"Richard Longwood" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Lance Armstrong's Bid For Coveted Sixth Tour de France
> Foiled By Joe King, Dullard Trite, and Richard Longwood
> Special to ESPN, MTV, MIT, and CYCLINGNEWS.COM
>
> PARIS, FRANCE -- Heading into the final stages of the 2004
> Tour de France, Lance Armstrong looked destined to be in
> clear and eternal glory. Another victory and he would
> create a new cycling pantheon. But long shot Tyler
> Hamilton was coming on steadily, and suddenly Lance began
> to look weary. There would be no six-time Tour de France
> champion.
I think if Lance does lose, he may fail to get the yellow
jersey entirely.
> Even when he still was in front by minutes, Johan
> Bruyneel, Lance Armstrong's coach, knew he was in trouble.
> "When I looked back and saw
the
> way Tyler Hamilton was coming at us, yeah, I thought we
> were going to get beat," Bruyneel said.
>
> Tyler Hamilton, coached by Urs Freuler, had Lance
> Armstrong in his sights, and 7 stages from the last stage,
> Urs Freuler's stallion went by the five time Tour de
> France champion en route to a commanding victory before a
crowd
> of millions, the largest ever to see a sporting event in
> France. For the first time in five years, Lance Armstrong
> didn't win.
>
> Freuler and the other Phonak managers Alvaro Pino, Jacques
> Michaud, and
René
> Savary and Tyler's parents had mixed emotions after last
> year's situation when Tyler emerged from obscurity last
> July to become Massachusetts' favorite son and an
> international celebrity.
>
> As Tyler Hamilton and Lance Armstrong galloped out,
> Freuler got on
Bruyneel'
> s radio frequency and told him, "Better luck next time
> jackass! You were
a
> fool for letting your pretty boy do all those OLN segments
> and all those other car commercials." It surprised
> Bruyneel, who undoubtedly was in an agitated state.
Funny...and somehow realistic?
> "He said he was sorry," Bruyneel said. "I said, 'What are
> you going to
do?
> That's bike racing.'"
>
> Freuler was thrilled over finally beating his jinx race
> and completing his personal goal. Besides winning 15
> stages of the Giro d'Italia, 3 stages
of
> the Tour de France, 5 stages of the Tour de Romandie, 9
> stages of the Tour de Suisse, Urs Freuler also took 10
> World Track titles. After not making the podium last year
> at the Tour de France, the Swiss native not only won this
> year's Tour de France but also did it without Tyler using
> any performance enhancing drugs. Still, he felt for those
> who yearned for a Lance victory.
>
> "What can I say?" Freuler said. "I feel great, the jihad
> worked and it was an emotional thing. It's sad because
> Lance was great for racing."
>
> Emma O'Reilly, Ireland's leading big mouth, was weepy and
> overjoyed. Her feelings were confusing. "This means so
> much to me," she said.
>
> "This is a homebred champion. My husband [Mr. Hamilton,
> Tyler's father]
is
> the one who decided that we breed and produce this year's
> Tour de France champion.
Tyler got in to cycling the same way Greg Lemond did, while
using it to train for competitive skiing.
>But we do feel bad for Lance (wink, wink). It's
>bittersweet. We were rooting for Lance (wink, wink). We
>love Lance. I think Lance has
done
> more for the racing community and people who love
> cycling."
>
> Love hurts, and Lance went down because he was judged
> badly by David Walsh and Pierre Ballester at the end of a
> glorious ride through France. Bruyneel, the only Belgian
> coach Lance has ever known, asked far too much
of
> him in the most grueling race Lance will ever run.
>
> Lance never got a breather in an exhausting stage to the
> top of Plateau de Beille. He was 30 seconds behind at the
> first feed zone and two minutes back at the base of the
> last climb while always battling just to stay in
the
> peloton. His pharmacist was worried a long way out, and he
> looked more angry than disappointed seconds after Tyler
> Hamilton crossed the finish
line
> to win the stage.
>
> "We just weren't able to manage his hematocrit," Bruyneel
> said minutes later. "You can't win a 23 day stage race
> without getting that stabilized.
OMG...I guess people are really starting to think that...
> I knew when we didn't win Plateau de Beille that we were
> in a little trouble. He just wasn't stabilized the way he
> was in the previous two stages."
>
> After taking constant pressure from Roberto Heras and
> Oscar Sevilla while chasing Jan Ullrich and Iban Mayo,
> Lance Armstrong took the early lead on the L'Alpe d'Huez
> stage by 10 seconds half way to the top. Bruyneel had
him
> kick for home early -- too early -- and opened a 20
> second lead 6
kilometers
> from the finish. Heras, Sevilla, Mayo and Ullrich were
> done, but Tyler Hamilton proved to have the biggest
> schlong of the day and won big time.
>
> The next day, Freuler let Tyler Hamilton move comfortably
> to the finish in Le Grand Bornand while Lance took the
> heat down the backstretch, and although Tyler was far
> back, Freuler still wasn't worried. Tyler Hamilton was on
> cruise control, and Lance wasn't home free.
>
> "At the top of the Col de la Madeleine, I still thought we
> had a good
shot,"
> Bruyneel said, "but then I looked over and saw Tyler
> Hamilton smoking a cigarette and thought we might be in
> trouble."
>
> He was. Tyler Hamilton ground Lance down and took the lead
> for good, and Lance had nothing left to throw at him.
> Tyler Hamilton lost only 12
seconds
> in the descent into the Le Grand Bornand finish while
> Lance Armstrong rode at 60 kilometers per hour in the last
> 2 kilometers, way too fast to
recover
> for the next day.
>
> Millions of American people were seriously bummed out
> because Lance got
beat
> in Paris. Jay Leno had called to ask if Lance would come
> to California to appear on his show. President Bush issued
> an open invitation for Lance to visit the Rose Garden. One
> woman wrote to Bruyneel and asked if she could have a nude
> photo shoot taken with Lance. All were turned down.
>
> "It's unbelievable how it's taken off," Bruyneel said
> Friday. "It's just kind of snowballed. It seems like the
> story is flowing across the country and everyone has
> kind of adopted him as the feel-good story and their
> favorite Texan."
Let's see how he handles losing before we write the final
chapter of "The Lance Chronicles".
> "I think the timing has a lot to do with it. There are so
> many bad things going on in the world," Jonathan Vaughters
> of Boulder said when he came to the Paris finish of the
> Tour de France. "People get tired of looking at
the
> bad things on the front page and they skip to the sports
> page. They get
to
> read a feel-good story about a little drug using Texas
> cyclist who's doing swell."
>
> "It has been great for the drug companies, and hopefully
> it continues."
That is probably true.
> Unfortunately for Lance and his connections, it didn't.
>
> Bruyneel tried to accentuate the positive while taking the
> pain with class and grace. While Freuler was being
> interviewed after the race, Bruyneel congratulated him
> with a crushing Belgian handshake.
>
> "Well, it's tough," Bruyneel said. "We had a shot to make
> big history
here.
> We didn't do it. We've had a great year. I'm not going to
> put my head down. I'm proud of the whole team and
> everybody needs to be happy. They don't need to be sad."
>
> Too bad it didn't feel that way Sunday night in Paris, and
> that wouldn't change Monday morning.
I do think that Bruyneel will show himself as the (USPS)
man with the most class...when they have to handle a loss
in the Tour.
>
>
>
>
> "David Off" <
[email protected]> wrote in
> message
news:40e5295d$0$17617$79c14f64@nan-newsreader-
> 05.noos.net...
> >
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/38-
> > 58759.stm
> >
> > Lance Armstrong will fail to become the first man to win
> > six Tours de France, according to 1987 winner Stephen
> > Roche. Armstrong is the race favourite in 2004, but
> > Irishman Roche believes 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich
> > will halt the Texan's historic bid.
> >
> > "I would be really surprised if Armstrong won," Roche
> > told BBC Sport.
> >
> > "He may be mentally tougher than he's ever been and
> > tactically more astute, but I don't believe he's the
> > same rider physically anymore."
> >
> > He added: "If I were to pick it, I'd go Ullrich
> > first, Tyler Hamilton second and Armstrong third."
> > Armstrong does not appear to be at his best going
> > into the 2004 race.
> >
> > He was outridden by Iban Mayo and Hamilton on the
> > Dauphine Libere and looked as though he was struggling
> > at crucial times. In contrast, Ullrich appears to be in
> > good shape, close to the sort of form that won him the
> > race seven years ago.
> >
> > And Roche believes the German has even more "bite" after
> > his runner-up spot 12 months ago. "People have been
> > talking about him carrying too much weight and not
> > looking as sharp in races as before, but that's
> > nonsense," said Roche.
> >
> > "He looked better and better in his final warm-up - the
> > Tour of Switzerland - and I think he's hitting top form
> > at exactly the right
> time."
> >
> > Armstrong endured his toughest Tour in 2003.
> >
> > Although he won - matching the achievements of five-time
> > champions Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault
> > and Miguel Indurain - he lacked the invincibility of
> > previous seasons.
> >
> > He suffered from malnutrition and dehydration, fell on
> > the final ascent on stage 15, and was repeatedly
> > attacked by his rivals. "Last year, the cracks started
> > to show," said Roche. "Those cracks are only going to
> > get wider."
] and he really does have