WTF is Michael Ball thinking?

Evidently he is negotiatiing with The Buffalo to join Rock.

I can understand hiring a couple or three riders with a notorious past. You can get them cheap relative to their "talent" level. You might be able to sugercoat it by saying everyone deserves a second chance. But with the current mania over doping, how does Ball expect to get race invites when his team has become a refuge for any doper who cannot find employment elsewhere?

I don't get the strategy here, especially with his intent to turn his team Pro Contiental and race more in Europe. Is he so arrogant and narcissistic that he thinks he is immune to the consquences of stacking his team with a rogues gallery?

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

he will have a great team



Landis
Sevilla
Botero
Hamilton
Guiterrez
(Aitor Gonzalez?)
(Heras?)
Rodriguez
Bahaati
Oneil
Sutherland

The team will be better than most Protour teams.

I'm not up with all the nicknames... but I assume you are referring to Jose Enrique Gutierrez?

He is perhaps trying to get his exposure from being excluded from races rather than being in them...

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Ball does not care about cycling per se, positioning the team as "bad boys" is a perfect brand position for his company.

He stands out, carves his niche, gets loads of publicity. He does not care if it is bad publicity, as this rebel persona is intrinsic in the brand. Strategic position.

I think he will get an invite to every Spanish race, even with ASO owning 49% of the Vuelta.

He may even get an invite to the Giro.

Who is the buffalo? Is he Gutierrez (as Cranky surmised)?

I think from thunder's insertion of him on the team list (which I didn't see before I posted)... "The Buffalo" is Gutierrez.

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Buffalo Guiterrez. The Buffalo gotta eat.

His team will be much more exciting than Slipstream.

The Buffalo will be well fed on Rock.

http://cyclingfansanonymous.blogspot...update_24.html

Thanks Drongo and CFA.

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Ball is a complete cockhead. There was write-up on some of his 'ideas' in cyclingnews.com when he went looking for sponsors which was the same sort of bipolar surreality as that link.

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THYLACINE CUSTOM CYCLES <click for info • " I love how people quote a work of fiction like it's the bible." - Anonymous

Ahhhh Thunder ever now and then you are a very smart fella. Very good. Come over to the dark side. We eat babies.

its cos my mom was a single mum from moe...