RadioShack forced to change their approach after Armstrong’s unprecedented bad day
Team RadioShack still has a card to play following the eighth stage of the Tour de France, where its leader Lance Armstrong hemorrhaged time on the way to Morzine after a day filled with uncharacteristic bad luck. Now the team will no doubt unite behind American Levi Leipheimer, who managed to hang on to the group of favorites all the way up to the finish at the Avoriaz ski resort. Last year Armstrong criticized then teammate Alberto Contador sharply over not being a team player, and the American will now look to live up to the high standard he and team manager Johan Bruyneel hold their RadioShack team to.
“Hey pistolero, there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. what did I say in March? Lots to learn. Restated,” Armstrong wrote on Twitter after the conclusion of last year’s Tour de France in response to comments by the Spaniard.
“Seeing these comments from AC (Alberto Contador). If I were him I’d drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn’t win,” Armstrong added. “A champion is also measured on how much he respect his teammates and opponents.”
Contador’s comments confirmed what many had suspected; the Astana team was indeed divided on his way to securing his second Tour crown. The Spaniard complimented Armstrong on a strong ride in the Tour, but said the relationship between the two champions was non-existent.
Now the seven-time winner’s actions will be judged by the standard he set last year, which should see him have no qualms about riding in full support of his teammate and compatriot. Armstrong revisited his assessment of last year in early March, telling El Pais, “I always think that will be judged by your peers. You’re the boss, you have the yellow jersey, you’re on top of the podium, have millions of dollars… And they have nothing. The most honourable thing, then, is to respect them. If not, you have nothing. I have always done that with my team: give them more than money: respect… We have to be a family. And it’s not a criticism of Alberto. It is how I believe things should be done.”
Leipheimer will now benefit from the most experienced domestique in Tour de France history, as he hopes to avoid a bad day and better his third place from 2007 with a formidable team behind him. He currently sits 2 minutes and 14 seconds behind Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), who today traded in his rainbow stripes to wear the maillot jaune for the second time in his career. With both Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Contador more than a minute in front of the American, Bruyneel will have to work his tactical magic wand to see their new team leader in yellow by Paris.