An expected development:
Surprisingly, a "National Team Luxembourg" runs a bit counter Luxembourg's historical experience with the Tour de France. Though "National" used to mean strictly nationals as team members. Charly Gaul would never have won the Tour de France because of the scarcity of good Luxembourg team members. It took a mixed Dutch-Luxembourg team to provide a reservoir of good domestiques to help him win the Tour 1958.
Returning to the national concept is no longer the same: it is all about the backers, which still are not well known I do hope that all this goes well. Luxembourg isn't a country that will provide many consistent backers. It is too small. For the same reason, it doesn't offer endorsement opportunities as, say, the United States.
Cycling is an immensely popular sport in Europe. But spectators don't pay. Contracts pay a little, but endorsements will make the successful athlete's living. Therefore, I stick to my guns of last year and maintain the Schlecks should have teamed up with Lance Armstrong's Radio Shack when the opportunity came knocking. Please revisit:
If they had done so, imagine how the Tour de France 2010 would have evolved. Lance Armstrong would have recognized his weakness early on, releasing Andy Schleck out of a helper situation. Andy Schleck would have gotten better advice from that team than from Bjarne Riis, his sports director who secretly already knew that he would team up with .... Alberto Contador in 2011! Betrayal?
No comments:
Post a Comment