Is Symmetrics getting hosed by the UCI and the Tour of California?

There was a simmering discontent when Symmetrics wasn't invited to the
Tour of California. Well, I think there is more to the story:

http://www.steephill.tv/2008/is-symm...getting-hosed/

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

steephill wrote:
There was a simmering discontent when Symmetrics wasn't invited to the
Tour of California. Well, I think there is more to the story:

http://www.steephill.tv/2008/is-symm...getting-hosed/


Great article Steve. Yes, they are getting hosed. For your next project in
investigative journalism, you should dig into AEG's finances and see which
teams paid for entry, and how much, and which teams got paid to race. I bet
the domestic US teams are financing California vacations for Quick Step, et.
al.

Is there another sport where entry into a major event is determined by how
much an athlete or team is willing to pay?

Mark
http://marcofanelli.blogspot.com

Off The Back wrote:
Great article Steve. Yes, they are getting hosed. For your next project
in investigative journalism, you should dig into AEG's finances and see
which teams paid for entry, and how much, and which teams got paid to
race. I bet the domestic US teams are financing California vacations for
Quick Step, et. al.

Is there another sport where entry into a major event is determined by
how much an athlete or team is willing to pay?

Quick Step does not need the Tour of California. For them there
is little difference between training races in California or
Spain, other than expense and jet lag.

Conversely, the ToC does not need any specific US domestic team.
There are lots of those, and from AEG's standpoint they are
interchangeable. No one shows up in person or streams video
to see the Bissels or Kelly Benefits of the world. All AEG is
asking for is some means of differentiation to know who to
select for their race.

This is no different than going to Superweek. You pay high
entry fees and some of that goes to pay low level Euro pros to
come to Milwaukee and kick your ass.

Bob Schwartz

On Feb 28, 1:33*pm, "Off The Back" wrote:
steephill wrote:
There was a simmering discontent when Symmetrics wasn't invited to the
Tour of California. Well, I think there is more to the story:

http://www.steephill.tv/2008/is-symm...getting-hosed/

Great article Steve. Yes, they are getting hosed. For your next project in
investigative journalism, you should dig into AEG's finances and see which
teams paid for entry, and how much, and which teams got paid to race. I bet
the domestic US teams are financing California vacations for Quick Step, et.

On Feb 28, 1:05*pm, steephill wrote:
There was a simmering discontent when Symmetrics wasn't invited to the
Tour of California.





Dumbass -


Only on that team.

No one else cares.


thanks,

K. Gringioni.

On Feb 28, 7:23 pm, steephill wrote:
-what did the UCI do when AEG decided to selectively ban some riders
on a team while letting the rest of the team race ? all my reading
tells me this was an AEG decision, not a UCI order. this means that
organizers are effectively doping enforcers who don't have to abide by
any written criteria. ie. if i don't like a rider for any stated or
unstated reason i can simply demand that hi team not start him.

Actually, the UCI ultimately made the decision. Someone at the press
conference asked that question.


dumbass,

that statement by the AEG supports EXACTLY what i said.

the AEG frames it as an "agreement" between the teams and the
organizer that no rider "under investigation" will ride the ToC, but
really this is a decision by the AEG because presumably they would
exclude teams that don't agree to this.

the UCI simply supplied the list of riders "under investigation", and
by what body ? (CONI ? guardia civil ? german cops ? USADA ?)

this is an important distinction.

in addition, as i said before there are no reports of a UCI
investigation into puerto, if that's what they mean. if there is, who
the is name of the investigator ?

on the other hand CONI is investigating puerto, they are calling on
riders and personnel to testify. who has testified or made any
statement to the UCI about puerto ?

puerto happened in 2006 and by the end of that year all the implicated
riders had been cleared to ride. it's 2008, and the UCI has not made
any progress in that case, so at this rate the investigation will be
open forever.

In article
,
steephill wrote:

On Feb 28, 1:33*pm, "Off The Back" wrote:
steephill wrote:
There was a simmering discontent when Symmetrics wasn't invited to the
Tour of California. Well, I think there is more to the story:

http://www.steephill.tv/2008/is-symm...getting-hosed/

Great article Steve. Yes, they are getting hosed. For your next project in
investigative journalism, you should dig into AEG's finances and see which
teams paid for entry, and how much, and which teams got paid to race. I bet
the domestic US teams are financing California vacations for Quick Step, et.
al.

Is there another sport where entry into a major event is determined by how
much an athlete or team is willing to pay?

Markhttp://marcofanelli.blogspot.com

It's known that the domestic teams pay an entrance pay but the ProTour
teams don't pay anything. Last year the domestic squads paid an
entrance of $10,000 each.

Steve
www.steephill.tv

At this point, I'm starting to wonder if the ASO has to pay anything to
anyone to put on Le Tour! Next thing you're going to tell me that being
a podium girl is a pay-to-play proposition.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

On Feb 28, 8:00 pm, Bill C wrote:

we've all come to expect the
lowest sleaziest common denominator from the most all the folks
running cycling.

dumbass,

they are just stupid and incompetent.

the UCI is supposed to be the CYCLIST'S UNION. they write the rules
and enforce them ostensibly for the benefit of all licensed riders.
for instance, the purpose of anti-doping rules in not to just hammer
the best riders (like all the kunichs that write to velonews think),
it is to make the sport fair for all competitors.

the UCI also has rules which are to ensure that competitors are
treated fairly by their teams, organizers and officials. organizers
that don't follow the rules are supposed to get sanctions.

they have to make their stand and face the likely possibility that
they will be made irrelevant, because otherwise they are failing
miserably at their job.

In article
,
steephill wrote:

There was a simmering discontent when Symmetrics wasn't invited to the
Tour of California. Well, I think there is more to the story:

http://www.steephill.tv/2008/is-symm...getting-hosed/

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

Thanks for covering this story, Steve. I've gotta say that it's a pretty
bizarre omission to leave off what is, by at least one measure, the best
team in the Americas.

And now to hear that they're stumping for Team Whatever from Colombia,
based on some acceptable climbing results, instead of the pretty darned
good team from British Columbia...

A little while ago I noted that pro cycling has a lot in common with the
semi-pro levels of other pro sports. Now I'm beginning to wonder if it
operates with any more professionalism than the Vancouver Dodgeball
League.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

On Feb 28, 4:23*pm, steephill wrote:
-what did the UCI do when AEG decided to selectively ban some riders
on a team while letting the rest of the team race ? all my reading
tells me this was an AEG decision, not a UCI order. this means that
organizers are effectively doping enforcers who don't have to abide by
any written criteria. ie. if i don't like a rider for any stated or
unstated reason i can simply demand that hi team not start him.

Actually, the UCI ultimately made the decision. Someone at the press
conference asked that question.




Dumbass -


You are seriously missing the point of all this.

The UCI, the teams and the race itself are in the business of MAKING
MONEY. If the Symmetrics team can't help the race MAKE MONEY, then the
race is going to look to include another team which can help them MAKE
MONEY.

The ProTour inclusions allow the race to get the big title sponsors,
hence they help the race MAKE MONEY. Other teams which bring along
their own sponsors or pay big entry fees are helping the race MAKE
MONEY.

Until the Symmetrics team figures out how to help the race MAKE MONEY,
they will continue to be excluded.

The event organizers don't give a **** about a team that's going to
place someone in 10th or 20th place. For the teams in that boat, entry
is all about MONEY.

Understand?


thanks,

K. Gringioni.