Lance Armstrong 2010, is a Team Player

It makes a refreshing change to hear Lance Armstrong speak about his abilities over the past couple of days. Since the beginning of his career any press conference with Lance Armstrong was worth listening to. If it wasn’t for the sensational comments he might make, then to hear the level of self-confidence alone was enough to inspire bike riders everywhere.

Towards the end of last season and especially during the Tour du France, Armstrong began to waver slightly. His professions of self-belief became a little less gung-ho and he almost seemed to step back to the mortal world, a place he had not been for some time.

Listening to him speak during the Santos Tour Down Under (TDU) is a further extension of this. And far from being a disappointment it is another impressive move by the Texan. During his first comeback year it was always possible that Armstrong would get carried away with himself and self-belief would outweigh reality. He would speak about winning all around him when the fact is that there are many more in the peleton better equipped, and hungrier for victory than he. Thankfully it didn’t pan out entirely like this. Apart from some pre-season and early season bravado, the then Astana rider was relatively humble and realistic. He kept the focus on his cycling and made it onto the podium of the Tour. This marked a huge achievement for someone who had less than one full season of racing in his legs.

To date, this season he has been the same. In his most recent press conferences he spoke of being unnerved by the nature of the peleton and how he was enjoying it while being slightly scared by it, he spoke of how being 20 seconds off the lead of the TDU was too much to make up and how he was more interested in riding for fellow Team Radioshack rider Gert Steegmans to get him and stage win. He spoke like a mortal, like one of us. He has dropped the chest pounding and inflated opinions of himself, and although they were warranted at the time, it is good to see that he feels the same pain as normal sportspeople.

What is possibly more encouraging is that this step back shows a more mature cyclist. It gives us a glimpse of someone who is more concerned with his team than just himself. Lance Armstrong could not be accused of refusing to support his teams in the past, but there have been times when he has seemed far too concerned with his own welfare and results to back up those around him. Now with the launch and first competitive outing of Team Radioshack he seems to have made peace with his inner fire.

Lance Armstrong 2010 is a team player. Depending on how the early season goes he may become single minded during the Tour de France, but at that stage he will have done more than his fair share of the donkey work. Involving himself in the rough and tumble of the peleton will be a learning experience for him. Signs that he is willing to learn are proof enough that Team Radioshack will not be controlled by a single rider and that though it may start off slow, 2010 could be a hugely successful year for Armstrong and co.

By Colin McGann, staff writer