New Book On Marco Pantani



i too, was awed by the climbing of mp on that day. the standing on the pedals in the bigger gear, never losing momentum, applying effort sufficient to best the grade and prevent any challenge, blasting the field to pieces in his wake, this was truly a stunning return to absolute top form.



MountainPro said:
The mountain stage you speak of Wurm was stunning, MP blasted his way to the top in stunning form. I have the full video of it with Phil Ligget on vocals.
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limerickman said:
good to see you back El.
Hope you stick around.
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fell and dislocated a hip and it sort of went down hill from there , and I´ve spent most of the summer working in a mate´s cycleshop as he´d busted a collarbone in a mtb race so 3/4 of us filled as unpaid mechanics doing 2 /3 hours a day as and when we could until he could get back to that side of the buisness ( took almost 3 months )
great fun but too tiring to open the club house after that much effort - I´m an afficianado not a pro so the leval of concentration was nackering .
that said I´d do it again now I´ve had a holliday .
 
Carrera said:
Maybe I'm being a bit naive but are you all sure Lance intended to insult Pantani or was Marco possibly over-reacting?
I sometimes get the feeling Armstrong can't seem to win no matter what he does. Take the Simeoni affair. Lance chased down Simeoni in the TDF when the latter had tried to open up a break and Simeoni then decided to go to the judiciary to sue Armstrong over his behaviour, over what he apparently said and due to the fact Armstrong had called Simeoni a liar on French TV.
But from what I gather, most of the peleton was on Armstrong's side. Simeoni had been making allegations in the press with respect to doping but also dragging down cycling in the eyes of the media.
To my mind, it's very harmful to do what Simeoni had done - simply accuse another cyclist of cheating and doping in public, rather than make the allegations privately.
I also note that Armstrong didn't ditch David Millar when the latter got caught with dope in his flat over in France. He continued to support Millar and stayed in touch with the brit rider during a difficult period, when I suppose he risked some degree of guilt through association. Usually at the first cry of drugs you tend to be counting your friends in a phone box.
Personally I don't see Armstrong as being so bad. Maybe he's not what you might call a "nice guy" in the strictest sense of the word but I'd rather have Lance than Bob Geldof these days. If nothing else Armstrong continues to help cancer victims worldwide, has spoken up for cancer victims who were stuck in New Orleans while also critizicing the war in Iraq in private to George Bush.
The article I read also mentions the fact Marco and Lance made it up towards the end of Marco's career and they were more or less reconciled. And, yes, I agree Marco is a better climber than Armstrong but he's a pure climber, of course.
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LA calling marco a " fu*king sh*t stirrer " in the post race live interview , broadcast all over europe and the world , may say something .
 
Wurm said:
Oh, I see. What LA did to MP was an "attempt to show class in sportsmanship"?! Pul-LEEZE. :rolleyes:
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man i agree, i dont care what people say, Armstrong held a grudge against MP and wanted to humiliate him in front of millions....if he did it to one of the bigger riders there like Riis, he would have chinned the little ****.
 
MountainPro said:
man i agree, i dont care what people say, Armstrong held a grudge against MP and wanted to humiliate him in front of millions....if he did it to one of the bigger riders there like Riis, he would have chinned the little ****.
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I ordered the book, I can't wait to read. It's a shame, I have never seen Marco ride.

MP - Define, chinning a little ****. :D

Lw
 
el Inglés said:
LA calling marco a " fu*king sh*t stirrer " in the post race live interview , broadcast all over europe and the world...
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Well Carrera, how much "class in sportsmanship" did Armstrong display with that one?
 
compare and contrast MP/LA to MP/JU : JU reigning TDF in 1998 was blasted by
MP on Les Deux Alpes.
The very next day JU tried to retaliate by going for a lone break but MP stuck with him.
They finished that stage together first and second : as they crossed the line MP stuck out his hand to congratulate JU for a days tough racing.

It's all about mutual respect.

Something which Armstrong has neither the class or pedigree to understand.
 
limerickman said:
compare and contrast MP/LA to MP/JU : JU reigning TDF in 1998 was blasted by
MP on Les Deux Alpes.
The very next day JU tried to retaliate by going for a lone break but MP stuck with him.
They finished that stage together first and second : as they crossed the line MP stuck out his hand to congratulate JU for a days tough racing.

It's all about mutual respect.

Something which Armstrong has neither the class or pedigree to understand.
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They finished that stage together first and second : as they crossed the line MP stuck out his hand to congratulate JU for a days tough racing.

Jeez, you could substitute JU/LA in a different stage in a different year and the sentence still works.
 
DiabloScott said:
Jeez, you could substitute JU/LA in a different stage in a different year and the sentence still works.
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Here comes the LA-fan hordes. :rolleyes:
 
Wurm said:
Here comes the LA-fan hordes. :rolleyes:
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LA's true character/arrogance/spitefulness/sportsmanship/pedigree lies somewhere between Musette's vision and Mountain Pro's interpretation. My eyes roll from the extremist rhetoric on both ends, not from being naive.

wurd up wurm
 
DiabloScott said:
LA's true character/arrogance/spitefulness/sportsmanship/pedigree lies somewhere between Musette's vision and Mountain Pro's interpretation. My eyes roll from the extremist rhetoric on both ends, not from being naive.

wurd up wurm
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Yes, it would be nice if we could all find some "happy medium". In situations like LA's past behavior and what's been written about MP, it's a bit tougher to do so.

I'm tryin', I'm tryin'....

;)
 
DiabloScott said:
LA's true character/arrogance/spitefulness/sportsmanship/pedigree lies somewhere between Musette's vision and Mountain Pro's interpretation. My eyes roll from the extremist rhetoric on both ends, not from being naive.
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BS, its not extremist rhetoric.

watch the video of the actual event, its all there.
 
MountainPro said:
BS, its not extremist rhetoric.

watch the video of the actual event, its all there.
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If your view is not extremist, that means there's a sizeable number of people out there that think LA is an even more arrogant vindictive ******* than you do (that's hard to believe). Maybe sometimes the extremists are correct, more often their emotions are getting in the way of objectivity.

I've seen most of the same video you have... we're arguing perception here, not facts.
 
DiabloScott said:
I've seen most of the same video you have... we're arguing perception here, not facts.
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i saw pantanis post race interview, the next day....its his perception also...

but youre right, perhaps he over reacted...:rolleyes:
 
Speaking of Armstrong, I've been reading his account of his battle with cancer. It was very well written. It becomes quite clear that Lance was literally s**t scared when he was diagnosed with cancer and it shows him in a very human light.
Of course, his ego comes out one or two times during the course of the book but this is something he admits to and he confesses he made quite a few mistakes as a TDF rider who failed to grasp certain norms of behaviour.
Only one particular goof made me feel Armstrong was a touch out of line on one occasion. This was on Oprah Winfrey when Oprah asked Lance what the world record was for the Alpe D' Huez time trial.
"37 minutes replied Lance."
"And how fast did you ride it, Mr Armstrong," asks Oprah.
"37 minutes!", replies Lance.
I think he left out the seconds ratings, however. I may be wrong but I think Marco has some seconds on Lance and Lance ought to have given Marco the credit for that. In running and cycling, it's the seconds that makes a whole lot of difference.
 
Carrera said:
Only one particular goof made me feel Armstrong was a touch out of line on one occasion. This was on Oprah Winfrey when Oprah asked Lance what the world record was for the Alpe D' Huez time trial.
"37 minutes replied Lance."
"And how fast did you ride it, Mr Armstrong," asks Oprah.
"37 minutes!", replies Lance.
I think he left out the seconds ratings, however. I may be wrong but I think Marco has some seconds on Lance and Lance ought to have given Marco the credit for that. In running and cycling, it's the seconds that makes a whole lot of difference.
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Pantani still holds the record for ascending Alp D'Huez - and that was after cycling 160+kms in that particular stage.

Armstrong cycled it in a slower time - in a stage restricted to include only the climbing of Alp D'Huez.
 
limerickman said:
.....Armstrong cycled it in a slower time - in a stage restricted to include only the climbing of Alp D'Huez.
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Yes, Pantani has the record, and clearly deserves it, no disputing that.

BUT, people often cite the difference between MP's record breaking ascent and the 2004 time trial WITHOUT even acknowledging that LA did the 2004 ride in ridiculous congestion with people spitting and throwing beers on him, etc. That stage was scary to watch even on TV, I can't imagine what it must feel like to ride in those conditions. Pretty unbelievable. Not just for Lance, but for all the top GC riders that day. I was on pins and needles watching all of them. Clearly not the ideal conditions for a record breaking ascent...

Like I said, MP still clearly deserves the record, but I think we should mention the adversity faced in the 2004 ride as well. For the record, I'm equally a fan of MP and LA. I have no particular loyalty either way. Both uniquely inspiring riders in my eyes...
 
roadhog said:
Yes, Pantani has the record, and clearly deserves it, no disputing that.

BUT, people often cite the difference between MP's record breaking ascent and the 2004 time trial WITHOUT even acknowledging that LA did the 2004 ride in ridiculous congestion with people spitting and throwing beers on him, etc. That stage was scary to watch even on TV, I can't imagine what it must feel like to ride in those conditions. Pretty unbelievable. Not just for Lance, but for all the top GC riders that day. I was on pins and needles watching all of them. Clearly not the ideal conditions for a record breaking ascent...

Like I said, MP still clearly deserves the record, but I think we should mention the adversity faced in the 2004 ride as well. For the record, I'm equally a fan of MP and LA. I have no particular loyalty either way. Both uniquely inspiring riders in my eyes...
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The congestion that day was appalling in 2004.
I remember watching that stahe and thinking how no one got knocked from their bikes was a miracle.
 
Carrera said:
This was on Oprah Winfrey when Oprah asked Lance what the world record was for the Alpe D' Huez time trial.
"37 minutes replied Lance."
"And how fast did you ride it, Mr Armstrong," asks Oprah.
"37 minutes!", replies Lance.
I think he left out the seconds ratings, however. I may be wrong but I think Marco has some seconds on Lance and Lance ought to have given Marco the credit for that. In running and cycling, it's the seconds that makes a whole lot of difference.
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Dude, you watch Oprah?

Did Oprah really use the words "time trial"? If so then Lance was correct.
If he were speaking to an audience of tifosi he should certainly have acknowledged Marco's record, but this was Oprah.
 
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