Early Look at Team Radioshack’s Chances in Tour de France

As the 2009 Tour de France neared its conclusion, Lance Armstrong announced the formation of his new cycling team sponsored by Radio Shack to compete in 2010. Amidst the controversy surrounding the rivalry between Armstrong and teammate Alberto Contador, the formation of this new team came as no surprise to many cycling enthusiasts including myself.

Armstrong set out to build “an American team comprised of the world’s top cyclists, supported by the best coaches and staff” in his partnership with the electronics company and has done an exemplary job thus far.

The team’s 2010 roster includes established riders such as American risers such as Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner. Also present on the roster are all riders, with the exception of Contador, from last year’s Astana powerhouse; the most notable being Andreas Kloden and Yaroslav Popovych in addition to Leipheimer.

This select group of riders offers some great advantages for the new Team Radioshack. The team is incredibly experienced in major road races. Aside from Armstrong’s unprecedented seven Tour de France wins, Leipheimer and Kloden both have proven themselves to be extremely strong riders in the past. Both also showed themselves to be formidable domestiques to Alberto Contador during last year’s Tour making next year all the more promising for Armstrong.

Team RadioShack also exhibits an incredible about of depth and strength. They have two of the top six overall riders from the 2009 Tour. Had Leipheimer not crashed out during the race, he would have likely been in the upper echelon of riders with Armstrong and Kloden. The domestiques that the new team has also should not be over looked either. Popyvich and Jose Louis Rubiera have a long history with Armstrong and should prove themselves valuable once again. Christopher Horner, the American, also has promising prospects on the team. The dominance of riders from Astana and U.S Postal in the past decade bode well for Team Radio Shack’s prospects in next year’s Tour.

Possibly the most important addition to Team RadioShack is manager Johan Bruyneel. Bruyneel has managed the winning rider of the Tour de France nine times since 1999 and is easily the best manager from the past decade of cycling. He knows his team well and has managed the majority of the individual riders in the past. His history with Lance Armstrong includes seven wins in the overall classification for the Tour de France and Bruyneel has managed to maintain the loyalty of the former U.S. Postal Service and Discovery teams adding Viatcheslav Ekimov and Jose Acevedo to his management staff. Johan expertise could one day distinguish him as the greatest manager in cycling history.

The most significant threats to Armstrong’s eighth victory in the Tour de France come from defending champion Alberto Contador and Frank and Andy Schleck.  Contador has not started the path to a repeat Tour victory well by any means. He lost all of his former Astana team to Radio Shack and even his future with Astana is uncertain. He has agreed to resign with the team if they manage to obtain the International Cycling Union’s ProTour license allowing the team automatic entry into all the major races for the year.  It could be some time before Contador lands with a team. With every week his future is uncertain Armstrong and Radio Shack gain an advantage.

Armstrong’s most formidable opponent in the 2010 Tour could quite possibly turn out to be the duo of Andy and Frank Schleck who finished second and fifth respectively in the 2009 overall classification. Both brothers showed a remarkable ability to keep up with Contador in the high mountain passes. Both of the brothers are young with very promising futures in the grand tours of cycling much like the Alberto Contador of 2006. The Schlecks do not, however, have the same quality team that Radio Shack has managed to assemble. Even with Team Saxo Bank’s super domestique Jens Voigt the Schlecks are at a severe disadvantage to Radio Shack’s incredible depth.

Though not likely to be considered a major contender after last year’s disappointing Tour, Cadel Evans has had some early comments pertaining to Armstrong’s prospects in July 2010. The Australian rider feels that Lance will “be bigger and more dangerous than in 2009” and will be at “another level in 2010.”

Despite Evans’ positive prediction about Lance’s form in 2010, Team Radio Shack will have some concerns concerning the team’s aging leaders. Armstrong turned thirty eight in mid-September and concerns about his body’s ability to win another tour will be a major issue going into next year’s race. Leipheimer and Kloden are by no means young riders either. Unfortunately with the riders’ great experience also comes greater age and a competitive disadvantage to younger riders like Contador and the Schlecks.

All things considered seven months before the Tour de France begins on July 3rd, Team Radio Shack seems to be in prime position as a top contender at the Tour. Fans should be wary however because there is quite a bit of racing to go before the prologue in Rotterdam. After Armstrong broke his collar bone in March of last year, it was evident that anything can happen on the roads leading to the Tour de France. Hopefully, nothing of the sort will happen this year allowing Lance to be as prepared as possible to give another legendary effort in pursuit of his eight Tour de France victory.

By Jordan M. Reed, staff writer