Sun 9 Jul 2006
Riis: Candid interview on the situation
Posted by Michael A. under Operation PuertoComments Off on Riis: Candid interview on the situation
The following quotes are from an extensive interview by Rasmus Bech from Politiken from the morning of the 8th of July. I have tried to translate as accurately as possible, but keep in mind that this is a translation, and meanings may not always come across well.
In the interview, Bjarne Riis shows that he is in good spirits, and says that he is not losing sleep over the Basso case.
“I don’t feel good about all of this, I think everyone can see that. I don’t want to pretend either that it does not pain me that we have ended in this situation, for ever since I started working with CSC, I have built up the team to achieve a triumph at the Tour. But it seems that it just cannot happen, at least not right now.
“[One month ago,]I could not have imagined it in my wildest imagination [that the Tour would end like this]. we were in the middle of out best year, the biggest year, and Basso was so strong that I would not hesitate to call him one of the world’s best cyclists – and I still think so, regardless of what he has done,” says Riis.
“We have followed Basso closely throught the season, and all training, all tests, and all bloodtests are fine; nothing indicated that there was anything wrong. Everything was simply right, and this is what makes this entire case so incredibly. I mean – Basso is simply so good [as an athlete] that he has no need to dope [to be competitive].”
The journalist asks whether Riis feels Basso has let him down. Riis strongly disagrees, and feels that it is a bad question. Basso must have his chance to defend himself against all the accusations, and only after that can innocence or guilt be ascertained.
Riis comments that he keeps contact with Basso, but that they do not talk together every day, as the discussions tend to end up going in circles due to paucity of information. The journalist then asks whether Riis has “interrogated” Basso on all the accusations put forward in the media.
Riis answers yes. The journalists asks what the answers are.
“Basso says that he has not had anything to do with Fuentes, and has not visited him. And he answers precisely and clearly. He doesn’t hesitate for a moment, and he appears completely in balance,” comments Riis.
“And I have also asked whether he has a dog named Birillo, and he told me no.”
“What is it called, then?” the journalist asks.
“I don’t know. I don’t recall whether he told me that,” answers Riis.
The journalist asks whether Riis believes as much in Basso today, as he did a month ago.
“There is nothing that I want to do more,” Riis says. “But when I read and hear all the information that is printed in the media, even I cannot avoid a little bit of doubt.”
“When you see Basso with the kind eyes and the winning, charming smile, you really can’t think of him as a ‘criminal’, can you Bjarne, but isn’t this the same story we have seen with many riders?” Bech asks.
“Yes, one must say that,” answers Riis.
“But why did you suspend Basso? He is not charged of anything thing, it is not him, but Fuentes, who is under investigation……. Why did you not just let him continue?”
“Because,” Riis answers, “at the same time as I saw Basso’s name in the spanish report, which I only got the opportunity to read for a few seconds, the sports directors came to the agreement – we all did when the spanish report was made public – that we had to follow the ethical charter we had decided on ourself. Someone read from the rules, and I had no choice; I had to make a quick decision, and therefore I suspended Basso. I simply did not have time to thoroughly investigate the case.”
“If you had more time,” Bech asks, “would you have let Basso start the Tour?”
“I can not say that at this time, but just think about that if I had gone against the decision of the collected sports directors of all the protour teams, the uproar would have been enormeous.
“So here we are, we have to go on with the race, and that is what I am contentrating on now.”
The journalist ask whether Riis thinks it is pure coincidence that the report appears just before the Tour, rather than in march or in three months time. The journalist wonders whether there is a hidden agenda at work.
“That is a very dangerous question to answer, because I do not really know. But of course there are politics involved in the case,” Riis comments. “There are a fantastic amount of rumors flying around, about everything.”
“Can you imagine that there might be someone using this case against you? That since they can not get at you, they try and do it indirectly through Basso?” the journalist asks.
“Do you have a particular person in mind,” Riis asks with a smile? The journalist assures him no. “I don’t think so. I do not feel hunted – even if certain parts of the danish press try hard to discredit me.”
“Can you understand, Bjarne, that people feel involved? The great CSC hero was not allowed to start, and Tour-lovers says ‘the summer is ruined’, and others that you can’t trust cyclists. The curiosity is enormeous,” the journalist explains.
“I understand it – also that emotions are split. And that people want an answer to it all. So do I. Especially why the hell this continues to go on,” Riis answers.
“You said earlier that Basso has no need to dope himself. But let us assume that he has doped, why would he do it? What could make him do that?” the journalist queries.
“What can I say… lack of belief in himself, perhaps, maybe uncertainty. But if he has done it, it would beyond understanding.”
The journalist asks the big question: “A boss, who owns a company with 70 employees and annual revenues of 100-120 million danish crowns, as is the case with Riis Cycling (the company behind Team CSC); would he risk it all by being involved in doping? Would you, Bjarne?”
“Of course I wouldn’t.” Doping is a subject that I bring up with the team every year. I tell them what the conditions are – I have had my career, created a good life for myself, gotten myself a fantastic family; I do not need to be here. But I am here because I want to make the world’s best of most trustworthy cycling team. That is why what has now is a blow to the back of the head for me, I will admit that. But when I told my wife that what I most wanted to do was run away from all this screaming, she told me – ‘no you don’t’. And I won’t, but it will be very hard to turn this around and come back.”
“If it is so hard, why don’t you just let go of the responsibility. You – with your connections – could easily get as job as a sports director at T-Mobile or anywhere else,” the journalist asks.
“Yes, or for that matter do something completely different; I have the possibilities. But no, I am here, and I believe that cycling needs me. I have been surrounded by all kinds [of doping suspicion] in my time, and that is why there is a need for my experience. I have become more and more aware of my responsibility, and I fight for my team – and right now that is more important than at any time before.
“I can not say anything now [about how this will end]. I can’t do anything to help or hinder Basso’s situation, in that I am helpless. Now I am concentrating on my team – they need me now.”
The journalist asks whether Riis confronted his riders with the doping problem, and tried to find out if others might be “in trouble”.
“When I had sent Ivan home, I held an hour-long press conference. It was hard, but necessary – and once I had pulled myself together from that, I collected the team, explained the situation with Ivan, and said that was that – no one else was involved according to the papers – and I did not expect any more surprises. Yes, I cried while I spoke with them, I couldn’t hold back the tears.”
It seems that bad fortune continues to follow Team CSC as Bobby Julich crashed out on stage 7, breaking his wrist. More than ever, the team will have to stay faithful to its values, and prove that the work Riis and B.S. put the team through at the famous training camps each december really do make a difference.
Today though, Riis will have the opportunity to lean back, relax, and purge his thoughts as he takes a day off from the cycling circus to watch the World Cup final in Berlin.