Some tips by Armstrong’s and Contador’s sport director for the one who desires to win everywhere.
Johan Bruyneel is considered the winning sport director in cycling, the one able to take a young talented American called Lance Armstrong in yellow turning him into the man able to win 7 Tour de France passing thru a cancer that made him a man with a even stronger image. He has wun in 11 years 9 Tour de France as Sport Director, leading Alberto Contador too into his success at Le Tour as well.
Johan talked about strategy, tactics, racing management and about the role of the Sport Director into core aspects as racing and into media management. Johan is a guru of the strong relationship between media exposition of the athlete and creating strong “cannibali” into the race, able to win any type of competition.
We have been talking about Italian athletics, programs, experiences and best practices of any sport that can be used borrowing ideas for other sports. Johan made us to focus about the special taste of any sport connected to strong efforts, like athletics and cycling.
Tactics and Strategy. How much has the use of radio communication changed
this aspect of the race? Could radio communication be possible in Athletics
like Marathon or 10.000 metres?
JB: I am a big advocate of race radios for cycling. There are some people who want to see them banned, but I honestly think that would be a huge detriment to the sport. The primary point of having radio communication is so we can inform the riders of race conditions. For example, we'll get a message from race radio that says "be careful in 2 km for a damaged road" and we'll need to tell this to the riders. Safety needs to be the primary concern at all levels of sport - whether it's children starting out or professional riders. Prior to the radios, sports directors would have to drive into the middle of the race to tell a rider something. Imagine a road
filled with cyclists and a car comes in, the director is looking for his
riders and trying to tell them something. Can that be any more unsafe? I also use the radio to tell them to eat and drink. It's important that they have this constant reminder. If you are drinking when you only have thirst, it's often too late and that rider could be in a bad state without the proper nutrients. And then I think a lot of riders like to have motivation "Come on boys" "Good job" "Keep going". You need that person in your ear, motivating and pushing you. Then there are times when I tell them some
tactics. We also see that in motorsports too. Just because you have good tactics, doesn't mean you will win the race. At the end of the day, the riders need to do the bulk of the work, and the coach is just another important piece of the team. All the pieces need to come together for success.
I don't follow marathon running very closely to really comment on the use of radios for running. I think each sport needs to look at their own needs, safety of the participants, the overall benefits and possible disadvantages. It's good to get a complete perspective as well - from the coaches, athletes, fans, organizers. What we've found is that the majority of people in cycling are in favor of keeping the technology.
How important is proper pre-race planning in amateur races?
JB: Well I think planning is often times the most underestimated part of racing; and it is so crucial and important. When I started with Lance in 1999 it was all about having goals and then having a plan in place to achieve the goals. It wasn't like I just said "Get on the bike and let's win the Tour de France." It was sitting down and mapping everything out - from training rides, to races, to nutrition, to equipment and everything in between. The difference between winning and losing, or even improving, is all in the details. And my focus went into the planning and all the details. For amateurs, it's never too early to have goals and a plan. But the goals always must be realistic, measurable, timely, and challenging. A
coach must be able to understand each individual athlete's needs and goals; and have a specific plan in place for each racer. There is no such thing as one plan that fits every racer.
You are the top Sports Director in Cycling, you created a myth like Lance Armstrong, an American guy riding a bike, USA was not that traditional as bike race environment. Cycling needed a "tout-terrain" man like Lance to find a better exposition on medias to attract people and sponsors. Dont you think that strong media oriented athletes can have better possibilities to make good results than low profile ones?
JB: Well it was all about focusing on cycling. If you don't have the
performance, it's often hard to attract media or sponsors. And I think athletes and coaches sometimes get too focused on the media and sponsors. When you lose focus on the sport itself, it ends up hurting the performance, which then makes it harder to attract media and sponsors. It's a bad cycle to get into and that's why you need to hire a strong support staff.
Everyone has a role on a cycling team - from riders to directors to
logistic administrators to PR and marketing. It is the support staff who have made us successful. We can focus on our jobs - training & racing bikes. When we need to do something with a sponsor or talk to the media, our support staff sets everything up so we are not losing too much focus on training and racing. You will see that is the case with any successful team or athlete.
The profile of the new athlete (in general) in any type of sport. Strong legs, good resistance and an appealing smile to attract sponsors to train in the best places with the best coaches and mates?
JB: I think one key element missing is the mental focus and toughness. I've seen extremely talented and marketable athletes, but they lack something mentally. I had an athlete once that had great numbers when we tested him, but he never lived up to his potential or expectations in the race. He was lacking that key mental element - he didn't have the confidence in himself, he didn't have the passion and intensity needed to perform at the top level of the sport. Coaches often times focus on the physical aspect, but I would say that the mental one is just as important.
Italian athletics seems weak now, the international one has Usain Bolt. How can a good manager to make a movement to arise?
JB: Well for sure there are talented Italians and probably many who have not reached their maximum potential. I think it's just a matter of looking at athletics in Italy and doing a complete analysis - what is working, what isn't working, what can be done better, what are other nations doing. It's a matter of understanding the complete picture of Italian athletics, finding solutions, setting a step-by-step plan and then executing the plan in a careful, but efficient manner. We always see the final products, such as a
Tour de France victory or Usain Bolt breaking a world record, but we rarely see the hard work that goes into developing these athletes and organizational systems. It's very complex and often takes a large time investment, but in my opinion, there are really no short-cuts to creating a top-level program.
We do think that cycling can pass its best experiences and practices to Athletics, what points do you see in common?
JB: Well I think every sport can share best experiences and practices. I'm speaking in October at the Leaders in Football Conference in the UK. Now I don't follow football too closely, but regardless of the sport, I know we can learn from each other and how we do things. You learn to borrow different ideas and incorporate them into your strategy or the way you do things. I'd love to have the opportunity to work on some consulting
projects with Italian athletics, where I can share our management structure and philosophy. I think it's been the key factor that has led to 9 Tour de France victories in 11 years.
Do you insert Athletics into your preparation schedule for your cyclists?
JB: Some cyclists do some light running in the off-season. Hiking, skiing and mountain biking are also good activities. We also focus on the core workouts - strengthening the abdominals and back. The endurance activities are more common for us to do than the sprints.
Is it theoretically prossible to make an italian athlete (in Athletics) a
"never been before" like you did in cycling for Lance Armstrong?
JB: I don't think that Lance was a "never been before." He was actually a World Champion rider prior to his cancer diagnosis. Few people remember that. Cancer obviously changed him, not only from a mental standpoint, but physically as well. He lost a good amount of weight that made it easier to climb the mountains. His story of going from near death to winning the hardest race in the world attracted a lot of media attention and sponsors.
Obviously it's a great and inspirational story. But I think that's a
reason why people like sports. Not only for the game or race itself, but for the story behind the game or the athlete. And I think from a media or marketing standpoint, you have to go beyond just the game itself. You need to have that connection for fans and sponsors. But at the same time, you need to have the right support staff in place so that the athlete can put the majority of his focus on his sport. Every sport may not have an athlete who battled cancer, but certainly every sport has stories; unfortunately they aren't always being told.
Do you follow Athletics? Who's the Athlete you would like to direct?
JB: The only sport I truly follow closely is cycling. But being Belgian, I am a fan of Tia Hellebaut and Kim Gevaert, who have done well in their respective Athletic disciplines. Since Belgium is such a small country, athletes such as Tia and Kim have been nicely recognized for their accomplishments.
If I were a coach in athletics, I would want to direct a talented athlete who hasn't reached his or her potential. Personally, that is what I enjoy. Taking a talented athlete and making him or her a champion. I've done it with Lance and Alberto Contador and I think it's very exciting to be part of the development of that professional. As I said before, everyone sees the final product, but it's the hard work and attention to detail that few people see that really makes it rewarding.
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