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Clive Shearer
Management
by Design
By Clive Shearer
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August 10, 2011

Teamwork lessons from a Tour de France failure

By CLIVE SHEARER
Special to the Journal

Iobserved an incident of disobedience in the Tour de France bicycle race that was just completed in July. The riders all have earpieces, and the television camera showed a team manager in a team car talking to one of his riders during the race. He said, “Conserve your energy. Conserve your energy. Just take it easy and go with the group. Do not attack until the last climb. I repeat, do not attack until the last climb.”

Within 15 minutes, the rider disregarded the manager's explicit instructions, and in a burst of speed, took off after the leading break-away group of riders up an intermediate mountain. By the time of the final climb, two hours later, he had exhausted himself and was of no value to the team as it approached the finish line.


 
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