What happened to Team RadioShack? Now, I ride a bicycle for fun. I’m in no way near the league of any professional rider, but I like to go fast. All of my rides are races against myself. I watch the Tour de France every year and I love to watch the strategy of the teams and how they interplay with the other teams, as well as within each team directly. From what I understood about what Team RadioShack had planned this year, Lance Armstrong was going to try for a Tour win, with the help of the rest of the team. What happened?
Obviously, Lance Armstrong had some serious bad luck. Maybe his last run at a Tour victory shouldn’t have been his 13th. But all superstitions aside, I found myself asking, “What’s next?” I assumed the team would pull together and work to get Lance back into form and place, but that didn’t happen. Then I understood that the next “great hope” for a victory was Levi Leipheimer. I assumed the team would pull together and work to get Levi into place, but that didn’t happen.
It seemed, to this casual observer, that when Lance “gave up”, the team gave up. Watching the stages day after day I would pick out the Team RadioShack riders and compare their form with other teams. When SaxoBank would ride together, they were in a line, helping each other. They looked like a professional bike team. When HTC Columbia rode together they were a freight train. Team Astana maintained team form and function based on what I can only assume, they learned some of from Lance himself. When I could find RadioShack riders, they were scattered throughout the Peloton as if they couldn’t find each other. I don’t think I saw them ride together as if they were a team very often after Lance gave up. The few times I did, my heart raced to think, “OK, maybe they’re going to do something!” only to be disappointed to see them fall apart again.
If Levi was the next in line for a win, why wasn’t the rest of the team helping him? When Sergio Paulinho won stage 10, he was all alone. Nobody seemed to be helping Chris Horner reach the top ten. He did that all by himself. So what happened? I had high hopes for this team and it seemed like they just didn’t care.
By J A Bailes, staff writer
Yeah.. that was ridiculous. I wondered the same thing. It would’ve been awesome to see some more effort to win another stage or two from the top shack riders. But.. none of that happened. They had nothing to lose really.. team gc was easy for them. shooting a couple riders out front to win a couple stages wouldn’t have hurt.
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I thought they won the team competition? But you are right I guess it takes no effort and you can just “give up” and still win the team competition in the hardest race in the world. Oh yeah I guess you can finish off a break away and get a top 10 stage finish in the Tour by giving up too, huh?
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its interesting perhaps to contrast R-S to another american team Garmin-Transitions. Garmin had etremely bad luck (crashes!) this Tour, losing leader VandeVelde early and Tyler Farrar (top sprint man) injuring his wrist in addition to guys like DZ and Millar who were severely banged up for most of Tour. Yet, despite all this adversity Team Garmin was able to content almost every sprint finish, even after losing Farrar, his lead out man Julian Dean was battling with Cav in most of the sprints and placing well. And what about Ryder Hes-J finishing 7th in GC with superb performances in Pyrenees and final ITT!
RadioShack in comparison and with all the talent was a BIG FLOP this year. I’m a big Lance fan and would have liked to see a good performance from LA, but Lance came into the Tour way under-prepared this year. He was not in best form and mentally he just did not have it… anyone who has some experience in professional bike racing will tell you the same. I’m glad RS was able to win the team award, but Levi as usual did not live up to the expectations for a Grand Tour; I was happy to see Horner have some form at end of race and perform well in mountains. I was sorry to see Lance finish his last Tour in a manner that looked like he just did not want to put in 100%, especially in the final ITT.
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Interesting commentary.
I’d like to see some comment from team RadioShack.
While I agree that the tream has some great individuals riders, and of course the team won the team podium, it would be interesting if the director sportif, or Lance….or Levi, or Chris had an answer to this commentary’s questions.
Where was the organization? that seemed to be lacking in the later stages. It DID seem as though all were riding as individuals. Chris Horner deserved to finish 10th overall…he WAS the best overall rider on TRS.
Let’s hope that next years team can maintain the momentum. 2010 was a good year for TRS, but maybe next year…Better.
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Wow, I’m surprised that this debate was started by a “TRS’ staff writer”, I thought they would always talk in a positive way when referring to the TRS. Anyway, I feel exactly the same, I was very sad the “black day” when Lance crashed three times, I couldn’t even see the Soccer World Cup that day, and I was also waiting for the moment when my big hero would make the comeback. That never happened. I never put my hopes on Levi, even though I admire him, but I knew TRS had only one card to play, there were no Plan B to execute, the team had no sprinters, and there were no other climbers like Lance. TRS was only interested in winning the TDF, other than that they didn’t care. The problem was that I cared, and I as many other people would like to see Lance fighting for the 10th place or whatever place but fighting.
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I have watched with sad eyes as the team rode in bits and bats, and lots of times a member at the back? When I look back towards 2009, Alberto and Lance raced each other to the finish line, my mother used to say a good big’un would beat a good little’un, well a good young’un beat a good old’un but not by much. This year the saxo bank boys had class and worked, the shack boys overall prize was earned and they had to work for it. What will become of the team now? sadly I fear it will become less of a force and more of another tour team who will need to fight for a place on the big tours, if its sponsors want it. Lance was magnificent at the Pau finish, but lots on his mind I expect. To him a “Thank you” my Tour de France and Giro visits will be poorer without him. Livestrong. Ken (surviving Cancer)
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Well done team, 2010 t,d,f best teem in prodeyam in paris
congratulation all members. i meet to next 2011 t,d,f
saliya weerakkody
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I agree 100% with the assessment of TRS during the 2010 TDF made by staff writer J. A. Bailes. After LA was involved his third crash in stage eight, I saw a man standing in the roadway with a broken spirit. Although everyone soldiered on for the remainder of the TDF, the actions of one man were apparently contagious to the rest of the team. During times of adversity, people look for their leaders for strength and guidance. What happened?? I will always be a big fan of LA and his cancer foundation work. The entire TRS organization should be commended for their outstanding performance in winning the overall Team award and their support of LA. LIVESTRONG!
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Well, ya know, even the best laid plans often don’t survive the first encounter with the enemy. In the end, it’s a publicity stunt/business venture, at a bike race, a great bike race, and an international 23-day holiday for lots of folks having fun. But its still a bike race, and the riders got paid for their effort. And its still a publicity stunt and a business venture, just like it was when it started. I’m glad it was on versus tracker, so I could watch it without advertisments, stop in the middle of the race, do a 50 mile ride, and come back and finish the race without advertisement again. If you didn’t find other people to watch for in the future, your a little naive about a few mortal men.
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Yes…it did appear that Team RadioShack became a bit discombobulated once Lance was out as a frontrunner. That is a shame since all those guys are obviously pretty competitive. Who knows what the reason was. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes than what we see. They really needed to pull together as a team and win some individual stages. They should have made a statement to the other teams who were dominating the tour.
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My eyes are going bad, but that’s a lousy picture (even with my glasses on).
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There was no Plan B. Once Lance was out of the race that was it – every man for himself. Given the quality of the riders in the team they were able to win the team prize. But working together as a team – no, that’s not what I saw.
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It would be great if someone from the team could answer our questions regarding this
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I agree al most everything.
First, Lance has a terrible unfortune…
Second, don’t forget the team won the Teams GC.
Third, Paulinho is on a breakaway and arrived alone… an win for the Team/Sponsor.
Four, Levi isn’t a winner, he has not the class or the capability for a win like that…
Fifth, Horner is a good surprise
Six, in fact the team as not shown the capability and the performance we expect.
Seven, we are in our first year.
Congratulations for all.
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Team RS need some toughening up , sign up so Aussies!
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I could mostly only tune into the stages starting mid-way or two thirds through, when the action and tempo reaching fever-pitch, but I assumed that the domestiques were providing draft for Lance intially, then Levi then Horner in the earlier parts of the race. And by the time the pace of the peloton was at break-neck speed or the inclines reached 9%, the domestiques had dropped back. Teams like Saxobank and Astana were drafting way towards the end of the stage because they had more at stake in the overall, and had probably let other teams lead the peloton earlier in the stage. We were all used to Astana dominating the peloton in 2009, but again they had the yellow jersey and probably let lesser teams lead in the early parts of the stage. I think it all comes down to the ability of the individual men. Horner is an excellent all-rounder, but is not a climber to the caliber of the top five – same for Levi who I think was also injured. His men probably provided draft for as long they could until they slipped off the back. I was also disappointed for Lance and it did appear that he lost the drive after the crashes and wasn’t up to form with the overall leaders. Had he not have had all the bad luck, he probably would have finished in a similar spot to Horner. I am doubtful that he could have kept up with the climbing ability of Contador and Schleck. It was also obvious that Bruyneel told the team after Lance’s crashes that they were free to get into a break-way for a stage win if they felt up to it. We had Paulihno’s win and then Popovych tried to get into a break-waay at one point. It was a weird tour for many teams – all the crashes, flats, cobbles – I think Team Radioshack did very well considering.
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I think we didn’t see the team riding all together after stage 8 because they were marking the Casise De Parnge (sp?) riders. If you go back and watch the stages, where there is one team rider you will see the other team there. The team classification was VERY close up until the last 2 stages in the mountains and if Caise had been in the break on the last mountain stage it would have stayed very close. As for the ITT – The head winds in the later part of the day really did everyone in, not just Lance and TRS. Look at the low placings of Contador and others who normally ride very good ITTs that had this misfortune to ride later in the day.
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Once Lance knew he could not win he was through, yeah he completed the tour but he was not at the schleck or contador level even if he had not fallen so many times. I have been a LA fan for a long time and unfortunately he did not display the heart of a champion who fights as hard as he can until the end. yeah he did a break away on a stage he could not win with a 20K downhill and flat finish but could not drop anyone on the climbs. Great legacy but if you come back like act like a Brett Favre. Thanks for the memories Lance
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Make no mistake that there was a “plan” for every stage following Lance’s drop in GC that took him out of Tour contention. Every team has pre-race meetings where race tactics for the day are discussed and Johan B would have had a plan everyday, be it an attempt for a stage win or getting Levi or Chris up in GC. It’s just apparent that most of this planning did not plan out and that’s not uncommon for most teams.
RadioShack brought a very strong team of riders, so i think the expectation was better results in the GC or stage wins, however yes the team did not come prepared for sprint wins and a well oiled lead out train of guys.
On stage when Lance crashed and lost contact with front group, i think should have been the day team RS rallied to bring Lance back up or minimize the damage; that was the big failure and Lance not being at his best really was the final blow to his chances. In prior years, Lance AND his team would have organized themselves and fought back to make contact with the top GC men again; all great champions have had to do this at some point in their careers, its an expectation in big tours that teams have to bring their team leader back into contention during mechanicals/crashes. So the failure was with both the team and Lance, i think that memorable stage showed that Lance was not the same man that could fight back and the team & manager was not up to par with the top Tour teams (regardless of winning the overall team comp, its the individual GC prize all teams come to the Tour to claim).
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Considering that Lance and Chris Horner were both putting out max watts for quite an extended period of time, in the attempt to get Lance back with the peloton after Lance’s crash, I don’t think it can be said that they could have done it and that the team didn’t do everything possible.
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Part of the problem is that Klodi and Levi were ill during parts of the race with respiratory problems. This explains why Levi lost 8 minutes during the last mountain stage. It probably made the TT difficult too. What frustrated me was that when Levi was riding strong in the mountains he was often alone. Lance who was out of it by this point had guys like Jani and Popo around him. Jani could have been up there to help work to get Levi on the podium. It was disappointing to watch but hey considered how odd this tour was, the guys won the best team prize and we had a stage winner. Clearly better than most teams!
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I thought this way too for a while. But come on a new team year # 1. And the Shack takes home the team award! Also a stage win!
And bad luck just did not attack Lance. Look at Levi, and Koldi where sick!
I also think the Shack should try and get some young Boolds. Say like Andy and Frank! But all in all The Shack is still my # 1 team. O. and don’t forget about next year! I can’t wait…
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Very true .. . Any comments from the team?
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There’s a lot I see slightly different, I won’t address it all…but a few points…
There was a lot more going on than meets the eye… as many people have noted, there were illnesses and everyone crashed…and RS was near the front of the peloton quite a bit…
but RS put 3 riders in top 14….. 4 in top 23…. 6 in top 46 …and 7 riders in the top 50% of finishers…No other team comes close, and you can’t actually achieve that, on arguable the hardest TdF course in 25 years (especially with searing heat factored in), w/o great team effort, so I’m a little shocked that people think there was not team plan and everyone rode for themselves…I understand the disappointment at no high GC win and only 1 stage win…but the RS boys worked together.
So when you saw RS “pack it in”, “give up” or “cruise” to a stage finish, there were often in the 15% of the field , but they just didn’t have the legs to stay with the actual top 15 finishers…and on such a hard race, you need to conserve energy where you can….the TV coverage just makes it appear if you’re nto in the first few groups of riders, then you are way off the back.
One of the reasons RS couldn’t Popo & Jani didn’t stay with Levi in the climbs, is they couldn’t …the same reason Levi didn’t stay with Kreuzinger, Sanchez, Contacor or Schleck…didn’t have the legs for it….so its not that they intentionally left Levi stranded…they couldn’t actually stay with the front group when the selection happened.
[ more to come on TT]
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the last thing I’ll point out, is the conditions changed dramatically during the TT If you take the last 24 starters, Lance finished 11th of that pack…if you assume in neutral conditions that same order would roughly hold…and they’d roughly be the top of leader board, placing over earlier starters, with the exception that Tony Martin & Spartacus would still finish 1,2…throw in another odd high placer and Lance is probably Top 15 and definitely top 20…and I think thats a good result…so Lance basically beat 50% of the guys placed ahead of him…. LA is not the TT’er of 2000.
for fun, here are the last 24 starters from TimeTrial…staring position , Name, Finish Positions…. Sorted by Finishing Position
so Wiggo was the 147th starter, finished 9th on the final stage placings
147 WIGGINS Bradley -9
167 MENCHOV Denis -11
155 VINOKOUROV Alexandre -33
170 CONTADOR Alberto -35
168 SANCHEZ Samuel -40
159 LEIPHEIMER Levi -41
169 SCHLECK Andy -44
150 SASTRE Carlos -48
163 HESJEDAL Ryder -52
156 ROCHE Nicolas -53
148 ARMSTRONG Lance -67
161 HORNER Christopher -69
166 VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen -71
158 PLAZA MOLINA Ruben -73
149 MOREAU Christophe -77
160 SANCHEZ Luis-Leon -79
162 KREUZIGER Roman -82
152 DE WEERT Kevin -85
157 KLÖDEN Andréas -87
153 LÖVKVIST Thomas -97
165 GESINK Robert -109
151 MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel -147
164 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin -154
154 GADRET John -170
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