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Without Johan, Lance might not have won a tour. Johan's perspective on the tour and his team provides a more full picture of bicycle racing. There are also good analogies for preparing non-cycling teams.
Given his impact on cycling, it would be hard not to be curious about what makes Johan Bruyneel tick. This collection of semi-chronological essays may not give you a prolonged peek into the man's soul, but it is a very pleasant, entertaining, and at times introspective read. Don't buy it because you think you'll learn a lot about racing, buy it because you want to get a glimpse into the thinking of one of, if not THE, greatest directeur sportif that pro cycling has ever seen.
Belgium whose sports I admire is the subject of the excellent cycling book A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium by Joe Parkin. The Armstrong book is very inspirational on all levels.I find the parts where he talks about his background in Belgium per his family and his racing as good as far as that goes.
There are really only tidbits on improving cycling as in the way Armstrong and Bruyneel decided to concentrate on one major race, the Tour de France vs. Correct me if I'm wrong but this is more of a "self-help" kind of book and not so much as about cycling.
In it's own way, it's a bit in the vein of the Lance Armstrong books like "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, which I do give a top ranking to as a cycling book or self help. others however, even in that case, this was already wellknown.Now, I am ready to get No votes as to whether my review is helpful but it still stands, I don't find that much in the book that is about how to cycle better, say improving one's cadence to use an example or notes on one's diet, watt output, etc., it's more about what's in the mind.
As far as that goes, it may well be a five star self improvement book but only three stars per a straight-out cycling book not meaning to deride it in any way. Belgium in fact has the most winners in the Tour de France after France itself and Belgium has a rich sporting history even away from cycling with their famous national football/soccer team The Red Devils, they've been on their heels in recent years but it may change again.
That is a real hands on the handlebar cycling book, but I'd welcome any constructive criticism about the way I asses this book by Bruyneel.
If you enjoy bicycling and have previously watched professional races, such as the Tour de France, you should thoroughly enjoy this book. Johan Bruyneel's sharing his mastermining of coaching from day-one of meeting Lance Armstrong to the interplay and impact he has had with other super professional racers and the other pro teams is fantastic. It also helps give more understanding to a very complicated sport.Highly recommended reading.
I enjoyed the book, i thought it was quite an interesting look into the world of cycling, however i was a little put off by the books short, and somewhat disorganised sentences. Also, it would have been more intresting if Johan went into a little more detail about running a team and the position he was in during his time as a director. For this reason, i felt the book skimmed over a lot of detail.
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