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- Re: Last race of the year
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Posted by Mike's Diary
on November 5, 2009, 8:21 am, in reply to "Topic of conversation"
82.32.53.17
As Russell sort of points out in his press release there are a lot more factors with a November race - there were a whole load of perfectly good contenders for the ride and it was a really hard job picking the ones finally chosen. Timmo might be surprised by the way things have turned out but I can assure him he'd be even more surprised if he knew some of the other names in the frame! Even after the last couple of years I do not think it had really sunk in with the team how much (and how many!) riders would want to do this race in the off season.
Perhaps all riders and managers should learn a lesson from the entire sorry episode and think very carefully about their negotiating position for the Qatar race next year in relation to the rest of the year! Everything has changed for this race and I think all parties would be well advised to bear this in mind when making contracts at the start of the year. Without telling any particular riders or managers how to do their jobs it would seem to me that a contract for 5 well paid rides with an option for the last ride at a much reduced rate would probably form a good starting point for some teams. This would give the manager flexibility to try someone new while at the same time removing the financial incentive to do so and the somewhat unrealistic expectation of a big pay packet at this race in the face of the harsh realities of supply/demand/budget!
But then, maybe I'm not the first person to think of that!
Amen to Adrian's plea for someone to step up with the cash to keep the P1 soap opera on the road as well! How about a 'fly on the wall' documentary maker - there's so much that goes on that never even makes it onto here. It must be so boring working for a professional team!
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