The problem is there are those who actually want to wake up one morning and turn on the news to "Armstrong admits" or"Armstrong proven to have" and then say to everyone "I told you so", the same people that would laugh all day if he won every stage next year but crashed out and didn't finish in Paris. It's just a sign of the times that successful people that don't conform to the norm get knocked down because its fashionable and controversial, I worked with a couple of casual cyclists that actually sulked the morning after his 2005 TDF win
Lance Armstrong To Race Tour De France Next Year
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You better make sure you go to the first couple of days then if you want to see Armstrong. He will fail to make the time limit after so long out of the saddle. Messing around on a mountain bike/Lindsay Lohan and Kate Hudson is no substitute for competition andand he will not be in the type of condition to compete with peleton.
Such a definitive thread trawl post if ever I saw one that would be true if the the tour started tomorrow and that the prologue tt and first couple of stages allowed for such poor finishes that a time limit would have any relevance whatsoever.Do you honestly think that a decision made yesterday which will included a proper training regime and preperation from someone as professional as himself over the next 9 months with all his knowledge, experience and scientific team arround him would result in finishing an hour down on race stage 2, get real
Messing arround on a mountain bike lol, he finished 2nd in a major MTB event with a quality field not a 2 mile trip to the woods for a picnic followed by dropping a dvd off at blockbuster on the way home, he's done several marathons too
Long out of the saddle, have you any idea what he did for the MTB event alone ? 3-4 hrs a day rain or shine for 3 months, aside from that he still trained most days anyway, but then again I assume you think he'll mess about on the MTB and eat big macs for 9 months which would then make you correct
Your confusing him with hasbeen pro soccer player that comes out of retirement looking like John Goodman and takes a fortune based on yesteryears nostalga whilst being paid a small fortune to embarass himself for 8 mins every saturday before his heart explodes
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He is not the Greatest Ever Cyclist.
Do you honestly think that a decision made yesterday which will included a proper training regime and preperation from someone as professional as himself over the next 9 months with all his knowledge, experience and scientific team arround him would result in finishing an hour down on race stage 2, get real
Messing arround on a mountain bike lol, he finished 2nd in a major MTB event with a quality field not a 2 mile trip to the woods for a picnic followed by dropping a dvd off at blockbuster on the way home, he's done several marathons too
Long out of the saddle, have you any idea what he did for the MTB event alone ? 3-4 hrs a day rain or shine for 3 months, aside from that he still trained most days anyway, but then again I assume you think he'll mess about on the MTB and eat big macs for 9 months which would then make you correct
Your confusing him with hasbeen pro soccer player that comes out of retirement looking like John Goodman and takes a fortune based on yesteryears nostalga whilst being paid a small fortune to embarass himself for 8 mins every saturday before his heart explodes
I am treating the Tour de France as the event that it is. The toughest sporting event in the world. You can't step away from it for a few years and then decide to come back and be competitive, especially at his age. Some people need a reality check. What do you think his competitors have been doing whilst he has has been doing his mountain bike race? He has been away for 3 years and that will show.
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Much as I don't like the bloke he's easily top 5 and probably with a good shout of being the best. Who is better? Indurain? Antequil? Merckx? Someone else?
In all fairness in his latter 3-4 victories he was renowned as staging all his preperation arround the TDF and didn't compete in anything like what the majority of the other riders did so if he now prepares for TDF09 then it's not any different to what he used to do, and I would imagine he'll compete in other events too to gauge his progress v rivals, the only thing that has arguably significantly changed is his age and therefore potentially his bodies recovery rate between stages
All his training will be monitored closely with all his body and bike telemetry such as power output, VO2 max, functional threshold, lactate levels, heart rate and zones, BMI etc etc can be tracked alongside those of 2005 for a direct and accurate comparison so he and his team will know exactly where the land lies at any time between now and then
If he were 39/40 I'd be more sceptical but 36/37 isn't beyond the realms of possibility for a top 10 or top 5 finish, especially as theres a team time trial next year too, he's also the master tactician and amazing will power
I would at this stage see his recovery rate during the 2nd and 3rd week esp in the mountains as the obvious talking point and a lot comes down to his team support and the strength of the other teams and how/when they attack him
ps sorry for jumping down your throat with earlier reply
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Overall surely Merckx, he rode in all the classics, crits, open road races, open TT's and the hour record..........Armstrong by his own admission went for the TDF in his latter years especially. Even Hinault was more varied
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This thread makes some interesting reading.
Im curious as to why people think Lance makes the Tour what it is? The Tour is the Tour, its not made by the riders names. Thats just its history!
Im curious as to why people think Lance makes the Tour what it is? The Tour is the Tour, its not made by the riders names. Thats just its history!
I think he helped raise the sports profile with the general public after the Festina affair, and people could somehow connect to his rise from near death so to speak, and the tours were great to watch esp his rivalry v Ullrich. I can also see why some began to think that he kinda became bigger than the tour itself though and the last 2 since the Landis farce have been less predictable
His admission to TDF09 could actually work to the main favs advantage though as all the media spotlight will be taken away from them. just hope its not one big media roadshow though for all the wrong reasons
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Im some what sceptical of that. Im no massive cycling fan, but I still turn it on to watch the next year, and the year after that not giving a monkies who was riding.
Eddie Merckx won 11 (5 TdF, 5 Giros and 1 Vuelta) Grand Tours in total plus a lot more stuff.
Jacques Anquetil won 8 (5 TdF, 2 Giros and 1 Vuelta) Grand Tours in total plus quite a lot stuff (not as much as Merckx)
Miguel Indurain won 7 (5 TdF and 2 Giros) plus quite a lot of stuff (again not as much as Merckx.
Bernard Hinault won 10 ( 5 TdF, 3 Giros and 2 Vueltas) plus quite a lot stuff.
I don't think you can say he is the best, Armstrong is posibly the best Tour rider ever though.
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That does still put him top 5 but you're right about him not being the greatest I suppose, it just seemed a shade picky. I've got to admit though I was reading it as being the greatest in relation to the Tour, in which case, as you say he probably is.
I was waiting for Ezyryder to reply, I'd go along with Merckx as the greatest of all time. Not even so much for the number of wins (which is obvious and impressive) but the manner in which he did it.
Everyone bangs on about his lung capacity, whilst its very good its not nothing unique to cycling.
Greg lemond has a bigger lung capacity than armstrong as well as a bigger vo2 max.
Conveniently armstrongs vo2 max went up from 85 to 92 after his cancer. Any cycllist will say you cant improve that, its something that genetics dictates.
Only way to improve vo2 max is to dope to increase the bloods capacity to carry oxygen
This rubbish about he passed x amount of drug tests means jack ***** either.
Marion jones was tested all her profesisonal life and only ever failed the one drugs test yet when in court she admitted she had always used the drugs.
The tests are rubbish and the dopers and the scientists behind the doping are always 2 steps ahead of the testers.
Most dopers only ever get caught because they find equipment for doping and such, hardly any of the people who have been done for doping have actually provided positive samples.
You dont need positive samples to know someone is doping.....
Just think about this.
The usa team that armstrong rode for....
The lead doctor has been convicted of doping (Dr ferrari)
Armstrongs long time personal trainer has been done for injecting cyclists with drugs.
4 of armstrongs fellow team mates have all since been convicted of doping
and your telling me armstrong wouldnt dope when all his team are and the professionals he employed to help him all helped his fellow team mates to dope.
Marion jones was tested all her profesisonal life and only ever failed the one drugs test yet when in court she admitted she had always used the drugs.
The tests are rubbish and the dopers and the scientists behind the doping are always 2 steps ahead of the testers.
Most dopers only ever get caught because they find equipment for doping and such, hardly any of the people who have been done for doping have actually provided positive samples.
You dont need positive samples to know someone is doping.....
Just think about this.
The usa team that armstrong rode for....
The lead doctor has been convicted of doping (Dr ferrari)
Armstrongs long time personal trainer has been done for injecting cyclists with drugs.
4 of armstrongs fellow team mates have all since been convicted of doping
and your telling me armstrong wouldnt dope when all his team are and the professionals he employed to help him all helped his fellow team mates to dope.
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I'm getting less convinced that it doesn't bother you about whether Armstrong doped or not. However that's a side point, you might want to remove the swearing in your post to avoid having it edited for you.
Thats just one example and shouldn't be assumed to be relevant to every other case, would be inadmissable in court
So what your saying is that theres no point having any tests as they are both meaningless and flawed, a free for all. Why not simply email the UCI now to tell them they are wasting their time
So theoretically your saying the whole TDF field could be doping as the tests and results are rubbish anyway, that makes what Armstrong may have done to be a walk in the park in comparison
I take it youve not read about the Biological passport project
Wheres the supportive evidence for this ? You say "Most dopers", what is this based on factually ?
True but you do to prove it, and its the proof thats missing in this case
So in lamens terms he's guilty by ascociation, The fact they all got busted and he didnt supports him being clean all the more in my opinion
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Ferrari may have been convicted, however he arguably had the best training regime for the TDF and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that he administered dope to LA.
Lead Doctor or Chris Carmichael ~ see above.
Once LA left the team, it became open season to sign his cohorts by the more unsuccessful teams. This however just went on to prove that the team assisted LA to victory, singularly they were not talented enough to lead other teams and overall victory for themselves. Maybe this weight of this expectation was pressure alone to dope, who knows...?