Still no team for Jaksche and Sinkewitz: "Watch out for your license."

cyclingheroes

Still no team for Jaksche and Sinkewitz: "Watch out for your license."


03.01.2008/ Jörg Jaksche and Patrick Sinkewitz are still looking for a team. Both riders are represented by attorney Michael Lehner. Lehner suspects the UCI is threatening teams who want to sign the crown witnesses.

Read more at:

http://www.cyclingheroes.info/id1060.html

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Crankyfeet

Very interesting. UCI need to "find" dopers but they need to control the process. Jaksche's confession was a huge risk for the UCI. If it is true that they are applying "Don Corleone" style pressure on teams, it would seem they want to make an example of him to other riders...

"Tell the truth about what's going on publicly and we will castrate your hopes to ever ride again."

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poulidor

Maybe it's time to began a fund for a team made from confessed riders...

TheDarkLord

That will still not change the "no ProTour license" threat of UCI potentially leading to some riders to retire similar to what happened to Heras - unless the whole protour concept is rehauled.

poulidor

They don't need a UCI licence to race ASO events!

italiano

Jaksche is no good matematic. €100,000 from Spiegel is smaller any contratt potential..

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TheDarkLord

Yeah, I thought about that, but do you think ASO will invite a team of ex-dopers to its races (unless all of them pull a Millar of course)?

Bro Deal

Will the ProTour survive this next season? It's major benefit, guaranteed entry to the grand tours, is gone; and now you have McQuaid forcing the teams to race in Australia with the promise of being forced to race in China promised for the future.

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Crankyfeet

The problem with UCI twisting the arms of sponsors is that they don't have much leverage to twist with at the moment. Sponsors will just give them the middle finger and pull out if they push too hard.

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earth_dweller

I guess it depends what the sponsors want. Do they want to advertise to China and Australia or are most sponsors focused in Europe and maybe America?

Cobblestones

This is simple. Do the sponsors sell products in these countries? T mobile (a German company) has huge presence in the US, but I have no clue about their Australian or Chinese operations (not that T mobile matters any more). What about Rabobank? Do they have any operations outside of the Netherlands? CSC outside of whatever they're doing? I don't think so. For a global pro tour, I believe one would need sponsors with global name recognition (think Team Coca Cola or Team Heineken etc.).

earth_dweller

exactly. a true world-wide conglomerate/business that is willing to sponsor a bicycle team is well pretty rare if it does exist. So I don't think the Protour will exist in 2010, maybe even disappear next year.

Crankyfeet

I don't think the expanding protour is about servicing current sponsors. I think it is about widening the net of potential sponsors and spreading cycling around the world (and out of its primarily Euro-centric past).

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TheDarkLord

What role does UCI play outside the ProTour? In other words, if ProTour goes, will that pull out the fangs of UCI?