Danielson has already won a bigger race than Georgia - Tour of Langkawi. 2nd biggest purse in all of cycling, behind only the TDF.
That said, the Disco infrastructure is REALLY good at scouting talent - Boonen, anyone?
- and you know, they have a pretty legit gripe about folks leaving for greener pastures; Hamilton, Floyd, Levi, Boonen, Heras, etc. It’s the same in every sport, but damn - I think you would do pretty well with a fantasy cycling team that was composed entirely of ex-postal/disco riders…
Lance and Bruyneel are exceptionally close, and it appears that LA feels bruised when a young rider is groomed by Johan, and splits when he hits the big time - and now both their stage race and classics heirs apparent have done that (Floyd and Boonen.) That’s got to sting.
Next? Reload with Danielson and Stijn Devolder… damn. Bruyneel is good…
.
“its rediculous that he gets mad when people leave his squad”
They come to his squad, get better, get the best equipment and staffing, etc, and they get some name recognition plus they get to say they rode with the best TDF rider ever, and he shouldn’t be upset when they take more money to go somewhere else to compete against him? It may be the way things work, and it may be what’s best for those riders, but you can’t be surprised that Lance isn’t happy about it.
“its rediculous that he gets mad when people leave his squad”
They come to his squad, get better, get the best equipment and staffing, etc, and they get some name recognition plus they get to say they rode with the best TDF rider ever, and he shouldn’t be upset when they take more money to go somewhere else to compete against him? It may be the way things work, and it may be what’s best for those riders, but you can’t be surprised that Lance isn’t happy about it.
I’ll play devils advocate…
I thought it was primarily a team sport and there is no way Lance would have won the Tours without his strong team members there to strategically make sure he has the lowest cummulative time. Let’s remember, he only brings on riders that are already very strong and show great potential for further improvement. It could be argued that these riders would have done as well on other teams.
As another note, the riders may get a great training environment with Lance’s team, but in no way does a team “own” an individual. Should the company I work for be pissed if I leave them having learned a lot working for them - not at all - that is the way the world works. The company I work for would drop me like a fly if I underperformed - so would Lance’s team to his team mates. There are no free rides. To hold a grudge (if he is) is just plain childish.
I don’t think it is accurate to say that none of the Postal riders received any glory over the last 6 years. Many of them have received much fame and fortune and had great careers working for Lance. We should all be so lucky! CST
"Next? Reload with Danielson and Stijn Devolder… damn. Bruyneel is good… "
And Popovich. He’s hot shit!
You people are ridiculous. None of you know what the hell is going on…pure speculation AND reading into situations… .but there are very few real assholes around here. And Lance ain’t one of them.
ummm, none of us know what is going on, yet you know lance well enough to know he is NOT an a$$hole?
I guess the thing that bothers me about it is that whenever someone leaves the Postal/Discovery team, Lance seems to take it personally. Lance has had sharp words for those who have left in the past. The exception to the rule is Tyler Hamilton. He and Tyler remained friends after Tyler left, but that’s not usually the way it goes. People leave teams for different reasons – more money, better opportunity to lead a team, things like that. If someone can better himself by leaving, what can you do? No reason to get upset about that. Just because you find yourself rivals doesn’t meant you have to be enemies.
I have played sports my whole life. I understand trash talking and taunting. I just don’t like to see it turn personal.
That being said, I realize (as someone else has pointed out) that I am making a judgment here based on precious few facts, which may or may not be accurate. I (and we) don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, what the situations are, all that. I am a complete outsider passing judgment on something I know very little about. And, in all honesty, that’s probably not fair.
But that’s the way I feel, at least today. 
RP
Like when Boonen left and Lance said he thought Tom was overestimating himself…we know who got the last laugh there - best thing the guy could have done.
“Should the company I work for be pissed if I leave them having learned a lot working for them - not at all - that is the way the world works”
They would certainly be pissed if you left them to make more money with a competitor, taking with you an inside knowledge of how they did business down to the smallest detail.
I’m not saying that it wouldn’t be nice if Lance was a magnanimous individual who only wanted the best for his teammates. It would probably be nice. But he probably wouldn’t have won so much if that’s how he was, and I certainly don’t see it as “unprofessional” to harbor some resentment towards former teammates who abandon the team for personal glory or cash, which is surely how he sees it. Especially since this is a sport.
I doubt very much that their contract paid enough to entitle him to “ownership”. Sure, I cannot understand him being pissed off a bit - but I would think it would be very temporarily since he should understand that not everyone will be happy with their only goal being to line his pockets.
I wonder how people would feel if Lance left USPS for more money at the time the team was looking for a new sponsor? Would people be as supportive to him as Landis? I think not.
“He and Tyler remained friends after Tyler left…”
That’s not entirerly true. According to his book (the first, I think), after Tyler left he was very pissed and they didn’t talk for quite a while. They didn’t communicate at all until a mutual friend forced them to sit down and work it out. They have remained friends since then.
The difference, IMHO, is that Tyler and Lance (and George H., etc) came up in the sport together. Lance obviously went further than any of them, but they all rode together before anyone was famous. In his book Lance even admits that it was wrong of him to expect Tyler to continue riding for him instead of pursuing his own goals. These more recent guys came in on Lance’s coat-tails, especially Floyd. I remember reading on a couple of occasions that Lance thought Floyd was a potential future team leader (of his team, we assume). So for him to leave and follow the money was probably a little hard to take.
I assume that Floyd left becaue he thought he was capable of beating Lance in the big races. If that’s the case, getting dropped isn’t the best way to prove your point…
Chris
Not by my definition…NO…he’s not. An asshole would never have taken up the cancer awareness campaign. An asshole would have ridden away from Ullrich when he crashed. An asshole would never give credit to his team. An asshole would not rearrange his annual schedule to get time with his kids.
Jackass? Probably…
Asshole? Doesn’t seem to meet the threshold…
I think you may have Tyler confused with Kevin Livingston who left about 2000 to lead the Linda McCartney team that folded before he raced with them— then wound up on Telekom riding for Ullrich— Lance had even had Kevin move to Austin — Lance took that defection (for lack of a better word) the hardest as he considered Kevin a very close friend.
Geez…you’re absoutely right!
I’m down to the last two weeks of grad school and I think I’ve maxed out my brain’s capacity.
I had the right story, wrong teammate. So much for my contribution to this thread!
Thanks.
Chris
I think you’ve got Tyler confused with another ex-teammate. If I remember the passage in the book correctly, it was about another teammate, the one who left Postal and wound up with Telekom working for Jan Ullrich (was that Leipheimer?). I can’t remember, but I don’t believe it was Tyler. When Tyler won his stage in the '03 TdF, Lance was one of the first ones off the bike to congratulate him. They were hugging and laughing – LA seemed genuinely happy that Tyler won. They’ve always been friends, according to media reports anyway. Not so with the others who have left, again, according to media reports.
RP
Let’s face it: everyone else are just bit players in Lance’s epic blockbuster.
You’re either with him or against him, and Floyd is no longer with him.
Got it…for the second time. Thanks.