Written by Hommerts Cycling Team at 12:17 15/3-2014
In the previous edition of FCM our top sportswriter Maarten Smeets revealed some nasty things about (former?) HCT manager Justin Boonstra, but also found leads that he was returning to cycling. What did Maarten discover? Keep reading!
Written by Maarten Smeets of the Frisian Cycling Magazine.
So i decided to hunt down Boonstra. But first i had to find him. That was a very hard job. I had no clue at all where to go to. I tried calling some his old contacts of his early period at HCT but no one has heard any news about him. Wherever he was, he played it very clever. But then finally one of my contacts called me about a suspicious rider release. Apparently he found out that a rider was bought for approx. 39k and a few days later released by a not to be mentioned team. I decided to visit the manager of that team. When i arrived in Mexico and found the manager i confronted him about that. He told me that there hasn’t been a foreign rider here. I told him that he was scammed and that he had to coöperate with me. But like i said Boonstra played it smart. I could tell the manager also knew he was scammed after he saw the rider ride a bike(worthless) but the transfer talk with Boonstra(?) and the buy of the rider was done off the books. Meaning the manager was also doing something illegal and therefore not willing to talk. I was sure that Boonstra sold a rider here, of course it was useless to question the Mexican manager about Boonstra. He probably hired someone to do his dirty work, because it is way too risky to show himself. What if a duped manager wants payback. That’s hard now because there’s not a lead to the seller. Which also means i’m on a dead trail. Am i?
Hunting the rider
That’s what i decided to do. Surely someone must have seen a non-Mexican on a race bike. After some talks with locals, who told me there was an amateur race here 4 days ago, i decided to go to the organization of that race. Check if they had some records of the contesters. It wasn’t a surprise to find out that they didn’t had this. Then i visited some of the riders who finished in the top 10 of the race - found the result in the local newspaper - and BANG. The number 9 of the race told me he saw a young foreign guy, didn’t recognize the team kit(probably a fake, because the buying team wanted to test the boy themselves) but saw he drew something, in front of the race, that looked like a flag on his hand with a pencil. The kind nr.9(Not using his real name) then drew the flag for me on a paper and i recognized it as the flag of Vietnam. I figured after he got sacked the boy probably wants back to his own country so i raced to the nearest airport and after some digging i got a name: Heng Quang Lam, age 21. Got a flight back to Vietnam. So i knew my new destination. After a long flight i took some rest first - jet lag. Then i continued my hunt. I visited some department buildings looking in the person records and then i found my guy. Heng Quang Lam, age 21 born day 50. Lived in a city named V?ng Tàu. When i finally found him there i asked about his trip to Mexico. I saw he was scared to talk about it but i kept pushing him. Eventually he told that he met a man who said he was scouted. I asked him about the man but he couldn't remember how he looked like. Also he knew no Boonstra. BUT he did remember seeing a ticket to Sydney in the men's wallet.
Down under
I knew i came closer. I felt it. He’s here in Australia, but where do i have to look. I got nothing. After checking the name Boonstra i still had nothing. So this was it. I just had to wait if it was true that he comes back to cycling when the team start racing in official races. No story, no article. But then.. finally he made a mistake. Early in the morning, day 84, my phone rang and again one of my contacts. Said that he saw a result the paper of a Jamaican race called Tower Isle who was won by a Spanish rider named Zenobio Criado. Teamname: HCT. Immediately i took the next flight on my way to Jamaica. When i finally arrived(after 2 plain changes) at the Ian Fleming International Airport i discovered Tower Isle is in the middle of parish Saint Mary. After visiting a few hotels there asking about the names Criado or HCT an employee told me that they left 2 hours ago to the Kingston airport. As fast as possible i went there. But nothing that looked like a cycling team. I asked at the information desk what’s the first plane to leave. Brisbane, Australia she said. Hmm again Australia. There was still space in the plane, so i decided to take a last-minute. Checked in and got guided to my seat. When i got there i looked around me and there he was: J. Boonstra. The seat next to him was free so after the stewardess left i walked towards him and took a seat on the empty chair. Whilst the plane was ready to take off Boonstra looked at me and i said: “Hey, remember me”.
Denial and future talks
For a second i thought i saw some panic in his eyes but he immediately recovered. “Maarten”, he said. “What a pleasant surprise”. Kindly as i am i directly confronted him with my adventure and the only thing he could say is: “I have no idea what you're talking about”. I told him he played it smart and that there indeed was no prove of this all. But after i publish this all the authorities might want to talk with you. “Their welcome, i didn’t do anything wrong Maarten”. As much as i wanted to continue with this subject i knew i had nothing. I moved on to the next subject: Hommerts Cycling Team. He confirmed to me that it is true. He’s busy with a comeback. He’s been busy with it for months now. So why haven’t we heard about this? Well he wanted to stay off the radar. Said he contracted some riders and first let them work on their race shape. No one had to knew they were planning a comeback. So he raced in small cycling country’s across the world. In minor races who don’t get any attention except a small newspaper mention of the top 9. Zenobio’s win turned out the be a small mistake. Doesn’t matter according to Boonstra because it’s day 88 already. There turned out to be 1 steep hill in the course and Boonstra instructed his man to lay low. Zenobio wanted to test himself and he reached the top with 2,30 advantage over the next 2 riders and 4 minutes on the peloton with 4k to go. So he decided to just win the race. Boonstra was very open about the team future: “Our main quarter in Hommerts is opening again on day one but at the moment i am busy in Australia. Bought a lot of time trialists and getting them ready for some races. There isn’t a better country to improve your time trialling then Australia. We got a great young rider named Zlako Chaloupka. Still in training, big talent. Improving very fast”. He then gave me the team roster:
Teamname: Hommerts Cycling Team
Riders:
1) B. Krajewski, Time Trialist
2) D.J Spanos, Climbing sprinter
3) D. Rinzema, Sprinter
4) G. Calliani, Time Trialist
5) G. Cocu, Cobble sprinter
6) M. Yermolayev, Time Trialist
7) O. Kimmel, Sprinter
8) R. Borker, Time Trialist
9) S. Trujillo, Time Trialist* in training
10) S. Idalia, Climber
11) V. Eswaran, Time trialist
12) Z, Criado, Climber
13) Z. Chaloupka, Sprint/Time trialist* in training
14) Yet to be presented
Now for a moment it was me who panicked. Ok, not really panic. A combination between anger and anger and more anger. It was time to tell him the truth. That how did he dare to use the name HCT again. The name Boonstra is filth now after i published the article about the illegal rider trading. HCT was such a fine mark in the past. Not anymore. Whilst the plane landed and Boonstra said his goodbye i told him once again: “You’re going down for the things you did.”
That is my opinion. Do we really want to see HCT again with this manager? Fans, please, let me know how you think about it. Leave a message. I’m broken.
With love, Maarten Smeets
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