Saxo Bank manager on blood profiling, nurturing young talent and post-ban comebacks
Saxo Bank team boss Bjarne Riis believes that the team can develop its younger riders and that the biological passport is a useful tool when it comes to signing riders. Riis, who is stepping up his search for a sponsor after it was confirmed that Saxo Bank would pull out of the sport at the end of the year, also credited his progressive methods with laying the foundation of the International Cycling Union's (UCI) biological passport. The Dane also put forward his stance on riders coming back from suspensions.
Riis was speaking at the team's recent training camp in Fuerteventura as his riders built up for their 2010 seasons.
"I'm proud of being in cycling. It's my life. I feel obligated to give back. The sport gave me so much," said Riis. "We get so much criticism but what do they do about it to make the sport better? We do things to make it better. If you want to be allowed to criticise it's because you know better. Then come up with solutions. Otherwise shut up and let us do our jobs because we try to make it a better cycling and we're doing that."
When asked about his critics and sections of the media, Riis was resolute: "A lot don't understand me or don't want to understand me. I do my job and do what I think I should do. I can't please them all but I figured that out a long time ago."
Recruiting based on blood profiles, instinct
In 2009 Riis's team ended its association with Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard. He had pioneered the squad's regime of blood profiling and Riis credited his work for creating the building the building block behind the UCI's biological passport, which opened its first doping cases in 2009. Damsgaard had always said that once the passport was in place he would step away from working closely with Riis's team.
"I think we showed the way by building our system with Rasmus and I think you can say that because of that we have the biological passport," he said. "It's a copy of what we did. Maybe ours was a little better but we did it in a way that we thought was the best but definitely the passport is a good thing. I won't say it's optimal but it's the best we have and it's definitely good."
Riis added that the passport data were used when signing riders, although it wasn't a mandatory part of his selection process. Instead, his gut instinct and his experience were crucial factors in not only determining a rider's honesty but also his potential and fit within the team. "We analyse the results when we sign riders but it depends on how far we go back. If I feel it's necessary, then we go back. It's just a tool. It doesn't absolutely make riders innocent but we still see that there are riders who cheat and who think they can come around it. It's just a tool but it's good to have.
"When you hire a rider it's a lot about gut feeling and if you use that and your common sense you're right most of the time," he added. "Sometimes you're wrong. You never know. My experience, it helps me. Not always but sometimes. I stick to my instincts. That doesn't mean they're always right."
Young talents coming up
Riis' instincts have drawn in a crop of young talent for this season, led by the likes of Richie Porte and Laurent Didier. The team manager is also expecting second-year professionals Dominic Klemme and Jacob Fuglsang to step up.
"I can't tell you where they can develop," Riis said when asked about Porte and Didier. "It's too early to say. They have talent but we have to work with them and then we can see which direction they go in. I think Didier can do okay. He finished his university studies last year so he's not really ridden that many kilometres. It's going to take him up to another level. I don't think we've seen his true potential or strength yet."
Porte signed after a stellar 2009 in which he won a time trial in the baby Giro, along with a string of other good performances, and only turned to cycling three years ago. Riis believes that the Australian houses raw talent that sets him apart.
"He's very young but I think he's an obvious talent who is good at time trialing and climbing," he said. "He has so much to learn. He's very green but give him a couple of years he might step into the scene."
Riis rode for Toshiba in his early days as a professional and at the age of 24 was dropped by the team and told he did not have a future in the sport. That harsh treatment at the hands of director sportif Yves Hezard scared Riis and it's something that he's not eager to repeat as he tries to nurture the talent he has attracted.
"We take good care of them. That's really important," said Riis. "When I was a young pro my teams didn't really take good care of me like they should. These are things we do differently here. We follow them, give them a good structure and training and that's what they need to develop. That the most important thing we can do."
Second chances
One rider that Riis won't be looking to nurture though is Riccardo Riccò, who is set to make a comeback to racing in March after a ban. Riis, who is no stranger to controversy and admitted to taking erythropoietin (EPO) and other products in 2007, believes that the Italian deserves a second chance but that he wouldn't thrive in Saxo Bank's current set up.
"I don't think that he's the first rider on my list because he has a personality that might not fit into my team, but apart from that he had his ban and I think he and everybody should have a second chance to come back and prove that he's okay. Like some of the other guys, like Ivan Basso," he said.
Asked what he thought of Riccò's apparent lack of remorse, Basso's unwillingness to criticise and David Millar, who works with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and has an outspoken stance on doping, the Dane had strong beliefs. "Ivan made a mistake, how can he then criticise other riders? I don't see the difference," said Riis. "Everyone makes Millar out to be a god but he should pay as the rest of us. They're in the same category.
"Ivan might be a different personality. Maybe he doesn't have the same need to speak up about others. It's bullshit; just because you shout out about other people doesn't make you less wrong than another guy. It doesn't make sense," he added.
By:Daniel Benson
onsdag 27 januari 2010
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3 kommentarer:
I en årrække svindlede Bjarne Riis sig til resultater på landevejen, mens han sideløbende gav udtryk for, at han aldrig havde brugt doping.
Da der var gået 8 år, som besynderligt nok er lige netop den tid, der skal gå, for at man ikke længere kan straffes for dopingmisbrug i det idrætslige system, stod han frem og proklamerede, at han havde benyttet sig af doping.
I en stor del af det der på overfladen fremstod som en stor idrætskarriere, havde han snydt og bedraget alt og alle, herunder ikke mindst hele den danske befolkning, og havde indkasseret penge og præmier på et falsk og ulovligt grundlag.
I time efter time, år efter år, er hans præstationer blevet fulgt på TV, for så bagefter at blive afsløret som svindel og humbug, og som en medicinsk præstation, ikke en sportslig.
At nogen herefter vil have noget at gøre med en sådan person i cykelsportslig sammenhæng, er helt uforståeligt, og det sender det dårligst mulige signal, ikke mindst til ungdommen i cykelsporten, men også til idrætsungdommen i det hele taget.
Der er pt. kræfter i gang for at forsøge, uden for det idrætslige system, at straffe André Agassi, som på lignende vis, efter udløbet af karensperioden på 8 år, har tilstået at have brugt ulovlige midler.
Bjarne Riis kan meget vel blive den næste i det selskab.
I relation til mit indlæg, vil jeg gerne henlede opmærksomheden på min anti-doping hjemmeside:
www.123hjemmeside.dk/eaa-anti-doping
For a number of years Bjarne Riis achieved his results on bicycle, all along giving the impression that he had never used doping.
8 years after having stopped racing, which, strangely enough, is exactly the time needed to have passed, in order to escape punishment in the world of sport, for using banned substances, he came out of the closet and admitted that he had used doping, seemingly taking some pride in making the admittance, and, as it is known among criminals, seemingly relieved by finally admitting his guilt.
In the greater part of what, on the surface, glittered as a grand sports career, he had cheated and deceived everybody, not least the Danish population, and had collected prizes and money on a false and illegal basis.
Hour after hour, year after year, his achievements has been followed on TV and all other media, only to be disclosed as swindle and humbug and as being a medical achievement, not a sports performance.
It is beyond comprehension that anyone now will have anything to do with such a person in connection with cycling, and that is sending the worst possible signal, not least to the youth in cycling but to the youth in sport in general.
Presently efforts are being done, in order to try, outside the sports system, to punish André Agassi, who likewise, after the end of the 8 year waiting period, has admitted the use of illegal substances in achieving his very well paid results.
Bjarne Riis may very well be the next to join that bad company.
In relation to doping abuse I would like to refer to my anti-doping website:
www.123hjemmeside.dk/eaa-anti-doping
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