Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr GonZo
Good post.
He did recieve a €10,000 penalty/fine by the Rabobank team for him not telling them about his whereabouts. And that was that. Until the rumor mill started turning that he was in Italy instead of Mexico.
A few things I can't help but wonder:
1. If you're the sponsor of a player/racer, should it not be your responsibility, as a team manager/organization, to know where your racers are, or at least know how and where to contact him? As Rasmussen was subjected to a random test, just as every other cyclist, why didn't Rabobank try to find him themselves instead of stick their head in the sand and act ignorant. Personally, I think they dumped him to save their own neck; as in, they knew more than they'd like to admit.
2. Personally, to fire someone because they lied, I don't like it. He most likely did do some illegal training with Epo in Italy (which EVERYONE did, not in Italym but they all did their training, and alot were repremanded for not showing up at a random drug control test) and was justfully penalized for it. The action was joke, in my opinion, from an ethical, professional and anti-hypocritical perspective.
It sure won't surprise me if we will hear something on Contador in the upcoming weeks, I bet there's nothing Rasmussen did that he didn't do.
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I think firing someone because they lied is perfectly acceptable. As you say, they should be responsible for being able to keep track of him. That's all well and good, but there has to be some cooperation on the part of the athlete.
It's one thing if he just takes off. He could potentially chalk that up to an oversight on his part "Oops, sorry , forgot about that whole I have to tell you where I'm going rule". But to intentionally lie to them, presumably so they COULD NOT track you down, is another thing entirely, it shows that you are intentionally breaking a rule.
Sponsorships are all about image:
"Hey those athletes use these products so they must be good."
So when an athlete gives the appearance that they are doing something that isn't above board, it reflects badly on the sponsor, and they have every right (and probably contractual loopholes), to dump that athlete.
The athletes job is pretty simple: Make the sponsor look good, and follow the rules. When they're is the posibility that they intentionally flouted the rules, it certainly doesn't make the sponsor look good, and is most certainly grounds for getting canned.