Tour de France 2009: All for One or None for All
On a team with more than one strong rider, that team must work together to fend off the other teams, but if the strong riders start competing, the whole team loses. In the case of Astana, it is pretty clear that the team director had told the team to work together to get the yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara, and have it naturally fall to the highest place Astana rider, Lance Armstrong. However, the best laid plans go awry when a team member goes out for himself.
On Stage 7, team Astana was riding great tempo, pulling in the breakaway and leaving Cancellara in the dust. Alberto Contador, seeing an opportunity to gain time on his own teammate Armstrong, made a dash for the finish. In the end, Contador finished fast enough to be 2 seconds ahead of Armstrong, but is still off the lead.
With 2 weeks left, Contador has put himself in the position that his teammates think he is just out for himself, and may not help him by blocking the wind, bringing water battles and food, and chasing down the competition. If the rest of Astana doesn’t support Contador, he cannot win. And if Contador causes a split in team Astana, Lance can’t win either. The secret to Lance’s seven victories was that he had an entire team completely devoted to his winning.
Tomorrow’s stage 9 is the last in the Pyrenees. Much like stage 8, the high mountain climbs come in the middle, so unless a team or breakaway can get 3 to 4 minutes on the competition, all will come back on the descent and flat finish. The fact that there are big climbs, means that the sprinters are left behind, setting the stage for another breakaway to succeed. Evans or Menchov may try to get into the break, but much like today, Astana will be on top of that, and run them down.
The next chance for a real sorting may be stage 15, where there is a Category One mountain top finish. An Astana team leader will be clear after the individual time trial, if not sooner, and the team can support the leader. If Lance and Alberto continue to be close, the Alps will be fun, and nothing will be decided until the day before the run into Paris.
Tomorrow Menchov and Evans have to put the hammer down and go for broke.
Hey just like baseball,basketball and football- team chemistry has its role at the tour de france.
I never really realized the complexity of the competition. This is helpful. thanks.
clash of the egos- Alberto vs. Lance- will come down to guts on last mountain ride.
This second week of racing has been BORING!
Yeah the second has been boring, they better plan to even out the drama a little better next year
Leipheimer going down is not good for Astana heading into the Alps, but because of their depth they will be hurt less than if he was with another team.