lance armstrong

limerickman

Hinault 85 was not very convincing as I recall.
La Vie Claire - Bernard Tapie - insisted that LeMond had to defer to Hinault so that Hinault could join the big 2 (Anquetil and Merckx).

DiabloScott

If *I* recall it correctly (big if), Hinault had crashed badly in the last decisive stage of '85, Lemond was with the stage leaders up the road, one of whom may have been in a position to move ahead of both Hinault and Lemond on GC. Lemond would SURELY have taken the overall win had the DS (Tapie?) not made him wait for Hinault and Lemond risked losing his own second place by not staying with the break.

__________________


http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

limerickman

That's correct - it was on the St.Etienne stage of the TDF in 1985 that the Badger (Hinault) broke his nose chasing if I recall correctly either Parra or Herrera of Columbia.
LeMond was ordered by La Vie Claire management to wait for Hinault and to bring him back up the mountain.
LeMond could have won the 85 TDF if he was allowed to cycle
on that stage.

Fixey

It was a shame Tyla Hamilton wasnt in the pack to tell them (the columbians) to wait
Puts perspective on the "Did Jan wait" thread in some ways

pace-line

That is an accurate appraisal. The only other option is that testing is inaccurate, and everyone in the peleton could in fact then be accused of the same, yet without results.

limerickman

Well I don't mean to blow my own trumpet here, but at least I am big enough to say that perhaps my view on LA is not objective.

I would like to see some of his supporters admit that they too cannot be objective in their opinion because their "fandom" blinds
their objectivity when discussing LA on this Forum.

DiabloScott

Well here's my opinion since you asked. I don't have fan blindness for Lance. I love that American cyclists are doing well in Europe, I love that the attention Lance has brought to Euro cycling in USA has increased media coverage and I love seeing so many more recreational road riders than ten years ago when MTBs were the huge majority. So Lance's success and Cinderella story have changed the way cycling and cyclists are perceived here in the States and that's a great thing. So I'm really happy that Lance has been so successful and I hope he wins TdF 2004, and I hope he can win a few other big races before he retires. There are of course lots of USA folks who now think they're cycling fans when they really know nothing about anything EXCEPT Lance and that's annoying but to be expected I guess and I think sometimes the Euro cycling fans lump all of us USA fans into that category and I guess that's something that'll work itself out over time.

But I think I'm objective when I believe his results are authentic.
It's possible but I think it very unlikely that he's got some new super dope that is undetectable, or some doping technique that has been fooling the test labs for 5 years, or that he has a cadre of dope suppliers and medical staff that have been helping him cheat for 5 years but haven't gone to l'Equipe or As or La Gazzetta with a tell-all story. It's possible that he's lying when he says (over and over again to the same lame reporters) that he's absolutely clean and that he honors his body too much to risk damaging it with the kinds of drugs that might make him even faster… but I believe him. His credibility increases every time they take his blood or raid his hotel room or look through his garbage. But if they ever do uncover some real evidence that he's been cheating, I'll switch sides - promise.

Now will all you guys please learn how to spell PELOTON (not peleton)? Please?

__________________


http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

limerickman

I wasn't implying that you were being unobjective - it was a
generalised comment.

Peloton - I keep making this mistake !

Beastt

P-e-l-o-t-o-n... really?


Hmmm....

GUILTY!

At least, I think I am. Darned, now I'm going to have to go check. This is going to bug me for days.

Lisbon

I said yes he will win but it will be tough. The tour seems to have changed the rules against him. In the teem time trial you can only lose 2:30 and many other crap rules. It's going to be hard but he will do it.

Roy Gardiner

The tour has a tradition of changing route and rules (a bit) when one rider is dominant, no change there.

Plenty of people think the TTT has no place in the Tour anyway, because it biases the race in favour of high-budget teams.

__________________
Roy Gardiner, Hainault Roads Club

Lisbon

yes but one of the time trials is now a climp so the other climbers that can give Armstrong a run for his money and not very good time trialists can now keep up with him in the time trials.

davidbod

Only in that particular ITT climb and that's a maybe at best. They will still lose 2-3 times what they may possibly gain between the TTT and the last 60 KM ITT.

mingcat9

oh! next year will lance win le tour? no way! I doubt he'd try. he may race pro, but he won't be a major contender. what would be his motive? if he wins this year he's accomplished the impossible...or improbable... besides USPS already said they won't sponsor him anymore. I think he's more apt to race professionally in the states, maybe a domestic team.