Mongo loves the Team Time Trial discipline...Men and machines working in synchronicity against both the elements and the clock. When performed and executed at the highest level, there is no more beautiful sight in cycling.
When I learned that the TTT had been removed from the 2010 Tour de France, I was disappointed but not surprised. It is the one Stage that can dramatically alter an individual rider's GC standing while being at the mercy of the other eight riders on his team.
At last year's Tour, if you were a GC contender on Astana, Saxo, Garmin, Liquigas, or Columbia, you were in pretty good shape after the TTT. But if you happened to ride for pretty much anyone else...you weren't going to win the Tour de France.
In 2010, the Tour has no TTT, several cobblestone stages, and more back to back climbing days than ever before. It is a course more suited to individual performance than team performance. That bodes well for Contador...since it looks like he'll be stuck on a crappy Astana team for one more year.(At least he got to keep Haimar Zubeldia) On the other hand, Radio Shack has put together a juggernaut of a team. Had there been a TTT next year, Mongo would have bet the farm that the winner of the TDF would be either Mellow Johnny, AK 47, or Li'l Bronze Medalist. Now I'm not so sure.
There always seems to be something intrinsically self-destructive about a "Super Group", or an "All Star Team"...Things never go as they should. Looking good on paper is no guarantee of success. That being said, all the planets are being brought kicking and screaming into alignment for Mellow Johnny to win the 2010 Tour de France...I really hope I'm wrong!
I know that Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans, Vincenzo Nibali, and a few others might have something to say about it, but if Alberto Contador wins the TDF in 2010 on a gutted and re-tooled Astana team, he will immediately, in Mongo's opinion, become one of the five greatest champions of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment