Oh good grief, do RadioShack pay this guy?

The person who writes their website reports, press releases etc, I mean.

Here we are, rapidly approaching the Vuelta, last big race of the season: all eyes are on it to see how Contador fares, and to see if there is a last-minute miracle involving Andy's pelvis, Frankie's complete exoneration and full apology from WADA, and Jakob's sudden promotion to Road Captain.

(OK those last three are extremely unlikely, but a gal can hope?)

RadioShack announce their team: you just know that every Schleck and Fuglsang fan in the world is going to leap eagerly upon the report, "just in case", and you just know that every cycling press journo is going to leap on it in order to be the first to report the contents.

So, what do RadioShack choose to tell us?

They are sending three GC guys - oh dear, no-one strong enough to be an actual leader? - one of whom is Linus Gerdemann, who is described as having had a very good early career, but who "has failed to live up to earlier expectations."

Nice.

For a start, you don't put derogatory comments about your own riders in your own reports. You just don't.

Secondly, if you really feel you have to make the point that he's not done as well as hoped, you can say "who has not lived up to earlier expectations". You don't have to put the word "failed" in there.

Thirdly, do you really think this will motivate him to do well? Starting the race with the word "failed" around his neck? Knowing that every cycling fan has read that report and is thinking of him as a failure?

Presumably someone somewhere in RadioShack thinks that it will motivate Linus, but I have my doubts.

What a dreadful team to ride for! I can only assume that it's a great deal nicer for the Shack riders otherwise they would all have left the team - and if that is the case, then it's pretty disgraceful to treat half of your guys differently from the other half, don't you think?