Team RadioShack manager Johan Bruyneel has called for a shake-up in the running of professional cycling following his team’s exclusion from the Vuelta a España.
Bruyneel was angered that his team, co-owned by Lance Armstrong, did not receive one of the six wildcard places on offer from organisers Unipublic for the 22-team Spanish tour, despite moving up six places to eighth in the world rankings released on the same day as the list.
They also have the 11th- and 12th-ranked riders in the individual rankings: Janez Brajkovic, who rose 39 places from number 50 after winning the Criterium du Dauphiné Libéré on Sunday, and Christopher Horner, who won the Tour of the Basque Country. And Levi Leipheimer was victorious in the Tour of the Gila.
We need to hear your opinions, so please feel free to vote in the poll below, and leave a comment related to your vote:
Should Team Radioshack Have Received a Wild Card for Vuelta a España 2010?
- Yes, naturally (96%, 1,391 Votes)
- I am not sure (2%, 33 Votes)
- No, the non-invite is right (2%, 28 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,452
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I voted yes. I want to be there when Chechu climbs Coto Bello on its first appearance in the Vuelta. Víctor Cordero stood with Chechu on the summit at the re-naming ceremony last year. He’s betrayed a hero of Spanish cycling and denied all fans an historic moment.
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Bet the pants off Contador and show Spain who is the Best.
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Of course YES…I bought a Flight- ticket to Malaga the 27.August!
Now I am thinking to cancel it,for the reason RadioShack is not invited.
A big SHAME for the organisation Vuelta.
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There is a status quo at the centre of international sports organisations from FIFA to UCI and beyond. Structures in place to deny new entrants and this is always wrong.
I’ll be in the Alps for the tdf watching out for the young Irish riders, Roche and Martin. Roll on!
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The answer is so obvious here, are they kidding!
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Yes – Is there any question? RadioShack should have been invited.
Seriously how could anyone vote “NO” or “Not Sure”. Would love to here the whys behind those votes.
Johan is total correct that pro cycling needs a shake up. This would never stand in any other professional sport.
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I aggree with Johan’s statement he made when the Vuelta organizers posted the list of teams invited. That this is an unfair action by the race organizers. That this hurts the sport greatly as it demonstrates a higher riskto sponsors and athletes for them to be rewarded with exposer and opportunity when they have given so very much in hard work, excellance, professionalizm, and recources.
I m suspicious that the decission by race organizers to not invite Team RadioShack, is a spitefull act connected to Johan & Lance forming a new team where some of the riders migrated from Astana leaving Alberto Contador without an experienced supportive team
I will be boycotting the Vuelta this year. And sharingmy feelings with as many as I can.
Heronemo
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This petty nationalism being expressed and enforced in an International Sport is not only primitive provincialism, but a defiance of the uplift International sporting provides
to the positive image of the world’s citizens
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I don’t see any rationale why RadioShack not invited.
Why not put one strong team in the race???
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“Let Levi Ride.” Haven’t we been through this before?
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There simply is no question of the caliber of rider Team Radio Shack would have brought to the Vuelta, the team’s competitiveness, nor of the interest that would have been generated by their presence in the race. This reality leads one to consider either nationalism or pettiness or a combination of both as the cause of their exclusion. Regardless of who wins the Vuelta, at this point in the season the rankings make it clear that that an asterisk must be placed beside both the name of the individual and the team highest on the podium. They simply will not have competed against the full field of the very best that were available.
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Al Team Radioshack, no lo invitaron los españoles para perjudicarlos en su planificacion anual. Es envidia y acto de mala fe. Lance y compañia tienen planes para apoyar a las personas con cancer a nivel mundial. Como es posible que la organizacion de España les haga esto???
Saludos desde Costa Rica!!!
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You’ve got to be kidding. I know were a new team bu…. Look at the podium finishes. Look at the star power. They really blew it. Ethically and financially.
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Yes, of course TRS should have been invited. I can’t find any rationale for not inviting them. Major new sponsor slighted, strong pro team with serious contenders slighted, media attention that goes with TRS not considered. This decision just doesn’t make business or financial sense and damages the sport along with slighting the other pro riders in not giving them a truely competitive field.
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Maybe the Vuelta organizers are all dyslexic! Maybe they actually mean yes but could not say it right! Or maybe Contador owns the Vuelta!
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One of the weirdest decisions in modern day professional sports. Johann is right to be speechless. It’s hard to find the words to explain a fan’s disappointment at such an odd conclusion. RadioShack would have fielded a team of serious contenders, and would have had multiple chances at the podium. It’s high time that the governing bodies stepped in, worked together and developed and demanded a defined set of measureable criteria that is used to determine which teams have the right to be in the grand tours rather than which ones squeak in on favoritism, bias, and politics. For the Americans out there, can you imagine in baseball if someone owned the World Series and could simply ban one of the pennant winners cause he didn’t like them? There needs to be more transparency and understandable criteria applied to these decisions that up till now, appear to be made by a group of people in some backroom who have questionable motives. Did money change hands? Will anyone investigate? When one of the cyclists pulls away from the field in a dramatic or improbable display of athletic superiority, everyone starts investigating the outcome. He immediately gets his urine analyzed, he deals with the presses accusations, and amateur detectives start rooting through his garbage looking for discarded items that might explain things. When one of the bosses of the grand tours does something even more suspicious, shouldn’t there be some consequences?
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I am soooo disappointed about the politics in cycling!!! There is no question that Team Radio Shack should be in the Vuelta! Who has the power to correct this? I will boycott the Vuelta if this decision to leave Team Radio Shack out is not rescinded!!!
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I guess if they want to miss out on tourism, and money, go ahead. The Spanish economy can’t afford to pass up opportunities to have more people visiting their country and spending money, not to mention the attention that the Vuelta gets when big names such as Armstrong and Liepheimer and the rest of the international Radio Shack team race, especially against Contador. It’s the biggest matchup since Ulrich and Armstrong. Be real.
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The Third biggest grand tour,without the biggest team,ridiculous.Perhaps the organisers know that Radio Shack wont be so popular in Spain,when they have trashed Contador and Lance wins number 8.
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Una verguenza,una misera decision ,una grandisima falta de respeto a Asturias que les dio 2 finales de etapa y una, la de Coto Bello se denomina Cima Chechu Rubiera, pue si
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Una verguenza,una misera decision ,una grandisima falta de respeto a Asturias que les dio 2 finales de etapa y una, la de Coto Bello se denomina Cima Chechu Rubiera.
Si no dejan subir al Radioshack que la vuelta no suba Coto bello.
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B has in B S as in S…
TRS use this for the tour in July. So you can go 1 2 and 3.
Show spain and AC who is the Real BOSS…
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Team Radio Shack do a great Tour De France and make them regret not for the invite to Spain. Keep your tire on the road and Best of Luck!
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Boycot Spain
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The problem is the invitation system. Cycling could move away from the system by having Teams in the World Rankings included in a Tour or Race, with a proportion autoamtically included and others getting a wildcard.
It might work like this: In a 22 Team event the top 15 Ranked teams are entered. Seven places are then drawn from remaining pro Teams (there are 29 in all in 2010). This would motivate Managers and riders to achieve results that keep them in the top half of the rankings and give others the chance to race against the best and improve their ranking.
Your thoughts?
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Il non invito e’ la piu’ grande vigliacata che gli organizzatori della Vuelta potessero fare in quanto tutto il team si sta comportando egregiamente in tutte le corse e dimostrando il suo valore sia agonistico che organizzativo ,se loro pretendono che le corse vengono fatte solamente da corridori di certi livelli e’ inutile avere nel ns team 28 corridori.
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Team Radio Shack do a great Tour De France! Lance will win Tour de France again, so loser is Spain and Vuelta. Go Tiago Machado and Sérgio Paulinho!
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je suis un coureure marocain j’ai19 ans et j”ai romporté 11 cource est la chompiona 2009 dans la catégorie moin 23b est mon réve étre un professionele est faire des course avec radio shack
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its a discrace that they were not 1’st on the list.there is no other team with an all round high profile.its a bad move for spain.roll on the TDF.
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The decision to leave RS out of the Vuelta smacks of politics and favoritism. How the Vuelta organizer can say (with a straight face) that RS did not offer enough talent is nothing short of ridiculous. Well, I believe RS will more than make up for it with their performance in the TDS and TDF. Go RS, you are all awesome!!
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I thought it was a joke? What are they thinking?!?!?!?
Its there lost!
Get em at the Tour!!!
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what a terrible decision. what were they thinking? are the spanish organizers idiots? son bobo’s??
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What more do the Vuelta organizers want? Radioshack comes equipped with not one but 4 GC contenders on its Vuelta squad and is clearly one of the strongest teams in the Pro Peloton. I agree with Johann – the system needs an overhaul and the teams need to be granted invitations based upon their merits – not on politics or through arbitrary decisions made by race owners. Ranked 8th in the Pro Ranks should guarantee a spot for the team. The agreement between the UCI and the 16 pro teams that guaranteed them places in the 3 grand tours made a couple of years ago should be declared void. The landscape has changed enormously in that time span and the teams are quite different in terms of their qualifications to race.
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I am a cycling fan. I’m not American but I really admire the ethos and the riders of TRS.
TRS should not EXPECT to be invited BUT …. organisers of the Vuelta, sit up, listen and invite one of the worldwide cycling big guns. Your event will be a non event without Team Radio Shack. This year will not be a Grand Tour if TRS are not participating.
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The same day I heard the news I emailed the organizers (UNIPUBLIC). would have called them but i don’t have an international plan. I also found a list of race sponsors and called and or emailed Ford, HTC, Shimano, and Stands.com. My message to them was that the organizers had harmed the image of cycling as a reputable professional sport, and that they had turned their back on the whole North American market, which was, last time I checked, still the worlds larges consumer market. I also mentioned that I got their names as sponsors from last years Vuelta site, as Unipublic has not bothered to mention ANY of the sponsors on the current site.
I understand that next year they will be bound by an agreement that makes them take the top 17 teams in points, although I don’t see were UCI does team rankings so I’m not clear how they’ll figure it.
The organizers say some agreement they’re bound by only left six slots open. Astana got a guaranteed spot based solely on their name, as we all know what happened. In reality it is Astana that is a first year team this year, not RadioShack.
It’s my opinion that the Landis accusations gave them the excuse to do this.
I always hoped Landis could use his legs to get his reputation back, not drag everyone around him down.
One simple fact still galls me. If his team would have been invited to the Tour of California (i saw stages 2, 3 and 4), we wouldn’t have heard a peep out of him.
Thanks Floyd.
Still, the was no due process involved with this decision. I’m with Johann. It’s time for the riders and teams to quit allowing themselves to be treated like casual labor.
This is a labor/management issue now, and i’m always on the side of labor.
I encourage every Radioshack fan to make some noise to companies that are giving money to Unipublic. I think phone calls are the best and HTC was the company most willing to hear me out. Ford was almost interpretable. I was over an hour on the phone to get even an email address to anybody in public relations. Typical BPlike mega corporate wall. If we have any fans in Europe maybe the can call Ford in Spain.
Tell your friends who might not understand why you are so angry a NASCAR analogy. Imagine the France family, that owns Daytona motor speedway, decided to not invite Hedricks Motor Sports (Gordon, Johnson, Earnhart, Martin) but DOES take what amounts to 2 or 3 “go or go home” teams.
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Its a sad thing to not be invited and the Shack team will prevail as World renoun riders who excel in their sport when given the chance to compete against those who wish to challenge their competetive skills in the higest degreee with the fiercest of opponents. Let’s face it these guys all know each other and Shack not being invited the others too know that there is a void in the competition level by not inviting a team of Top ranking riders. If the riders can protest, I think they should like they did with Mark Cavendish this year. 2 minutes of protest at the Start of each stage of the race. It will be felt throughout the world as quiet as it is but as profound a statement!
What would the Shack do if they recind someone else now and then the Shack has the opportunity!? I don’t there’s an easy resolution, what’s done is done, what’s more important is to Rise up and challenge in those areas you know you can do something about it. Tour De France for instance…. Go Shack Go!!
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Creo que la organizacion de la vuelta a España se equivoco no veo el porque deban dejar por fuera al equipo mas fuerte del peloton hombre por hombre este equipo esta sobrado aun sin sus principales nombres como Lance Levi o Andreas este equipo del Radio Shack saca tres novenas de lujo una para cada una de las grandes
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Radio shack should have been invited. You would think a sponsor would want the BEST competition, it draws the public, they spend money Spain wins financially. To not invite the Shack is plain stupid financially. I live n Utah and am surprised about the moves they make to get US Continental teams here. Look for the stars and the money will follow. Isn’t Spain hurting as much as the US?
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Hello, I am spanish, and I don’t understand the reasons of that wrong Vuelta’s decision. It is bad for Spain, is bad for the “Vuelta”, is bad for cycling… and is very bad for our local cycling hero “Chechu Rubiera” in the year that the race is going to finish in the Cotobello, also knows as “Chechu Rubiera’s climb”.
I simply don’t understand anything, but the French company “ASO” has bought the rights of the “Vuelta”… let’s think bad…
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Good decision on not asking the strongest and the most star built team in the world of cycling, All journalists want them at any race and to get the best teams in the biggest races must be a priority., Its like not having Brazil in the world cup. The shack have the tour as there main priority and this just makes the team more hungry for success in it.
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Politics, politics, politics…..Wonder how many of the guys on the selection committee rode 100 mi. today??? Not one, I’m sure. Radioshack will kick butt in the TdF and the Vuelta organizers will look even worse and more stupid.
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What a shame that politics again gets in the way of what should be expected and common sense. As usual, many people fear and they resort to antics like this the fact that the outcome is unrealistic. I would consider any win a sham because the field of competition was stacked, big deal if Astana comes out on top, you rigged the win as far as I am concerned.
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It is a real shame that the organizers of La Vuelta decided to exclude Radio Shack. This is a decision that disminishes the competition and the popularity of this Grand Tour. It is a decision that has been very unpopular in cycling circles, even in Spain. Now, I would not be surprised that the same organizers of La Vueta decide to invite Radio Shack to participate in this year’s race at the last minute, not allowing this team to prepare properly. The organizers have invited and are counting on having Cervelo with Sastre, Garmin with Valde Verde, and Sky with Wiggings, at this year’s La Vuelta. All these great cyclists already raced in this year’s Giro. I doubt that any or all of this cyclists will actually choose to race in this year’s La Vuelta after also racing in this year’s Tour. Javier Guillen, La Vuelta’s organizer, was quoted to say that Radio Shack was not invited because of “sporting criteria”. If Mr. Guillen means that the team Radio Shack would send this this year’s La Vuelta would not be as competitive or as popular as the other teams they invited, Mr. Guillen is totally wrong. If Mr. Guillen did not invite Radio Shack because of a presumed rift with Contador or because of the Landis’s allegations against Lance, Johan, and others on this team, that’s another story. It is shameful, but it is another story.
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Anytime a top competitor or team is excluded, it reduces the glory of the winner – he does not beat the best possible competition. Sad for the Vuelta – this is not in the spirit of a “grand” tour.
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..really .. not the spirit of grand tour.. may.. Selection Tour.. ahahhaah petty on them…
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They should have been invited regardless if Armstrong would have been there or not. The team they would have provided to that race would have competed very well. But it’s about politics and since Armstrong wasn’t going to be there they said the hell with Radio Shack. Speaking of which it will be interesting to see which direction this team goes for next years tour. Levi is about the only one who could compete for the overall but he himself will be 37 next year.
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I think they should of been invited. Cycling is due for an uproar and its time that a major shakeup is done. I think Contador is glad radioshack wasn’t invited. Just my 2 cents.
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I suppose we should know exactly what process was made to chose the wildcard teams, and how that process was decided upon, and why, before making an informed opinion. But hell yeah, I’d like to see the Shack there. There’s a waiver for everything. Go back and try again, maybe a team will get kicked out and replaced.
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