Bruyneel best directeur sportif? the new Riis?

hombredesubaru

People make so much of Riis taking riders and turning them into champions or reviving their careers:
Julich, Hamilton, Basso.
And rightly so!

But actually, the same could be said of Bruyneel or moreso!

It was Bruyneel who took Lance when he was very unproven in GTs, believed in him and got him the support and revived his career. You could argue that Lance would have done it anyway but people who know LA say he needs this kind of personal beief and support, like most athletes. and the whole team building and tactical sense really helped LA.

But now the same could be said of Bruyneel as Riis-not a one trick pony with LA-, who took Salvodelli, gave him the support, and wham, the guy comes back from a horrible two years and wins big!

Danielson? Popovych? we'll see. Lets hope.
Amazing!

donhix1

If not for a bit of bad luck, Basso could be the Giro champ. I don't think we can tell what kind of D.S. Bruyneel is until Lance is gone. Did Bruyneel help make Lance the dominating rider he is? Or is he just riding on Lance's coat tails? Another point is that CSC doesn't have the budget of Discovery. Riis is my favorite just because he tries new approaches.

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musette

Bruyneel is not riding on LA's coattails. He partially made LA the champion LA is. Bruyneel's strategic thinking and attention to details are a large part of LA's success. Who do you think worked with LA to get the type of teams in place that LA has had, to help LA to the TdF wins?

micron

well, you could say that,as DS for the Giro, Sean Yates takes the credit for Savoldelli's win - Bruyneel was elsewhere with his main boy Armstrong

musette

Bruyneel is the head DS at DC. Yates is his assistant. Bruyneel and Yates both get credit for the win, especially given DC's focus on team effort for both DS and rider activities. Bruyneel is the heart of the DC team -- he picks riders, he collaborates with LA on everything, he is the leader of the team together with LA.

I was a bit worried about Yates initially. He didn't do particularly well with the Tour de Langkawi and he let Azevedo get booted from a Portugese tour for not meeting the time cut-off. But he has obviously done a good job with Savoldelli when it counted.

Bruyneel should get credit for all DC wins. Take the Classics: Demol leads that very clearly. But that doesn't mean Bruyneel shouldn't get credit for recruiting the Classics Team and for DC's Classics wins.

Just like a CEO gets credit for what the CFO and the General Counsel in a corporation do, because they are his direct reports!

Dead Star

can only say: 60%!!!

Dimos

I think Johan has more years in the job than Riis, hasn't he? So the thread have had to be "Riis, the new Bruyneel?"