Christophe Pourcel: "The Individual"

MXMattii
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MXMattii
Edited Date/Time 1/27/2012 1:05pm
Adam Wheeler proves again why he is one of the best motocross journalist in the business!
In his magazine OTOR, Adam has a interview with Christophe. He asks the right questions and it shows a incredible sportsmen. One who deserves allot of respect.

The interview: Christophe Pourcel "The Individual"
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keinz
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keinz 10/12/2011 9:17am
10/12/2011 9:17am
No comments from US at all?
SuperCerdo
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SuperCerdo 10/12/2011 9:20am
10/12/2011 9:20am
keinz wrote:
No comments from US at all?
Christophe Pourcel is definitely THE MAN!!! Right on, man . . .
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jndmx 10/12/2011 9:27am
10/12/2011 9:27am
Good story but we already know the history......let's see what happens in the future.
mccread
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mccread 10/12/2011 10:01am
10/12/2011 10:01am
Good interview! Pourcel probably has the best riding style in the World the GP season will be awesome next year... like he said ten guys can win races.

I think a lot of guys are far too hard on CP, Fisher was also stupid for not wanting him on the team or even making him an offer. The guy is a genius on the bike.

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DC
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DC 10/12/2011 10:17am
10/12/2011 10:17am
McCread, when Mike Fisher was putting the team together, he had a lot of things to juggle: budget, personalities, sponsor wishes, etc. He ended up settling on Jake Weimer as the guy to join Villopoto, and that meant no room (or budget) for Christophe. Was it a good move? Weimer was hurt for much of the year, but Villopoto won everything, including the MXoN. Fisher seems to have chosen well.... Villopoto is also genius on a bike.

My point is this: Mike Fisher was not stupid by any means, he made the right decisions to win everything in 2011. Of course even that was not enough to prevent a falling out with Kawasaki...

DC
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Mini Elsinore
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Mini Elsinore 10/12/2011 10:28am
10/12/2011 10:28am
DC wrote:
McCread, when Mike Fisher was putting the team together, he had a lot of things to juggle: budget, personalities, sponsor wishes, etc. He ended up settling...
McCread, when Mike Fisher was putting the team together, he had a lot of things to juggle: budget, personalities, sponsor wishes, etc. He ended up settling on Jake Weimer as the guy to join Villopoto, and that meant no room (or budget) for Christophe. Was it a good move? Weimer was hurt for much of the year, but Villopoto won everything, including the MXoN. Fisher seems to have chosen well.... Villopoto is also genius on a bike.

My point is this: Mike Fisher was not stupid by any means, he made the right decisions to win everything in 2011. Of course even that was not enough to prevent a falling out with Kawasaki...

DC
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Right on, DC. But, certain "facts" do not support McCread's agenda.....so certain "facts" will be ignored. It's all about the agenda......
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burn1986 10/12/2011 10:42am
10/12/2011 10:42am
Fisher made the right choice.
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mmcmx 10/12/2011 11:13am
10/12/2011 11:13am
2 1st riders in the same tent just doesn't work very well.
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DC 10/12/2011 11:27am
10/12/2011 11:27am
It has worked in the past, but I think this decision was more about what Christophe wanted, money-wise, and what Kawasaki had to offer, budget-wise. Sometimes it works great -- Stanton and Bayle didn't like each other but won, and same goes for Hannah and Glover, Bailey and Johnson -- but sometimes it doesn't. (And Mitch Payton makes it work all of the time, though at a slightly lower level.)

No one second-guessed Christophe's pure skills here, it was just a bad time for finding those high-paying 450 jobs (ask Chad Reed and BT101). I still believe that Christophe will come back some day and exact some serious vengeance on the teams that spurned him, regardless of the bottom lines of why he got passed up, and that's going to be a great storyline...

DC
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bdub 10/12/2011 11:38am
10/12/2011 11:38am
Hopefully he will be back in the US someday, would love to see a healthy comfortable CP377 contest the AMA Nats.

Good Luck CP
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jplough973 10/12/2011 11:43am
10/12/2011 11:43am
New found respect for Pourcel!
mxRob
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mxRob 10/12/2011 12:10pm
10/12/2011 12:10pm
Great read, cp377 to stop ac222 2012!
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mjskier 10/12/2011 12:20pm
10/12/2011 12:20pm
At the time I thought Mike Fisher was crazy to put all his eggs in one basket. Had RV gotten hurt, Kawi would have nothing to show for.
But RV stayed healthy (even after a few get offs) so Mike's bet paid off.
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jamma10 10/12/2011 12:29pm
10/12/2011 12:29pm
DC wrote:
It has worked in the past, but I think this decision was more about what Christophe wanted, money-wise, and what Kawasaki had to offer, budget-wise. Sometimes...
It has worked in the past, but I think this decision was more about what Christophe wanted, money-wise, and what Kawasaki had to offer, budget-wise. Sometimes it works great -- Stanton and Bayle didn't like each other but won, and same goes for Hannah and Glover, Bailey and Johnson -- but sometimes it doesn't. (And Mitch Payton makes it work all of the time, though at a slightly lower level.)

No one second-guessed Christophe's pure skills here, it was just a bad time for finding those high-paying 450 jobs (ask Chad Reed and BT101). I still believe that Christophe will come back some day and exact some serious vengeance on the teams that spurned him, regardless of the bottom lines of why he got passed up, and that's going to be a great storyline...

DC
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Did you read that article posted above DC?

According to Pourcel he hadn't even been approached by Kawasaki, yet Fisher told the press that he was asking for too much money. You may know different of course?
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mccread 10/12/2011 12:34pm
10/12/2011 12:34pm Edited Date/Time 10/12/2011 12:36pm
DC wrote:
McCread, when Mike Fisher was putting the team together, he had a lot of things to juggle: budget, personalities, sponsor wishes, etc. He ended up settling...
McCread, when Mike Fisher was putting the team together, he had a lot of things to juggle: budget, personalities, sponsor wishes, etc. He ended up settling on Jake Weimer as the guy to join Villopoto, and that meant no room (or budget) for Christophe. Was it a good move? Weimer was hurt for much of the year, but Villopoto won everything, including the MXoN. Fisher seems to have chosen well.... Villopoto is also genius on a bike.

My point is this: Mike Fisher was not stupid by any means, he made the right decisions to win everything in 2011. Of course even that was not enough to prevent a falling out with Kawasaki...

DC
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I was just basing it off what Christophe said in the interview, and that was that they didn't want him in the team full stop. And that they never even offered him a ride to know what CP would have said.

To me to refuse point blank that CP goes on the team before prices are even talked about is stupid.... if it was due to an amalgamation of the things you said when negotiations with CP started then ok but that didn't seem to be the case.

And yes, I agree that RV is also awesome, but if I was the boss I would have tried my hardest to get them both on the team before going to Weimer if there was no way of securing CP. ( who is also a good rider) But from what Christophe says in that interview they never ever wanted him to begin with... that is what I find stupid. Having CP and RV on the same team would have been like RJ and DB in the 80s or JMB and Stanton in the 90s. It also seems that Ryan and Christophe get on ok too, so that may not have been as big a problem as some may have thought.

You don't lose your job at Kawi when you win two titles for no reason, so it sounds like Fisher had personal issues with not just CP. Mitch also fell out with them over than pipe deal. Pourcel is different but I think he is pretty honest about things.

Also it sounds like Pourcel was not to happy with his agent either.... people have been very quick to criticise Pourcel all year without hearing his side of the story, and if he still has Mitch on his side willing to help him, I am going to tend to believe him...at least to a certain extent, because Mitch doesn't suffer fools.
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mccread 10/12/2011 12:42pm
10/12/2011 12:42pm Edited Date/Time 10/12/2011 12:43pm
DC wrote:
McCread, when Mike Fisher was putting the team together, he had a lot of things to juggle: budget, personalities, sponsor wishes, etc. He ended up settling...
McCread, when Mike Fisher was putting the team together, he had a lot of things to juggle: budget, personalities, sponsor wishes, etc. He ended up settling on Jake Weimer as the guy to join Villopoto, and that meant no room (or budget) for Christophe. Was it a good move? Weimer was hurt for much of the year, but Villopoto won everything, including the MXoN. Fisher seems to have chosen well.... Villopoto is also genius on a bike.

My point is this: Mike Fisher was not stupid by any means, he made the right decisions to win everything in 2011. Of course even that was not enough to prevent a falling out with Kawasaki...

DC
MX Sports
Mini Elsinore wrote:
Right on, DC. But, certain "facts" do not support McCread's agenda.....so certain "facts" will be ignored. It's all about the agenda......
What are facts you are talking about ?! the fact is Mike Fisher was fired even after winning. Pourcel said Kawi never wanted him on the team from the start, even though he wanted to be there and waited for them. He also said Mitch has always had his back... you can argue whether Christophe is lying or not of course.

I have no agenda.You are the one choosing which information you believe is fact. I just gave an opinion based on Pourcel's account of what happened, and the fact a certain Mitch Payton is still supporting him.

I would love to see CP back in supercross... maybe 2013 with Mitch on a 450?
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DC 10/12/2011 12:44pm
10/12/2011 12:44pm
Yes, Jamma, I did read it -- another excellent piece by Adam Wheeler -- and in my opinion what really went down lay somewhere in between what CP says and what Fisher said back then. (Negotiations are always subjective, and we're seeing that right now with what's going on between the NBA players and the owners.)

Christophe had a well-respected agent in Russ Stratton and I am would guess he had many exchanges with the team that did not include the rider, per se. I would also imagine that Kawasaki and everyone else knew that Christophe would command more than Jake Weimer and Kawasaki signed him instead -- they knew their budget and what Villopoto wanted, and they knew what was left....

In the end, Christophe not getting signed was an unfortunate effect of the economy, not the athlete himself. I think he's one of the best riders on the planet, and we haven't even seen how good he can be on a 450 -- especially on a supercross track!

Remember, Chad Reed didn't get signed either.

DC
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mxb2 10/12/2011 12:46pm
10/12/2011 12:46pm
DC wrote:
Yes, Jamma, I did read it -- another excellent piece by Adam Wheeler -- and in my opinion what really went down lay somewhere in between...
Yes, Jamma, I did read it -- another excellent piece by Adam Wheeler -- and in my opinion what really went down lay somewhere in between what CP says and what Fisher said back then. (Negotiations are always subjective, and we're seeing that right now with what's going on between the NBA players and the owners.)

Christophe had a well-respected agent in Russ Stratton and I am would guess he had many exchanges with the team that did not include the rider, per se. I would also imagine that Kawasaki and everyone else knew that Christophe would command more than Jake Weimer and Kawasaki signed him instead -- they knew their budget and what Villopoto wanted, and they knew what was left....

In the end, Christophe not getting signed was an unfortunate effect of the economy, not the athlete himself. I think he's one of the best riders on the planet, and we haven't even seen how good he can be on a 450 -- especially on a supercross track!

Remember, Chad Reed didn't get signed either.

DC
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Reed has more heart than Pourcel!

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mccread
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mccread 10/12/2011 12:47pm
10/12/2011 12:47pm Edited Date/Time 10/12/2011 12:48pm
DC wrote:
Yes, Jamma, I did read it -- another excellent piece by Adam Wheeler -- and in my opinion what really went down lay somewhere in between...
Yes, Jamma, I did read it -- another excellent piece by Adam Wheeler -- and in my opinion what really went down lay somewhere in between what CP says and what Fisher said back then. (Negotiations are always subjective, and we're seeing that right now with what's going on between the NBA players and the owners.)

Christophe had a well-respected agent in Russ Stratton and I am would guess he had many exchanges with the team that did not include the rider, per se. I would also imagine that Kawasaki and everyone else knew that Christophe would command more than Jake Weimer and Kawasaki signed him instead -- they knew their budget and what Villopoto wanted, and they knew what was left....

In the end, Christophe not getting signed was an unfortunate effect of the economy, not the athlete himself. I think he's one of the best riders on the planet, and we haven't even seen how good he can be on a 450 -- especially on a supercross track!

Remember, Chad Reed didn't get signed either.

DC
MX Sports
I agree there, CP is no longer with his agent, so it sounds like he wasn't too happy with him either.It sounds like Christpohe wanted and expected to go to Kawasaki. But I think the team didn't want him to begin with and the agent didn't help to smooth things out reading between the lines.
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DC 10/12/2011 12:47pm
10/12/2011 12:47pm Edited Date/Time 10/12/2011 12:48pm
McCread, you may be on to something there -- was CP caught in the middle of something between Mitch, his #1 supporter here, as well as someone very tight with Monster, and Mike Fisher? When Mike's ready to talk, we will certainly ask his side.

DC
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500guy
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500guy 10/12/2011 12:54pm
10/12/2011 12:54pm
Exactly who the fuck was CP happy with ?
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mxb2 10/12/2011 12:59pm
10/12/2011 12:59pm
500guy wrote:
Exactly who the fuck was CP happy with ?
Nobody! LOL As long as everything goes his way, the world is perfect. If not ,its everyone elses fault!
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jamma10 10/12/2011 1:02pm
10/12/2011 1:02pm
500guy wrote:
Exactly who the fuck was CP happy with ?
Everyone but his agent and Mike Fisher.
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FreshTopEnd 10/12/2011 1:04pm
10/12/2011 1:04pm Edited Date/Time 10/12/2011 1:06pm
500guy wrote:
Exactly who the fuck was CP happy with ?
Mitch

I wish we could settle for having real people in this sport instead of having to have angels on one side and demons the other every time there are different stories or a dispute without some definitive explanation.
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mccread 10/12/2011 1:04pm
10/12/2011 1:04pm
his CLS team, his family, his friends and his bike.
jamma10
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jamma10 10/12/2011 1:05pm
10/12/2011 1:05pm
500guy wrote:
Exactly who the fuck was CP happy with ?
mxb2 wrote:
Nobody! LOL As long as everything goes his way, the world is perfect. If not ,its everyone elses fault!
Not a fan then I take it Grinning

Never quite understand why people are so keen to chastise the guy.
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mxb2 10/12/2011 1:06pm
10/12/2011 1:06pm
mccread wrote:
his CLS team, his family, his friends and his bike.
DV? LOL.
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jamma10 10/12/2011 1:08pm
10/12/2011 1:08pm
Do you care what people think about you?
Um, I like the people who hate me, and I like the people who like me. So...
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mccread 10/12/2011 1:08pm
10/12/2011 1:08pm
DC wrote:
McCread, you may be on to something there -- was CP caught in the middle of something between Mitch, his #1 supporter here, as well as...
McCread, you may be on to something there -- was CP caught in the middle of something between Mitch, his #1 supporter here, as well as someone very tight with Monster, and Mike Fisher? When Mike's ready to talk, we will certainly ask his side.

DC
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Yep I'm sure what happened with Mitch didn't help him either. When you have two of the biggest names in the sport not happy with you, and you lose your job in the team you managed to victory, something went wrong lol Also Chad was not happy with the Kawi team atmosphere either and asked to be let out of that contract. Of course all of the above factors may not have been solely down to Fisher, but the responsibility will fall on his shoulders.

Of course there are two sides to every story, so yes, it would be very interesting to see what Mike's take on it is.
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jgmxdad251 10/12/2011 1:11pm
10/12/2011 1:11pm
mjskier wrote:
At the time I thought Mike Fisher was crazy to put all his eggs in one basket. Had RV gotten hurt, Kawi would have nothing to...
At the time I thought Mike Fisher was crazy to put all his eggs in one basket. Had RV gotten hurt, Kawi would have nothing to show for.
But RV stayed healthy (even after a few get offs) so Mike's bet paid off.
Not a bet. No other team out there had two number 1 guys. What did you want fisher to do, fire Villo? Mike Fisher did like every other contending title team did. He hired a tier 1 guy and a tier 2 guy. That seems like a pretty good reason why he didn't get a offer.

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