed the globalisation of cycling at first hand.
Phil Ligget, known as the 'voice of cycling' in English, has commentated for TV since the days of Hinault and LeMond. He thinks "that to be honest the race has changed a lot ... it has obviously changed by the fact that it has got Pro Tour status now … you have all the top teams. But at this time of the year I don't think you can expect all of those teams to bring their top riders. The teams are just giving their young riders a chance to stretch their legs because they don't really want to race flat out in January when their expected to ride and win the Tour de France in July. But the thing with the Australian people is that they love this event, it has had on average about 70,000 spectators everyday and you can't get much more than that in this small town really because there is not a huge population once you leave Adelaide. But the crowds have been big since day one, the very first time the race was run in 1999 the crowds were huge. but some of the riders are saying the race itself has changed because it is Pro Tour, they are saying that it is a bit boring but if you try and make the stages too hard at this time of year the riders will rebel by going slower ...."
Phil's co-commentator Paul Sherwen who himself rode the Tour de France a number of times in the 1970's and 1980's (Fiat - La France, La Redoute – Motobecane, La Redoute, La Redoute - Cycles MBK, Raleigh – Weinmann, Raleigh – Banana) thinks that "the race this year came down to a fight between four or so teams – the one's with sprinters in form. Because of that and because these are very strong Pro Tour Teams, even if they are without some of their best riders, their professionalism means that they can nail back the breakways in the space of the final ten kilometres with ease. So as you have seen, they let a small break go, take the pressure off themselves and then pull in the last ten to twenty kilometres to bring it all back together for the sprint. That is a change that has occurred because of the race's Pro Tour status".
Business Class – Tourist Class
For many of the European Directors and riders attending the TDU for the first time the most impressive thing has been the races organisation. Riders and team Directors flew to Australia in First Class aboard one of the race's sponsors Malaysian Airlines. Mechanic and masajistas on the other hand travelled tourist class. A similar division was evident in relation to the press. Two categories of press existed – the 'hosted media' and the rest. Hosted media enjoyed access to the race's various gala events and dinners. They obviously worked in close cooperation with the TDU and at times some appeared to be an extension of the race's organisation rather than independent voices. One small example illustrates this relationship. A 'marcha ciclo turista', the 'Mutual Community Challenge Tour' was held in conjunction with Stage 4 of the Tour. Stage 4 was the hottest day of the race with the temperature peaking at over 36 degrees. During its live coverage of stage 4 (there was no live television coverage of the race until the last stage) cyclingnews.com reported that a number of the marchas 3,403 participants were being given medical treatment for heat exhaustion on the side of the road. Within minutes of cyclingnews.com reporting this fact its editor was asked by one of the organisations media liaison staff to remove the reference to the medical treatment. Cyclingnews.com, one of he race's 'hosted media' quickly complied. It was a small detail but shows the level to which the Tour's organisation is prepared to go in micro managing its image.
Having said that there were many aspects of the race's organisation that were very impressive, Pablo Lastras said that his first visit to Australia had been a "unique experience, very impressive, overall because of the fans and the organisation – the organisation is very good".
Spanish cycling's 'Mr Marketing' Saunier Duval's Matxin was similarly impressed. "For us this is not an opportunity for us to train in the sun. It is a Pro Tour race, and things like the team's classification are very important for us in the overall context of the season. The Tour Down Under made us a very good offer, they wanted us to come earlier but this time of the year is hard for us, with out team presentation and the traditional Dia de los Reyes holiday which is very important in Spain ... our problem was not about coming, but the dates that they had originally proposed. The economic and other conditions are very good … so we have come with riders that need to start the season with good form. .... Next year what they need to do is add another harder stage to try and make the race a bit more difficult and interesting ... the climb is not very hard and they need something to make a selection … we didn't come for a holiday but to race in the Pro Tour."
In Europe the races have tradition and the dates ... what I think needs to happen is that some of the organisers of races in Europe should come down here and see the level at which the TDU is organised. Then they might realise that they are not as important as they think they are ... there is a lot to be learnt from the way this race is organised for races in Europe. There is more to organising a race than tradition and the dates ... what I have seen is that in the countries with less cycling tradition organise the races much better than the way races are organised at home."
The TDU's special guest, Miguel Indurain enjoyed the races atmosphere. "What is impressive about the race here is that is more than just bikes, it is a cultural event each day and the it brings more people to the race ... each day is like a fiesta, a cultural event ... In Spain it is just a bike race but here they combine it with marchas cicloturistas, tourism promotion, music and other things. I think it is good to see the Pro Tour being globalised, we cant just cut these new countries out of cycling .... the number of fans here is very impressive and cycling here is much more mixed with many people involved, women, men, children. In Australia you have a small population but with a very strong sporting tradition – in Europe you are either professional or you don't do anything. It is starting to change at home but here sport is much more a question of lifestyle."
Close Finish
In the end the race came down to the final sprint on the final stage. Stage Six and the Tour itself was in the end decided by a question of mathematics between Team High Road's Andre Greipel and ex Discovery and Liberty Seguros rider Allan Davis. In Australia a win for Davis was being promoted as a way for him to find his way out of the post Operacion Puerto maze and maybe as a way for him to obtain what he has yet to gain this year a contract with a Pro Tour team. There was an obvious nationalistic groundswell of support for Davis who is being promoted in Australian as an innocent victim of the Spanish doping scandal.
Davis's makeshift team UniSA had the support of other Australians in the race, most notably the support of Stuart O'Grady's CSC team who pulled the peloton at crucial times to try and set up the intermediate sprints or to neutralise the dangerous escape of Luis Leon Sanchez, Nicolas Portal, Koen De Kort, Wim and Francesco Gavazzi. If the group had stayed away and Sanchez had won the sprint the finish would have been a three way affair.
UniSA did not seem capable of neutralising the attack of Sanchez and it was left to CSC to do so in the penultimate 5.5km lap. Davis needed to finish first in the final sprint with Greipel no better than third if the Australian was to achieve the victory. In the end Davis finished second behind the German powerhouse. Greipel in all took out four of the races 6 stages the overall. He also won the misnamed Glenelg Classic, short criterium held the Sunday before the Tour.
After the race Greipel acknowledge the work of his teammate Scott Davis – the brother of his rival on the day Allan Davis. In many ways it was possibly the hardest day in the lives of the two Oiartzun based Queensland brothers. Allan Davis feels that his career is in purgatory as it becomes increasingly difficult for him to find a way out of his Puerto predicament. He is a victim of cycling's old ways, the secrecy laws governing the Australian Sports Anti Doping Agency and the Australian Federation's mismanagement of the situation.
Soon after the race finished the likeable country boy, Allan, quietly left the hotel with his family without waiting for the Tour's final celebratory dinner. Two hours later, his brother Scott sat in the Hilton Hotel's bar with his teammates and Director celebrating the High Road victory. Greipel had spoken to Scott Davis at the start and said that he understood his difficult situation. Scott told El Pais that "it was difficult and it was playing on my mind quite a bit - I had divided loyalties, but in the end I am a professional and I rode for my team against my own brother who really needed to win this race in order to get his career going again ... It was hard, but I did the job I am paid for".
As the other teams, the race organisers, politicians, friends, sponsors and 'hosted' media entered the Hilton's Grand Ballroom for the Celebratory Dinner, Scott Davis asked permission for his wife to attend with him. There was of course a spare seat, that of his brother Allan. Scott's request was refused and as a result the celebratory dinner of the First Pro Tour event to be held outside of Europe proceeded without the race's winner and team. High Road left the hotel to eat pizzas at a restaurant around the corner. It was a sad end to what could have been something much greater – all that was needed was a little understanding of the toughness of the day for the Davis brothers and a little humility and flexibility on the part of the races organisers.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Tour Down Under controversy
Tour Down Under controversy
January 28, 2008 03:15pm
READ below for a full transcript from the Mornings program on ABC 891 hosted by Matthew Abraham and David Bevan which included guests Duncan McFetridge and Mike Turtur.
PART ONE
COMPERE: Were you interested in the Tour Down Under? Now a lot of people were. A lot of people were very, very excited about it.
Duncan McFetridge is the Shadow Minister for a number of things, including Tourism I think and he lives down the - around Holdfast Bay which featured in the Tour Down Under. And he rang me this morning and he said, David, David, David, David, big fan. I think it's a great event but it's a B-Grade event.
Duncan McFetridge joins us now. Good morning.
For more information and stories on Tour Down under visit the feature section.
DUNCAN MCFETRIDGE: Good morning Matt. Good morning David. I'm not tourism but certainly I'm the transport spokesperson and cycling's a bit part of it and you always sound like a heretic when you question these sorts of events like the Tour Down Under. But people have been coming up to me and saying, well where are the world top riders? Is this a B-Grade event? You know, how much did we pay for the licence and I just want to be sure that this is going to be the event that we want it to be. My grand kid's saying that you can't get, you can't buy this exposure, but we have. I understand that we've bought the licence. We've paid millions, millions to put this event on and so let's make sure taxpayers are getting a real bang for their buck.
Jane Lomax Smith said last night we can't talk about the finances, it's commercial in confidence. But why haven't we been able to attract a naming sponsor? Why aren't the best riders, the top riders, the winners of the Tour de France down here? Is it just a training event, as Patrick Jonker intimated in this morning's Advertiser? Let's get the answers.
COMPERE: Do you stand by what you said to me earlier this morning, that is you consider it a B-Grade event?
DUNCAN MCFETRIDGE: That's the question I asked on Saturday night at the Legends dinner. Is this a B-Grade event? The people there obviously assured me it wasn't. But when you read about the fact that in this morning's 'Tiser they're - the races that Alberto, and this is Alberto Contador, who's the winner of the Tour de France and Cadel Evans will race pre-Tour, will be seen as training, I do have those concerns.
I don't want to sound like a heretic. This is a fantastic event for South Australia. Millions -
thousands of people got out there and the Government paid millions of dollars to put the event on. Let's make sure it's going to keep growing and it's not going to peak too early like some of these cyclists are worried about it doing.
PART 2
COMPERE: Mike Turtur is the event manager for Tour Down Under. He joins us now. Good morning Mike.
MIKE TURTUR: Good morning.
COMPERE: Is the Tour Down Under a B-Grade event?
MIKE TURTUR: I think that's a disgraceful, ill informed comment by someone that just doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to the sport of cycling. If he's going to stand in front of Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwan and all the host of other riders that we had for this event and tell them that they're B-Graders, he wouldn't last too long.
COMPERE 2: In terms of percentage of the, what is it, 100 or so people who are riding in the event, how many would be classed as top riders in the world?
MIKE TURTUR: Well you tell me how many pro tour riders there are in the world?
COMPERE 2: I wouldn't know Mike, you're the event manager
MIKE TURTUR: They're all - you just listen to me for a minute. If you had some time to do some research instead of going off half cocked about comments that you don't know nothing about, the reality is that in the world, as we speak, there's 450 pro tour riders, in the world. In the world. Do you understand we're talking about the elite competition of the world here and to make a comment about Contador not coming here. He's a tour rider. You don't understand the way that the tour riders prepare for the year. That's a fact.
COMPERE 2: No, Mike Turtur, I think you should, Mike Turtur I think you - if I could just finish. I think you should be quite clear in your mind
MIKE TURTUR: You're talking absolute rubbish. You've got no idea what you're talking about. You're
COMPERE 2: Mike, we're asking you a question
MIKE TURTUR: You're a politician going off half cocked, trying to win some brownie points about an event that is one of the best quality events in the world. The riders that were here represent 18 pro-tour teams that hold licences in the world and you're going off talking about stuff you know nothing about. Here
COMPERE: Well I think you're addressing those comments to Duncan McFetridge, not 891 Mornings.
MIKE TURTUR: I'm addressing them to everyone that thinks they know more about the sport than they do and that's the reality, that we've got
COMPERE: Mike, you've got - you've got to help us
MIKE TURTUR: you've got bread and butter journalists in this state and country that don't understand the sport and want to get five minutes of fame by talking absolute crap.
COMPERE: Mike, that's why we're talking to you Mike. So we've talked to Duncan McFetridge. I thought
MIKE TURTUR: Duncan McFetridge doesn't know what he's talking about.
COMPERE: Well, Mike, Mike, I thought in this state we were able to have discussions about these things but
MIKE TURTUR: Well we are having
COMPERE: without being
MIKE TURTUR: So what's your next question?
COMPERE: without being howled down. Well my next question is how much did this race cost the taxpayers of South Australia?
MIKE TURTUR: That's not for me to say. You'd have to talk to the Government about that. I'm a consultant on the race.
COMPERE: Okay.
MIKE TURTUR: If you want to discuss budget you need to talk to the minister or the premier.
COMPERE: All right. Well the other thing that Duncan McFetridge raised was we aren't able to get a naming sponsor. Can you explain why that is?
MIKE TURTUR: Because the right deal hasn't been put on the table. We've had about five deals on the table that weren't at their required level. We're not going to sell the race just for the sake of keeping everyone happy for a naming rights sponsor. When the right deal is on the table, the deal will be done. Until that happens, would you go and sell a car for $5,000 less than its worth?
COMPERE: Well I think any money would be better - would help the taxpayer's
MIKE TURTUR: No, no, no, this is where you're wrong. No it's not. You just don't go flogging yourself just to get a deal on the table. You wait for the right deal and then just be patient and then it will happen.
COMPERE: Okay. We've been waiting a while. At four minutes to nine, let's go back to Duncan McFetridge.
Duncan, would you like to respond?
DUNCAN MCFETRIDGE: Look, I rest my case. Mike Turtur's getting paid as consultant. Why isn't he selling this event and getting a naming rights sponsor? This is a terrific event. There is no doubt. Mike Turtur got an award on Saturday night for this event. He's done a great job but don't start hammering me about asking questions on behalf of taxpayers as a Member of Parliament, please. And don't start haranguing me for asking honest, open questions about where this event is going to go and just label me as the heretic. And I said they'd do this and he's done it.
Mike Turtur you want to look at yourself and look at the event and make sure we do go forward. I'm not here to criticise the event per se, it's a great event, but let's make sure that it isn't just about spin, it's about substance.
COMPERE 2: Well Duncan McFetridge, thank you for your time. The Shadow Transport Minister and Member for Hol - round down by the Holdfast Bay area.
Our phone lines are open. What do you think about this? 1300 222 891. Stephen has called from Parafield Gardens.
Good morning Stephen.
STEPHEN: Yeah good morning boys. Yeah, I remember the Grand Prix when it was in Adelaide. Mr Olsen did a pretty good job of getting rid of that from opposition. Now McFetridge is going down the same track.
COMPERE 2: Are we not allowed to ask questions, Stephen?
STEPHEN: Well doesn't everybody agree it's a good thing? Why do all these events have to make huge profits?
COMPERE: Oh look, they're things we weighs - they're things we weigh up Stephen. I think we do that all the time. We do that with the V8 Supercars. You know, there are knockers and there are people who are mad over heels with it. It's just the way it goes.
COMPERE: Linda's called from Para Hills. Hello Linda.
LINDA: Hi, how are you?
COMPERE: Very well Linda.
LINDA: I thought I'd just ask Duncan a question but he's gone now.
COMPERE: Well ask him metaphorically anyway.
LINDA: Well metaphorically, on the Saturday when we were down at the Bay, all Saturday evening and right through the morning they laid all this asphalt round where the tour was going to go and on Sunday, they pulled it all up again. And I was just wondering what the expense of that was and whether the State Government paid that or whether Holdfast Bay had to pay that. It was for the bikes to go round and make the turn where the tramline is.
COMPERE: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. They covered over the tramlines.
LINDA: Yeah.
COMPERE: Look, we've made some (indistinct)
LINDA: (Indistinct) listening
COMPERE: Oh no
LINDA: Maybe someone can get an answer for me.
COMPERE: We'll get some answers. We can go back to Mike Turtur on that one.
LINDA: Okay.
COMPERE 2: Thank you for your call Linda from Para Hills.
Mike Turtur, event manager of the Tour Down Under. Mike, can you give us any idea how much those sorts of things were costing?
No, I'm sorry. Mike's gone.
COMPERE: No?
COMPERE 2: Well I think Mike made it quite clear where he was coming from. Thank you Mike Turtur, event manager with the Tour Down Under and Duncan McFetridge the Shadow Transport Minister.
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Mike Turtur lashes MP over Tour Down Under criticism
January 28, 2008 03:00pm
TOUR Down Under race director Mike Turtur has lashed a prominent state politician over "disgraceful, ill-informed" criticism of the event.
Responding to comments made by Liberal transport spokesman Duncan McFetridge on ABC radio this morning, Mr Turtur said Mr McFetridge and hosts Matthew Abraham and David Bevan were talking "absolute rubbish".
Mr McFetridge questioned whether the Tour was simply a "B-Grade" event.
To read the transcript from this morning click here.
Claiming not to want to sound like a "heretic", Mr McFetridge said he had concerns about the event's standing.
"We've paid millions, millions to put this event on and so let's make sure taxpayers are getting a real bang for their buck," he said.
"Why aren't the best riders, the top riders, the winners of the Tour de France down here?
For more information and stories on Tour Down under visit the feature section.
"Is it just a training event, as Patrick Jonker intimated in this morning's Advertiser? Let's get the answers."
Mr Turtur's heated response came soon after as he responded on-air to the criticism.
"I think that's a disgraceful, ill-informed comment by someone that just doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to the sport of cycling," Mr Turtur said.
"If he's going to stand in front of Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwan and all the host of other riders that we had for this event and tell them that they're B-Graders, he wouldn't last too long."
As the hosts of the morning program continued to question the event in terms of taxpayer money spent to keep it running and Tour de France winner Alberto Contador not taking part in the event, Mr Turtur became increasingly incensed.
"Do you understand we're talking about the elite competition of the world here?" he said.
"(Contador's) a tour rider. You don't understand the way tour riders prepare for the year. That's a fact.
"You're talking absolute rubbish, you've got no idea what you are talking about.
"You're a politician going off half-cocked trying to win some brownie points about an event that is one of the best-quality events in the world."
Questions were also raised regarding the event's failure to secure a naming-rights sponsor.
"You don't go flogging yourself just to get a deal on the table," Mr Turtur said.
"You wait for the right deal and then just be patient and then it will happen."
January 28, 2008 03:15pm
READ below for a full transcript from the Mornings program on ABC 891 hosted by Matthew Abraham and David Bevan which included guests Duncan McFetridge and Mike Turtur.
PART ONE
COMPERE: Were you interested in the Tour Down Under? Now a lot of people were. A lot of people were very, very excited about it.
Duncan McFetridge is the Shadow Minister for a number of things, including Tourism I think and he lives down the - around Holdfast Bay which featured in the Tour Down Under. And he rang me this morning and he said, David, David, David, David, big fan. I think it's a great event but it's a B-Grade event.
Duncan McFetridge joins us now. Good morning.
For more information and stories on Tour Down under visit the feature section.
DUNCAN MCFETRIDGE: Good morning Matt. Good morning David. I'm not tourism but certainly I'm the transport spokesperson and cycling's a bit part of it and you always sound like a heretic when you question these sorts of events like the Tour Down Under. But people have been coming up to me and saying, well where are the world top riders? Is this a B-Grade event? You know, how much did we pay for the licence and I just want to be sure that this is going to be the event that we want it to be. My grand kid's saying that you can't get, you can't buy this exposure, but we have. I understand that we've bought the licence. We've paid millions, millions to put this event on and so let's make sure taxpayers are getting a real bang for their buck.
Jane Lomax Smith said last night we can't talk about the finances, it's commercial in confidence. But why haven't we been able to attract a naming sponsor? Why aren't the best riders, the top riders, the winners of the Tour de France down here? Is it just a training event, as Patrick Jonker intimated in this morning's Advertiser? Let's get the answers.
COMPERE: Do you stand by what you said to me earlier this morning, that is you consider it a B-Grade event?
DUNCAN MCFETRIDGE: That's the question I asked on Saturday night at the Legends dinner. Is this a B-Grade event? The people there obviously assured me it wasn't. But when you read about the fact that in this morning's 'Tiser they're - the races that Alberto, and this is Alberto Contador, who's the winner of the Tour de France and Cadel Evans will race pre-Tour, will be seen as training, I do have those concerns.
I don't want to sound like a heretic. This is a fantastic event for South Australia. Millions -
thousands of people got out there and the Government paid millions of dollars to put the event on. Let's make sure it's going to keep growing and it's not going to peak too early like some of these cyclists are worried about it doing.
PART 2
COMPERE: Mike Turtur is the event manager for Tour Down Under. He joins us now. Good morning Mike.
MIKE TURTUR: Good morning.
COMPERE: Is the Tour Down Under a B-Grade event?
MIKE TURTUR: I think that's a disgraceful, ill informed comment by someone that just doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to the sport of cycling. If he's going to stand in front of Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwan and all the host of other riders that we had for this event and tell them that they're B-Graders, he wouldn't last too long.
COMPERE 2: In terms of percentage of the, what is it, 100 or so people who are riding in the event, how many would be classed as top riders in the world?
MIKE TURTUR: Well you tell me how many pro tour riders there are in the world?
COMPERE 2: I wouldn't know Mike, you're the event manager
MIKE TURTUR: They're all - you just listen to me for a minute. If you had some time to do some research instead of going off half cocked about comments that you don't know nothing about, the reality is that in the world, as we speak, there's 450 pro tour riders, in the world. In the world. Do you understand we're talking about the elite competition of the world here and to make a comment about Contador not coming here. He's a tour rider. You don't understand the way that the tour riders prepare for the year. That's a fact.
COMPERE 2: No, Mike Turtur, I think you should, Mike Turtur I think you - if I could just finish. I think you should be quite clear in your mind
MIKE TURTUR: You're talking absolute rubbish. You've got no idea what you're talking about. You're
COMPERE 2: Mike, we're asking you a question
MIKE TURTUR: You're a politician going off half cocked, trying to win some brownie points about an event that is one of the best quality events in the world. The riders that were here represent 18 pro-tour teams that hold licences in the world and you're going off talking about stuff you know nothing about. Here
COMPERE: Well I think you're addressing those comments to Duncan McFetridge, not 891 Mornings.
MIKE TURTUR: I'm addressing them to everyone that thinks they know more about the sport than they do and that's the reality, that we've got
COMPERE: Mike, you've got - you've got to help us
MIKE TURTUR: you've got bread and butter journalists in this state and country that don't understand the sport and want to get five minutes of fame by talking absolute crap.
COMPERE: Mike, that's why we're talking to you Mike. So we've talked to Duncan McFetridge. I thought
MIKE TURTUR: Duncan McFetridge doesn't know what he's talking about.
COMPERE: Well, Mike, Mike, I thought in this state we were able to have discussions about these things but
MIKE TURTUR: Well we are having
COMPERE: without being
MIKE TURTUR: So what's your next question?
COMPERE: without being howled down. Well my next question is how much did this race cost the taxpayers of South Australia?
MIKE TURTUR: That's not for me to say. You'd have to talk to the Government about that. I'm a consultant on the race.
COMPERE: Okay.
MIKE TURTUR: If you want to discuss budget you need to talk to the minister or the premier.
COMPERE: All right. Well the other thing that Duncan McFetridge raised was we aren't able to get a naming sponsor. Can you explain why that is?
MIKE TURTUR: Because the right deal hasn't been put on the table. We've had about five deals on the table that weren't at their required level. We're not going to sell the race just for the sake of keeping everyone happy for a naming rights sponsor. When the right deal is on the table, the deal will be done. Until that happens, would you go and sell a car for $5,000 less than its worth?
COMPERE: Well I think any money would be better - would help the taxpayer's
MIKE TURTUR: No, no, no, this is where you're wrong. No it's not. You just don't go flogging yourself just to get a deal on the table. You wait for the right deal and then just be patient and then it will happen.
COMPERE: Okay. We've been waiting a while. At four minutes to nine, let's go back to Duncan McFetridge.
Duncan, would you like to respond?
DUNCAN MCFETRIDGE: Look, I rest my case. Mike Turtur's getting paid as consultant. Why isn't he selling this event and getting a naming rights sponsor? This is a terrific event. There is no doubt. Mike Turtur got an award on Saturday night for this event. He's done a great job but don't start hammering me about asking questions on behalf of taxpayers as a Member of Parliament, please. And don't start haranguing me for asking honest, open questions about where this event is going to go and just label me as the heretic. And I said they'd do this and he's done it.
Mike Turtur you want to look at yourself and look at the event and make sure we do go forward. I'm not here to criticise the event per se, it's a great event, but let's make sure that it isn't just about spin, it's about substance.
COMPERE 2: Well Duncan McFetridge, thank you for your time. The Shadow Transport Minister and Member for Hol - round down by the Holdfast Bay area.
Our phone lines are open. What do you think about this? 1300 222 891. Stephen has called from Parafield Gardens.
Good morning Stephen.
STEPHEN: Yeah good morning boys. Yeah, I remember the Grand Prix when it was in Adelaide. Mr Olsen did a pretty good job of getting rid of that from opposition. Now McFetridge is going down the same track.
COMPERE 2: Are we not allowed to ask questions, Stephen?
STEPHEN: Well doesn't everybody agree it's a good thing? Why do all these events have to make huge profits?
COMPERE: Oh look, they're things we weighs - they're things we weigh up Stephen. I think we do that all the time. We do that with the V8 Supercars. You know, there are knockers and there are people who are mad over heels with it. It's just the way it goes.
COMPERE: Linda's called from Para Hills. Hello Linda.
LINDA: Hi, how are you?
COMPERE: Very well Linda.
LINDA: I thought I'd just ask Duncan a question but he's gone now.
COMPERE: Well ask him metaphorically anyway.
LINDA: Well metaphorically, on the Saturday when we were down at the Bay, all Saturday evening and right through the morning they laid all this asphalt round where the tour was going to go and on Sunday, they pulled it all up again. And I was just wondering what the expense of that was and whether the State Government paid that or whether Holdfast Bay had to pay that. It was for the bikes to go round and make the turn where the tramline is.
COMPERE: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. They covered over the tramlines.
LINDA: Yeah.
COMPERE: Look, we've made some (indistinct)
LINDA: (Indistinct) listening
COMPERE: Oh no
LINDA: Maybe someone can get an answer for me.
COMPERE: We'll get some answers. We can go back to Mike Turtur on that one.
LINDA: Okay.
COMPERE 2: Thank you for your call Linda from Para Hills.
Mike Turtur, event manager of the Tour Down Under. Mike, can you give us any idea how much those sorts of things were costing?
No, I'm sorry. Mike's gone.
COMPERE: No?
COMPERE 2: Well I think Mike made it quite clear where he was coming from. Thank you Mike Turtur, event manager with the Tour Down Under and Duncan McFetridge the Shadow Transport Minister.
Share this article
Mike Turtur lashes MP over Tour Down Under criticism
January 28, 2008 03:00pm
TOUR Down Under race director Mike Turtur has lashed a prominent state politician over "disgraceful, ill-informed" criticism of the event.
Responding to comments made by Liberal transport spokesman Duncan McFetridge on ABC radio this morning, Mr Turtur said Mr McFetridge and hosts Matthew Abraham and David Bevan were talking "absolute rubbish".
Mr McFetridge questioned whether the Tour was simply a "B-Grade" event.
To read the transcript from this morning click here.
Claiming not to want to sound like a "heretic", Mr McFetridge said he had concerns about the event's standing.
"We've paid millions, millions to put this event on and so let's make sure taxpayers are getting a real bang for their buck," he said.
"Why aren't the best riders, the top riders, the winners of the Tour de France down here?
For more information and stories on Tour Down under visit the feature section.
"Is it just a training event, as Patrick Jonker intimated in this morning's Advertiser? Let's get the answers."
Mr Turtur's heated response came soon after as he responded on-air to the criticism.
"I think that's a disgraceful, ill-informed comment by someone that just doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to the sport of cycling," Mr Turtur said.
"If he's going to stand in front of Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwan and all the host of other riders that we had for this event and tell them that they're B-Graders, he wouldn't last too long."
As the hosts of the morning program continued to question the event in terms of taxpayer money spent to keep it running and Tour de France winner Alberto Contador not taking part in the event, Mr Turtur became increasingly incensed.
"Do you understand we're talking about the elite competition of the world here?" he said.
"(Contador's) a tour rider. You don't understand the way tour riders prepare for the year. That's a fact.
"You're talking absolute rubbish, you've got no idea what you are talking about.
"You're a politician going off half-cocked trying to win some brownie points about an event that is one of the best-quality events in the world."
Questions were also raised regarding the event's failure to secure a naming-rights sponsor.
"You don't go flogging yourself just to get a deal on the table," Mr Turtur said.
"You wait for the right deal and then just be patient and then it will happen."
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