2004 winner Pat Jonker gets the adulation of the crowd
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Ex-US Postal rider calls for zero tolerance
Former US Postal rider Patrick Jonker says that while Matt White is a great tactician and motivator, the sport is living in an “irrational world” and that perhaps a zero tolerance approach is required if the sport is to gain the trust of the fans, sponsors and general public.
White was officially dismissed from his role as sports director at Orica-GreenEdge following his involvement at US Postal and subsequent identification in USADA’s Reasoned Decision document. White later confessed to being a part of “a team where doping formed part of the team’s strategy.”
“It’s really sad. I know him [White] as a great motivator and one of the reasons he was such a great rider was his ability to motivate a team. I think he’s a massive asset to any team, he’s a great tactician and coach but in today’s current environment I think we need zero tolerance,” Jonker told Cyclingnews.
“Matt White was caught up in the wrong team at the wrong time. That shouldn’t affect his whole future but unfortunately it is at the moment.”
Jonker, who spent the 2000 season with US Postal says that the sport is going through a tough time and that his own credibility has been questioned because of his time spent with the US squad. Jonker remains proud of his time with the team and firmly stands by his position that he never saw anything. He admits however, he was only there for one season and didn’t ride a grand tour while at the team – which could have made difference he says.
“You can hold a shotgun to my head and say ‘you have to tell the truth, the whole truth’ and it’s like ‘I did not see any drugs at US Postal, no I did not take any performance-enhancing drugs and no I did not see Lance Armstrong [take] and he never talked about performance-enhancing drugs with me,” Jonker told Cyclingnews.
“I never did a grand tour so, maybe that
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