Thread: some dude named Lance, and a bike ride

from NY Times

June 30, 2004
For Armstrong, a Tour Loaded With Obstacles
By SAMUEL ABT

PARIS, June 29 - When Lance Armstrong sets off Saturday on a three-week, 2,110-mile quest, he will be competing against the forces of age and history, as well as 20 opposing teams of 9 riders each.

Can he win a sixth consecutive Tour de France? Since the competition began in 1903, only four other riders have won five times, and none were successful when trying for a sixth. Of those four, only one recorded five consecutive victories.

That is the lesson of history. The lesson of age is similarly daunting: none of the four won the Tour past the age of 31, and Armstrong, who leads the United States Postal Service team, turned 32 on Sept. 18.

"Some might say I'm exiting my peak years," he said last winter. He also knows that most of his major rivals are younger than he is.

Tyler Hamilton, the leader of the Phonak team from Switzerland, is 33, but Iban Mayo, the Spanish leader of the Euskaltel team from Spain, is only 26; Roberto Heras, the Spanish leader of Liberty Seguros from Spain, is 30; and Ivan Basso, the Italian leader of CSC from Denmark, is 26.

And Armstrong's archrival, 30-year-old Jan Ullrich, the German leader of T-Mobile and the man Armstrong says he constantly thinks about, will be present and looks fit.

The winner of the Tour in 1997 and five times a second-place finisher, including three times when Armstrong finished first, Ullrich showed his form by winning the weeklong Tour of Switzerland this month.

"He has several things going for him," Armstrong said of Ullrich. "He has, first of all, a great team, and he has the motivation of wanting to win again. He's won before and wants to get it back. He'll be tough to beat. He's entering his peak years for an athlete in our sport."

These names of contenders were all furnished by Armstrong in an interview at his home in Spain in March. "I think Mayo will be good," he said. "The course suits him. I think Ivan Basso is going to have a good Tour.

"Tyler will have a good Tour. I don't know about Roberto,'' Armstrong said, referring to Heras, "but the Tour this year suits the climbers." When it comes to climbers, Heras is one of the best.

Starting in Liège, Belgium, the Tour will meander westward on flat countryside in Belgium and France through July 11, with a 40-mile team time trial on July 7 a highlight. After the first of two rest days on July 12, the riders will encounter hills on the next three days in the Massif Central.

On July 16 and 17, the race goes into the Pyrenees mountains for demanding stages that finish at altitude, meaning there will be no descent for a rider to recoup lost time after the final climb.

After another flat stage July 18 and another rest day July 19, the Alps arrive.

"The last week looks really tough, the toughest we have ever done," Armstrong said last week. "It will be much better to have a stronger second half than a strong first half."

As an appetizer, the stage on July 20 will include five testing climbs. The next day is the main course: an unprecedented individual time trial up the 9.6 miles and 21 hairpin curves that lead to L'Alpe d'Huez.

"That could be the deciding moment," Armstrong said. It gets no easier after L'Alpe d'Huez, with two more mountain stages on July 22 and 23 and a 37.2-mile individual time trial on July 24 before the Tour reaches its finale in Paris on July 25.

"A tough Tour, a very tough Tour," Armstrong said.

But then, no Tour is easy, and he has won five consecutive since his comeback from the testicular cancer that invaded his body in 1996.

Jacques Anquetil, the first rider to win five Tours, did not try for another after his last victory, in 1964. After his fifth victory, Eddy Merckx finished second in 1975, when a French fan injured him with a punch in the liver during a major climb. Bernard Hinault was second in his final year, 1986, when his teammate Greg LeMond was overwhelming.

And Miguel Indurain, who also won five Tours consecutively, collapsed in the rain and the cold in 1996, finishing 11th and retiring at the end of the season.

As Indurain knows, the weather can be a big factor. An oppressively hot July is predicted, and Armstrong does not enjoy heavy heat.

Last year he prevailed over Ullrich by 1 minute 1 second, his smallest margin of victory in the Tour by more than four minutes, and he admitted afterward that he was "just not happy with my performance.''

"Maybe I took the race too much for granted," Armstrong said. "Maybe I was a little too comfortable with success."

Armstrong has had strong, but not dominant, performances this spring. Sometimes he has struggled one day and been a master the next.

Unlike other years, he has not left his rivals believing that he cannot be beaten.

His Postal Service team seems to be as powerful as ever and certainly as dedicated to his victory. Armstrong has finished his customarily thorough preparations, scouting the major climbs and time-trial courses, especially L'Alpe d'Huez, which he has ascended this spring for days at a time.

As history and age conspire against him, Armstrong says simply, "I'm ready."

I quote the great Fran Drescher when I say "cancer, schmancer."

SI sealed his fate by putting him on the cover last week. It was a good run. But he really doesn't have anything to lose, and probably mucho bucks to make this year just by competing.

I didn't know Tyler was so old. This is probably his last chance.

Anyone else slightly confused by the 32-yr-old Lance saying in one breath "Some might say I'm exiting my peak years" and then a little bit later saying about the 30-yr-old Ulrich "He's entering his peak years for an athlete in our sport."

So, if I may interpolate then, 31 years old, that's it, that's the peak year. Not period, not few years, that one year. Better make the most of it.

All I have to say is Lance's scene in Dodgeball was classic!

Will the Tour be on ESPN8 - The Ocho!

With this years tour limiting the total possible time lost on the team time trial to 2:30, that might hurt LA.

Mayo SMOKED the Dauphine time trial on the Ventoux this year. Beating LA by two minutes. LA said he wasn't going to try to win the Dauphine again this year, but two minutes is a big gap. But I can't see the all Basque team being strong enough to have Mayo in Yellow on the final day.

I don't know. It will be fun to watch. Good thing OLN is around to cover it.

I for one am friggin pumped for this years tour! Always been a Lance fan and saw him race back in the day during the Tour DuPont 1996 before he got diagnosed.

Hopefully Tyler can keep out of trouble (crashes) in the early stages to have a good chance for challenging Lance.

It'd be good to see Roberto Heras do well in the Tour this year, I don't know how strong his team is though, so that may hurt his chances at really challenging.

he's gonna get attacked all over the place in this tour, especially in the third week. he's not going to be able to chase them all down and have enough for the 4th week. he'll have to chose who goes and who doesn't. if he does win it, it's in the final time trial (not the alpe one) by smoking all the climbers after dropping jan once or twice in the mtns.

Originally posted by ulty_guy
he's gonna get attacked all over the place in this tour, especially in the third week. he's not going to be able to chase them all down and have enough for the 4th week...

the 4th week huh? is that the overtime period?

Originally posted by ulty_guy
he's gonna get attacked all over the place in this tour

Fortunately Fasso Bartolo will reel in every breakaway during week 1 so Petacchi can win the sprints, taking the burden off of USPS.

This years Tour will be insane. I can see lots of unholy alliances going on by teams not so much trying to win, but to keep Armstrong (overall) and Petacchi(stages) off the top steps of the podium.

Originally posted by Big E
Anyone else slightly confused by the 32-yr-old Lance saying in one breath "Some might say I'm exiting my peak years" and then a little bit later saying about the 30-yr-old Ulrich "He's entering his peak years for an athlete in our sport."

So, if I may interpolate then, 31 years old, that's it, that's the peak year. Not period, not few years, that one year. Better make the most of it.

Lance being Lance, I think he believes he will win, but that's something he would never state pubicly. He's cocky, but not that cocky. Tell Eki that he's past his prime, he's 39 and still contributes to the Blue Train.

I think Lance has a good as chance as anyone, he's strong, his team is strong, he's a smart rider and he's won a few of these. Last year was not a good one for him, physically and personally, he had the crash in May and was also going through his separation. It's possible he is stronger, physically and mentally, than he was last year. Yeah, of course everyone's going to attack, and Lance might be second best on some of the climbs, but overall he has the best chance. I think a big recent development is Vino's absence, it seemed he was always willing to attack and blow things apart.

Bottom line, it will be close, Lance will win his 6th. Jan 2nd, Tyler 3rd.

so, we'll see the effects of sheryl crow-banging.

*****************

Motivation isn't the issue

Lance Armstrong is ready thanks to a book of "lies" and a chance at a record sixth consecutive Tour de France victory

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

JOHN HENDERSON THE DENVER POST

PARIS -- Are there any good rock songs about revenge? Any top-40 hits on the kind of motivation that can topple mountains? If not, maybe Sheryl Crow has another No. 1 single on her hands. All she has to do is tap into the adrenal gland of her boyfriend, Lance Armstrong, and examine a white-hot intensity that the Tour de France has never seen. On the brink of history, Armstrong again has the world's eyes on him.

He is at peace with his personal life and favored to win a sixth Tour de France, unprecedented in the 101 years of what might be the world's most difficult sporting event. If that isn't motivation enough less than a week before the start of the 2,110-mile Tour, the fingers pointing at him certainly are.

"L.A. Confidential, the Secrets of Lance Armstrong" was published this month and contains accusations from Armstrong's former assistant claiming Armstrong asked her once to dispose of used syringes and give him makeup to hide needle marks in his arm in 1998. The co-author, Times of London reporter David Walsh, admitted it's "circumstantial evidence," which didn't help the book's credibility or Armstrong's anger.

"A group of lawyers in London were licking their chops when they read that," Armstrong said from his training base in Girona, Spain.

He sounded confident, relaxed and strident before heading off for more training in the nearby Pyrenees. The U.S. Postal Service star discussed how he is better prepared for this Tour than last year because of his more settled personal life with Crow, the pain of divorce and the pain he would like to inflict on the authors of "L.A. Confidential."

This isn't new. Walsh, an anti-drug crusader, wrote a story three years ago linking Armstrong to Michele Ferrari, an Italian doctor who once compared EPO, cycling's most popular performance-enhancing drug, with orange juice. That despite its rumored links to many of the eight cycling deaths in the past 18 months. Ferrari is on trial in Italy on doping allegations.

This time, it's different. Armstrong, a recovered testicular cancer patient who said he has never used drugs, is suing everyone in sight.

"Listen, these guys have no credibility within the cycling press," Armstrong said. "Now, does it make fascinating reading? If I sit at a TV and watch a show about aliens and UFOs, will I watch it? Yeah. Will I believe it? No.

"The problem is that journalism's supposed to be fair and balanced. But if you call 400 people and three of them are at the point in their lives where they won't tell the truth (and) want to bring someone down by telling lies, OK. Put it in a book. But if the other 397 say he's a good guy and deserves it all, they don't put that in."

Armstrong knows his body

Phil Liggett is the voice of the Tour de France. He will announce his 32nd race when it begins Saturday in Liege, Belgium, and he points out that Armstrong's doubters seem to forget Armstrong is a recovered cancer patient.

"Years ago, before he won his first or second Tour, he looked at me and said, 'Look, Phil. I've seen death and looked at it in the face and I'm not going to my death bed,' " Liggett said. "He knows his body better than anybody. I remember he once sat on the road after chemo. He couldn't ride five miles. He sat on the road and cried."

If the book never saw the light of day, Armstrong still had plenty of motivation. Besides being a cyclist, Armstrong also is a cycling buff. He knows he confirmed his place in sports history last year by becoming the fifth man to win five Tours.

A sixth? Start with the comparisons to the Boston Celtics and the New York Yankees.

"I know it's an attempt to make history so that makes it different," Armstrong said. "I can't lie and say I don't think about that. I try not to think much about it. But I break down all five. They're in the bag. They're done. This is different. It's the only one that matters.

"But I'm not even thinking about the race. I think about racing, testing, staying absolutely healthy, having no problems from the start, no crashes, no illnesses, no nothing."

That would put him a few Alps ahead of last year when about the only thing that didn't go wrong was that the anti-war French embraced him as few thought they would soon after the United States invaded Iraq. They love their heroes in France, and despite everything going wrong, Armstrong still won, which says a little about the gap in the field. However, he defeated Germany's Jan Ullrich by only 61 seconds, the closest finish since 1989.

"This will not happen again"

Armstrong, 32, hadn't taken his first sip of champagne a year ago when he said, "This will not happen again." Armstrong lost 90 seconds in the first time trial, a steaming hot 28 miles to Cap' Decouverte in which he nearly keeled over from dehydration.

That didn't come only from the heat. The previous month, Armstrong inexplicably went all out to win the Dauphine, an annual eight-day tuneup race.

Armstrong won, but he suffered a painful crash and arrived in Paris sore and depleted. Throw in a gastrointestinal infection he picked up from his son, and Armstrong was lucky he got past the Seine River.

At this month's Dauphine, Armstrong went into cruise control. Never has a fourth-place finish looked so promising.

"When you have a big crash, you don't sleep properly, you don't eat properly," Armstrong said. "It was a dirty crash, so you're taking antibiotics. Last year's preparation wasn't bad. I wasn't well, if that makes sense. A lot of problems added up to one big problem. I just feel a lot healthier this year, a lot stronger, a lot more stable, physically. I'm still working on the mental part."

Armstrong added a laugh, knowing the one-liners that disclaimer would produce.

A more stable mood

The cycling world has looked upon his relationship with Crow in two ways. Those who know him say he will be in a much more stable mood, the book notwithstanding. A year ago, he had just reconciled with his wife long enough to kiss on the winner's podium. Shortly thereafter, they filed for divorce.

"He's more relaxed than he was a year ago," said John Wilcockson, the editor of VeloNews who is preparing to cover his 36th Tour. "If you've ever been through a divorce, it's not easy, especially if you have kids. Lance was confused last year, before and during the Tour. He's got a steady girlfriend. She's going to be there. She'll help him relax."

Armstrong had heard the speculation before. During the 2003 Tour, no one asked where his wife was for three weeks before the Paris photo-op. But the whispers could be heard from Paris to the Pyrenees. Now, with his ex-wife and children in Austin, Texas, Armstrong set the record straight.

"I still have a great -- not great but very good -- relationship with my ex-wife," he said.

"The point is now my personal life is perhaps more stable, but I miss my kids. When the Tour's done, I go coach them in soccer, which isn't a pretty sight. That's what I look forward to."

Foes wonder if the more stable personal life translates into a Malibu mentality. They read during the winter about Armstrong spending more time in the United States with Crow, lounging on the beach, swimming in her pool and attending sporting events.

Three-man race

A bigger concern is tougher competition. Analysts say this Tour probably is a three-man race.

Ullrich, the 1997 Tour winner, is Armstrong's biggest worry. Unlike last year, Ullrich isn't recovering from knee problems and doesn't plan on having the same stomach ailment that few knew nearly forced him out of the Tour.

Ullrich also has a new, stronger team. He is with Telekom-Mobile, boasting the top budget on the Tour at $14.4 million, $2 million of which goes in his pocket. However, he lost his best lieutenant when Alexandre Vinokourov, third in last year's Tour, went down with a shoulder injury. The German press also claims Ullrich, 30, has gotten fat. Wilcockson doesn't believe it.

Armstrong's other big worry is Tyler Hamilton. He finished fourth last year despite suffering a broken collarbone in the first stage. The grit helped earn him a lucrative contract with Phonak, a Swiss team that recruited him as its star. During the Dauphine time trials, the few times Armstrong tested himself, Hamilton, 33, started two minutes behind him and finished 30 seconds behind.

This year's course also is set up for Armstrong. Besides a forecast for cooler weather, he has won all three mountain stages at La Mongie, Plateau de Beille and L'Alpe d'Huez. For the first time, L'Alpe d'Huez will be a time trial, a grueling time trial: 9.3 miles uphill with 21 switchbacks.

Armstrong could face trouble in the Pyrenees, where he must fend off attacks from many, including Roberto Heras, formerly U.S. Postal's best climber.

"We do the Pyrenees first, and they're going to shape the race much more than L'Alpe d'Huez," Armstrong said. "They're longer. L'Alpe d'Huez is a 35-minute day. It's mystical. It's famous. But it's 35 minutes. The Pyrenees will be six-hour days with tough finishes."

However, even if Armstrong is in trouble after L'Alpe d'Huez, he'll be a favorite on the second-to-last day, a 33-mile time trial over the rolling hills of Besancon near the Swiss border.

"I do think it'll be more difficult," Liggett said. "I think he'll get it."

Added Wilcockson: "If I had to put money on it, yeah, you'd have to put money on him winning again. Because mentally, he's the boss."

And if he does? Someone might even write a song about him.

Originally posted by MtnX191
so, we'll see the effects of sheryl crow-banging.

amen,
shes little but shes wirey
http://www.free-celeb-pictures.com/s...yl-crow-02.jpg

seriously if the women is more than 5' 100lbs I would be shocked.

I have had her in a few of my hotels & she is like phunk sized

Originally posted by MtnX191
so, we'll see the effects of sheryl crow-banging.

I would imagine that the banging of Sheryl Crow is more uplifting than last year's divorce and will serve as good motivation to get back to his bus as soon as possible after each stage.

John Wilcockson

Now that is a name.

"I do think it'll be more difficult," Liggett said. "I think he'll get it."

I wonder if Ligget will be eating crow if LA doesn't win. Oh wait, Lance is already doing that.

Hey!

Originally posted by phUnk
Hey!

ya know small & hot like you

this years tour is going to be amazing - can-not-wait. love having the self imposed media blackout during the day then watching it on OLN that night w/a cold one, Phil's voice turned up to 11, the GF yelling @ me to calm down and turn the volume down, etc.....

LA has more comp this year for sure, but I think he will prevail. I see Jan 2nd (as always) and Tyler third: 2 americans on the podium, pretty cool. Heras is a wild card as is Mayo......

I'll be the first to say Bike Forum JONG

oh and go Lance and Tyler

Originally posted by Plakespear
Fortunately Fasso Bartolo will reel in every breakaway during week 1 so Petacchi can win the sprints, taking the burden off of USPS.

This years Tour will be insane. I can see lots of unholy alliances going on by teams not so much trying to win, but to keep Armstrong (overall) and Petacchi(stages) off the top steps of the podium.

attacked in the mountains i mean, by an army of little spanish and italian guys (heras, simioni, mayo, etc). i can see he and tyler forming a little partnership and then deciding the tour themselves in the final time trial.

In case anyone's wondering, www.tourdefrance.com is NOT where one might go to find info on the Tour.

Plenty interesting to look at though, when one's not at work.

according to a recent Chris Charmichael quote, extensive testing has shown Lance's fitness level to be optimum for the beginning of the Tour......and you know mentally he's ready to roar.

Other than an OLN feed to your monitor, this is the best live coverage around: http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/

I'll be the second to say Bike Forum JONG!!!

oh, by the way, GO RED SOX.