Driven by Yellow, What it takes to win the Tour de France
Today marks the start of the 105th Tour de France. This year’s edition of the most prestigious race in cycling is going to be one hell of a ride.
I’ve always been a professional sport junky, I crave moments where an athlete or a team reaches the epitome of success in his sport.
I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it’s not going to be satisfying. Greg LeMond
Despite its popularity in Europe, most Canadians’ knowledge of professional cycling is limited to Lance Armstrong’s rise and fall.
The scale of the Tour de France
Riding in the Tour de France is like running a full marathon every day for a month. Each day, riders race more than a hundred kilometers over the course of approximately five hours. Along the way they have to keep up with sprinters hitting speeds as high as 90 Km/h and climb mountains that are so steep most people have trouble just walking up them. While just about anyone (athlete) can train for a marathon, you have to be one of the world’s elite athletes to complete the the Tour de France.
It’s amazing to witness what the human body is capable of.
Almost half of the world will make time to watch some of the tour! That’s an audience larger than the Football World cup, the Olympics and F1 combined!
It raises the question: What does it take to have your team rider wearing Yellow on the last stage of the Tour heading toward the Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France?
A Team
Each individual “Team” has nine riders and elect a “protected” rider as the lead. They work together in unison to help the lead rider step on the podium. Thinking in terms of hockey, the protected rider is the Sidney Crosby of Team Canada but they cannot score goals without being supported by his wingers, defencemen, goalie and entire support team behind the boards.
Teamwork
Teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common vision. It’s the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives, and the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. Individual commitment to a group effort is what essentially makes a team and company work. It took more than just Mark Zuckerberg to create Facebook, and more than just Steve Jobs to push Apple; ultimately it takes a team to win the Tour de France. A well-rounded team is critical to success no matter what industry, company, or sport you compare it to. In order to reach this success, each team member needs to perform to the best of their ability. Riders in the Tour de France are driven not only by their personal love of sport, but also by their dreams of wearing the distinctive yellow jersey, a privilege reserved for the leading cyclist, and claiming the coveted Tour trophy.
As the video demonstrates, it is the goal of the team, and each individual of the team, to work strategically in order to create success. In the same way, a Tour team is like a team of allies who want each of their team rider to work together strategically to propulse their star riders to the top of the podium in order to truly establish themselves as the elite team they set out to be from day one.
Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, but working together is success.
Now it’s your turn. I’d love to hear your take on the subject. Let me know in the comments.
Simon Frigon
Third Generation Design Rebuild Craftsman | CEO @ cdrg+RedTeam | Rebuilding Environments by Design #Rebuild4Life
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In sports and in life, to rise to the top of your game you need to be ready physically, mentally and have one hell of a team behind you
Watch Team Sky Prepare for the 2014 Tour
Perhaps the single most important element in mastering the techniques and tactics of racing is experience. But once you have the fundamentals, acquiring the experience is a matter of time. Greg LeMond
Life is like riding a bicycle — in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. Albert Einstein
I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it’s not going to be satisfying. Greg LeMond