Bruyneeel-interjú (forrás, az angol fordítást az egyik kedves Pacelineos fórumozó készítette)

Bruyneel: After sitting three weeks I go crazy

It was a special year for Johan Bruyneel. He wanted Ivan Basso to win the Tour, but it was Alberto Contador. Then he announced his retirement. But since October, he is back as a manager of the battle at scandal laden Team Astana.

"Everyone says now: Astana yes, a scandal laden team. I cannot change what has happened. I can only ensure where Astana finally goes. I am not bothered by the image of Astana. The hullabaloo lookers are like that,"  says Johan Bruyneel (43) to his mother Georgette and to his growling and coughing brother Alain who manages the parental jewelry business in Izegem. He spent the time between old and new there with his Spanish wife, Eva-Maria, and his three-year-old daughter Victoria. "It is the first time this year that he has been here" observes his mother. 'Sometimes he calls to say that he meets in Brussels. But that's not Izegem."

This seems to be the final destination for the former neighbor of ex-Real football player Ivan Helguera. 'In these short twenty years, much here has changed. I barely even know people. In 1994 I went to Spain, when it was still a cheap investment. First, I lived between Alicante and Valencia, then I went to Valencia. Spain is a good place to live. The weather is a determining factor for me. I would no longer be able to live in Flanders. In winter here is always the feeling that they have forgotten to switch on the light. I live in the mountains, at a thousand meters altitude. When I left it was minus two, but there is always a predominantly blue sky. "

But we have to talk concerning the bizarre year you came to have. In spite of everything that happened you were flying high as Sports Director.
Figuring moderately, this was the best season ever. 39 victories, nobody did better. First and third in the Tour. This was better than in the Armstrong age. The difference between Armstrong and Contador is still six Tour victories, but Alberto is also a winner and a leader. He has the character of a champion. "

But that was not enough to snare a new American multinational [sponsor].
"In early 2007 we knew Discovery Channel would cease. The CEO was abondoning. Still I had faith. The general situation of this sport, however, is against investors. There were many contacts, but it always ended with: what are the guarantees you can give? None. I was around 95 per cent with an American sponsor. He visited twice in the Tour, but I could not assure him that he would ride the 2008 Tour. End of story. And then there were the doping scandals."

If even Lance Armstrong no longer can raise money in the United States.
"Nobody just gives away ten million euros. Such an investment must produce. Tell me what new cosponsor is to be added? Not a single one. Then, we have an amount between one and three million euros. In the first place, no new scandals may emerge. Each top performance is being questioned. Today's perception will not change overnight. "

Over the last nine years you had absolutely no positive case, but with Ivan Basso as an Operación Puerto client, you were still wrong. You caught the spell-blazings of colleagues on the neck.
'That was already normal. Cooperation with Armstrong and the dominance of the team already invitied jealousy. The transfer of Basso was a mistake, even though he had been acquitted by the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) when I recruited him. The big boss, Billy Campbell, was a fan of Basso. From March, I felt plenty wrong with Ivan. That can happen with new relationships. I didn't know Basso. As I also do not know Andreas Klöden. With people with whom I have worked since 1999, I know how they think. With Lance Armstrong, I was never surprised. "

Then you decided to walk away from it when that  candidate-sponsor stopped the negotiations.
'The idea grew even before the Tour. On the first rest day I beckoned to Dirk Demol. I asked him to take over the flag. At that moment Contador was still not a Tour-winner candidate. Over the duration, you are purified, are saturated. I hated nothing about the job, but the fire was gone. Seven Tour victories of seven with Armstrong,  then a lesser year, now again well-aimed. Then you to wonder: what more can I do? Another Tour win with Contador? And then? "

A few weeks later you emerged at Astana. Is that your definition of stopping at the zenith?
"I have stopped. I have no more contact with the riders. So Leipheimer asks me for his course diagram. That is not my job, sorry. We have a very strong team, but my challenge no longer lies on the sports field."

Could you not live without that course world?
"I am not a man now to sit at home. After three weeks I become crazy. Since fifteen this is my life. In those 28 years you get specialized. Then the opportunities go away. Or you take the time to form yourself in a different world. Twice I have stopped. The first time in August 1998, as a professional rider. Three weeks later Lance Armstrong hangs on the line. This time the call from Ekimov for Astana came two weeks later."

Then you pull into a wasps nest like Astana. From America to Kazakhstan.
"I first have to see if they mean serious business. That was logical after such a catastrophic stopping of the Tour. In 2006 they could not start, though in June they had leaped into the breach for Vinokourov and Kashechkin. Now [2007], they had to leave. Their conviction was crucial for me. Especially the passion of Minister of Defense, Danial Achmetov, pulled me over the line. Cycling is his hobbyhorse. As chairman of the national federation he builds a brand new track of 150 million dollars. A jewel. Akhmetov has a set up a cycling structure. There are 5000 riders, sixteen cycling schools, a number of clubs, two semi-professional teams and Astana.  The engagement continues now until 2010.  That bad start must be gotten rid of.'

Or have you gone for the presence of hard dollars? There are rumors that you can create a lot of money.
"Money certainly plays, but I do not do this on that basis alone. The challenge attracted me. We are starting from less than zero. There was a lot of work to be done. I fortunately had the knowledge, personnel and the structure of Discovery Channel. Eventually I drew eight riders in with me and about twenty personnel. "

What were your instructions?
'Nothing. They told to me that they trusted me. I got one hundred percent carteblanche. It is a transitional year. Performances are actually not the priority. I hope for a calm, scandal free season. Astana has the same need as the entire cycling sport. In spite of the annual budget of 12 million euros, I have not even guarantee that we ride the Tour.

You have, however, the perception of the past two years [working] against Astana.
"I never do choose easy challenges. With opposition I function my best. Like with Armstrong. The biggest mistake we made with Lance is in creating the myth nobody could keep pace in the mountains during his Tour preparation. Had we allowed the media, then everyone would have seen how he worked himself to death.  75 percent of the suspicion would have been omitted. Such secrecy was our psychological weapon for the opposition. Armstrong rode l'Alpe d'Huez six times. Had he done it well, however? Armstrong was a superchampion character who overcame cancer. How do you set a course against such a man? Through that myth, he won the Tour in 2003 when there were pehaps five better than him. Nobody dared attack him. "
That mysteriousness is omitted from Astana. It must be that way everywhere. In the meantime, much good has happened. The biological passport for the teams is a mutual gift from heaven. We must no longer be shooting each other, but look each other in the eye and say: this is a problem, how do we solve it?  We must be rivals in the competition, but partners outside of it."

What guarantees do you have that the stain of Vino and Kashechkin is not at work under the skin in Astana? 
"I have particular guarantees on paper. I do it in my own manner. If it does not succeed, then I withdraw my decisions and move on. I do not think it will go that far. This must become a team with the Johan Bruyneel philosophy. I bring my baggage of the past nine years with me. This does not become a copy of Discovery Channel. The general situation of the sport does not allow it."
 
Like Riis you tapped the Danish doping hunter Rasmus Damsgaard. Is it not awful that an employer must march out 300,000 Euros to be able to trust its employees?
'Of course, but we have no other choice. The Damsgaard system is currently the best. He is already at work for us. The contracts with the riders are quite strict. A positive case is not necessary to end an agreement."

With Andreas Klöden you have an additional tour rider. Do you not fear a new Basso case now that Werner Franke claims the whole Tour team of T-Mobile doped in the 2006 Tour?
'Klöden tells me that he has nothing to mend. He has, I believe, never been involved in an affair. One of the UCI conditions was that I take over all of the current rider contracts. We are heavily armed against possible things from the past. If it appears that Klöden really was involved in something, then we react appropriately. "

On the way you lost Dirk Demol who chose for Quick Step-Innergetic and Stijn Devolder.
"This was an enormous disillusionment. From day one, he was at the height of the Kazakh project. In the Tour, he knew that he would become the first team leader. Apparently, his thoughts changed. I respect his decision, but it did pain me. I also could not say: 'wait for me'. Everyone's contract was ending."
 
With Discovery Channel the screen also fell over Lance Armstrong and cycling.
"I have a lot of contact with him. So I was in New York in December for my book (We Might as Well Win, ed.), which will appear in April. With the Tour victory of Contador we have added two more chapters to it."
"Lance was on tour for the American troops in Iraq. He offered me his apartment. I do not think that he will ever return to this world. One day he can perhaps be a presidential candidate. He is too busy with his "Proposition Fifteen." He wants to collect ten billion dollars in the next ten years for cancer research. " 

How does a Kazakh team obtain training camp in the American Albuquerque?
"I am already there longer. In Albuquerque, they are working to design a new city. Mesa del Sol. with 35,000 new homes for 100,000 people. Centrally comes the Johan Bruyneel Cycling Academy, funded by the State of New Mexico. This should become the College for the American cycling talent. It must be finished sometime next year."

A new challenge, if you stop once more.
I have stopped. Then still very much on the high point.