Bruyneel learns from RadioShack’s first Tour, blasts winners
The runner-up in the 2010 Tour de France, Andy Schleck, received praise as well as criticism in Johan Bruyneel’s final Tour column of the year, published in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. The RadioShack team manager discussed the Luxembourg rider’s narrow defeat at the hands of Albert Contador, the fifth smallest gap ever between the top two contenders in the Tour.
Bruyneel led Contador in his previous two titles, in 2007 with team Discovery Channel and in 2009 with team Astana. Contador and Levi Leipheimer followed Bruyneel when he moved to Astana, the team which he left with Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong to form the American-based Team RadioShack.
"The outcome of the Tour was more exciting than I expected,” said Bruyneel. “This wasn't because Andy Schleck rode so well but because Alberto Contador was so disappointing in the final time trial. In my eyes Andy Schleck lost the Tour in Rotterdam. The 42 seconds that he lost in the 8.9km long prologue turned out to be very expensive. Yet he still had his chances.”
The manager explained that Schleck still needs some maturing before he can be a great captain. Though Bruyneel was disappointed by the both of them, he wasn’t all negative. He looks forward to a strong future for Schleck, who won his third (and final) consecutive best-young-rider award at the Tour this year.
"Andy can learn a lot from this Tour de France. He's only 25 years old and is still a rough diamond that is free. There is much to polishing," said Bruyneel. "If you look at the final results and realise that he lost the Tour by 39 seconds, in fact his battle for the yellow jersey seemed over before it all began. Of course he will never be a great time trialist, but this is an area where he can still profit."
The RadioShack team manager didn’t forget that his own team, despite taking the team classification award, underperformed. It was only the third time since 1999 that a Bruyneel-managed team wasn’t represented on the overall contender podium. He dwelled on Armstrong’s legacy in his final Tour de France, and explained that the team program may need some restructuring.
"This tour was the final farewell to Lance in the Tour de France. I loved seeing Lance on the podium in Paris in his last moments as a Tour rider. It is also symbolic that we did so with the win in the team standings. Next year they are still riding, only we don't know where. In Australia we can [race], even California.”
The crash at the col de la Ramaz was the end of Armstrong chances to finish on the podium, after his 2009 return from his retirement after the seven consecutive wins from 1999-2005.
"Since 2009 it was different for him. Both of us have become older, and have followed a similar path. This time it was much easier to accept. With age, you become more of a philosopher. Yet this year we enjoyed the Tour. That we were together on the podium on the Champs-Élysées was different, but for both of us it was beautiful."
Levi Leipheimer takes Armstrong’s place
Throughout the Tour, Armstrong proved that he is no longer able to contend among the best. Team RadioShack, co-owned and led by the seven-time Tour de France victor, was quick to restructure. RadioShack took the lead in the team classification after stage 12, when Andreas Klöden finished the stage in seventh, Leipheimer finished 11th, and Chris Horner finished 17th. The team expanded their lead of 21 seconds ahead of Caisse d’Epargne to 9 minutes and 15 seconds by the end of the Tour de France. Team Rabobank finished third, another 18:33 behind Caisse d’Epargne.
Leipheimer, who finished 17 seconds behind the stage winner, was happy to take the former champion’s place. The American finished third in his first ever Grand Tour, was the second-highest performing American in the 2002 and 2004 Tour, after Armstrong, and holds 6 overall tour victories, including three consecutive wins of the Tour of California. He has been a professional cyclist since 1997, won the U.S. National Time Trial Championships in 1999, and spent three years at the leader of Rabobank’s Tour de France team. Impressed with his performance when they rode in the Tour together, Armstrong invited him to join the brand new Team RadioShack in their Tour de France debut.
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