Tour De France 2005: Yates Gives Champion the Last Laugh

As a legendary hardman of professional cycling, Sean Yates was never one to mince his words, and when he was asked if he enjoyed his new role as directeur sportif in Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel squad the reply was typical of the man: "It's better than bloody well slaving from nine to five in an office, and financially it's better than cutting hedges."

Romance was never really Yates's bag and that was probably why British cycling fans took him to their hearts. Born in Sussex, educated at a Steiner school and a devotee of extreme pursuits - he lists ice climbing and bodybuilding among his interests - he has always been a man who simply gets on with whatever he is doing in his own understated way. Clearly, that is how he will approach his Tour driving the second Discovery Channel team car behind the No1 vehicle with Armstrong's mentor Johan Bruyneel.

"I'm just here to help out, run errands. It's a job and it's a lot nicer than a lot of jobs out there. With a team like this, with good riders out to win the Tour, it's as good as it can be. If everything goes to plan it won't be a problem but if it gets a bit hairy the stress levels will rise a bit. It's largely a matter of trying to cut out most eventualities and I think everything is under control."

The role of directeur sportif is hard to define but it boils down to day-to-day team management: helping to plan tactics before the race, ensuring that the right bodies are in the right places between hotels and stage starts and finishes, and ensuring during the stage that the men on bikes have spare wheels, adequate food and drink and the right clothing when they want it. This is the third team at which Yates has done the job, starting at the Linda McCartney Foods squad in 1999.

With Discovery there is a little more to it than in his previous teams. He and Armstrong have a shared history going back a dozen years, more than any of the Texan's immediate entourage on the Tour. Now, the 33-year-old Armstrong is feared and respected in equal measure by those around him; in 1992 when the pair met after Armstrong signed his first pre-professional contract with the Motorola team, Yates was the one who inspired awe, with his grizzled, scarred countenance, varicose-veined legs and mastery of terse comment.

In one legendary episode at training camp, when Armstrong was still an amateur and riding with Motorola for the experience, the Texan was "goofing around" and Yates growled: "You won't be laughing when you are a pro, boy." It was enough to keep the young, boisterous Armstrong quiet for several days.

There are gentler images as well: the pair shared a room when on the road and sometimes, when Armstrong was hyper and could not sleep, Yates would ramble reminiscently and at length about racing in his younger days to calm him down. When Armstrong took over leadership at Motorola after winning the world road race championship in 1993, each autumn he would talk the ageing Yates into doing one more year at his side, prolonging the Englishman's career to 1996.

For Yates, Armstrong has not fundamentally changed since those days, notwithstanding cancer, six Tour wins, million-dollar salaries and Sheryl Crowe. "He's always had the same character; it's the Texan way. He's ambitious, hard-headed, determined, aggressive, and along with his physical capabilities it's put him where he is. He's as hard as nails, he's a determined guy with no bullshit and that's why he wins.

"Some things have changed but they are the things around him, the media, the trappings, the pressure, the obligations he's under. No one would have predicted he would win six Tours back then, but it was unheard of and I didn't look that far ahead. [Miguel] Indurain was dominant and that was as far as I looked."

Yates, now 45, has nothing more to prove on two wheels, having finished the Tour 10 times in 12 starts between 1984 and 1995, won a stage and worn the yellow jersey for a single, memorable day in 1994. Even so he is still racing between spells in the Discovery team's second car, as well as playing in goal for his local football team in Sussex over the winter. "My aim this year was to do a good ride in the national 50-mile time-trial championship. I was third, so I'm happy." In quiet moments on this Tour he will, naturally, ride his bike.

He does not believe Armstrong can be beaten this year and his thinking is based on mathematics rather than mere loyalty. "With the last few years in mind, the strength of the team and his current form, I can't see it unless something dramatic happens like a drop in form, a crash or illness. He's in as good form as ever, as motivated as ever and the opposition is weaker.

"Last year he dominated the opposition and he hasn't really raced since then, so he's not burnt out. He's still young in my book even though only two guys have won the Tour at an older age. Let's say in the worst-case scenario he's 5% less strong [through ageing]; well, in 2004 he could have won the Tour with 10% less and this year he's as good if not better."