UPDATED: Bahati Racing team to shut down
AFTER SENDING AN E-MAIL yesterday to Rahsaan Bahati inquiring about the status of his Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team—a source had told CyclingReporter.com earlier in the day that the team was going to fold—we received a one-sentence note from Bahati this morning asking only who our source was. CyclingReporter.com had agreed not to reveal the source’s identity at the source’s request and because of the sensitivity of the matter, and we explained this Bahati, who has not yet replied to that message. We are waiting to hear more from him.
Since we broke this news yesterday, Cyclingnews.com has published an article about the Bahati team’s troubles. The Web site quoted the Bahati Foundation as saying:
“Due to the media intensive environment, the team and Floyd Landis have decided to amicably part ways,” read the statement. “We support his courage to come forward in an effort to facilitate a drug free and fair sport.
“The team is working to update sponsorship and continue supporting the mission of the Bahati Foundation,” it continued. “The Foundation supports youth in inner-city through the sport of cycling and GIVEBACK programs.”
Cyclingnews.com also reported that “Bahati confirmed that OUCH Medical Center has withdrawn its sponsorship of the squad.”
Also, VeloNews.com has just published an article about the matter.
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The Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team will stop racing this week, CyclingReporter.com has learned.
A source close to the news reported that “today is the last day for the team, and the riders are free to look for another team if they can find [one].”
While the reason for the team’s folding is unclear, last week Floyd Landis, who joined the Bahati team in March, was in the news at the Tour of California, where he went to the media with claims that top riders including Lance Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs. Since then the cycling media and many in the sport have been debating several related issues the sport is facing, including the UCI, its acceptance of a large donation from Lance Armstrong, doping in the sport, how clean it is now and who if anyone was doping during Armstrong’s seven Tour victories on his US Postal team.
A message sent to Rahsaan Bahati inquiring about the status of the team has not yet been responded to.
More information to come as it is learned.
Thanks for your reply, “agreed@nottorevealthesourcesidentity.com.”
First, I wish you had left your real name and used your real e-mail address. Unlike some sites, I think one should stand by what they say using their name.
Second, we checked our sources carefully. It was a good source, too, but the source happened to be wrong. We regret that, and said as much.
Third, e-mails to Mr. Bahati went unanswered, save for one, in which he wrote a one-sentence reply, which was actually a question asking us to name our souce, which we do not do when a source requests to remain anon.
Thank you for reading.
DM
check your facts a little b4 reporting, or change your websight to cycling-rumor-blog.com
Thank you. And believe us that we are very glad to hear that. Best of luck going forward.
As DS of the Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team, rest assured we are not folding. That would imply that we have given up on the mission and that is far from the truth. We are moving forward with all of our energies and I’m confident we will succeed. Whoever said we were folding and done racing was very misinformed. We’ll see you at the races.