Contador al Tour: Allow us to translate and interpret
2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has followed the lead of Levi Leipheimer and his Let Levi Ride campaign, launched when organizers of the Tour de France snubbed their Team Astana.
Contador’s supporters have launched Contador al Tour, which means Contador for the Tour. He has one-upped Leipheimer in that his web site has four versions: Spanish, French, English and German. The translations are hilarious, but you get the drift. He had gathered about 16,000 signatures on Saturday afternoon, half of what Levi has. But with four languages available, we’ll keep an eye on how long it takes Alberto to catch up.
It may seem a little selfish for these campaigns to be about individuals. Isn’t this a team sport, after all? But it’s not as stupid as the organizers of the best bike race in the world unviting the team with two of the three best riders from last year. The team is caught in the middle of a spitting match between the race organizers and the sport’s governing body, UCI. So, it’s getting to be every man for himself. And the riders are taking their case to the fans. Perhaps the fans can get the attention of Christian Prudhomme, head of the Tour de France.
Team director Johan Bruyneel probably considered stepping in to organize the troops in their efforts. But, Johan is not exactly the darling of the Tour organizers. He led U.S. Postal and Discovery in the era of Lance Armstrong. Tour organizers tried, but never got any reliable evidence that Lance was doping, so they’re really sticking it to Johan now.
Maybe Johan’s riders can rescue him and the team. Levi’s performance in the Tour of California surely hasn’t hurt.
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Hi, Kathleen,
Thanks for supporting cycling through your writing.
I agree with the main point in your story Contador al Tour: Allow us to translate and interpret. It’s an unbelievably stupid move by the ASO. I see it as a desecration of their own magnificent institution, the Tour.
But a couple of words about your initial points:
Contador and Leipheimer did not initiate these campaigns. In Contador’s case, this has been done by friends and fans. A friend came to him hoping for his permission to do it, it wasn’t Contador’s idea. It began in Spain, but people all over are responding, as it was natural to assume. That’s why the modest people who started this grassroots effort used automatic translations to tell those of us that can communicate better in English, French, and German. They’re not cosmopolitans, just fans who love cycling and support Alberto.
Contador’s petition has been going for four days, Leipheimer’s a little longer. The devoted fans who did this for Alberto exceeded their bandwidth immediately and had to go off the air. But they got back on, and it continues.
As to Leipheimer, his campaign was started by a sponsor, Trek Bicycles. Levi is popular and Tour of CA is perfect timing. Trek knew this, and hopped on the chance to help Levi and the team–and incidentally, the Tour de France organizers, if they would only swallow their pride and admit it.
Things have gone well for Levi, and the ASO knows it. Hopefully they’re not sleeping well.
R.L. Bell
Alberto Contador Notebook
albertocontadornotebook.info