Tour De Nissan: Lance Armstrong and Team RadioShack trade bikes for cars

“Aw, come on, man! Go! Go! Hit it!”

Lance Armstrong is shouting over the wind, engine and tire noise of the Nissan 370Z convertible that he is piloting around the twisty durability track at Nissan's proving ground in Stanfield, Ariz. You don't win seven Tour de France events without being a little competitive, and Armstrong is absolutely glued to the back of a GT-R driven by Team RadioShack general manager Bart Knaggs. Despite more car, Knaggs just can't pull away from the Texas superstar, even though he has no experience.

The first week of December, Team RadioShack (TRS) assembled seven of its U.S.-based riders for off-season training in Arizona. The training camp served as a tune-up for the cyclists prior to the season-opening Australian “Tour Down Under” in January and as a team-building exercise. But rather than have the guys bungee-jump, or white-water raft, TRS brought them to the 3,000-acre Nissan Technical Center to drive the maker's entire product lineup.

Nissan is a major sponsor of TRS. Flip on TV coverage of the Tour of California or the Tour de France and you'll see the team's riders trailed by Nissan Rogues or (in Europe) Qashqais throughout the race. The manufacturer also supplies Armada SUVs for the team's soigneurs (assistants/mechanics).

Fitted with six spare bikes, wheels, parts and a mechanic, each Rogue is a rolling roadside-assistance unit. In-car radio communications with the riders as well as TV and race radio feeds keep the team on the same page tactically. Consequently, the team directors who drive the cars are a bad advertisement for multitasking. Somehow, they usually keep everything rolling safely.

But the riders are at the wheel today. Seven guys with big legs and ridiculous fitness showed up at the proving ground in the morning for a standard chalk-talk and a product briefing. (Always good to have something informed to say about the sponsor after winning a stage.) They were then turned loose on the test center's 5.7-mile high-speed oval and road course with Nissan test drivers in everything from the hairy GT-R to Nissan's new Murano convertible.

“These guys don't really need too much encouragement,” test-center manager Mike Bourne said as rider after rider left the pit area at full throttle.

Armstrong certainly didn't need prodding, though he's largely worked the fast-car bug out of his system.

“Back in the early 1990s, I had an [Acura] NSX and a [Porsche] 911 twin-turbo,” he said. “More recently, before our relationship with Nissan, I had an Audi [A8] V12. It was pretty quick for a big car. But once we partnered up with Nissan, I got rid of it. We're exclusively a Nissan family. No more fast cars, either. I've got five kids, a bunch of bikes. I'm always taking the kids to sports and doing rides with friends, so space is big.”

The Armstrong fleet now includes several Armadas, a Pontiac GTO that Chip Foose revamped for him for the TV show Overhaulin' and a Nissan Leaf. In fact, Armstrong was the first U.S. Leaf owner, taking delivery of his car in October. You may have seen Nissan's TV ad campaign featuring Armstrong riding behind a succession of exhaust-spewing gassers and the exhaust-free Leaf.

Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer rolls a 2008 BMW M3, and for the last six months, he's enjoyed a GT-R courtesy of Nissan. His time in the latter was thought by the other riders to give him an advantage in the autocross they would compete in that afternoon. Surely driving fast is less daunting than hurtling down a mountain at 55 mph on thin bicycle tires.

“I think they're very similar,” Leipheimer opines. “You've got to look well ahead and not turn in too early. On the bike, our brakes are pretty good, but we definitely need disc brakes.”

Before taking on the cones, the team suited up and mounted their bikes for some camera work behind a Leaf and a two mile time trial on a section of the road course. They competed against each other and three amateur rider-employees from the test center. TRS young gun, Bjorn Selander was quickest, setting a “track record” which should stand a long time. In so doing, he earned a cherry prize trip to the Nissan Academy at Silverstone. The Nissan gents were only about 30 seconds off the pace.

Then it was off to a tricky autocross tackled in 370s and 350Zs and a G37. Initially cautious, the riders were soon torturing tires and attempting handbrake turns. When the brake dust and tire dust settled, Armstrong was the quickest.

Aw, come on, man!

By Eric Tegler