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LATEST FEATURES: JOHAN BRUYNEEL: WE MIGHT AS WELL WRITE
Tim Maloney-European Editor
July 4, 2008
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Bruyneel: Valverde Is My Tour Pick
Road Bike Action caught up with Johan Bruyneel, the winningest sports director in Tour De France history after he completed the first leg of a US book tour to promote his new book, “We Might As Well Win”, published by Houghton Mifflin and currently ranked #1 among cycling books on Amazon.Com.
Bruyneel told Road Bike Action from his home outside Madrid that although he is manager of Team Astana, he is able to spend more time with his family than previous years and had just returned from taking his daughter to swimming lessons when we got “JB” on the horn. “Our first book tour went well and it was hard work…we were in Austin, Texas at Mellow Johnnys, Lance’s shop and then Philly, Washington D.C., Milwaukee and finished up in Chicago. It was fun to meet up with all the people that came out to the book signings, who were excited about the book, about the (Astana) team and about cycling in general. In the United States, the fan base of cycling knows their stuff.”
We asked why he decided to write “We Might As Well Win”, a unique, behind the scenes look at an “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”, according to the publishers blurb.
“The book is something I wanted to do for a few years. During the last year of our sponsorship with the Postal Service, I was supposed to go to USPS headquarters and talk about the team and how it worked, not from the sports perspective, but the psychology of the team, the motivational aspects, the teamwork. In the end I never made the speech but the ideas remained. So I realized that these thing were interesting not just for a cycling public but for a wider audience. I wanted to used the story of our team’s success as an example and inspiration for people. “
We asked Johan how “We Might As Well Win” is about more than just cycling and he explained that (co-author) “Bill Strickland and I wanted to use cycling examples that related to life and I think we did that well.” The always driven Bruyneel admitted to Road Bike Action that “of course, the more books we sell the better, but honestly it’s not about the commercial success. My two biggest motivations in writing (“We Might As Well Win”) is that I thought it would be a cool idea to actually write a book. Secondly, I thought it would be great if my daughter Victoria could read it someday. Our publisher thinks it can be a hit, but that was not my goal at all.”
After his interview on Road Bike Action last fall, Bruyneel decided to come out of his short lived retirement and take charge of Team Astana, but also wanted to spend more time with his family. “I am traveling a lot this year but I am happy because I am able to stay at home more than previous years.” Although his Astana squad and their team leader Alberto Contador will not be on hand at the 2008 Tour De France to defend their title, Bruyneel will be at the Tour as a guest commentator for Vs. during the last week.
We couldn’t let the man who has the winningest record in modern Tour De France history get away without asking him for his 2008 Tour De France picks. Bruyneel told Road Bike Action “it’s going to be a different Tour because there is no real favorite; logically Cadel (Evans) is a strong favorite as he was 2nd last year and has been in great shape all year. He’s climbing and timetrialing well. I thing his biggest problem as favorite is to have a team that can control the race. Menchov is another name, but there is the same (question) with his team. And Valverde is unsure if he has a strong enough team to control the race. So if I had to name a name to win the Tour De France, it would probably be Valverde because his (Caisse d’Epargne) team is a team that knows how to win the team. The director (Eusebio Unzue) has the experience of winning five consecutive Tours with Indurain.”
After almost a decade of winning at the Tour De France, we asked Bruyneel how he felt about Astana’s exclusion from the 2008 Tour and if he wouldn’t rather be doing something else this July, like winning another Tour with defending champion Alberto Contador. “The decision (to exclude Astana) was something we were not happy about and I certainly wasn’t happy about it. But it’s something we have left behind in March and April and we have focused on other things. I really wouldn’t want to get a phone call from ASO to do the Tour; the riders have focused on other things and the Tour is not a part of our plan anymore.”
Bruyneel see that the Tour De France will be something out of the ordinary without Alberto Contador, now considered the #1 stage race rider in the world after his victory in the Giro d’Italia last month. “Ultimately we have to look towards the future, towards 2009. But I don’t think that the Tour will be a very attractive race (without Contador). Without all the star actors in the Tour, it’s not that appealing. With all due respect, they (Tour protagonists) are great bike riders but they have no charisma. They don’t move people much…”
“We Might As Well Win” is available on www.JohanBruyneel.com
Johan Bruyneel’s We Might As Well Win Book Tour
Monday 7 July: New York City
7PM
Borders Books & Music
414 Park Ave @ 57th St.
Tuesday 8 July: Portland, OR
7:30PM
Powell's City Of Books
1005 W.Burnside
Wednesday 9 July: Corte Madera, CA
7PM
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Friday 11 July: Seattle, WA
6PM
Elliot Bay Book Company
101 S. Main Street
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