More Kudos for Rabobank...

[Moosedryvr]

It can't be easy having the TdF within reach then kicking the Yellow Jersey off your team. All the best to whomever in the Rabobank made the tough call, be it corporate sponsor or (I hope, but doubt it) someone in team management. It's nice to see someone actually hold a rider to account for violating team rules.
To all out there who are appalled at "victimization" of "innocent until proven guilty/he's never tested positive" Rasmussen, hey my job has conditions for employment, doesn't yours?

Flame away...


Shawn G

[Fixed]

yeah bro i can't use drugs at work either .
cheers :beer:

[fjaws]

Even more impressive is the fact that they don't intend to pull their support from cycling all together! Awesome stuff......where do I open and account. :beer:

[markie]

Your kidding right?

More likely they threaten to kick the whole team off of the tour unless Rasmussen goes. Best to cut your losses and at least have some presence left in the tour de farce.

[cs124]

I think Rabobank have been disingenuous.

Rabobank is a well established and well funded team and they don't know the exact physiological specs of their riders? I suspect they have records of power output, VO2 max, blood lactate, haematocrit etc for all their riders. The potential for a performance like Ras's would have shown up on the test results and if they were suspicious (in combination with the missed tests) they should have pulled him out before the race. In reality they took the 50% gamble, that some are accusing the riders of, and when it didn't pay off they tried to save face by publically sacking him.

At the very least, by sacking Chicken when he vas virtually unbeatable Rabobank have stolen prize money and win bonuses from the rest of the team. The whole squad should sue for lost earnings.

[myette10]

In reality they took the 50% gamble, that some are accusing the riders of, and when it didn't pay off they tried to save face by publically sacking him.
I was following you until this statement... How was their gamble not paying off? The guy was leading the tdf by a credible margin and other than his better than expected TT he seemed to be fitting in with the other dopers.... I mean contenders... at the top of the GC. He didn't have a super human Floyd days nor a 17+ min lead over everyone.

[cs124]

... How was their gamble not paying off?

Sorry, fast typing, missed a key point... yes, he looked reasonably plausible from a performance point of view (terrific, in fact... as you say, no miraculous comebacks etc, so maybe the gamble was paying off) but pressure was mounting from the media and the authorities. I believe the team knew Ras was suspect, took the gamble of running him anyway, and when it looked like detection and disqualification was unavoidable, they hung him out like a faded old dream catcher.

[William]

Sorry, fast typing, missed a key point... yes, he looked reasonably plausible from a performance point of view (terrific, in fact... as you say, no miraculous comebacks etc, so maybe the gamble was paying off) but pressure was mounting from the media and the authorities. I believe the team knew Ras was suspect, took the gamble of running him anyway, and when it looked like detection and disqualification was unavoidable, they hung him out like a faded old dream catcher.

That's what I was hinting at yesterday.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=367254&postcount=5

[myette10]

Sorry, fast typing, missed a key point... yes, he looked reasonably plausible from a performance point of view (terrific, in fact... as you say, no miraculous comebacks etc, so maybe the gamble was paying off) but pressure was mounting from the media and the authorities. I believe the team knew Ras was suspect, took the gamble of running him anyway, and when it looked like detection and disqualification was unavoidable, they hung him out like a faded old dream catcher.

Gotcha - and like William, I agree.

[Moosedryvr]

I think Rabobank have been disingenuous.

Rabobank is a well established and well funded team and they don't know the exact physiological specs of their riders? I suspect they have records of power output, VO2 max, blood lactate, haematocrit etc for all their riders. The potential for a performance like Ras's would have shown up on the test results and if they were suspicious (in combination with the missed tests) they should have pulled him out before the race. In reality they took the 50% gamble, that some are accusing the riders of, and when it didn't pay off they tried to save face by publically sacking him.

At the very least, by sacking Chicken when he vas virtually unbeatable Rabobank have stolen prize money and win bonuses from the rest of the team. The whole squad should sue for lost earnings.

I completely agree with you about the team management being part of the problem. In my opinion the mgt of all the teams in the Pro Tour are a key, if not the key, component in this mess. Like these DSs and other team staff (doctors) don't know that this stuff is going on, puhleez. The key to being a non-riding member of a pro cycling team is a well developed sense of plausible deniability, IMHO.
As stated above, my kudos go out to whomever at Rabobank, the corporation, finally forced the team to pull the plug. If they were watching yesterday's stage, and they probably were, maybe they felt, like I did, that Ras's performance was obviously over the top, to the point where they couldn't stand it anymore. I mean, his sitting in and waving at the camera bikes, yakking to the team car, etc while all of the other riders in the race were on the rivet? How obvious can you make it that you had a "really good" rest day? The only thing he didn't do was ride up the Aubisque with no hands, and that was probably because he was worried that one of the guys turning themselves inside out might crash in front of him. Reminded me of VDB's "superhuman" display on the last climb of LBL the year he won. Remember folks, if it looks to good to be true, it probably is.

Over and out.

Shawn G