big american texas aerticle

this is very good newspaper peace on legend lance armstrong-

A herd of 400 journalists squeezed into a Sacramento hotel ballroom for the Amgen Tour of California kickoff news conference last week. Seventeen TV cameras zoomed in on the stage.

They weren't there for two-time defending champ Levi Leipheimer. Be it in a peleton or atop a podium, it's Lance Armstrong who creates the buzz.

“The adulation is just unbelievable,” Sacramento Sports Commission executive John McCasey told The Sacramento Bee. “Everybody wants to get a touch, a picture. It's Lance, Lance, Lance.”

After a 3½-year absence, Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion, is in the beginning stages of a comeback, a comeback that hits San Diego County tomorrow.

The Tour of California's eighth and final stage unfolds at noon tomorrow, beginning in the heart of Rancho Bernardo, touring the inland North County backcountry, climbing 5,123 feet along Palomar Mountain before finishing the 96.8-mile ride in downtown Escondido.

More than 40,000 spectators are expected to line the streets and roadways as Leipheimer steers toward a likely third straight title. Armstrong, though, is the marquee attraction.

Or as Versus TV announcer Phil Liggett put it, “He's still a great magnet.”

At that introductory news conference, Armstrong was posed the obligatory “why” question.

Why come back at 37?

“For me,” Armstrong said, “it just clicked in my mind that maybe I would try this again. Just for fun.”

Liggett thinks Armstrong was being a bit coy with his “just for fun” line.

“He's aiming not just to participate,” Liggett said. “He's aiming to return to the place where he left, which is a huge ask of anybody.”

Cycling experts say that thus far, Armstrong's comeback is right on schedule. He placed 29th last month in the Tour Down Under in Australia, 49 seconds behind winner Allan Davis.

“He could have won in Australia if the course were different,” Liggett said. “The course wasn't hard enough.”

Armstrong's stated goal for the Tour of California was to play a supportive role for Leipheimer. Mission accomplished, with Leipheimer leading by 36 seconds heading into today and Armstrong in sixth place.

Armstrong's comeback will not be measured by what unfolds in January and February, but by what he accomplishes at the 100th Giro d'Italia in May, Armstrong's first Giro, and the Tour de France in July.

Of Armstrong's performance to date, Competitor Magazine co-publisher Bob Babbitt says, “He's exactly where he wants to be.”

Armstrong has pedaled the popular inland North County cycling roads often, dating to the early 1990s when a teenaged Armstrong trained with the Subaru-Montgomery team, coached by Eddie Borysewicz, aka Eddie B.

Riding in a support car as the cyclists logged miles in rural Escondido, Babbitt asked Borysewicz his impressions of Armstrong.

In his thick Polish accent, Eddie B. said: “Lance has diamond legs. Lance is next Greg LeMond. Lance will win Tour de France.”

That, of course, was before Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Before he beat the disease. Before he reshaped his body. Before “It's Not About The Bike.” Before he ticked off the French by winning their hallowed bike ride seven years in a row.

As for what makes Armstrong great, for one, his focus is legendary.

That intensity wasn't comfortable for English journalist Paul Kimmage at last week's Sacramento news conference. Last year, Kimmage wrote of Armstrong: “The great man who conquered cancer. Well he is the cancer in this sport. And for two years this sport has been in remission. And now the cancer's back.”

When Kimmage asked Armstrong what he admired about dopers, citing friendships with Ivan Basso and Floyd Landis, both suspended for substance violations, Armstrong pounced, saying, “You are not worth the chair you are sitting on with a statement like that, with a disease that touches everyone around the world.”

Armstrong's comeback also centers on his effort to raise support and money to fight cancer. For the Tour Down Under, he wrote two figures on his bike: 1,274 and 27.5 million.

The first represented the number of days since he last raced professionally. The second counted the number of people who had died of cancer during that time.

To many, including Rancho Bernardo's Dan Eaton, Armstrong is much more than a cyclist. Eaton, 61, was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in October 2007. “There is no stage V,” he said. A doctor gave him three months to live.

After undergoing 23 rounds of chemotherapy, Eaton lives on.

“Lance Armstrong is a fighter,” Eaton said. “He's a guy who decided to get 24 hours a day out of however many days you have left. He represents the way to live with the kind of news we get.”

Leipheimer wins trial Leipheimer won the individual time trial in Solvang yesterday and added to his overall lead in the tour, with his teammate, Armstrong, finishing 14th.

Leipheimer crossed the finish line of the 15-mile course in 30 minutes, 40 seconds, and waved three fingers on his right hand to signal his third consecutive time-trial victory. Leipheimer is going for his third victory in the race's four-year history and increased his overall lead by 12 seconds.

Armstrong, riding his time-trial bike that had been stolen along with three belonging to his Astana teammates after last weekend's time trial in Sacramento, dropped from fourth to sixth overall.

American David Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream was second by 8 seconds in the time trial and second overall, trailing Leipheimer by 36 seconds.

The race continues today with Stage 7, an 88.9-mile ride from Santa Clarita to Pasadena's historic Rose Bowl stadium.

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http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=sCF8ZOYVXF8

Great aerticle. Thaenks for poesting. You roeck.

Cycling journalists: simultaneosly the fluffers and jizz-moppers of cycling.

Interesting perspective indeed, given that many of your posts and retorts are based on articles and writings from these very "fluffers and jizz-moppers". You do realize that this kind of makes you a jizz consumer?

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Live long, Ride far.

I love Liggett's comments as he wipes the cum from his mouth:

“He could have won in Australia if the course were different,” Liggett said. “The course wasn't hard enough.”

- What sort of bull**** is this ?

course is a euphemism for a **** (for entering Ligget's butt).

His chocolate starfish was too tight for entry. Course needed to be harder.