RadioShack's Vuelta snub

The decision by the organisers of the Vuelta a Espana to exclude Lance Armstrong's RadioShack team from lining up for the August grand tour leaves Philip Gomes scratching his head.

Ok, RadioShack may be growing a bit long in the tooth for my liking but their non-selection for the Vuelta a Espana is one of the most baffling decisions I've seen in a while.

Even Australian football coach Pim Verbeek's reluctance to give Harry Kewell a run against Germany in the World Cup didn't puzzle me as much as this decision.

This is a team that has made its presence felt in the professional peloton in just its first year, one that carries the aura of not just Lance Armstrong, but team director Johann Bruyneel and a host of well performed grand tour riders.

Love 'em or hate 'em, RadioShack's presence is good for the sport.

So based on just a few of the names Bruyneel put forward, what exactly is the specific justification of Unipublic for the teams absence in August? At the moment they aren't telling us.

Is it that Armstrong's name wasn't put forward on the 15 man long list? Not enough Spaniards? Maybe they told Unipublic motorized Zimmer frames are a must have for their ageing crew before they would participate? I'm stumped.

Forget the agreement between the Vuelta organisers and the UCI for a moment, I could name several selected teams that wouldn't be able to offer the kind of tactical racing and excitement RadioShack does week in week out - and two of them are Spanish.

Johann Bruyneel is similarly stumped, saying, "I am not only surprised, I am speechless."

"At first I thought it was a mistake so I called organizer Javier Guillen for some explanation. He told me that the other teams offered him better options on a sporting level. I had to ask him to repeat it as I could not believe this but I heard right: we didn't offer a good enough team," Bruyneel went on to say in a released statement on his website.

"I cannot accept or understand this decision. With Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloden, Chris Horner and Jani Brajkovic we had four potential Vuelta winners on the roster we sent to Unipublic.

"Our 2010 Team goals were the Tour de France and the Tour of Spain. That's why - together with the need to perform well in the Tour of California – we skipped the Tour of Italy this year."

I understand Unipublic's need to live up to an earlier obligation, but surely the UCI also has a obligation here - not only in support of quality racing but the globalised professionalism it insists is essential for the continuing growth of the sport.

It may be self serving coming from him, but again I think it's useful to listen to Bruyneel on that front.

"Some organizers take away the hunger of potential sponsors to invest in our sport. It is unjust that a new sponsor, coming into cycling with a lot of enthusiasm, is not rewarded for their financial input. For me it is hard to explain to my sponsor that 21 other teams are apparently better than us. Especially when it isn't true. These actions are unfair to our sponsors as well as a blow to our fans.

"It is high time for 'professional' cycling to become professional. The structure of our sport needs to change towards a model of other successful professional sports like soccer, tennis, Formula 1, etc," Bruyneel concluded.

Agreed! This decision looks amateurish, flies in the face of a professional outlook for the sport, and isn't even justified based on recent performances.

RadioShack has had a slow run up to the season, starting a bit quietly but clearly building to a cohesive grand tour peak - as seen by Janez Brajkovic's recent win at the Dauphine.

In fact this places the possible non-selection of the talented 26 year old for the Tour de France is a different light for me - not understanding RadioShack's reluctance to name their best young GC rider to their Tour squad despite his Duphine win.

Maybe the plan all along was to target a grand tour win for Brajkovic at the Vuelta, a task he now appears ready for. Unfortunately we'll never know.

Barring a speedy reversal of this decision by the UCI and Vuelta organisers we can now expect RadioShack to double down on their efforts in the Tour de France, knowing their grand tour season sadly ends in Paris on July 25th.