Visualizzazione dei post da Aprile, 1995

Putting a Happy Face On Cycling Team's Woes


His bicycle team is off to a mournful start, his sponsor has threatened to withdraw, his star rider is sick, his shoes are nearly submerged in a pool of rain. What, me worry? Everything is on schedule, says Patrick Valcke, smiling a somewhat beady smile.
Valcke is the directeur sportif of Le Groupement, a new and troubled French team. He is French too but not troubled. No. Valcke has been here before, quite often actually for a person in his mid-30s, and one thing he has learned is that he is a survivor.
He has survived other sinking teams, tumult and insurrection, even a heart attack that later was diagnosed as possibly indigestion. So the smile never left his face as he stood in a cold drizzle before the Liège-Bastogne-Liège race and explained why there was nothing to explain.
"We said this winter that Le Groupement didn't have a rider who could win the Tour of Flanders…