Amyone know what the falling out was between Lance and Landis? On the NBC tour show yesterday, Landis spoke of wanting to be friends with Lance, but Lance wouldn’t have it despite the fact that Landis was a loyal soldier for 3+ years…?
Was Lance upset that Landis wanted to take on a leadership role on another team?
It’s Lance’s version of “Either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists”…
yeah, i actually am a lance fan, but that’s one thing that’s always irked me about him. he always seems to take it personally when one of his close supporters leaves the team.
his was really pissed when kevin livingston left for telekom.
and when heras left for LSW…
from what i can tell, he was pretty understanding of tyler hamilton leaving,
but, floyd - that’s another personal insult.
if you compare it to any other professional relationship, most employers are pretty understanding if someone wants to leave in order to advance their career, but not lance…
It’s Lance’s version of “Either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists”…
Sounds about right. Who really knows though. Maybe they had envisioned Floyd becoming the leader of Postal/Discovery and so it seemed like a brother disowned his family and the business that would be inherited because he was too impatient. Wouldn’t Floyd have been the next of kin for Discovery’s GC contender at a grand tour?
With LA gone its gonna be interesting. I doubt that they have a leader a la Lance, ie one who the whole season is built around. I think Hincapie will be given free reign in the classics and for stage wins and Salvodelli, Danielson, and Popovich will be in the same situation as most strong teams. Fighting it out to see whos strongest in the first week of the Grand tours.
Styrrell
You seemed to forget one…José Azevedo, currently LA right arm!!
I hear from a very good source that Lance is not too happy with Floyd. Lance actually paid a lot of Floyd’s debt (credit cards) when he came into Disco. Yo ucan’t blame Floyd for leaving for the money but there is always the question, How did he leave?
Azevedo is not a leader, he cracks under the pressure of winning. But he’s a great domestique, like we saw last year.
Guys,
Pick up Lance’s War (the new book). Pretty much explains it. Floyd wanted more leeway when racing. Postal didn’t want him racing too hard. Some remarks where made during last year’s tour and Floyd had enough.
Floyd moved on and good on him
If I were head of Discovery I would be in Vino’s ear saying “You know, we have an opening next year. Aren’t you sick of being a domestique for people you know you can beat?”
Of course, then there would be all the “Why is Jan so pissed at Vino”
threads…
Why do you think Kik left him?
I hear from a very good source that Lance is not too happy with Floyd.
Another consideration is the fact that Johan was not happy with Floyd’s antics and rather erratic behavior when it came to training and commitment. Apparently Floyd made a habit of not being on time for team related activities that involved a lot of logistics to bring the team together from all over the globe. Lance looked beyond the head strong kid with teething problems and apparently convinced Dirk and Yohan not to fire him (on several occasions) as well as putting in a significant amount of personal training time with the guy. Obviously Floyd had his own future to consider but seems the team has had a history of having riders that were being groomed for bigger and better things on down the road growing impatient and making unexpected moves to join other squads in search of quicker rewards. Sure Lance could be a little more user friendly when it comes to former team mates but I can seel how it can get a little frustrating for someone like Lance who has a lot of say when it comes to who gets the opportunity to help him win the tour in July.
To some extent, I think it can be summed up by Christian VandeVelde when he left USPS. He complained about being held down - not being allowed to go for stage wins, not having any freedom and having to completely race for Lance. Sure, i can see how this can be frustrating if not stifling. However, anyone who signs up with the team KNOWS this is the set-up. I chief, the rest are Indians. After all, Disco IS writing the checks…
That said, it would still seem that Lance could let people go without taking it personally. At the end of the day, it’s still just business.
As for Lance and Kik, I have it from someone who knows personally that that was a 2 way street. Both sides had plenty of fault there.
Not wanting to defend him as I don’t know all the circumstances, but…
Livingston didn’t initially go to Telekom, he went to to the Linda McCartney team, the only team which suffered a worse fate than John Wordin’s Mercury boys. I think when that fell apart, and when he chose to go to Telekom instead of coming “back into the fold,” Lance took that personally because he was taking the same job as he had at Postal, but was working for the big rival instead. They were practically neighbors in Austin, and very close friends. I’d take that personally.
Heras leaving wouldn’t have been a big deal except that he didn’t go directly to the team to tell them about his plans. Basically, he quit w/o giving notice - that not good! 
Not sure there’s a lot of animosity, though, just not much communication I would imagine.
Hamilton probably handled it best. He went to the “Family” and presented his opportunity. Sounds like they said, “Great, you have to leave - you can’t pass this up.” Leipheimer was the same way, but wasn’t a huge piece of the Postal puzzle anyway, so no great loss at the time.
Landis is a bit of a wildcard. Keep in mind, he didn’t leave to become the overall leader of Phonak - at the time, Hamilton had that job. If it’s true about the debt and looking the other way stuff, well, there’s your answer there.
The one thing you have to admit about the Postal/Disovery team is that it is run like a family. Lance might be the star, but everyone is taken care of better than they would be on any other team, and there’s a huge amount of staff effort, and a great deal of money, that goes into that care, and even more to fostering the team atmosphere. Which of us wouldn’t take it personally if someone chose to leave such a set-up? I’m not that big of a person, that’s for sure.
Still, it’s true Lance will never win the Miss Congeniality Award, but how many among us would?
Just one addendum to your post - Tyler and Lance were somewhat estranged at first after Tyler moved on, but they worked it out and became buds again. (although in the post positive doping test era, Lance is probably saying “Tyler WHO??”)
So - Lance wasn’t happy about that split at first either. He (selfishly/emotionally, and correctly/logically) wants the best riders to stay on his team so he has the best chance of winning each year. Wouldn’t you?
Lots of other Pro sports are the same way. You hate somebody when they play for a rival, but love them when they play for you. They may still be a bastard, but they’re OUR bastard now. And if they leave, then ya hate 'em again. See - Roger Clemens, et al.
Interesting, and isn’t it ironic that Hamilton was caught with technology that was paid for, at least in part, by Lance. Not the reason he donated the money for the equipment, I’m sure, but still…
With all the celebrity gossip here you’d think this is a sewing circle.
Hey, it’s a rest day. You know, idle hands…
Hello, Postal/Discovery seems to do a good job of selling the “family” atmosphere, but from the Coyle book, i’m not so sure. The book said that livingston asked for a raise and was turned down so they could hire better support riders. Probably a good business decision, but hardly “family”. Rumors were the F Andreau wanted to go for his 10 TdeF but was dropped from the team because they felt they had better riders, again good business, but hardly family. This year he management ripped Zabrieski after he crashed saying he has always been a poor rider in group settings, since when is kicking someone when hes down a “family” value.
All that said, i admire the disco team for their single mindedness and professionalism.
Styrrell
Low blow… tantamount to ‘gossip’ or sour-grapes?