In 2008, Lance Armstrong told Vanity Fair magazine, “I’m going to try and win an eighth Tour de France.”
If anyone could do it, Lance could.
Cycling is a team sport. On every nine-man Tour de France team, eight of the riders are domestiques, support riders who do the work, fight the wind, and protect the team leader until the team leader makes a brief but intense effort to capture the victory.
The domestiques sacrifice individual victory for the good for the leader, who is the one they think has the best chance of winning overall. The leader maybe not the best sprinter, or the best climber, or the best time-trialer, but he is the one who can finish high enough often enough to win the general classification.
And Team Astana already had its leader—Alberto Contador. The winner of the 2007 Tour was the one Team Astana would be working for.
And then came Lance.
Lance Armstrong, ever the gentleman and fully aware of the realities of bicycle racing, told the press that if he couldn’t win, he’d ride as the strongest domestique in the race.
He professed willingness to sacrifice his own success for the good of Team Astana, for the good of Alberto Contador.
But what if Lance showed that he still has the ability, perhaps more ability than Contador?
Stage Three showed how tenuous was Contador’s hold on the team leader spot.
With 30 kilometers to go, Team Columbia attacked, splitting the peloton. Cycling experts expected the move. With the fierce headwinds and the flat terrain, it was a predictable move. Lance Armstrong expected it. Alberto Contador did not.
More significantly, when Lance took off after the Team Columbia riders, two of his teammates, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia, followed along to support him. Apparently they were keying on Armstrong, not Contador, as the race progressed.
This raises serious questions for Team Astana.
If at some point Lance Armstrong really feels that he has it in him to win the Tour, and asks his teammates to support him, will they do it?
If in the middle of a stage, he is outperforming Alberto Contador, will the team switch allegiance on the fly?
Would Alberto Contador work for Lance, as Lance has said he would work for Contador?
Would the team support Lance, knowing that at age 37, he might have the legs to win in the second week, but maybe not in the third week?
Would the team support Lance, knowing that if he won the Tour, they would be forgotten, but if he lost, would any other professional cycling team trust members of the Astana team?
Lance Armstrong is a professional cyclist; he knows what is expected of a domestique. But if he saw that eighth Tour victory just outside his grasp, would he ask his team for a boost? Would he be able not to?
When the attack came, Lance followed it. Contador, caught off guard, did not.
If Armstrong at some point thinks he can win a stage and lead the general classification, will he ask the team to support him? If the team has to choose one over the other, who will they choose?
If Lance asks for the support and can’t win the stage, he will not get another chance. But if he doesn’t ask for the support and Contador can’t perform…
The Astana team has its work cut out for it.
If anyone could do it, Lance could.
Cycling is a team sport. On every nine-man Tour de France team, eight of the riders are domestiques, support riders who do the work, fight the wind, and protect the team leader until the team leader makes a brief but intense effort to capture the victory.
The domestiques sacrifice individual victory for the good for the leader, who is the one they think has the best chance of winning overall. The leader maybe not the best sprinter, or the best climber, or the best time-trialer, but he is the one who can finish high enough often enough to win the general classification.
And Team Astana already had its leader—Alberto Contador. The winner of the 2007 Tour was the one Team Astana would be working for.
And then came Lance.
Lance Armstrong, ever the gentleman and fully aware of the realities of bicycle racing, told the press that if he couldn’t win, he’d ride as the strongest domestique in the race.
He professed willingness to sacrifice his own success for the good of Team Astana, for the good of Alberto Contador.
But what if Lance showed that he still has the ability, perhaps more ability than Contador?
Stage Three showed how tenuous was Contador’s hold on the team leader spot.
With 30 kilometers to go, Team Columbia attacked, splitting the peloton. Cycling experts expected the move. With the fierce headwinds and the flat terrain, it was a predictable move. Lance Armstrong expected it. Alberto Contador did not.
More significantly, when Lance took off after the Team Columbia riders, two of his teammates, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia, followed along to support him. Apparently they were keying on Armstrong, not Contador, as the race progressed.
This raises serious questions for Team Astana.
If at some point Lance Armstrong really feels that he has it in him to win the Tour, and asks his teammates to support him, will they do it?
If in the middle of a stage, he is outperforming Alberto Contador, will the team switch allegiance on the fly?
Would Alberto Contador work for Lance, as Lance has said he would work for Contador?
Would the team support Lance, knowing that at age 37, he might have the legs to win in the second week, but maybe not in the third week?
Would the team support Lance, knowing that if he won the Tour, they would be forgotten, but if he lost, would any other professional cycling team trust members of the Astana team?
Lance Armstrong is a professional cyclist; he knows what is expected of a domestique. But if he saw that eighth Tour victory just outside his grasp, would he ask his team for a boost? Would he be able not to?
When the attack came, Lance followed it. Contador, caught off guard, did not.
If Armstrong at some point thinks he can win a stage and lead the general classification, will he ask the team to support him? If the team has to choose one over the other, who will they choose?
If Lance asks for the support and can’t win the stage, he will not get another chance. But if he doesn’t ask for the support and Contador can’t perform…
The Astana team has its work cut out for it.
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