Vino will be on Astana or else heads will roll
 

no heads will be around after July to care what Vino does.

"This team was created for me and thanks to my efforts,” Vinokourov said. “I have served my suspension and I do not see why I could not return. If Bruyneel does not want me, it will be Bruyneel who is leaving the team."

Sounds like he's starting out on the right foot.

The bigger question is - "Will Racer Ex be changing his name back come July 24th?"

I foresee a new team without the majority of the Johan hand picked riders next season..and an LA connection. Lance doesn't like being told what to do...especially by some disgraced Kazakh.

lolololololol what's with dopers and talking trash?

What a ******.

vino is an an irrelevance -- returning from 2 year suspension at age 36 sans juice, he'll do nothing

That may be true, but what about the team he has already talked about forming for next year? He may not like being told what to do by Vino, but he's also a control freak and a perfectionist (not that those are bad qualities). I think he'd rather be the captain of his own ship, without the politics, drama, and financial instability of the Kazakh connections. The big question would be about gaining a Pro Tour license if he (Lance) and Johan were not able to buy out / take over the Astana license.

Thats what I meant.

Staff and riders [who were not paid for half the year] will feel the wrath of an unemployed over the hill ex-GT contender! Mark my words! The day will be rued!

Man, even at a press conference with translators, the English still comes out as Russian.

Vino sounds like he's got the KGB behind 'em...don't know if I'd cross 'em...

Something tells me that there will be more eyes than heads rolling. :rolleyes:

Doh, sorry. Somehow I misread your statement to mean that the new team would be Astana cleaning house of Bruyneel and his riders, but that Armstrong would stick around so it didn't look like Vino forced him out.

I need to stop doing crack for breakfast.

I said before the reason the Astana sponsors have lost motivation to keep paying the bills (other than economic) are that all the big Kazakh riders are gone. They definitely want Vino on the team and I can't see Bruystrong agreeing with that.

What a chief boss.

What a way to speak to a man you're "negotiating" with.

a true chop head.

It won't help them with any popularity contests with the ASO either.

Edit: As much as I think the ASO dislikes Bruyneel, I'd venture to guess that they dislike Vino even more.

So does Vino

+1

Owner > Manager

and the owners love Vino...

vino was a hero in glorious nation kazakhstan. still is. go vino.

Borat?

It's true.


But I also don't see Bru & Lance, et al. sticking around the Kazakh scene. I seriously doubt there'll be an Astana as we know it next season. But who knows where the Bruyneel and the license will each go.

Do they even need a Pro Tour license if they have most of the squad they now have? I would expect they would get at large bids to every race they wanted to enter based on the quality of the personnel. Kind of like Slipstream did last year.

Well last time around they had the license but didn't get the TDF.