Armstrong comeback!

I'm with you. I find it a little cynical that he uses the cancer wagon to push his personality. I’m also not looking forward to all the bullshit stories that he will bring with it. ie I read the VF article and he is thinking about hiring a film crew for his comeback. I mean please.



I wonder what Vaughters thinks about all this ?

 

I read a short interview with JV on CN and he didn't seem surprised by it. What he thinks about it publicly and privately will be two separate matters.

 

True. I watched EuroSport coverage of the Vuelta and both Sean Kelly and Dave Harmon were talking about the "blue train effect" on cycling - at this point is was only a rumour he was coming back.



What they meant was it was a sad time in cycling when the entire peleton could only follow one team going at 60km p/h every day for 23 days.

 

My response to some Armstrong-worship on another forum:

Seriously, I'm surprised how depressed I am about this this morning. Things had finally started to move on: for the first time in a decade we have exciting racing at the Tour, we have real progress on the doping issue and riders looking in a believable state at the end of stages, we have GC contenders like Evans and Valverde that race throughout the year. And now all we're going to get for the next 10 months is Armstrong, Armstrong, Armstrong, Armstrong, a certain Lance Armstrong, Livestrong, Trek, Armstrong, Armstrong Armstrong, Phil and Paul love-in's, and then some more Armstrong. Wake me up in 2010 when he's retired again please.

 

Well said.
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Tour boss Christian Prudhomme says they would accept Lance Armstrong in the event of a possible comeback in 2009.

“From the moment his team - which we don't yet know the name of - and he agreed to the rules, particularly those governing doping and anti-doping, we would accept him,” Prudhomme told French news agency AFP.

Prudhomme added that suspicions had surrounded Lance Armstrong's victories since 1999. Armstrong has promised that he will put all of his internal blood testing on line, and has already signed up to the USA's anti-doping agency's whereabouts scheme.

“It's not possible for a rider not to abide by this rules, which are stronger [now]. The perception of how things are in this sport has changed.

I would look at this comeback from the point of view of a sporting challenge. There are very few athletes who have succeeded, as [basketball star] Michael Jordan did.

It would be a real challenge for him to come back after three years in retirement, even if he has finished second in a MTB course recently.

On top of that, there's the question of his age. Armstrong will be 37 in a week's time. Of course, [French cycling legend] Raymond Poulidor finished second in the Tour at 38 [in 1974] and third in 1976 when he was 40.

But in any case, it's only mid-September. There's a long way to go before the start in Monaco next July.”

 

It's a depressing prospect. It was going to be bad enough having Astana with Kid Contadope at the 2009 Tour. The prospect of having LA there is like a flashback to a bad dream. I have to note that so far there has been no reaction from ASO. They will have full control over the teams invited to the race next year and Astana is by no means guaranteed an invite.

 

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/Tour_Armstrong_can_race_in_2009_article_267408.html

 

and from the Kid:

2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador has told the Spanish press that he is convinced that Lance Armstrong could win an eighth Tour if he wanted to do so.

“I would be proud to race with him,” Contador told Spanish sports daily AS. “If Lance wanted to do it, he could win the Tour de France for an eighth time.”

Although Armstrong has yet to announce which team he will race for, it has been speculated that - assuming Armstrong's comeback bid does go ahead - the Texan could form part of the Astana squad, alongside Contador.

Although the team have officially denied any links, Armstrong's old Discovery Channel team manager, Johan Bruyneel, is currently in charge of Astana. The Belgian has so far refused to confirm or deny anything, but has been quoted as saying “I can't imagine him racing with CSC or Rabobank.”

An interview published on Wednesday in Basque newspaper El Diario Vasco with Astana team doctor Pedro Celaya – who was with Armstrong during his seven Tour de France wins – says that it is completely feasible for an athlete of Armstrong's stature to return to high-level competition. [/font]

“The history of sport tells us that is the case,” Celaya commented to the newspaper.

“[Spaniard] Joan Llaneras won two medals in the 2008 Olympic Games [on the track, in the madison and points races] at 39. [Slava] Ekimov raced until he was 41. Davide Rebellin [Gerolsteiner and the 2008 Paris-Nice winner] is still racing and he's 37.”

 

That's an ASO response then. It's a "we'll think about it". Great to know he's signed up to the US whereabouts system. Is that so the paparazzi can find him? Do they actually do any dope testing in the US? And even if they do, there's no way on earth the US federation is going to find their sacred cow cyclist guilty of anything.

 

Armstrong will never reach 10% of my fame!

 

Suspend your thoughts for one moment as to whether he took peds or not. He was never caught.

Personally I believe Lance used to win because broadly he was physically competitive. He was robust and consistent. His bike handling was awesome. His preparation was meticulous. He didn't try to do too much. His team was a huge benefit. He got everything together in a way that few others have managed. I still think the killer component was that he simply believed he owned the Tour. I will win this race because its mine. What you're attacking me?! But I will make you pay......

That was then but this is now. Can he win again? Look at whats against him

2 years out (he's still fit but there's fit and there's fit!). Though that mountain bike race he finished 2nd in was pretty tough and at quite a high level. He's obviously lost none of the bike handling skills and can compete individually.
Many other riders now pursue broadly similiar training to the new methods Lance brought in so that advantage is now somewhat limited.
Lance will be 37 and presumably has lost some ability to recover/some power also. Will he still be able to do those explosive uphill bursts and lose the likes of Contador/Sastre?
He will be marked like never before. Can you see him getting so much as a bike length on the pack without being blocked/marked/jumped on.
Which top riders will ride for him. Ok Hincapie and Contador might but the rest? Lepheimer? Sastre? I doubt it.

I could see him doing well but unless he assembles the most fantabulous team around him I think he will find it very hard indeed.

I must confess I don't see what he has to gain. I think this is a high stakes gamble. I would say tho' that watching some interviews with him he obviously loves to ride at a high level. He sounded almost sad when he was saying he couldn't fit the cycling in so had to run instead and it wasn't the same. If he even finsihes in the top 10 I think that would be a triumph after two years out at 37. Lets face it Cadel Evans couldn't do it without a break (his chances in 2009 must now be even slimmer). Can you imagine the pressure Lance will be under.

As a fellow bike rider (not quite in the same shape I'll admit) I wish him all the best. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the Cadel Evans house when the announcement was made.

BTW for all those that believe that Lance was a Doper have you considered that you're wrong. He might be an alien instead. I wonder how the UCI would view that.

 

Thanks to Lance Pharmstrong to destroy cycling again !

 

In what way did he destroy it. If you believe he took ped's then why do you attribute the growth in taking of ped's to Lance. Seemingly substance misuse has has been rife in the sport since it started.

If indeed Tex took them then he was something of a latecomer and one could claim he was corrupted by the sport.

I would argue that the ones who helped take it down were the ones who denied taking ped's and then got caught and still deny it. They're the ones who are stupid enought to keep taking them and then try and hide when the testers come after them.

I don't know wether Lance took drugs or not. From a statistical perspective there's probably a good chance he did but he was never caught and thus nobody can actually do more than blow smoke and attempt to spoil which is surely a sleazy underhand way to behave much like the dopers really!

I prefer to believe that one is innocent until proven guilty. You can always cast doubt and spoil by pointing fingers. Hey Sastre's a drug taker and so is Cadel Evans there now there's doubt. Only there's no doubt as they didn't test positive. Ricco on the other hand appears to have been caught red handed.

 

As I stated Jan is training for some charity rides only. He does look fit but states he is out of condition and is training for these races . These are facts not opinion.

Opinions: The leaders in the last tour could not compete with leaders of the tours a few years ago, all things being equal.
The return of two or several of these riders such as Lance, Jan etc would bring millions of dollars to the sport and evoke a lot of interest.
Just look how this forum has come alive in the last two days.

 

You mean suspend reality.

 

As we all know HGH increases recovery right!! There is NO test for it. So he will be using that by the bucket full so

 

Ok i'm not a huge Lance fan but nor do I dislike him. At his age, sure I think he can win......with the right team, Lance owes alot to his team, and his teams preperation. If he rides for Astana and Astana road to support him, he'd have to go in as favourite. However why would a guy like Contador a favourite in his own right want to ride for him.

As for Lance being able to drop the guys off his wheels in the past as was previously stated, there are some riders who can go with him, Evans is one that comes to mind, and Evans has proven that in a past tour, and if evans can do it so can others. To say Lance can drop a guy like Contador with his explosive bursts up hill, is false, Contador can break just about anyone with his attacks up hill, the only rider to go with him in 07 ( the chicken ) was suspect. The same can be said about Andy Schleck who to has a lot of go uphill.

I think Lance coming back and racing would be great, but not for Astana, maybe another team, I'd like to see him compete against, Evans, Sastre, Andy Schleck ( put him on a different team to Sastre ) Contador, and not ride with any of them. Put those five riders as head of there own teams, with evenish domestiques and maybe throw in Valverde, now that would be a race to watch............. I'd pick Contador ( even thow I think he;s highly suspect ) because he's a freak in the hills and his time trialling has improved out of sight.

 

I agree with some of this but one thing Armstrong relied upon was having his team super-juiced as well. Having them riding the flats on the front and the mountains stages till the final climb was a big advantage. The pace was high enough so no one could attack and they were all strong enough to chase anyone down if they dared to go off the front. He can't get that support anymore. Some guys have woken up and they won't dope like Beltran did. Armstrong can't expect that they will dope again. So even if he dopes he won't be able to be ridden to the remaining 5km of each mountain stage.



He also won't be able to beat Andy Shleck. That guy is 10 times the cyclist Armstrong ever was.

 

A PM from Lance!!!

Great motivational stuff from the champ. I'm totally ready to go out now and ride some skanks.

 

I understand that, I didn't say it, HE said it was slow. Just on that point what were the 4 that were faster and was Armstrong involved ?