We Might As Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind Eight Tour de FranceVictories
by Bill Strickland, Johan Bruyneel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bill Strickland, Johan BruyneelIntroduction: Lance Armstrong
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2009-06-03
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Mariner Books
Book Reviews of We Might As Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind Eight Tour de FranceVictories
Book Review: Enjoyable. Understand that it is a Johan memoir.
Summary: 4 Stars
I got this book because I wanted to read another book on biking, and when you remove both the training and repair books, the pickin's are pretty slim at the old book store. The cover features Lance just as prominently as the author, (who is the 'coach' of Lance's and Alberto's winning team), and there is a pull-out quote from Eddy Merckx that says "Shows the way to success in cycling and in life itself." Somehow I got it in my head this book was advice from the Belgian Steven Covey. Upon reading it, I found that it was 96% Life and Times of Johan Bruyneel, and 4% Lesson to Apply to Your Situation.
Which is fine. Bruyneel can safely be regarded as the mastermind behind Lance's exploits. Lance is a one-of-a-kind aerobic machine, with awesome raw talent, guts, vision, determination, and the rest. But remove Bruyneel from the equation and I think you have a guy who got to win a tour or three. The book's title is telling: Lance wanted to ride in the tour, Bruyneel's point was that if we are going to get read, we might as well win.
Bruyneel makes much of his analytical abilities, taking in all sorts of data and indicators and producing usable results. No argument here; you have to appreciate that he knew he lacked the physical gifts to win at the highest level, so he got there another way (see also Ray Evernham). The team's approach to the peaks, training, goals, and roles of each rider using individual scheduling is the kind of innovation that just wasn't around until Bruyneel said we just don't have to do it by tradition any more.
Here we have another instance of a situation that has caught my eye a lot in the past few months: They achieved at a phenomenal level in part with a set of inputs that were non-standard, not seen before, a collection of unlikely occurrences, notably
> the presence of Lance, the aerobic machine.
> the presence of Bruyneel, the analytical machine,
> origination in the USA, which then had no cycling expectations
> assistance of a sponsor with no particular expectations
> freedom to focus on a single race, unlike every other team in the world.
I enjoyed reading about Bruyneel's life, his particular stories, and the additional information on the Lance years and the early years of the Astana team. I would have very much liked to have heard the inner story of the 2009 campaign for the TdF, and whatever he would like to say about the Landis allegations and the Vuelta snub, but the 2008 season was tacked on as an afterthought as it is.
Summary of We Might As Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind Eight Tour de FranceVictories
Johan Bruyneel knows what it takes to win. In 1998, this calculating Belgian and former professional cyclist looked Lance Armstrong in the eye and said, "Look, if we?re going to ride the Tour, we might as well win." In that powerful phrase a dynasty was born.We Might AsWellWin takes readers behind the scenes and inside the team car, as Bruyneel reveals the planning, training, strategy, and tactics that led to a record seven Tour de France victories with Armstrong and an eighth with Alberto Contador. Through thrilling stories of his own racing career and those of the cyclists he has guided during his extraordinary career, Bruyneel reveals the keys to victory both in cycling and in life.
This paperback edition includes a new afterword on the 2008 season, with Bruyneel?s reflections on his record eleventh grand tour victory at the Giro d?Italia and the exclusion of his team Astana from the 2008 Tour de France.
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