Lance might ride for # 8 Tour win

[Bob]

jj wrote:
> On 9 Sep 2005 15:40:51 -0700, "Bob" <[email protected]> wrote:
>

> >Snub the Tdf and ride the Giro or Vuelta? Now *that* would be worth LA
> >coming out of retirement to do. I wonder if that were to happen what
> >effect it would have on other teams' acceptance of TdF invitations and-
> >assuming LA won the other event (assumptions are risky but it is
> >definitely possible)- whether the 2006 TdF results would forever have
> >an asterisk next to the winner's name in the minds of cycling fans.
> >
> >Regards,
> >Bob Hunt
>
> Trouble is, it's not just LA, it's the DSC team that would have to do that.
> Too much of a bucking of tradition, I'm guessing. Plus, it's WADA that
> screwed up. (I'd say sack **** Pound, but is there someone worse waiting in
> the wings?)
>
> Besides, I get the feeling that half of LA's 'arm to battle' has been
> diffused with the UCI announcement. (darn, what -were- they thinking, lol!)
>
> If UCI had -at least- called LA a wussy, we'd be looking forward to another
> Tour! ;-p
>
> jj

Bruyneel has said many times that the entire team's racing schedule has
been built around Armstrong. There's no reason to think that things
would be any different in 2006 if LA signed a one year racing contract
with Discovery with the provision that he would *not* ride the TdF.
Dumping the TdF from the schedule won't happen of course because the
sponsors would veto it. The Giro and the Vuelta combined don't get
sponsors anything like the brand exposure that the TdF does. Tradition
is nice but from a sponsor's perspective profit and getting the most
bang for your advertising buck is better.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

P.S.- It's a given that in any situation there is *always* someone
worse waiting in the wings.

 

[Roger Zoul]

Bob <[email protected]> wrote:
:> Roger Zoul wrote:
:>> Bob wrote:
:>> :: [email protected] wrote:
:>> :::: Well Michael Jordan retired. Twice. Some people just love
:>> :::: competition so much that they aren't comfortable without it.
:>> :::
:>> ::: Cassius Clay/ Muhamed Ali came back several times.
:>> ::: Mike Tyson and George Forman too, but they were broke.
:>> ::
:>> :: If he's returning so soon from retirement because he misses the
:>> :: competition, he should have never announced his retirement.
:>>
:>> Well, geez...do you never have second thoughts about anything, bob?
:>>
:>> He's been
:>> :: officially retired for what, five or six weeks? That's a
:>> :: *vacation* not a retirement.
:>> :: It's true that all the once-greats you name returned from
:>> :: retirement. It's equally true that they all ended their careers
:>> :: as shadows of the champions they once were and now people can't
:>> :: even spell their names right. <g>
:>>
:>> If he's going to return from retirement, better to do it now rather
:>> than after a couple of years of time to get fat.
:>
:> Only fools never have second thoughts BUT...
:> As we talk about his return from retirement that retirement is only a
:> week or so longer than the vacations he's taken after past Tours.
:> Maybe his "never say never" was just so much shooting from the hip
:> after the realization hit him that he's walked away from something
:> that has consumed him for at least the last eight years or maybe he
:> was just yanking his detractors' chain. Whatever his final decision,
:> I wish him well. I don't think he's got another TdF victory in his
:> future though and that's why I hope he stays retired. It would be
:> nice to see someone go out at the top of their game.

What if he rode to support another rider?