So. It was announced yesterday that Lance will be riding in this years Tour de France.
I am satisified with a 10 miler on the weekend once a year.
This man has overcome many obstacles in life. Cancer and six winning Tours to be exact.
Questions remain. Can Lance Armstrong win his seventh tour?
Does he have the right to ride again?
He is the one who said he was finished. He was supposed to start commentating for the Discovery Channel and ride in other events.
Is he like the rock stars who do a farewell tour and then you see them 2 years later on the road again? Oh, I forgot he is dating one.
If he wins I am sure his status will rise. Then again, if he loses, will he be looked down upon?
Nobody is trying to be a hypocrite here. I am sure there are many of you that have decided to quit something and then attempt it once again. Usually what we quit is what we initially fail at. However, this seventh tour is almost like beating a dead horse.
Shouldnt he just move on to other things?
There has to be Tour cyclists that are eating this up. Now they have another chance to ride with and beat him.
I don’t remember ever hearing him say that he was done with the Tour de France.
My only concern is that this year hes going to be riding (and trying to win) some of the 1-day classics. Obviously hes going to have to be in peak shape for those races just as much as he would the Tour. If he does peak for this races, he might be spreading himself too thin to be able to win the Tour again.
But then again, he is Lance. And anytime you think Lance can’t or won’t do something, he does (like win a pack sprint at the end of a stage race…Tour de Georgia this past year).
2.) yes again. If you win the year prior you automatically have the right to ride the tour again. Why would he not have the right?
3.) I never remember him ever saying he would never come back. I do remember him saying he wasn’t sure if he would ride the tour in 2005 but he wasn’t counting out 2006. At that point there was talk about him riding the Giro D Italia instead of the Tour De France
4.)I’m thinking No, being that he hasn’t ridden an official farewell tour yet. If he did I wish I could have seen it.
5.) I doubt the man would be looked down upon. dumb question.
6.)Sounds like you are French… (only Kidding)
7.) Why would he move on to other things? If he is still kicking everyone’s ass and enjoying every minute of it, why would he quit? That question makes no sense at all, unless you have some kind of inside info that no one knows about.
Some of your speculations or statements are just plain silly. I have to assume you do not follow cycling very closely. Look up Mario Cipollini and read about him. He is 6 years Armstrong’s senior and is still one bad dude.
I credit Armstrong with being an incredible athlete who was (is) able to overcome extreme adversity and succeed. However, he might be pushing it with number seven, I think they are gunning for him. It’s all about knowing when to walk away.
I do wish him the best and hope that he is victorious with number seven.
Yes he can do it. But as Chris said, he may be spreading himself thin this year with including the classics races.
I would still put my money on him if he shows up to the start line. He has the best tour team ever in the history of the sport backing him. When you add both together, a 7th win is likely.
Last year was suppose to be the hardest race for him, but he ended up with his most dominant win.
I sure hope he is clean. Because if he is doping, and proven guilty, it would be the biggest blow to the sport, ever.
i do believe he is clean though
I dont beleive it’s even possible for Lance to dope. This man is an absolute legend and if he was on drugs, I would be in shame.
Speaking realistically, he is my idol. Hardworking to the point where he has to cough up blood to go the hosptial.
He also did state he was not intending to do this year’s but perhaps come at some later point of his life. But then again when you win 6 in a row, might as break your own record. That’s what being an althete/bodybuilder is all about.
[quote]KiloSprinter wrote:
Yes he can do it. But as Chris said, he may be spreading himself thin this year with including the classics races.
I would still put my money on him if he shows up to the start line. He has the best tour team ever in the history of the sport backing him. When you add both together, a 7th win is likely.
Last year was suppose to be the hardest race for him, but he ended up with his most dominant win.
I sure hope he is clean. Because if he is doping, and proven guilty, it would be the biggest blow to the sport, ever.
i do believe he is clean though[/quote]
i wouldn’t doubt for a second that he’s clean. for the last seven years every reporter, investigator, cycling official, and french detective have been staking him out, searching hotel rooms, gear bags,trash cans, team vans, houses, friends houses, hoping to break that story. uci officials have been to texas unnanounced at 6am offseason for tests.
lance is the most tested athlete in history but nobody’s got a thing on him. and ,on top of all of that, he’s willing to SUE IN A COURT OF LAW to prove his point. not exactly a house of cards if you ask me.
there is tons more to the cyling calendar than the tdf though we don’t see any of it in the us. lance has definitely brought cycling world-wide publicity but he won’t be eclipsing eddie merckx as the greatest cyclist of all.
i was hoping lance would go for the hour record this year. performance models of lance predict he could do 58k in an hour. fuckin incredible even in theory. that’s just over 36 mph. even more unbelievable when you realize no one on this board can make a bike go that fast for 30 seconds !
Well, personally I do fear that he may lose. I don’t think he will, but if he does many Europeans will celebrate it. I currently live in Europe and I’m appalled by the amount of disrespect people here have for Lance. They don’t admire him at all and credit all his accomplishments to the use of illegal substances. Europeans generally do that with every American athlete btw. In last year’s tour the france people actually hope that anybody but “that American” would win.
For me personally Lance will be the greatest whether he wins or not. I just hope that the french, the spaniards, the germans, the dutch and the people from belgium won’t get the satisfaction of watching him not win.
What Lance is to the rest of the globe is what the Dallas Cowboys (of the 90’s) and the Yankees are to football and baseball fans. You either love them with all your heart or you hate them with all your heart.
People love to root for the underdog and can’t stand when the people at the top of their game just keep on winning. The main thing that’s different with Lance is that he’s an American, representing America on a global scale. The Euro’s can hate on him all they want, it makes his winning all the more sweet.
i think most french, especially cycling fans have nothing but the respect for lance which he has earned.
that being said they do not want to see him win. the french mindset is always more interested in the struggle of the #2 or #3 player. or even the player who never places but is willing to puke his guts out trying. they will always take david over goliath even when david doesn’t win.
generally the french don’t like winners and don’t want to be winners. its kind of a paradox. they want the best of achievement and performance and want to celebrate that performance and achievement rahter than the man who accomplished it, because really no man accomplishes anything alone.
that’s the best i can explain it. the french will always take the sox over the yankees and to them lance is the yankees.
they also don’t like the fact that lance focuses exclusively on the tour. it is the biggest race in the world but there’s a whole lotta cycling going on besides it that lance doesn’t do… the resentment is kind of like taking the yankees and saying ok you guys are so good you don’t need to play the regular season just show up for the alcs. of the riders considered the top five of all time lance is the only one to focus exclusively on the tour. though all of those guys rode the entire season not for some purist dedcation to the sport but just cause they needed the money. its a different game today an even merckx has said he’d do what lance is doing if he could’ve…if the money was there.
so fuck 'em lance. i hope you do exactly what you want to do and stuff everybody again.
[quote]KiloSprinter wrote:
I sure hope he is clean. Because if he is doping, and proven guilty, it would be the biggest blow to the sport, ever.
i do believe he is clean though[/quote]
If they prove hes doping (which I hope never happens) it won’t just be a blow to the sport of cycling. It’ll be a blow to sports period.
In the last 6 years, there isn’t one person whos won more “50 Greatest People of the Year”, “Athlete of the Year”, “Whatever of the Year” than Lance. I know most of the magazines that do these qualifications are sorta gay but still, for anyone to get that much noteriety (sp?) and then find out that everything they’d done is a farce, that would just be crushing.
Hell, I felt stabbed in the back when Tyler Hamilton was proven guilty (guilty or not is a different discussion completely).
Lance’s contract with Discovery specified that he was to attempt a 7th victory, but the year was not specified. Does he have the right to race? Of course. But that is a team/sponsor decision, not entirely Lance’s. What I do worry about is the loss of Floyd Landis on Lance’s team. Yes, he does have a srong team, as he did last year, but he really only had 2 workhorses in the mountains last year, and the strongest of them was Floyd.
In any event, it will be an interesting tour. Lance has booted the record into another century, so whether he wins or loses this year, he has accomplished something that will take a long time to duplicate.
Lance Armstrong has the right to race. Better yet, as a proven winner and the epitomy of the word competitor, he has the obligation to race. He probably woke up one day and asked himself: “why leave it at six when I can make it seven in a row?” The sport of stage race cycling and the Tour, in particular, would not be the same without him. I, for one, would not be as inclined to watch the Tour this year if he were not in it.
The bottom line is that there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the current crop of cyclists that can take Lance in the Tour. He is a machine in the mountains, he is a formula one car in the time trials, and he has balls (ball) of steel. The crown is his and I see no one taking it away from him.
I have one question for those cycling enthusiasts out there: where does Lance Armstong rate (in your opinion) amongst the greatest cyclists in the history of the sport? Remember that we are and have been in the era of specialized cycling for a while and most modern elite riders train specifically for the Tour and discard other stage races such as the Giro and the Vuelta a Espana. With that being said, I rank “old-time” cyclists higher than modern cyclists (although I still include two modern era specialists in my top three.) In my book the top three cyclists of all time, in order from 1 to 3 are: Eddy Merckx, Lance Armstrong, and Miguel Indurain.
[quote]The Surge wrote:
Lance Armstrong has the right to race. Better yet, as a proven winner and the epitomy of the word competitor, he has the obligation to race. He probably woke up one day and asked himself: “why leave it at six when I can make it seven in a row?” The sport of stage race cycling and the Tour, in particular, would not be the same without him. I, for one, would not be as inclined to watch the Tour this year if he were not in it.
The bottom line is that there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the current crop of cyclists that can take Lance in the Tour. He is a machine in the mountains, he is a formula one car in the time trials, and he has balls (ball) of steel. The crown is his and I see no one taking it away from him.
I have one question for those cycling enthusiasts out there: where does Lance Armstong rate (in your opinion) amongst the greatest cyclists in the history of the sport? Remember that we are and have been in the era of specialized cycling for a while and most modern elite riders train specifically for the Tour and discard other stage races such as the Giro and the Vuelta a Espana. With that being said, I rank “old-time” cyclists higher than modern cyclists (although I still include two modern era specialists in my top three.) In my book the top three cyclists of all time, in order from 1 to 3 are: Eddy Merckx, Lance Armstrong, and Miguel Indurain.[/quote]
well the interesting part is that lance isn’t done yet but if i have to rate today i’d simply go with grand tours won. that puts lance tied for 5th with coppi at six wins. indurain won 7. anquetil won 8. hinault won 10. merckx won 11.
also coppi, indurain, anquetil, and hinault all won a grand tour double. and indurain did it twice: giro d’italia/tour de france in back to back years.
hinault was easily the strongest all around rider showing dominance in all types of races. still no one comes close to merckx with 525 professional wins. in fact none of the others even have half that amount. i don’t remember how many career wins lance has but i’d bet it’s under 100.
personally i’d like to see lance race some other races. i don’t see the difference between six or seven tdf’s. the tdf is so demanding…he could extend his career if he didn;t do and really cement his place in the top five of all time. right now he’s only at the edge of that.
[quote]chrismcl wrote:
KiloSprinter wrote:
I sure hope he is clean. Because if he is doping, and proven guilty, it would be the biggest blow to the sport, ever.
i do believe he is clean though
If they prove hes doping (which I hope never happens) it won’t just be a blow to the sport of cycling. It’ll be a blow to sports period.
In the last 6 years, there isn’t one person whos won more “50 Greatest People of the Year”, “Athlete of the Year”, “Whatever of the Year” than Lance. I know most of the magazines that do these qualifications are sorta gay but still, for anyone to get that much noteriety (sp?) and then find out that everything they’d done is a farce, that would just be crushing.
Hell, I felt stabbed in the back when Tyler Hamilton was proven guilty (guilty or not is a different discussion completely).[/quote]
well the hamilton thing is far from over. true he tested positive for autologous transfusion twice. but he is the first athlete ever to test positive for that and the application of this test is in fact brand new. in other words it’s never, ever been done before. the sticking point comes where wada officials are keeping the test secret and stonewalling even the release of the test’s statistical parameters.
and the proofs of the "secrect test "itself involved only 25 subjects. not even in the ballpark when you’re talking about someone’s career. also they’ve refused tyler follow up tests as well as dna testing to be certain it’s his blood. why would they refuse dna testing ? kinda fucked up if you ask me.
there’s definitelty some political bullshit going on especially since w.a.d.a. chief dick pound, what an awesome name, is looking for some big fish to validate his existence.
meanwhile tyler has been fired from phonak but vows to prove his absolute innocence. so stay tuned and we’ll see.
well the hamilton thing is far from over. true he tested positive for autologous transfusion twice. but he is the first athlete ever to test positive for that and the application of this test is in fact brand new. in other words it’s never, ever been done before. the sticking point comes where wada officials are keeping the test secret and stonewalling even the release of the test’s statistical parameters.
and the proofs of the "secrect test "itself involved only 25 subjects. not even in the ballpark when you’re talking about someone’s career. also they’ve refused tyler follow up tests as well as dna testing to be certain it’s his blood. why would they refuse dna testing ? kinda fucked up if you ask me.
there’s definitelty some political bullshit going on especially since w.a.d.a. chief dick pound, what an awesome name, is looking for some big fish to validate his existence.
meanwhile tyler has been fired from phonak but vows to prove his absolute innocence. so stay tuned and we’ll see.[/quote]
You’re exactly right. Deep down inside, I believe Tyler is innocent. However, as it stands right now, its pretty hard to argue against 3 positive drug tests.
I love Tyler Hamilton (in a guyish, manly, non-gay kinda way) but I’m also a realist.