[wks9326]

Will Liberty Seguros fold leaving Vino with out a team for the Tour?

 

[Guest]

Man, sure sucks for Vino. I don't know what will happen, but what a mess.

 

[Under ACrookedSky]

Will Liberty Seguros fold leaving Vino with out a team for the Tour?

I think Liberty Seguros will pull their sponsorship. It seemed they were pursuaded to stay on after the Heras affair, but I don't see how they can continue now. This probably could not happen until the end of the year.

Since Saiz bought out one of the other team owners recently, I am not sure if the team can survive if Saiz goes on trial. Then there is always the UCI and their scapegoat justice, and the ProTour needs to reduce the number of teams for the agreement with the GTs. The team likely will not be a ProTour team next year.

Vino is probably more worried about whether some of the blood found will be identified as belonging to him. A lot of riders are probably in the same position. Imagine the turmoil if the 200 bags of blood resulted in forty or fifty names being bandied about the press.

 

[Guest]

Vino is probably more worried about whether some of the blood found will be identified as belonging to him. A lot of riders are probably in the same position. Imagine the turmoil if the 200 bags of blood resulted in forty or fifty names being bandied about the press.

^^ Exactly what I fear. Good post, thanks for the info.

 

[atpjunkie]

Venga Venga Venga

straight to jail. my guess is the whole team is phucked. Nozal with high H-Crit, Heras gets popped. I'm just glad it went to mgmt. sometimes the riders take the fall and I think the doping problem is at the mgmt level.

 

[dagger]

Go see my link in the Doping forum to a spanish newspaper that has an indepth story.

 

[Americano_a_Roma]

From Cyclingnews.com. Doesn't look good for Vino's final Tour preparations. On the other hand, if there's a rider who could be cut loose to prepare and ride on his own and still do well, it's Vino.



Vinokourov doesn't recon the Pyrenees

Alexandre Vinokourov (Liberty Seguros) had also planned to recon the Pyrenean stages of the Tour de France this week, but in light of recent developments involving his team boss Manolo Saiz, he has not been able to. "The training camp will probably be cancelled because Manolo is the man that organised everything," said Liberty's PR man Jacinto Vidarte to sportwereld.be.

 

[Argentius]

yeah, I hope he finds some "Illegal activities" clause in his contract to buy himself out -- and just about any team would have him, I think. It would be really, really sad if he couldn't race.

Maybe they'll give an individual wildcard? Hey, there's no TTT, and Vino don' need no stinkin' team...

 

[Einstruzende]

Well all I have to say is that "where there is smoke, there is fire..." I'd be willing to bet every "contender" on that team is involved, which is a damn shame because I like a couple of them. I mean if the DS is involved in doping, who the hell do you think he is doing it for? The domestiques?

 

[magnolialover]

Sometimes...

Well all I have to say is that "where there is smoke, there is fire..." I'd be willing to bet every "contender" on that team is involved, which is a damn shame because I like a couple of them. I mean if the DS is involved in doping, who the hell do you think he is doing it for? The domestiques?

For the domestiques, yes, sometimes. But more than likely if he is involved, there would probably be some other top guys on the team doing it, and maybe not.

I don't think Liberty will pull their sponsorship before the end of the season, but this puts a damper on things. Especially since the Tour does have their little stipulation, that they have used at times, to exclude any individuals who are currently implicated in doping scandals, or under investigation. So don't know if that would include the whole team in this case, or just the DS?