Team Is Everything to Him

Though it’s not all about the team at the Tour de France, the team matters.

When Lance Armstrong begins his ride for a seventh straight title today with an 11-mile individual time trial on the Atlantic coast, he will be on his own in a battle against rough pavement and tricky headwinds.

But as the 21-stage race progresses more than 2,220 miles across a country filled with cobblestone streets and unpredictable weather, brutal mountain climbs and rolling farmland roads lined with fans who want to touch a rider, offer food and drink, blow kisses or maybe a wad of spit, Armstrong will rely on his Discovery Channel teammates.

These eight men from six countries are chosen by team leader Johan Bruyneel for their strengths and a common willingness to shepherd Armstrong.

The newcomers are Yaroslav Popovych, a 25-year-old Ukranian who is strong and filled with untapped potential, and Paolo Savoldelli, 32, of Italy.

The stalwart is George Hincapie, 32, a loyal assistant to Armstrong in his previous six Tour wins. Hincapie is a tough New Yorker who already looks ahead to next year when, he says, “I’ll ride for Popovych,” in anticipation of Armstrong’s retirement.

Savoldelli has already made an impact by winning the Giro d’Italia for the American team.

But it is the man Savoldelli replaced, stoic 39-year-old Russian Viatcheslav Ekimov, out with a back injury, whom Armstrong pointed to as a perfect teammate.

“The absence of Eki, nobody can fill that role,” Armstrong said. “Perhaps you can replace the job he does on the team, the person who protects me on the flat, keeps me out of the wind, keeps me out of trouble.

“But the amount of leadership he brings to the team? I don’t know. To me, Eki has an aura I feel, other riders feel, the peloton feels, the press feels. Eki is one of the true and only legends we have in cycling so we can’t replace that. I think about that every day. I realize I’m missing somebody that’s always reliable on the tough days, on the tricky sections. Like a little kid, you’ve got your blanket with you when it’s scary. I knew I’d be OK with Eki.”

Popovych joined the team after Floyd Landis, a 29-year-old American who had been an integral member of last year’s winning U.S. Postal Service team, defected to Phonak, the Swiss team in need of a leader after Tyler Hamilton was suspended for failing a blood doping test last year.

Landis predicted last month that Phonak would win the team time trial Tuesday. Whether it was a brave or foolish proclamation remains to be seen, since Armstrong’s crew has dominated the event where an entire team’s time is given to each rider. “I’d say we’re still the best team,” Armstrong said. “But we’ll let the race decide.”

And each of the three best riders for Germany’s T-Mobile squad -- Jan Ullrich, Andreas Kloeden and Alexandre Vinokourov -- have finished in the top three individually in the Tour. Vinokourov said each T-Mobile rider was focused only on beating Armstrong and that it didn’t matter who won the coveted yellow jersey that belongs to the Tour’s winner. “As long as it isn’t Armstrong,” Vinokourov said.

With Armstrong announcing his retirement after this Tour, there have been whispers that teams might join forces to help one another beat the Texan.

“Every year you hear about the possibility of collusion,” Armstrong said. “And it just about never happens. The Tour is too important to sponsors. They don’t want to watch one of their riders in a little mafia working against another rider. That’s not what they pay the team to do.

“But in the event that it did happen, I feel confident our team is strong enough to ride at the front.”

Hincapie has been particularly fierce in this spring’s prep races. He won the intense final stage of the mountainous Dauphine Libere by outriding Popovych.

“In the end Popovych knows that next year I’ll be working for him at the Tour de France,” Hincapie told reporters after the Dauphine. “Maybe it was better that I won the stage here. I don’t consider July racing for me. My job is just to stay with Lance. There are no real personal ambitions. It’s a team ambition.”

Bruyneel has chosen Armstrong’s teammates as much for selflessness as for talent. Jose Azevedo, 31, from Portugal, finished fifth overall at last year’s Tour even though he exhausted himself in the mountains playing defense for Armstrong.

Pavel Padrnos, 34, of the Czech Republic, will be Armstrong’s bodyguard through the flat but dangerous early stages when the field is still large and accidents happen when too many riders bunch too closely in curves.

Climbers such as Azevedo and Spaniards Manuel Beltran and Benjamin Noval will take the lead in the mountains. Their job is to make sure none of the other contenders can break away and pick up major minutes on Armstrong. They will ride themselves into exhaustion to force a sneaky opponent back into the peloton.

When the team is together, they speak a language their own, a mishmash of grunts and shouts, a Spanish word here, one in Czech there, mangled English everywhere. But on the road there is only one language: protect Armstrong. It is a language they all understand.

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Team Lance

Members of the Discovery Channel pro cycling team who have been chosen to join Lance Armstrong for the Tour de France:

*--* Jose Azevedo Country: Portugal Pro since: 1994 Age: 31 Hgt.: 5-8 Wgt.: 130 Career highlights: Had a career-best finish of fifth overall in last year’s Tour de France, including a victory in the fourth stage.... Was runner-up in the 2003 Tour of Gemany.

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*--* Manuel Beltran Country: Spain Pro since: 1995 Age: 34 Hgt.: 5-10 1/2 Wgt.: 132 Career highlights: Climbing specialist who wore the leader’s jersey for several early stages before finishing 13th in last year’s Tour of Spain.... Has three top-10 finishes in Spain.

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*--* George Hincapie Country: United States Pro since: 1994 Age: 32 Hgt.: 6-3 Wgt.: 175 Career highlights: Only team member to have ridden in support for all six of Armstrong’s Tour de France victories.... Had two stage victories in last month’s Dauphine Libere.... Won the U.S. Pro Championship in 1998 and the San Francisco Grand Prix in 2001.

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*--* Benjamin Noval Country: Spain Pro since: 2001 Age: 26 Hgt.: 6-2 Wgt.: 170 Career highlights: Was youngest member of team at last year’s Tour de France.... Placed 10th in the Tour’s young rider competition.

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*--* Pavel Padrnos Country: Czech Republic Pro since: 1996 Age: 34 Hgt.: 6-3 Wgt.: 179 Career highlights: Finished 79th in last year’s Tour de France.... Competed in Tour of Italy from 1997 to 2001, with a best finish of 18th in 1999.

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*--* Yaroslav Popovych Country: Ukraine Pro since: 2002 Age: 25 Hgt.: 5-8 Wgt.: 141 Career highlights: Won the Tour of Catalunya in May.... Has finishes of third, fifth and 12th in three appearances in the Tour of Italy.

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*--* Jose Luis Rubiera Country: Spain Pro since: 1994 Age: 32 Hgt.: 5-11 Wgt.: 152 Career highlights: Finished 19th for the second year in a row at the Tour de France in support of Armstrong.... Has two top-10 finishes in both the Tour of Spain and Tour of Italy.

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*--* Paolo Savoldelli Country: Italy Pro since: 1996 Age: 32 Hgt.: 5-11 Wgt.: 158 Career highlights: Marked his comeback from a fall that resulted in a concussion, facial wounds and a fractured wrist a year ago by winning the Tour of Italy in May.... Also won the 2002 Tour of Italy

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Source: team.discovery.com