Andreas Klöden: Consummate Team-Player Key to Tour Success

By Todd Arnold, staff writer

One of the more talented and enigmatic figures in cycling today, Andreas Klöden will be heavily counted on come July as Team Radioshack looks to propel Lance Armstrong back to the top of the Tour de France podium where he reigned atop the cycling world for seven straight seasons from 1999-2005.

Andreas Klöden

Andreas Klöden, 34, who rarely speaks with the media, instead prefers to go about his business on the bike with quiet professionalism. He played a key role in Team Astana’s success in the 2009 Tour de France, helping Alberto Contador to overall victory and Lance Armstrong to an impressive 3rd place in his return after several years away from the sport. Not only did he prove to be a an adept super domestique in the mountain stages of the Tour, but the 2004 German national Time Trial champion made massive pulls at the front of the Stage 4 Team Time Trial, helping his squad take an impressive stage victory.

After a prodigious start to his professional cycling career saw him take overall victory at both the Paris-Nice and Vuelta al Pais Vasco stage races in 2000, as well as a bronze medal in the road race at the Sydney Olympic Games later that summer, Klöden battled through several years of injuries before finding his form again in 2004. During that edition of the Tour de France he began as a domestique for T-Mobile captain Jan Ullrich, but his superb form and day-to-day consistency found him riding high in the overall classification, ahead of Ullrich who would finish fourth. Klöden’s second place performance in the final time trial allowed him to leap past Italian Ivan Basso into 2nd overall in the general classification behind Lance Armstrong.

In 2006, he again solidified his status as a major Grand Tour contender with yet another runner-up finish at the Tour de France. After that year, he was expected to sign with a new team as outright leader in an attempt at Tour glory, but he decided to sign with Team Astana and help former T-Mobile teammate Alexander Vinokourov with his own ambitions. With Team Astana’s signing of Alberto Contador in 2008, Andreas Klöden has been an integral part of Contador’s own Grand Tour success over the past two seasons.

Clearly, Team Radioshack Sports Manager Johan Bruyneel and its captain Lance Armstrong have taken note of Klöden’s immense talent. But more importantly, they understand the class and professionalism he displays, as well as an understanding of the importance of sacrificing one’s own ambitions for the team’s strongest rider. Because of these characteristics, he will rank as one of the most important teammates alongside Lance Armstrong in the difficult mountain stages of the 2010 edition of the Tour de France. As Lance battles what will be a star-studded field, he will breathe easier knowing he can count on the support of Klöden, once one of his closest rivals, turned closest ally.