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news
Alberto Contador signs on at start of 2015 Giro Stage 9 (picture ANSA Dal Zennaro)Oleg Tinkov calls Alberto Contador "a piece of Spanish shit" in extraordinary outburst
Oleg Tinkov has launched an extraordinary attack on Alberto Contador, who won two Grand Tours in the colours of the cycling team the Russian entrepreneur sponsored, calling the rider “a piece of Spanish shit.”
Tinkov was replying on Instagram to a comment that said that he should make his peace with the Spaniard, with whom he had a strained relationship especially since former general manager Bjarne Riis left Team Tinkoff in March 2015.
The Russian, who disbanded his team last year, wrote: “Contador is piece of Spanish shit, and never will win anything, [he’s] too old and too evil. Diet made him crazy and greedy.”
Unsurprisingly, Tinkoff’s comments provoked a lot of reaction on Instagram, much of it from supporters of Contador, now with Trek-Segafredo, throwing the insult back at him with the substitution of the word “Russian” for “Spanish.”
Contador joined Team Saxo Bank, as it then was, for the 2011 season, winning the Giro d’Italia that year.
However, he would be stripped of that title, as well as victory in the 2010 Tour de France, as a result of his positive test for clenbuterol.
By the time he returned from his ban in the summer of 2012, Tinkov was co-sponsoring the team.
Contador immediately won the Vuelta, and would win his home Grand Tour again in 2014 – by which time Tinkov had bought the team from Riis – as well as the Giro d’Italia in 2015.
At the start of that season, Team Tinkoff had signed Peter Sagan, who would go on and win the road race at the world championships in September 2015 and retain it a year later, and who clearly got more sympathetic treatment from the team owner than Contador did.
The comment about Contador, incidently, was made on an Instagram post in which Tinkov praised Sagan, whom he said had "just won Milan-San Remo" - although in a very close finish, it turned out that he had been edged out by Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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The BBC is institutionally biased, both about cyclists and cycle helmets.
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One less thing to clutter up your jersey pockets no? Though difficult to retrieve in a hurry...
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was it one of these? https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411246675771?
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ALERT!!! SAVE 100%!!! Stay home!
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27 comments
References available on Request.
Haven't been on here for a few days. Did something happen?
*looks innocent*
Who messaged the overlords. This thread was gold until it got cleaned up!
Overlords, that is overly generous. Someones head may no longer fit their helmet going home.
@Tony.. well done sir, made me LOL... then as I was composing myself I read SuperTightThong's reply - SUPERB! BRAVO!! MORE MORE!
Woops, we are off again.
Trump is probably reading Tinkoff's comments and thinking 'Now there's a man I could do business with'.
I can only assume the moderators too busy watching Dwars.
We don't have moderators (and I haven't got the faintest clue what Dwars is but am going to Google it just as soon as I've finished here). We don't have 'em cos we don't usually need them and also because if it was a choice between spending our time moderating comments or not having comments then not having comments would win hands down which would be a shame cos we enjoy most of them.
We do though have T&Cs which everyone who comments signs up to and which include the sanction of having your account deleted if you transgress them by posting racist, sexist or personal abuse.
If this was a normal commenting spat our attention would turn to HalfWheeler at this point, but…
In this case the main cause of all the aggravation - and the emails about this thread - is SuperPython59 commenting on a story about someone calling someone else a nasty name and in his comment slagging off other commenters as overly sensitive for being offended* by the name calling, HalfWheeler then calls him a nasty name and SuperPython59 proceeds to spend umpteen forum posts demonstrating his own over-sensitivity to insult when called a nasty name. FFS.
Having no sense of irony while commenting does not currently break our T&Cs (obviously we'll be looking to change that) it does though suggest you're a bit of a troll. Looking at your previous comments I can see you're not a total troll though SuperPython59 so we haven't deleted your account. Obv if we get any more complaints we will.
I have deleted Super Python's original comment - apologies to those of you whose replies have also disappeared as a result, unfortunately arguments like this put people who just want to read informative and entertaining stuff about cycling (including in the comments) off visiting road.cc so you can imagine how badly that goes down in these parts when we hear about it.
HalfWheeler, please don't feed the troll and if you do don't do it in such a sweary way or, well, y'know.
Finally appologies to anyone reading this and wondering what the hell I'm talking about given that we've deleted pretty much all the comments involved.
*can't actually see anyone being offended - only SuperPython59 being offended at all the offence that isn't being taken in the preceding comments. Can see a fair amount of people in those comments not unreasonably taking the piss out of Tinkov.
*waves
ohhaiguyz.jpg
Anyone know how to remove a BSA bottom bracket from a pressfit 30 adapter without a tool? This seems like a good time to ask.
A+
I remember when "Monumental Cockwomble" was the gold standard for personal insults on this site.
Any of you thinking of applying for the internship?
I was thinking to myself, I haven't had a look on road cc for a while, I wonder what is going on?
Now I am reminded why I tend not to bother
To be fair, most posts don't end up in puerlile name-calling. But given the topic here, I suppose it is appropriate.
Well that escalated quickly
"throwing the insult back at him with the substitution of the word “Russian” for “Spanish.”"
Wouldn't that be the other way around?
You hear about all this "snowflake" stuff but it seems like middle-aged men are the most upset people on the internet
Vulgarity has always been a quality of Mr Tinkoff.
His balls must be red raw sitting on the fence.
But what does he really think?
Well what a shame he's no longer associated with cycling. A sad loss!
Is this an early and subtle piece of positioning 'building-the-brand' for Oleg the Charming to become the 46th president of the U.S of A? #Conspiracy #Bad
Will have to try harder if it is, has not offended nearly enough people.
You stay classy, Oleg Tinkov.
Stay classy, Oleg