(OT) Lance wins!

[mad rhetorik]

In case anyone didn't catch the news:

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/2601164

[Jim Clark]

OLN as usual did an outstanding job with coverage of the tour and it was a thrill to watch. Almost makes me want to re-glue my tires and get the Allez back on the road. Almost.

While never much of a road racer myself, as a person who was totally immersed in the triathlon world I was stunned that Lance gave up triathlons. I think I still have my issue of Triathlon World with the story. Guess he made the right move! He is an outstanding athlete and deserves all the accolades that befall him. On the other side of the equation, I couldn't help but lose a great deal of respect for Greg Lemond who during this year's tour definetly insinuated that Lance's accomplishments may not be without some form dubious assistance. I thought he came of sounding infantile and envious. Lance deserves better than that from his formal idol.

jc

[Dusty Chalk]

...but even I applaud this time. Sometimes you root for the underdog, sometimes you root for the "sure thing".

[Dave_G]

I think it was awesome.

The dude beat cancer, had it in his brain, and still hammers his bike harder than most people who are healthy can do.

He gets tons of negative press, but hey, if you do what he did plus went thru chemo treatment and half of your manhood cut off...

Anyway I think he's a great person and a true sporting icon, plus he listens to Bob Marley and dates a professional musician.

Dave

[jack70]

OLN's coverage was indeed great. Re-playing stages 4-5 times through-out the day allowed everyone to essentially see it "live". The addition of Bobke's comments at night together with Phil was smart too. Too bad the race itself was so boring. Between the crashes and injuries we never had a competitive race, although as a hardcore fan I still watched about 8 hours worth every day... LOL.

Lance left the Tri's when he realized he couldn't swim well enough to win at the next level. Smart decision because it allowed his true talent to be developed. Jim, I know a few locals who run Ironmans -- you guys are all freakin' nuts... LOL. I used to run in my teens & early 20's... cycling is just so much more fun IMO (although it's become much more dangerous in recent years).

As much as I admire Lance, they've (media) so over-saturated him, even I'm getting a little sick of him (not his fault). I was actually rooting for Tyler in this tour anyway. What he did last year in the tour was actually tougher than what Lance did... but how many non-cycling fans know about it? Lance has assembled such a dominate team, and he's so well trained for this one race that it's taken much of the excitement from the race itself.


On the other side of the equation, I couldn't help but lose a great deal of respect for Greg Lemond who during this year's tour definetly insinuated that Lance's accomplishments may not be without some form dubious assistance. I thought he came of sounding infantile and envious. Lance deserves better than that from his formal idol
Well, he really only deserves honesty, which is often much harder for people to say these days. Yeah, he comes off as whiney & maybe even resentful. I consider what he did perhaps even more difficult than what Lance has done. He probably should have won 6 tours himself, and knowing that has gotta eat him up a bit. LeMond's VO2max was the highest ever measured, so one could consider him the best ever. So much in cycling, like in life is luck & fate. Both Lance & Greg came from near death to reach the peak. In fact Greg came closer than Lance to dying, and it eventually effected his racing. If Lance had suffered a crash here, a bonk or tactical mistake there, he might easily have not had any of those 6 victories himself.

I'm not taking anything away from him, but the drug issue is something that's there, whether it's true or not. Kinda sad sign of the times. Check out an open letter from Andy Hampsten (www.tdfblog.com/2004/07/hampsten_voices.html), where he backs up Greg. Andy won the Giro, and was the first American to win at Alpe D'uez (among other things).

The point both Hampsten & LeMond are getting to is not Armstrong so much (the media loves to squew these things), but to make a larger point. For those not aware of that point... read this: Angels With Dirty Faces. (www.siglamag.com/features/angels.shtml)

And for a more fun read, here's (www.velonews.com/tour2004/diaries/articles/6645.0.html) a short diary entry from a former team-mate of Lance's, Christian Vande Velde. He now rides for Liberty-Seguros. He was once seen as the best American racer to succeed Lance, although he's had ups & downs since. He wrote it after the tough stage last Thurs. I enjoy these stories better than the media stories, which tend to be vanilla.

http://img2.photobucket.com/albums/v11/Coreman1017/pic000.jpg