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We Might as Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind a Record-setting Eight Tour De France VictoriesSnagging.org In association with Amazon.co.ukOnline Shop | Property Guides | Kitchen & Home | Garden Tools | Power Tools | Consumer Electronics Get the Snagging Checklist Here! We Might as Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind a Record-setting Eight Tour De France Victories by: Johan Bruyneel, Bill Strickland  List Price: £12.99 Amazon.co.uk's Price: £10.39 You Save: £2.60 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Binding: HardcoverEAN: 9781845963859 ISBN: 1845963857 Label: Mainstream Publishing Manufacturer: Mainstream Publishing Number Of Pages: 240 Publication Date: June 05, 2008 Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Studio: Mainstream Publishing Related Items:
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 Rating: - Gives you a new appreciation for the tactics required to win a Tour de FranceThis is a fascinating behind the scenes look at what it takes to coach a winning Tour de France team. You can't argue with the author's credentials: Johan Bruyneel was a professional cyclist who competed in the Tour de France himself before becoming the team director behind Lance Armstrong's seven wins and subsequently for Alberto Contadour in 2007. In this book Bruyneel describes the strategies behind a winning team (and he makes it clear that it's very much a team effort to win the Tour de France). He talks about how a team can control the race, when they should let breakaways go and when they need to chase them down, how they can play the mind game with other teams, the different skillsets that individual riders within a winning team need to have and countless more insights into the world of cycling. I was reading this book during the 2008 Tour and it made me appreciate far more the way that team CSC were approaching the race and why they did some of the things that they did. Very, very interesting. I didn't like the way that the book jumps about in time as required to provide support to the points that Bruyneel is making. For example, Chapter 6 talks about the 2001 tour, Chapter 7 talks about the 1999 tour and Chapter 11 talks about the tour in 2000. While Bruyneel makes it clear at the outset that he hasn't set out to write an autobiography, the book would have been enhanced (and easier to follow) if he'd kept things in chronological order. Bruyneel talks several times about the use of performance enhancing drugs and how they have affected the sport. He is adamant that Armstrong never took them, although I found it interesting that he talks at one point about how he deliberately had Armstrong lose a stage that he could have won, in part because "if we won again, so quickly, I could foresee...accusations of doping". He also describes the immense amount of time and money that goes into finetuning the bikes and equipment: money is no object if it converts into a few precious seconds saved on the race. This is an easy and very worthwhile read for anyone who's interested in the Tour de France. Rating: - this is a great read; obssession with road cycling not requiredI read this book incredibly quickly. It is well written and interesting and takes a whole new tack on the lance armstrong years. I enjoyed the team car/ manager's eye view of the discovery team and Bruyneel's recollection of the minute strategies and adaptability that let discovery dominate the tour de france. The book is well balanced, insightful and offers glimpses into areas of professional cycling not really covered elsewhere. Basic functional explanations make this book accessible to non cycling obsessives without slowing down more avid supporters.  Try searching the Internet for "We Might as Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind a Record-setting Eight Tour De France Victories" or Ebay for "We Might as Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind a Record-setting Eight Tour De France Victories". You might also be interested in the following great products:
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