OK, Is Mr. Armstrong BS'ing US or What?

mareblu

Check this out (courtesy of Velonews.com 01-06-2004)


In an interview broadcast on Dutch television Thursday, American Lance Armstrong strongly suggested that he is not inclined to take on the Tour de France in 2005.

Instead, the six-time Tour winner said he wants to focus his efforts on a host of spring classics.

"The Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne- Liège and why not Paris-Roubaix?" Armstrong suggested. "There are a lot of races I would like to do. There's also the hour record. That would be great, too. I'd also like to take on the world time trial championships, too."

In an interview with Dutch journalist Mark Smeets in Austin in November, Armstrong said that the he currently had no plans to ride the Tour.

"I am not planning to take part in the Tour," he said, noting that now the best he can do is to add to his record.

Contacted by the French wire service AFP on Thursday, Discovery Channel assistant director Dirk Demol said that Armstrong had not entirely written off the 2005 Tour.

"It's just that he doesn't want to think about the next Tour until after the Classics," Demol said. "Contrary to what I read and heard in the Belgian media Thursday, Lance definitively hasn't closed the door on the Tour this year."

"You may well see him in Fromentine," site of the July 2 prologue, said Demol.

Uncertainy surrounding the Tour or not, Armstrong said he was certain that he would not ride either the Giro d'Italia nor the Vuelta a España.

The 33-year-old Texan has a two-year contract with the Discovery team, which has scheduled its official debut for early next week.

mareblu

Armstrong assistant files response to suit
By The Associated Press
This report filed January 6, 2005
AUSTIN, TEXAS - A former personal assistant of Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong who has been sued by the cyclist fired back Wednesday, accusing the cyclist of fraud, breach of contract and causing him severe emotional distress.

Mike Anderson, 33, on Wednesday filed his counterclaim to a lawsuit Armstrong filed last month in Travis County District Court.

In the original lawsuit, Armstrong said Anderson wanted $500,000 and other benefits under a claimed employment contract.

Anderson said Armstrong's lawsuit ruined his reputation as a bike mechanic and publicly humiliated him. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

At the center of the dispute is whether an e-mail Anderson alleges Armstrong sent him in 2002 stands as an employment contract. Armstrong has said there was no contract and that Anderson served as an at-will employee.

Anderson's filing did not provide a copy of the e-mail, but said it offered to pay him $3,000 a month and health benefits. He also said Armstrong pledged to help Anderson open a bike shop when his employment was finished.

In return, Anderson says he worked as Armstrong's bike mechanic, trainer and personal confidant and assistant and traveled to Europe.

Anderson's attorney, Hal Gillespie, said Anderson is seeking to make Armstrong live up to the cyclist's alleged agreement with his client.

"We tried to avoid a lawsuit," Gillespie said. "We were forced into it. We are certainly sorry this has come to litigation."

Armstrong attorney Timothy Herman said he hadn't seen Anderson's court filing but that Anderson was an at-will employee, "just like everybody else in Texas who does not have an employment contract. We all know we can be hired and fired at anytime."

Anderson said he was fired about two months after he asked for and got a $500 a month raise. He said Armstrong's representatives offered him a severance package totaling $7,000.

Anderson said Armstrong also demanded he sign a confidentiality agreement that would have held him liable for up to $1 million in damages.

Armstrong's representatives said they sued because Anderson demanded $300,000 for him and his wife and another $200,000 to be split between two law firms that represent Anderson.

"That is not typical of a separation package for someone making $36,000," Herman said, adding the confidentiality agreement is not unusual for a celebrity like Armstrong.

Anderson's countersuit said his family struggled financially while he worked for Armstrong and that his wife had given up her massage therapy clients to travel with him.

thebluetrain

Who cares if he's BS'ing or not. Its his career and life. Leave him alone.

bspeedy00

Right on...I love how everyone on this site over-analyzes every word out of Lance's mouth, and then holds him to every passing thought he may utter. All I can do is hope that he chooses to race again, so we can all watch.

Julian Radowsky

I think that perhaps he is just trying to psyche Jan Ullrich, who has pretty much intimated that there's no point in him winning the TDF if Lance was not in it.
We will have to see what happens in July.

__________________
If you look after your body, it might last you a lifetime.

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti

A bus station is where a bus stops.
A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk, I have a work station....
what more can I say.......

mareblu

Hey, I have a similar belief......it's all a game!
thanks for answering..

thebluetrain

If thats your belief great, but quit posting Lance Armstrong Soap Opera crap on here. Your as bad as the French when you do that.

mareblu

Hey bluetrain, relax dude! This is a public forum, therefore, I can post whatever I please to.......If you don't like my posts, don't read them or answer them

mareblu

Discovery Team ready for '05; Armstrong still unsure about Tour
Casey Gibson Photo Gallery Below
By Kip Mikler
VeloNews editor
This report filed January 10, 2005
The team formerly known as the U.S. Postal Service entered a new era on Monday when Lance Armstrong and Company unveiled its new look and identity in Silver Spring, Maryland. In a flashy introduction ceremony at the American Film Institute's Silver Theater, just outside of Washington D.C., and across the street from its new corporate sponsor, the most successful pro cycling outfit in the U.S. was officially introduced as the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.

After taking the stage, one team veteran marveled at how far the team had come since its inception nine years ago. "Back at our first team presentation, we were at a restaurant with about 40 people total," said George Hincapie, the only remaining rider from that original U.S. Postal team. "When I look at these team members, it's just been an amazing change. We've gone from being an upstart team to one of, if not the best team in the world."

The one man most responsible for the team's lofty status was the main attraction for the international media that gathered Monday at the renovated art deco style AFI Theater. Could Discovery Channel expect to see Armstrong attempt to win his seventh Tour de France in July? As expected, Armstrong wouldn't say, but as his longtime teammate Hincapie pointed out, there are other things to talk about with this team. With all of its personnel assembled in one place for the first time, the major changes and additions that have bolstered the squad as it enters the ProTour era were plain to see.

A NEW WAY OF THINKING
With an eye on the future and the post-Armstrong years, returning team director Johan Bruyneel has constructed a team that seems capable of winning any race on the ProTour series, which begins in March with Paris-Nice. Of the 28 riders who walked onto the stage Monday wearing the new team uniforms - a shark-inspired silver, with a blue-and-white Discovery logo and "Livestrong" yellow band around the left arm - some of the notable new faces included former under-23 world champion Yaroslav Popovych, 2002 Giro d'Italia champion Paolo Savoldelli, two-time British champion Roger Hammond and American stage race hopeful Tom Danielson.

Representing 15 different nations, the roster of 28 is the largest ever for this team. With that in mind, Bruyneel said that no matter what Armstrong decides about the Tour, the Discovery Channel team will take on new challenges in 2005 including a serious attempt to win the Giro d'Italia and a new emphasis on the classics and major one-day races.

According to Bruyneel, building the team into a well-rounded outfit that can be competitive at a variety of races is in step with the goals of the new sponsor. "A big influence is the philosophy of Discovery," he said. "They have insisted on the global aspect of the team, so they are very excited that we have 15 nationalities."

That's a new direction for Bruyneel's team; when they raced under the sponsorship of the U.S. Postal Service, there was always an emphasis on trying to keep a core of American riders at the most visible events. "It's easier to find young talent if you don't only have to focus on Americans," Bruyneel said. "It's a different idea, but it's exciting to be able to look forward a few years."

At the same time, Armstrong said that he views the team as the right place to try to develop some of the top American riders. Armstrong noted that he was pleased to add Danielson to the Discovery team, and also said that losing last year's Tour de France revelation Floyd Landis to the Phonak team was a blow. "Floyd's a bit of a double loss because he's number one a good bike rider and number two an American," Armstrong said. "We like to have both of those kinds of guys on the team."

WILL HE OR WON'T HE?
It's hard to believe that Armstrong, renowned for his intense focus and fierce competitive drive, doesn't yet know if he'll race the Tour. But that's his story, and he's sticking to it. After the team introduction, Armstrong explained that his deal with Discovery Channel requires him to race at least one Tour de France.

"That could be in 2005 or 2006," Armstrong said. "But I'm fully committed to doing that."

First, however, Armstrong is focusing on the spring classics. "Right now the plan is to do the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Fleche-Wallonne," he said. "And that could change with a race here or there. We could do Milan-San Remo, we could take out the Tour of Flanders, we're not sure yet."

The spring classics are nothing new to Armstrong, who has come close but never won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Amstel Gold Race. "It's time to finally go and try to win one of the monuments of cycling," he said.

The apparent lack of focus on the Tour is not the only noticeable change in Armstrong as he pulls on the new colors of Discovery Channel this year. While he clearly still has personal ambitions, he's now talking about the future of the team, about recruiting and developing other riders who can win grand tours. He talks about doing "off the bike" projects with Discovery Channel and was even involved in designing the new team uniforms.

Still, as the team prepared to fly to California on Monday evening, where they would begin another season with a training camp near Santa Barbara, Armstrong said his primary motivation remains the same. No matter how big the team introductions grow, or how long the applause lasts when he is introduced, Armstrong says it's the basics of the sport that keep him coming back.

"Camp is fun for me," he said. "Going and spending 10 days or two weeks with the guys you really like the most, and riding around the countryside and suffering a little bit, that's definitely fun."

Whether that motivation still applies to three weeks in July, in France, has yet to be decided.

Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team - 2005
Lance Armstrong (USA)
Jose Azevedo (POR)
Michael Barry (CAN)
Manuel Beltran (ESP)
Fumiyuki Beppu (JPN)
Volodymyr Bileka (UKR)
Janez Brajkovic (SLO)
Michael Creed (USA)
Antonio Cruz (USA)
Tom Danielson (USA)
Stijn Devolder (BEL)
Viatcheslav Ekimov (RUS)
Roger Hammond (GBR)
Ryder Hesjedal (CAN)
George Hincapie (USA)
Leif Hoste (BEL)
Benoit Joachim (LUX)
Jason McCartney (USA)
Patrick McCarty (USA)
Gennady Mikhaylov (RUS)
Benjamin Noval (ESP)
Pavel Padrnos (CZE)
Yaroslav Popovych (UKR)
Hayden Roulston (NZL)
Jose Luis Rubiera (ESP)
Paolo Savoldelli (ITA)
Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL)
Max Van Heeswijk (NED).

ilpirata

I read also this interview, more recently however, I understand that contractually with the new team he is required to run the tour de france either in 2005 or 2006. If that is the case, I expect we shall see him this year.
In the dutch interview he revealed how he will not run the giro. saying: "
they are there waiting to prosecute me for sporting fraud, no I will not give them that photo opportunity they are dying for, I will not go to that nation."
I wish that he could have been pryed a little more here, because in truth Italian cycling is scandalously controlled by betting mafia which also controls the major sport journals. Effectively they destroyed the greatest Italian rider in recent times, to win more betting money, and then subsequently destroyed his reputation when he screamed of a falsified setup on the infamous blood test. All this in plain view of the cycling world. Subsequent giros have suffered from drug raids, dubious exclusions of leaders (See Simoni and Garzelli of 2002, who of course made sure not to protest too much they knew what could happen) It is little wonder that since 1999 the giro has attracted very few first class riders. Of course soccer in Italy has long been corrupted by the betting mafia, remember that scandal involving Paolo Rossi many years ago. For shear luck they did not destroy another sporting talent, he served his suspension and made it back just in time for the 1982 world cup.

mareblu

Senti un po', ma tu per caso parli italiano?

ilpirata

Si parlo italiano. Per precisare lavoro a parlare, perche sono un italo-americano. e tu mareblu da dove scrive?

mareblu

Ciao!!!!! Io sono italo-venezuelana-americana!!!!
anch'Io Parlo l'italiano........
ed ho un foro pubblico dove parliamo di ciclismo, ma purtroppo e' in Spagnolo.
Che fai? dove ti trovi?

ilpirata

Piacere di conoscerti Mareblu, abito a CT ma son cresciuto a Boston. Parlando del ciclismo con tutto rispetto per Armstrong e quello che ha fatto, nessun corridore mi emozione come Pantani. Armstrong ha l'aiuto di una squadra fortissima, scienza nel preperazione migliore, e bisogna dirlo, esperienza nei confronti di antidoping. Detto questo, se non lavora come un campione, un campione non si diventa. Pero il piu pulito dei corridore era Pantani, al contrario di quella che pensano le gente. Hai sentito che ha detto Museeuw L'altro giorno ai giornalisti belgii? Conosci quello che ha detto dr, Fortuni dopo la perizia fatta sul Pantani?, la testimonianza di Vallenzansca e Marco Velo? come i giocatori dei grande club (vedi Juventus nei ultimi scandoli) sono trattati con altro misure di come è stato trattato Pantani? La situazione in Italia è vergongoso.