Rock Racing is a cycling team unlike any other, which is by design.
The racers wear flashy lime-and-black kits. Their roster boasts an Olympic gold medalist and a former world champion, a tattoo aficionado and riders with checkered pasts. They ooze attitude, and even have a fleet of Cadillacs adorned with the team logo to carry their gear.
Those involved with cycling either love them or hate them.
PHOTO: AP
“I really think that what we’re doing is great for the sport,” Rock racer Tyler Hamilton said. “People will have to see that.”
Michael Ball is the outspoken founder, one of cycling’s most polarizing figures. His team is filled with riders scorned by other teams in the cycling establishment, especially now, when the sport tries to escape its darkest chapter, the doping era.
Hamilton won Olympic gold for the US in 2004, just before he was suspended for blood doping, which he still denies.
Santiago Botero was world time trial champion in 2002 and a stage winner of the Tour de France, but was linked to the massive Operation Puerto doping scandal before being cleared by Colombian officials.
Spanish rider Oscar Sevilla also was linked to Operation Puerto, keeping him from the 2006 Tour de France. And Kayle Leogrande, the American racer known for his numerous tattoos, is involved in a legal dispute with the US Anti-Doping Agency.
Even Floyd Landis, stripped of his Tour de France victory in 2006 after testing positive for abnormally high levels of testosterone, has been an adviser of sorts to Ball.
But when asked about the consistent trend among some of his riders, Ball — who says his team is committed to anti-doping — cringes.
“I don’t want to get into the whole thing about the guys that have questionable pasts, because there’s a lot of guys in the peloton that have questionable pasts,” Ball said. “But I think it’s a new day and I think the sport is cleaner today than it ever has been. The guys get it. The team owners get it. The promoters get it. We have to clean it up. It’s cleaner. It’ll continue to be cleaner.”
He was a highly successful bike racer once, and is still an avid cyclist. His fashion company, Rock and Republic, appeals to the high-end shopper. He was once considered too brash for fashion.
Many in cycling think the same thing.
“Maybe they don’t go about everything the right way or the way people like,” said George Hincapie, the 12-time Tour de France rider at Team High Road. “But I think it’s a good thing to have them around.”
Some companies that were aligned with Rock Racing have broken deals because of Ball’s involvement with Hamilton and others.
He offers no apologies.
“You bring in new eyeballs, which ultimately means more dollars, new dollars, that will help grow this sport. And that’s what is needed,” Ball said. “Saying should I have signed this person or not signed this person, I don’t think that’s really what the focus should be on. We all get it. ... Let’s start focusing on how do we make this sport bigger.”
Easier said than done, especially considering that not everyone is lining up for business with Rock Racing.
In February at the Tour of California, Hamilton, Botero and Sevilla were barred because of their alleged doping histories. And Rock’s spot at the invitation-only Tour de Georgia wasn’t settled until an out-of-court settlement was struck last week.
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