Team Radioshack, As Camp Continues…

Team RadioShack must begin to formulate a plan. No doubt there are some late night conversations between team management and riders about schedules, training programs and team dynamics for the upcoming season. Many different questions must be answered and those answers start to take shape in Tucson, Arizona. How do they beat Alberto Contador? Do they have a surprise Spring Classics win in them? Who will be the contenders in the tour and who will be the pretenders? Even if they are wearing their old kits, the 2010 season starts now.

The team will use the same method that Telekom used to try and dethrone Lance Armstrong during his dominant years. They will have three leaders including Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden that will try to isolate and outlast other Tour rivals. This method never worked for Telekom because US Postal/Discovery always had a stronger team. There in lies the main difference. Not only will Team RadioShack have the most possible podium riders but they should have the strongest team. Lance Armstrong himself echoes these feelings.

“We have the best team in the world. If you look at the Tour this year, we had the strongest team in the race. Of the 9 riders from last year’s Tour de France squad from Astana, 8 are now on Team RadioShack. We lack that super high level favorite like Alberto, but I like the chances with the strong guys we have.”

As he should. Garmin-Transitions weakened over the last few days when Bradley Wiggins left for team Sky. This leaves only Saxo Bank with a multiple threat for a podium spot in Paris with Andy and Franck Schleck. Cadel Evans, Alejandro Valverde, Christian Vandavelde, Wiggins and Contador should all be isolated on the final climbs of the day. From that point on it will be up to leaders to see who the strongest is.

By Thomas Mendonsa, staff writer