I wrote to Castelli here http://www.castelli-cycling.com/contact
"I am a Castelli customer for several years now, but no longer. This move is an insult to all clean cyclists. I am only one person, but I am sure there will be many like me once word gets out.
There are many many clean cyclists that could have partnered with you on this venture."
Please, take a few minutes to let Castelli know that this is not ok. If we care about battling doping, then this is an easy step.
nice trolling attempt. I’m sure you’ll find a few that bite
I disagree - i wouldn’t buy it (the product), but Millar did his time, he rode at a time when, as far as I can tell, Christophe Bassons and perhaps half a dozen, dozen other riders that rocked up at grand tours were clean? he came back, he apparently raced clean to the end of his career - he exercised poor judgement in his 20’s in an environment where the pressure to perform on a daily basis is very different to holding down a 40 hour a week job and slacking off on one day, he was surrounded by supposedly older and wiser people who’s job was to mentor and provide guidance about how to succeed and if you are 20 something and a bunch of older wiser professionals and physicians tell you the only way that you can succeed is to dope, I don’t know that there were any, or many 20 year olds at the time that knew there was an alternative path
His bigger crime was his book and whinging about his tax situation - he’s a bright, articulate extremely personable bloke in print and spoken word. He’s been a good advocate on clean riding, in much the same way that JV has - though he should have kept his mouth shut this week.
I like Rapha - I don’t like Sky kit, but then I’d never wear any sports teams colours but I have no problem with this
To the best of anyone’s knowledge, Millar last doped in 2003…12 years ago. Since then, he has been a vocal advocate for clean cycling and reforming the sport.
Sorry, I simply don’t share your view. But then again, I don’t own a horse of any height, let alone a high one.
I wrote to Castelli here http://www.castelli-cycling.com/contact
"I am a Castelli customer for several years now, but no longer. This move is an insult to all clean cyclists. I am only one person, but I am sure there will be many like me once word gets out.
There are many many clean cyclists that could have partnered with you on this venture."
Please, take a few minutes to let Castelli know that this is not ok. If we care about battling doping, then this is an easy step.
I’m getting so sick of this shit. “If you buy Hincapie clothing, you support doping. If you buy Castelli, you support doping.” What a load of crap. Just about any company involved with cycling at all can probably be considered “tainted” by doping if you apply this sort of myopic view.
Spot
Cervelo was the bike sponsor for CSC for years…sponsorship that led to the massive success of the Cervelo brand.
CSC is now known to have been one of the dirtiest teams in the sport…but for some reason the OP supports the Cervelo brand enough to use them in his screen name.
Now, he is obviously free to do as he chooses, and I personally don’t really care, but I don’t see how he can square that with the stance he is taking in this thread.
Personally, I’d be more concerned at the fact that if this range of clothign fits Millar, then it might fit Chris Froome and a handful of other outliers, but it is unlikely to fit, errr, me, for example. Or anyone else who is remotely towards the middle of the body shape bell curve.
Second that.
I’m split on this topic.
On one hand, i really like Castelli as a brand, they have very solid products, and they employ a few friends of mine here in Portland.
I can understand why they’d want to move up market with a product line like this, to try and offer something competitive with Rapha and Assos (?) at a premium pricepoint and higher eye towards fashion.
In contrast, I too do not like that they used a convicted doper, regardless of how many accounts I hear of DM’s good nature and change of heart.
I also find it flat out insulting that they ripped off Rapha’s “data visualization” design language with the socks and base layer. It’s flat-out lazy, they could have kept the design but not called it an interpretation of race data and nobody would have known.
So you’re aware that Millar was sponsored and appeared in several ads for Castelli over the last ten years, you still bought their kit, but this is a step too far?
I guess you’re going to be dumping your Cannondale due to Danielson also, yes? Let’s go shopping for a replacement:
You could ride a Scott - nah, Ricardo Rico ruined them for you.
Or a Bianchi - sorry, Coppi was too fond of amphetamines, not to mention Pantani
How about… Trek? Ah… hethatshallnotbenamed and his crew
Cervelo (covered in earlier post), Specialised (Boonen - coke, Basso - EPO), Giant (Rassmussen - EPO), Canyon (Paolini - coke)
On the brightside, Boardman bikes would love to have you as a customer.
Please, take a few minutes to let Castelli know that this is not ok. If we care about battling doping, then this is an easy step.
How about… NO
The bib and brace is comfortable, i don’t give a shit who wears them or markets them.
Millar is cool. I hope he does race announcing, because he is good at it.
I support the OP simply because Millar is a douche canoe who continues to tell a ludicrous and self-serving account of his doping.
"I am a Castelli customer for several years now, but no longer. This move is an insult to all clean cyclists.
Sorry about the spelling
I don’t eat beef anymore because a tainted cow associate itself with Contador!
Good luck selling those doping support bikes you seem to be so proud of.
Cannondale has been supporting dopers since Cipollini and I’m pretty sure Riis still has a very Canuk bikes in his swiss compound.
I like their clothing. Couldn’t care less about who they use to market them. I just like their stuff.
Gabba jacket - awesome.
Poggio jacket - awesome
Wool jersey - awesome
Evoluzione bibs - awesome
Transparente jersey - awesome.
I’m not going to let a doper get in be way of product I’ve researched and want to buy.
Just a heads up you might want to cross Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Dodge, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler and Lancia off your shopping list too…
Or you could just crack on and realise that when trying to be ethical with purchases supporting previous dopers is very far from the worst things most organisations do.
One could also perhaps be glad that real brands see value in supporting cycling and there is a shift towards fashion and away from overstretched MAMIL lycra in the general publics perception.
Iain
I support the OP simply because Millar is a douche canoe who continues to tell a ludicrous and self-serving account of his doping.
Something you and I can 100% agree on!
I support the OP simply because Millar is a douche canoe who continues to tell a ludicrous and self-serving account of his doping.
Something you and I can 100% agree on!
Are we bringing douche canoe back?