Listening to the remarks from the team you wouldn't know who is the team
leader. They always talk about supporting Heras and Beltran, and sometimes
Rubiera and Landis. But when the team for the Vuelta was announced, there
wasn't a question.

This is a quote from Bruyneel-

"The team will be led by Roberto, who deserves to be the leader of our team
at the Vuelta," said Johan Bruyneel, the team's director sportif. "I think
our team is probably the strongest we have ever sent to the Vuelta in our
history. Roberto is fully recovered from the Tour de France and said he is
ready to go for it."

"Bruyneel added the team will have great support for Heras in the mountain
stages in Rubiera, Landis and Beltran along with added strength on the flats
with the addition of Hincapie to ride alongside White, Van Heeswijk, Barry
and Joachim. "

This could be a tactic of Bruyneel. Play it close to the chest. Maybe Heras
is the guy (when he's on form he's the best pure climber on the team, if not
the world), but they want to make ONCE cover both of them. That would be
classic Bruyneel.

Anyway, we should see soon.





"Bob Schwartz" a écrit dans le message news:
...
trg wrote:
Agreed, we have to at least see who has their mountain legs on. But as a
matter of strategy, what if they are about equal in the next stage? And
the
stage after that?

Winning a 3 week tour is all about saving energy. If you tire out two
riders
trying to see which one might be slightly stronger, rather than
conserving
one as much as possible, that could be a fatal mistake.


If they are equal in the mountains then the decision is easy. Beltran
leads. He's ahead on time and a much better time trialist.

Last year Postal delivered Heras to the final TT with a lead of over
a minute. He coughed up 3:22 at the end. He needs to be a lot better
than Beltran in the mountains. If they're even then then decision is
easy.

Bob Schwartz