Garmin gets it right

Yeah, I know. This site is supposed to be about cyclocross. But hey...read the blog entries and you'll see that we seldom miss an opportunity to be ridiculous or to rant about something unrelated to 'cross. This is one of those times.

Garmin-Cervelo's fearless leader, Jonathan Vaughters, just fired his top director sportif Matt White. Seems that a past incident saw White send a rider to an unapproved Spanish doctor (not a good idea). The doctor in question, Luis Garcia del Moral worked for both ONCE and the US Postal team, and has been embroiled in several doping controversies. You can read about his indiscretions here. A lot of the 'evidence' of his seediness is based upon angry, bitter, former workers of USPS and some trumped up French investigation that went nowhere. Nevertheless, upon learning about the referral to a non-approved doctor, JV gave White his walking papers.

Good. For several reasons.




First off, good for making the top DS on the team walk the plank. Matt White made a decision on his own, without ANY input from the team, to send a rider to an unapproved doctor and then didn't tell the team bosses what he had done. And some people here think JV is arrogant. Nothing could be more self-important than making a unilateral decision that could effect the entire team's reputation without input from the team.

Second, good for getting rid of the guy because he's a terrible DS. Ever watched Garmin line up a sprint? Its comical. Matt White is unprepared and so is his team. With White "directing" the lead out, Farrar has become first loser more times than we can collectively count. Some people think its because Farrar is simply not that good. Anyone who's ever witnessed White's direction during the last 5k of a sprint finish will understand that White simply doesn't know what he's doing.

Finally, good riddance because he's simply not a team guy. Linked to the GreenEDGE team, Matt White is looking out for Matt White. Loyalty is to be rewarded, treachery is to be punished. Matt White gets his punishment and I hope he likes the taste. Tastes like failure, doesn't it Matt? Mmmm...that's good eatin'! Enjoy your time on the sidelines. With any luck someone will read your handwritten cardboard sign and give you a dollar.

So now Garmin-Cervelo moves on. I think they are a stronger team today than they were yesterday. Vaughters has clearly shown he will hold fast to the team rules regardless of who is involved. He's demonstrated his loyalty to the team players and to the team rules and principals. He's made a decision to unload his top DS people because of disloyalty, dishonesty, and less than 100% buy in on the team's mission. And he's done it without fanfare, without long drawn out investigations, and without hesitation. Nicely done.