'Duenas the dopehead' is back
23 December 2009, 08:27
Kevin McCallum's IOL column for December 23
On Tuesday it was announced the man essentially responsible for Team Barloworld coming to an end had been permitted to return to professional cycling.
Moises Duenas, the Spanish rider who was caught for taking EPO during the 2008 Tour de France whilst riding for Barloworld, has served a one-year ban, reduced from two years because
he apparently has co-operated with Spanish authorities and 'fessed up.
He said he is now looking for a professional team to ride for and, the chances are, that he will find a small one, a Spanish one, probably.
They're not too fussy whom them employ. Or, maybe, he won't, maybe karma will kick in and he'll be stuck cleaning tables for drunk Englishmen on holiday, hammered on lager and making "Manuel" jokes from Fawlty Tower ("You. Fetch. Beer. Manuel? Que?").
On a purely legal angle one should accept that he has served his time, and like David Millar, Ivan Basso, Floyd Landis, Alexandre Vinokourov and Richard Virenque, he should be given the chance to show he can ride clean. But, then, legal does not mean regal. Honour and nobility is something else.
For South Africans there is an emotional aspect to what to Duenas did to Barloworld in 2008. He became the second positive in that year's
Tour de France and the publicity surrounding the police raid on the team's hotel before the start of the 11th stage generated so much perceived bad press Barloworld immediately withdrew their sponsorship, effective after the end of the Tour.
Forty police hit the hotel, searching the team's rooms, stopping every team member from leaving
the hotel. Barloworld were only allowed to remain in the Tour because they convinced the race organisers they were totally in the dark about
Duenas the Dopehead.
Barloworld had become South Africa's national cycling team, a side to support in Europe during the grand tours and classics. It had become a
path to experience the big stage for talented young South Africans.
The late Ryan Cox, for example, who won the Tour de Langkawi, Tiaan Kannemeyer, Jeremy Maartens, James Perry and Jock Green made up the core of the team in the early days; then, when Claudio Corti took over, Robert Hunter, himself a victim of a doping scandal at the Tour de France, was signed, perhaps the best thing Barloworld could have done. He gave Barloworld a South African icon to focus on and, with John Lee Augustyn, Daryl Impey and the Kenyan-born, South African-
based and British-registered Chris Froome, there was an African taste to what essentially was an Italian outfit.
When Duenas was bust, Froome said he never wanted to see the Spaniard again as he might visit violence upon his person. However, Froome is a
climber and a long-distance time triallist, and as such has the body upper body of a twig - any punch up between the two would have been a
little embarrassing to watch.
However, if Rob Hunter had got hold of him, in much the same way he knocked out a cocky Russian (or was it Ukrainian, Rob?) rider at the Tour de Langkawi all those years ago, then Duenas might have returned to cycling a very different-looking
fellow. Broken noses are not all that attractive on cyclists.
Impey said on Tuesday that he couldn't believe Duenas was allowed back: "That's bull!" Impey is from the south of Joburg; if he'd got hold of Duenas, then the Spaniard's ears might still be ringing from the "klap" he received.
Barloworld held on for 2009, deciding, after tens of thousands of emails and letters, to honour their contract with the team. Corti tried to look for a new sponsorship for the team, but failed. If Duenas had not been caught and the team had enjoyed more success, there was every chance Barloworld might have pushed up their budget
and gone ProTour. That had been apparently talked about in board meetings at the company's HQ in Sandton, but now we'll never know.
All the Barloworld riders, save for one or two who have retired from the sport, have found rides for next season. Froome and Augustyn are off to Team Sky, Impey will be riding with Lance Armstrong at Team Radioshack (and will be in a strong team with Armstrong at the Tour Down Under in late January) and Hunter has hooked up with Garmin for the next two seasons.
There will be a strong South African presence in Europe next year. Let us hope that Duenas is not one of them. Or, on the other hand, let us
hope that he is and bumps into a former Barloworld rider along the road. One or two of them have unfinished business with the Spaniard.
On Tuesday it was announced the man essentially responsible for Team Barloworld coming to an end had been permitted to return to professional cycling.
Moises Duenas, the Spanish rider who was caught for taking EPO during the 2008 Tour de France whilst riding for Barloworld, has served a one-year ban, reduced from two years because
he apparently has co-operated with Spanish authorities and 'fessed up.
He said he is now looking for a professional team to ride for and, the chances are, that he will find a small one, a Spanish one, probably.
They're not too fussy whom them employ. Or, maybe, he won't, maybe karma will kick in and he'll be stuck cleaning tables for drunk Englishmen on holiday, hammered on lager and making "Manuel" jokes from Fawlty Tower ("You. Fetch. Beer. Manuel? Que?").
On a purely legal angle one should accept that he has served his time, and like David Millar, Ivan Basso, Floyd Landis, Alexandre Vinokourov and Richard Virenque, he should be given the chance to show he can ride clean. But, then, legal does not mean regal. Honour and nobility is something else.
For South Africans there is an emotional aspect to what to Duenas did to Barloworld in 2008. He became the second positive in that year's
Tour de France and the publicity surrounding the police raid on the team's hotel before the start of the 11th stage generated so much perceived bad press Barloworld immediately withdrew their sponsorship, effective after the end of the Tour.
Forty police hit the hotel, searching the team's rooms, stopping every team member from leaving
the hotel. Barloworld were only allowed to remain in the Tour because they convinced the race organisers they were totally in the dark about
Duenas the Dopehead.
Barloworld had become South Africa's national cycling team, a side to support in Europe during the grand tours and classics. It had become a
path to experience the big stage for talented young South Africans.
The late Ryan Cox, for example, who won the Tour de Langkawi, Tiaan Kannemeyer, Jeremy Maartens, James Perry and Jock Green made up the core of the team in the early days; then, when Claudio Corti took over, Robert Hunter, himself a victim of a doping scandal at the Tour de France, was signed, perhaps the best thing Barloworld could have done. He gave Barloworld a South African icon to focus on and, with John Lee Augustyn, Daryl Impey and the Kenyan-born, South African-
based and British-registered Chris Froome, there was an African taste to what essentially was an Italian outfit.
When Duenas was bust, Froome said he never wanted to see the Spaniard again as he might visit violence upon his person. However, Froome is a
climber and a long-distance time triallist, and as such has the body upper body of a twig - any punch up between the two would have been a
little embarrassing to watch.
However, if Rob Hunter had got hold of him, in much the same way he knocked out a cocky Russian (or was it Ukrainian, Rob?) rider at the Tour de Langkawi all those years ago, then Duenas might have returned to cycling a very different-looking
fellow. Broken noses are not all that attractive on cyclists.
Impey said on Tuesday that he couldn't believe Duenas was allowed back: "That's bull!" Impey is from the south of Joburg; if he'd got hold of Duenas, then the Spaniard's ears might still be ringing from the "klap" he received.
Barloworld held on for 2009, deciding, after tens of thousands of emails and letters, to honour their contract with the team. Corti tried to look for a new sponsorship for the team, but failed. If Duenas had not been caught and the team had enjoyed more success, there was every chance Barloworld might have pushed up their budget
and gone ProTour. That had been apparently talked about in board meetings at the company's HQ in Sandton, but now we'll never know.
All the Barloworld riders, save for one or two who have retired from the sport, have found rides for next season. Froome and Augustyn are off to Team Sky, Impey will be riding with Lance Armstrong at Team Radioshack (and will be in a strong team with Armstrong at the Tour Down Under in late January) and Hunter has hooked up with Garmin for the next two seasons.
There will be a strong South African presence in Europe next year. Let us hope that Duenas is not one of them. Or, on the other hand, let us
hope that he is and bumps into a former Barloworld rider along the road. One or two of them have unfinished business with the Spaniard.
Johannesburg
