2010 Tour: Armstrong 1, Contador 0

Lance Armstrong’s team for 2010, Radio Shack, is starting to take shape. And so is its philosophy in how to unseat current Tour champion, Alberto Contador. Back with the LA are two teammates from ASTANA who have the ability not only to support LA but the ability to win it all. LA’s compatriot Levi Leipheimer, who was third in the 2007 Tour and German Andreas Kloeden, who came in 2nd behind LA in 2004 are part of the team that will try to do the almost impossible- beat Contador. Also signed earlier was Johann Bruyneel, the Belgian master planner who guided LA to his 7 Tour wins.

Unlike most unretired athletes, Lance knows what his body, at 38yo, is capable of. He knows that he doesn’t have the same sets of skills as he did in 2001 or 2004. What he has though in abundance is race smarts. It’s like Michael Jordan, Mark II, who beat his rivals with fade ways instead of going to the rim for a dunk.

Last week, LA admitted that Contador is hard to beat, “man to man”, but this early, he is raising the stakes in the psychological battle when he signed up the two riders. It’s very obvious that Radio Shack is forming a 3-pronged attacked against the young Spaniard. This tactic has been done recently when TELEKOM had the trio of Jan Ullrich, Kloeden and Alexander Vinoukorov. But they failed because, 1) they were up against an Armstrong who was at the top of his game and 2) because LA had the best team at his disposal in US POSTAL, a team many considered as the best team of all time.

Contador, on the other hand, is in no man’s land. He has a contract ASTANA in 2010, yet, if he had his way, he’d like to opt out. The reason is more ethical and athletic rather than financial. Three teams are bidding for the Spaniard’s services, namely GARMIN, QUICKSTEP and CAISSE D’EPARGNE. Of the three, CAISSE would be the best fit athletically, as the same outfit had won 6 Tours with Miguel Indurain and Perico Delgado. GARMIN is also a strong team but it already has two leaders, Christians Vande Velde and Bradley Wiggins so fitting in would be a problem. QUICKSTEP is the weakest suitor as it has virtually no experience in racing for the general classification. It will be very important for Contador to have experienced, strong and unselfish riders who will be at his beck and call. Unfortunately, most of the exceptional domestiques have been spoken for this point in the season.

The longer Contador’s remains without a team, the later he will start with his preparation of his defense for the Yellow Jersey. Remember that the last rider to win the team without team support was Greg Lemond in 1989, that’s 20 years ago!!!

Happy Trails, Noel Ting!

The founder and moderator of www.cebucycling.com, and our friend, Noel Ting, left for New Zealand last Wednesday for good. He will be joining his wife and kid who had left earlier. Noel’s contribution to local and international cycling is the internet forum called www.cebucycling.com, the most popular cycling forum here in the Philippines. It’s hard to imagine today without the CC forum, as it has nourished the sport during these times. Noel, I hope he’ll have all the luck in Kiwi land.

Bike Ride For Ondoy Victims

I’d like to thank Tony Intense who led a ride for a cause two Sunday’s ago for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy. Thanks also to all the participants, sponsors, volunteers and all else who supported the worthwhile project.

What happened in Manila was unnerving. I had lots of friends who attended the annual Philippine Dental Association convention who were trapped the whole night at the Mall of Asia where the convention was held. They told me that they had to take down the tarp streamers for blanket and carton boxes for beddings. Fortunately, everybody got home in one piece. – THE FREEMAN