Tour de France

[Guest]

It's great that he beat the cancer and all . . .

but, that fucker, Armstrong: he's obviously on dope, ain't he?

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Well he is dating Sheryl Crow.

 

[Guest]

Well he is dating Sheryl Crow.

Bastard!

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Go Azevedo!
http://no-troy.planetaclix.pt/images/portugal.gif

PS: Yes. Bastard.

 

[steve w]

Dating Sheryl Crow is merely the post-script from him dumping the wife who helped him through his cancer.

That said, I don't set much store by rating my sports heroes in terms of their personal life.

In sporting terms, Lance is up there with the all-time greats of ANY sport. Even Indurain didn't do six IN A ROW. Lance has taken and passed every drug test known to man. He's clean and winning, 99% of the rest are dosed up to the nuts with EPO and still can't get near (as Millar admitted today).

Watch Lance in the time trials today - look at the intense concentration, focus and will to win he brought to a stage he won convincingly, and could afford to lose. That's focus and attitude, and that's why he's the best.

I can't understand why Lance isn't America's biggest sporting hero today, especially with Kobe Bryant et al providing such a conspicuously poor role model.

And he's competing in a sport where other countries regularly participate, unlike the "World" Series and the "World Champion" Superbowl winners.

 

[Guest]

I can't understand why Lance isn't America's biggest sporting hero today, especially with Kobe Bryant et al providing such a conspicuously poor role model.
And he's competing in a sport where other countries regularly participate, unlike the "World" Series and the "World Champion" Superbowl winners.

That's a good question, sw. My impression is that men on bikes (vs. motorcycles) are considered wimpy. Cyclists here (esp. in cities) are disdained by anyone in a car (the majority). I don't think the Amer. public sees it as a sport. I haven't been on a bike since an auto passenger stuck their arm out and purposely pushed me down to the curb (it was a very nice Bob Jackson too).

Perdita

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I can't understand why Lance isn't America's biggest sporting hero today, especially with Kobe Bryant et al providing such a conspicuously poor role model.

And he's competing in a sport where other countries regularly participate, unlike the "World" Series and the "World Champion" Superbowl winners.

Because he doesn't have the support of major brewing companies.

 

[R. Richard]

It's great that he beat the cancer and all . . .

but, that fucker, Armstrong: he's obviously on dope, ain't he?

Actually, if you read the cycling media, Lance is on preparation instead of dope. He lives in France and rides at least key parts of the Tour de France prior to the race. He knows the terrain and how fast he can go on the key sections.

He also has a very strong team that is built with the single aim of seeing that Lance wins the Tour de France. There are no sprinters on Lance's team and no other member of the team has ever won a stage of the Tour de France.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Re: Re: Tour de France

He also has a very strong team that is built with the single aim of seeing that Lance wins the Tour de France. There are no sprinters on Lance's team and no other member of the team has ever won a stage of the Tour de France.

Yep. See my previous post.

Today's time trial excluded, he never needed to shake off any opponent himself. In the two mountain stages last week and the one yesterday, his team mates (Azevedo, usually) were the ones who broke the field up. All Lance had to do was keep up with them until the right time.

PS: Actually, they all won a stage.
PPS: God, first the Euro, now this. I got to stop watching sports.

 

[Black Tulip]

I usually watch with half an eye for a look at the countryside.



I could get away with that when I didn't go abroad for a holiday.



A lot of people are getting a bit tired of Lance winning the Tour again, especially as he is not really winning all that much episodes. Coming in second every day is good enough. LOL

They use him in a promotional for funding cancer research over here. Anybody else seen the thing?

 

[steve w]

The US reaction (or lack of it) explains why he lives in France so much. It's true that he relies on his team to shield him from untoward events, but this is the way the Tour de France (and other long distance races like the Giro) are run. He's worked his way up to being the top dog in the team, and it's part of the fascination to see how these tactics are played out on the road.

I think the time trial shows just how far ahead he remains. It's a moot point about whether it's boring for him to win all the time. If one event can't really be won by luck, it's the Tour de France. Just the preparation, will to win, and plain refusal to give in to your body means that whoever wins it, deserved to win. It's great to see someone winning without being a walking chemistry set.

All great champions tend to get denegrated for "dominating the sport" at the time, and then are rightly lionised later.

 

[GodBlessTexas]

I don't think the Amer. public sees it as a sport.
Perdita [/B]

I agree...cycling wouldn't appear on many American's list of sports.

I'd like to see such people get on a bike and try riding up even the slightest incline for more than a few minutes. Once their legs were like spaghetti, their lungs felt like they would explode, and they were kneeling on the ground vomiting, then they just might have a greater respect for the sport's professionals.

To be able to even compete in an event like the Tour de France is an incredible accomplishment, even more so to be able to so aptly dominate the field as Armstrong has done.

Regarding doping, I'd say most professional sports are on the lookout for it now more than ever. The guilty ones can't hide forever. For Armstrong to repeatedly turn up clean tells me that he must be clean.

Watching Armstrong's accomplishments is truly awe-inspiring. Yes, I feel some amount of national pride because he is an American. But more importantly, I look on in amazement at the preparation, determination, and raw strength of that man's body and what it can do.

 

[R. Richard]

To perhaps put the Tour de France in perspective, it is instructive to condsider amateur cycling. In amateur cycling the achievement of a 'century,' a hundred miles in one day is a real accomplishment. The riders of the Tour de France do a century most days. In addition, they ride up and down mountains, racing against the top riders in the world, while achieving their century.

As has been suggested in and earlier post, try just riding a bicycle for perhaps four hour without a break. You will then have some small idea of what it must take to be a bicycle racer.

 

[Black Tulip]

Funny the way you guys are measuring the accomplishment by the mileage. I do that by the speed.

Maybe because I use my bike, a normal one, to go to work every day. The Netherlands really is bike country.
It takes me about 20 minutes, which amounts to a speed of 30 km/ph = 18 mph.
Not that I could maintain that for an hour, I think.

But the men in the Tour easily reach speeds of 30 mph and more, and that for hours at a stretch. That is as fast as a car!

That's what I call performance.

 

[Pure]

I read somewhere that the French changed the rules/scoring this year, in a effort to set up some competition for Armstrong (I think they'd like to win, the odd time.) Anyone know about this?

Having looked at the cancer account that he wrote, he had a helluva time, and the comeback is truly amazing.

 

[Clare Quilty]

I can't understand why Lance isn't America's biggest sporting hero today, especially with Kobe Bryant et al providing such a conspicuously poor role model.

Perhaps it's because at 150 pounds with a bird-like physique, he doesn't cut much of an heroic figure. We tend to like our heroes larger than life. I'm an avid cyclist, so I can appreciate what that guy can do in the mountains, but I doubt that many Americans who don't ride bikes (and by ride bikes I mean those who put at least 15km per week on a +$1000.00 bike with clipless pedals, not someone with a Huffy hanging up in their garage) really care.

 

[Pure]

clipless.? I though most racing cyclists had clips on their pedals.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I read somewhere that the French changed the rules/scoring this year, in a effort to set up some competition for Armstrong (I think they'd like to win, the odd time.) Anyone know about this?

I've been watching it every day since they got to the Pyrenees, and the only scoring rules changed this year that I heard of was that if the last climb of a stage is of 2nd category or above, it'll be worth double points. So, if anything, this made it easier for Lance to win the best climber thing, were he interested in it...

 

[R. Richard]

I read somewhere that the French changed the rules/scoring this year, in a effort to set up some competition for Armstrong (I think they'd like to win, the odd time.) Anyone know about this?

Having looked at the cancer account that he wrote, he had a helluva time, and the comeback is truly amazing.

The changes that were put in involve things like scoring of time trials. In the past, if a team finished 3 minutes back of the lead team, each member of the trailing team lost 3 minutes to each member of the leading team. This year, the second team loses the least of the actual time deficit or 10 seconds. the third team loses the least of the actual time deficit or 20 seconds and so on. The US Postal team is a very powerful team and the organizers were afraind that they could put a very large time deficit on the other teams, killing the competition.