Armstrong facing uphill struggle on return?

The Tour de France got underway in Monaco yesterday with the un-retired Lance Armstrong finishing 10th in the opening skirmishes of an event that the Texan has won seven times, most recently in 2005. Monaco is of course a venue that is more known for the glitz and glamour of Formula 1 than the hard toil of the cycling peloton, and there were indeed shades of F1 present en route: the iconic tunnel that features in the Monaco GP circuit, and Spanish F1 star Fernando Alonso answering a few questions from the media in French and keeping an eye on the progress of compatriots Contador and Sastre et al.

You could be forgiven for having given up on cycling, what with all the revelations and accusations of drugs cheating that have so afflicted the sport over recent years. But let’s leave that debate aside for now. “Le Tour”, as a spectacle, remains an alluring fusion of man, machine and terrain. And this year it is worth watching, if for no other reason, to see what becomes of the Armstrong comeback. Can the 37-year old mount a genuine challenge?

The evidence from yesterday’s opening against-the-clock individual time-trial is that Armstrong is in pretty decent physical shape, despite his recent broken collarbone. But for the American to be wearing the leader’s yellow jersey again come Paris on July 26 looks to be a tall order, even for a man with his legendary powers of recovery. The opening time trial is as much as anything a chance for the time-trial specialist to bag a stage win and secure the initial, prestigious yellow jersey mantle. For the big tour contenders, if you can’t pick up the stage victory it’s about pinching a few seconds off major rivals - or at least limiting the arrears. After the first 15.5km of the Tour, Armstrong is certainly in touch with the leaders, and a bid for overall victory doesn’t look totally fanciful. But to have already lost 22 seconds on a main contender such as Alberto Contador is a not insignificant margin, even at this early stage.

Perhaps more important for Armstrong’s Tour chances than the simple time gap at this point will be the dynamics within his Astana team, especially when it comes to the gruelling mountain stages where the really big chunks of time can be won and lost. Armstrong came in as the fourth-placed Astana rider in the time-trial, and that could well have implications for team hierarchy. Not unlike F1 teams, it’s difficult for a cycling team to have more than one Numero Uno. If as a rider you don’t have some faithful domestiques helping to drag you up the slopes, or if your would-be trusty lieutenants are somewhere up the road chasing their own victory spoils, things can get very lonely, very quickly. And that’s the risk you run if you’re not the undisputed team leader. Had Armstrong placed first of the Astana riders in the time-trial, that would have helped him immensely. As it is, it could well be an uphill struggle for him now.

By the way, if - as is all the rage - you’re on Twitter, you might be interested to know that Lance Armstrong is tweeting straight from the Tour: http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong

Comments

[The Dude]

Thanks wim, I forget the Tour de France every year, but really like watching it whenever I do manage to remember it's on. I've just looked it up and apparently it's live on Eurosport with James Richardson, plus there's an hour's highlights on ITV4 at 7 each evening with Gary Imlach. Makes me nostalgic for Football Italia and C4's late 80s American Football coverage as well!

[ceann mor]

Still think that Contador will finish ahead of Armstrong in Paris but it will be interesting to see what Astana do if Armstrong gets in yellow after the TTT tomorrow.

[worldinmotion]

Well well, an author's addendum appropriate here methinks, after an unexpectedly dramatic 3rd stage. A breakaway group leads home - Armstrong in it, while many miss out. Result? - Armstrong jumps into 3rd overall and, notably, becomes the top-classified Astana rider. Game very much on...