The quote above is from Rolf Aldag, Team Columbia direceur sportif. He continues:

We were really helped by the Italian TV pictures. They were so focused on Mark, probabaly expecting him to be dropped on the climbs, that Erick, who was watching on TV from the passenger seat in the car, knew exactly where he was and who was around him.

Honestly, this trumps every other issues on why race radios should be banned. Race outcomes should not be this heavily impacted by the team car. The safety issue has been refuted by enough riders to lead me to believe that radios don’t make things safer in the peloton.

I’m not saying Cav wouldn’t have won without Zabel in the car watching Italian television, but it’s baffling to me to think that races are impacted this much by guys in jeans driving with their knees. As Hinault says:

It is just a ‘Game Boy’ that has a gigolo attached at the end telling the racer when to take a piss.

First, I can’t see how Zabel watching TV and relaying info to Cav stops him from being dropped. What, would his teammates who are charged with getting Cav over the mountains suddenly forget their responsibilities? No.

Second, the next place where Zabel might influence events is when Cav’s lead-out train forms starting about five kilometers before the finish. At that point TV cameras are focusing on all the main sprinters so I don;t see an advantage here. Also Zabel might be talking but the jostling for position in the peloton at that point is happening way too quickly for Zabel to relay useful info to the Columbia team. These guys are professionals, obviously well drilled in how to form a train. Zabel at that point is reduced to, “Renshaw move up!” and the like-as if Renshaw and company didn’t know better from years of doing this.

in the last decade occurred specifically BECAUSE of tv coverage.

I refer, of course, to the 2001 Alpe D’Huez stage and the Bruyneel/Armstrong fake-out.

Columbia hiring Zabel, multiple winner of the race, to coach Cav in the first place. Their riding the climbs several times and the last 140 K once to familiarize him with the course, with Zabel advising him of the best strategies at each significant stretch of it. Studying video of previous editions with Zable, ditto. Cav’s mindgames with the other riders before the race, leading them to underestimate his chances of winning. The excellent teamwork involved in getting him to the finish fresh. Cav’s own incredible sprint.

Having Zabel on the radio might also have helped, but it was just one piece of the whole. I’m guessing with all the prep they’d already done, the biggest boost was probably psychological—a bit of reassurance that it was going the way they thought it would.

For what it’s worth, I just checked Cav’s description of the race in his book, to see if he gave any credit to having Zabel on the radio. Never mentions it at all—he only recounts hearing from Valerio Piva during the race.

Has got to be HUGE, even if just reassurance that things are going to plan.