Philippa York on the Spanish team facing tough decisions
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Nairo Quintana after Milano-Torino(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mikel Landa (Team Sky)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Alejandro Valverde fires an arrow at the Fleche Wallone(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Nairo Quintana and the Movistar team are introduced to the crowd(Image credit: RCS)
The Spanish National Championships Road Race was the last race for Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) before the Tour de France. The rider was key for the victory of his teammate Jesús Herrada(Image credit: Alberto Brevers)
One of the hardest lessons for the designated leader of a professional cycling team is when circumstances conspire to thwart the expectations placed upon them.
Then, as if not being as competitive as hoped isn't bad enough, there come the inevitable doubts and questions from the team and just about everyone with an opinion. The realisation that your place as undisputed leader is as strong as wet cardboard quickly follows.
Movistar expected Nairo Quintana to have won a Tour de France by now, he probably expected that too, and yet since 2013 he's reached a plateau. This year he didn't even make the top ten so alarm bells went off and the team has brought in reinforcements. It's been Landa Mania ever since. Don't get me wrong, Mikel Landa has the potential to win Grand Tours, but not all three-week races are equal and the Tour de France is the most stressful of them all. Strangely he's older than Quintana, normally the story includes a younger model but lets not be ageist, he's up and coming.
Quintana is already 'there' and probably wondering what all the fuss is about. However having to do two Grand Tours for the past four seasons has taken its toll, and all sparkle has been removed from his legs. Sorting that issue would have seemed easier than adding another to Quintana's problems but what do I know of little climbers being worn out.
History tells us that the two team leader scenario rarely works out well: LeMond and Hinault; Roche and Visentini; and Froome and Wiggins are all great examples of how it all goes wrong when egos and ambitions collide. In fact the only time I can think of relative success is Rooks and Theunise at PDM. They were friends, the same age roughly, and shared the same culture and the same ambitions. But they didn't win the Tour. Every other duo has seen the older model replaced by the young upstart and that eventually has seen the subjugation of the senior. It's natural selection.
Maybe Movistar think they the answer to this is in the shape of Alejandro Valverde - a wise head to keep the peace and set up the youngsters. To me that just seems like an added problem because realistically with eight-man teams there won't be enough workers left to do the hard slog miles if there are three leaders.
Commonsense says Valverde will do the Giro supporting Landa and then the Basque rider will do the same for Quintana at the Tour. Valverde then is sole leader at the Vuelta and the job is done. Perfecto. But with all the 'Mikel this and Landa that' it won't be that easy for the team management to keep their two climbers happy.
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Landa has the advantage of being Spanish, Quintana knows the team inside out. Each has its merits and in terms of getting along, the riders will probably be fine. It's the associated followers, helpers and friends that'll be the ones saying 'you ought to have taken your own chance, you were the strongest' or 'it's not fair he always gets the best deal'.
Philippa York is a long-standing Cyclingnews contributor, providing expert racing analysis. As one of the early British racers to take the plunge and relocate to France with the famed ACBB club in the 1980's, she was the inspiration for a generation of racing cyclists – and cycling fans – from the UK.
The Glaswegian gained a contract with Peugeot in 1980, making her Tour de France debut in 1983 and taking a solo win in Bagnères-de-Luchon in the Pyrenees, the mountain range which would prove a happy hunting ground throughout her Tour career.
The following year's race would prove to be one of her finest seasons, becoming the first rider from the UK to win the polka dot jersey at the Tour, whilst also becoming Britain's highest-ever placed GC finisher with 4th spot.
She finished runner-up at the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1986, to Pedro Delgado and Álvaro Pino respectively, and at the Giro d'Italia in 1987. Stage race victories include the Volta a Catalunya (1985), Tour of Britain (1989) and Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (1990). York retired from professional cycling as reigning British champion following the collapse of Le Groupement in 1995.
