Product Description: On 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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - A great book!
This is a great book that I really enjoyed. It was well worth the money. I can't say it exceeded my expectations because they were very high. I can say that I wasn't disappointed at all. Thank you ... Read More
Rating: - and so it goes
Thanx for the insight of the spectacle surrounding the most exciting sport in the world. I might as well keep on!
see you on the pavé roads in Belgium!
Rating: - Tearing The Cranks Off
The only problem with the book is that it's too short! If you watch the Tour De France on TV you will love this book. The book covers everything from Johan's surprisingly successful career as a professional ... Read More
Rating: - 4.5 Stars... Excellent 'memoir' for Tour de France aficionados (and more)
Johan Bruyneel, the team director of the US Postal/Discovery teams from 1999 to 2007, hails from Belgium (as do I), and I kinda grew up with him watching him on TV (he is 4 years younger than me, yea I'm giving ... Read More
Rating: - Gives you a new appreciation for the tactics required to win a Tour de France
This 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 ... Read More
- and so it goes