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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 Victories by Bill Strickland, Johan Bruyneel
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Bill Strickland, Johan Bruyneel Introduction: Lance Armstrong Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published) Published: 2008-06-04 ISBN: 0618879374 Number of pages: 240 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Book Reviews of We Might As Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind a Record-Setting Eight Tour de France VictoriesBook Review: Tactics and insights on winning Summary: 5 StarsThis is an outstanding book for the bicycling enthusiast. Lot's of inside information of the tactics goings on during major races,especially the Tour de France. Bruyneel is the man behind all(7)of the Lance Armstrong victories at the TdF. There is a ton of interesting stories that keep the book informative and entertaining throughout. The result is an inspirational work that naturally makes you want to clip in and head out for the open road. Since I only briefly recalled Johan's(he wasn't really a major player) racing days it was cool to hear about his roots in cycling. The touching story about his father, how he was a big time amateur and organizer of rides which allowed for Bruyneel to get his start and his tragic death was amazing. What was more amazing though was Bruyneel's tribute in his most trying of times while racing that allowed him to dig deep and pull off the unexpected. Although not the strongest of riders, by his own admission, Bruyneel had special vision while racing that allowed him to make valuable observations of the other teams which translated into tactics for his manager. These keen observations would not go unnoticed by a young Lance Armstrong who would later ask him to manage. The special relationship between Lance and Johan is discussed and how it all came to be when Johan was racing and Lance was an up and comer. Johan believes in Lance and maybe more importantly Lance believes in Johan. Bruyneel's innovative tactics are now part of the Lance Armstrong lore but make no doubt there is a man and method to the madness. As you know, assuming you are a cycling fan, the relationship between these two giants is not over as currently Bruyneel is manager for the Team Astana and Lance is currently riding the Giro de Italia and planing to ride the Tour de France. The title of this book should be an interesting concept for these two races considering how loaded the team is with stars like Levi, Horner, Contador and Armstrong. Anyway this is a great little book if you follow cycling because it reveals all the little things going on during the most memorable moments of the famous stages from the biggest races in the world. This is a highly recommended book for the cycling fan
Summary of We Might As Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind a Record-Setting Eight Tour de France VictoriesOn the tour and inside the mind of Johan Bruyneel, the winningest team leader in cycling history and the mastermind behind the success of the world's most celebrated champion, Lance Armstrong
Johan Bruyneel knows what it takes to win. In 1998, this calculating Belgian and former professional cyclist looked a struggling rider and cancer survivor 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. With Bruyneel as his team director, Lance Armstrong seized a record seven straight Tour de France victories. In the meantime, Bruyneel innovated the sport of cycling and went on to prove he could win without his superstar -- in 2007 he took the Tour de France title with a young new team and a lot of nerve, sealing his place in sports history forever. We Might as Well Win takes readers behind the scenes of this amazing nine-year journey through the Alps and the Pyrenees, revealing a radical recipe for winning that readers can adapt from the bike to the boardroom to life. We witness Bruyneel's near-death crash and comeback as a rider. We are privy to the many ways he and Armstrong outsmarted their opponents. We listen in on the team's race radios to hear the secret strategies that inspire greatness from a disparate team. We learn how to make sure "not winning" isn't the same as "losing" as Bruyneel struggles to prove himself -- post-Armstrong -- with new riders, new strategies, and skeptics around every corner. Whether mounting a difficult climb, or managing a team of thirty riders and forty support staff from a miniature car hurtling along narrow European roads, or looking a future legend in the eye and willing him to believe, Bruyneel is, and has always been, the consummate winner. Readers will relish this inside tour.
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