Sometimes it’s hard to get a whole organization to a photo shoot. In the case of Leopard Trek it seems that sports director Lars Michaelsen couldn’t make it to the location. So the webmaster at the team did the next best thing – Photoshopped his head onto Torsten Schmidt’s body.

Should Michaelson be upset at the choice of body doubles – I don’t know. Schmidt, according to his biography, is a long-time professional racer and at least didn’t let himself get sloppy like some ex-pros I could mention. But I wonder if Michaelson was given a choice of whose body he’d get? Did Michaelson pick Schmidt? That’s got to be an awkward conversation if he did in fact pick the Belgian sport director’s body.

“Hey Torsten, it’s me Lars. I can’t make the team photo shoot. I know this is going to sound odd, but I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been looking good lately. Doing a lot of gym work? Anyways can they put my head onto your body for the website photo?”

If I could choose whose body I would put my head on, without a doubt it is Fabian Cancellara. He looks tall in the photo, plus he has an athletic build, not some scrawny waif-like profile. I know, he’s not management, so Fabian might not be a choice. But Photoshop in a scarf and it’s good to go! One rider I definitely wouldn’t pick is Jakob Fuglsang! I’m not sure what the hell he was doing in November, maybe hitting the speculoos hard, but he’s fat! Jakob – have some self respect!