Stage Win
As winter turns to spring and polyester and spandex begin to charge to the forefront of the casual cycling fans dresser drawer, thoughts soon turn to Lance Armstrong and what he’s been up to. For those too busy to constantly follow the superstar’s every move via Twitter, the winter months may have proven uneventful.
On the contrary, Team Radioshack, captained by Lance himself, has grown into a colorful array of young and not-so-young cycling stars from all regions of the world. Thus far, the team has had some unlucky setbacks (Gert Steegmans broke his collarbone in early March and Lance had to bow out of Milan-San Remo due to gastroenteritis) but also some great success (back to back team classification wins in February) but the question remains whether Team Radioshack will live up to its early reputation and dominate the cycling world in 2010.
At 38 years old and nearing the top of the proverbial hill, both Lance Armstrong and teammate Chris Horner have shown they are much more than just veteran leadership. Horner looked impressive at the Giro di Sardegna (23-27 February) and led the team to an overall first place finish while taking second in the individual standings by just two seconds.
South Africa’s Daryl Impey has shown great potential early as well but the key to the team of course, is Lance. Much has been made about Lance’s superior physiological advantages including astounding lung and aerobic capacity and power to weight ratio, however, these things are not what separate him from the rest of the field. Intangibles such as fortitude, aggressiveness, and an indomitable competitive spirit do.
In this respect, the success of Team Radioshack may very well depend on Lance’s ability to transfer these intangible characteristics to a team of roughly two dozen other already physiologically superior athletes, some of whom were barely born in time to catch the end of the Reagan administration. As cycling’s greatest spectacle looms over the Western European horizon, Team Radioshack will undoubtedly garner a lion’s share of attention (pun intended).
Lance has stated already that he is more involved in this team than any other before and it will be fascinating to see if his leadership and experience can raise Team Radioshack to a new level of dominance and perhaps another yellow jersey.
By Joshua W. Larson, staff writer
Photos: TeamRadioshack.com
Hey there Joshua — Good piece summing up The Shack and in particular L.A.’s efforts and role thus far. Hoping to see the Shackers continue to improve, add to SR’s stage win from Algarve, and end up increasingly at the front of the pack, and on the podium prior to Le Tour. Nice work, and keep ‘em coming!
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