daiv4

I see Discovery Channel just announced that Lance will ride 2005 Tour de France.

It looks like pro as well as anti Lance folks will get their opportunitys to praise/downplay his performance.

velocipedio

yawn.

daiv4

Good point.

I should have added a note that its going to be a looong spring/summer for those who are boared with the whole Lance subject.

Devil

courtesy of https://www.cyclingnews.com

Armstrong will ride Tour 2005

After much speculation, Lance Armstrong finally announced his initial 2005 racing schedule, one that will include this summer's Tour de France where he will go for a seventh straight victory.

"I look forward to achieving my goal of a seventh Tour de France (victory)," said Armstrong to thepaceline.com. "I am excited to get back on the bike and start racing although my condition is far from perfect," he added.

Also on Armstrong's racing schedule is the Tour de Georgia in April, an event the American won in 2004. As already confirmed, Armstrong will kick off his season early next month at Paris-Nice, a seven day stage race and the first event of the newly formed Pro Tour. Following Paris-Nice, Armstrong will take part in the 89th edition of the Tour of Flanders, one of Europe's most prestigious Spring Classics, on April 3. Armstrong last raced in the Tour of Flanders in 2002, finishing 59th in support of his team's leader. Armstrong will then return to the U.S. and defend his title at the Tour de Georgia, scheduled for April 19-25.

"Johan (Bruyneel, the team's sports manager) and I will evaluate my fitness later this spring and possibly add some races to the calendar," said Armstrong.

lotek 

Damn you're fast. . . I just heard it (wife called said ABC news announced it!)
read it on CyclingNews and popped over here.

At least Jan will have his wish to race against LA again.
Gonna be a long Spring and Summer, eh?

Marty

Devil

Sounds like a short spring for Lance, although the newspiece said Johan and Lance might add more races later:

# Mar 6-13 - Paris-Nice (France)

# Apr 3 - Tour of Flanders (Belgium)

# Apr 19-24 - Tour de Georgia (USA)

# Jul 2-24 - Tour de France

I can't believe he's not doing the Dauphine/Tour de Suisse/Catalunya.

I'm also thinking he's going to go for the win in Paris-Nice.

rule

And the Tour de Georgia as well. Excellent!

Laggard

That's it? For all this talk about him expanding his horizens, he's doing Paris Nice, 1 classic, a small tour in the U.S and the TDF.

Color me unimpressed.

Devil

That was my impression as well. I guess he's scrapping the classics for the Tour de Georgia. Wouldn't want to overextend himself, afterall.

Neither would the other riders, I'm sure...

bikerski

american racer on an american team doing what no one ever thought remotely possible. yeah, I'm so cool and euro that I either discount his achievments or am bored by the whole thing.

tomcat

Are you a father? What do you think he should do about that fact in his life? I see this as his way of trying to cover all the bases in his life and still have some time close to his kids. Ain't nothing wrong with that.


tomcat

JoeOxfordCT

Well I'm sure he's doing to Tour de Georgia to help promote the event and give it a foothold so that it can survive when he retires. As much as I admire Armstrong & his achievements I can't help but feel that the bigger he becomes, the bigger the void will be when he's gone. Now before you jump down my throat what I mean when I say that is in terms of GC level American riders in the Pro Tour, the level of televised coverage of cycling (OLN), the sponsorship & growth (hopefully) of pro level events here in the States (Tour de Georgia). This doesn't mean I don't like or won't root for European riders but you get my drift ? Don't you ??

Devil

And all the defenders of the faith come out of the woodwork.

The guy is a professional athlete. You'd think he'd feel obligated to race all of the races he could, especially these years. It's what the fans of the sport want. Without fans, pro athletes are nothing. Absolutely nothing. The only reason he is so successful is because of the fans. No fans = no sports, and Lance is just another guy that can ride his bike really far on the side of the road.

I'm sure his kids will understand later on down the road why daddy couldn't be with them for a few months. Don't forget that they benefit from his success as well.

galen_52657

Was there ever any doubt that he would ride the Tour??? Did you really think OLN would pay without a Tour 05 guarantee????

Come on people…it was a forgone conclusion as soon as he won 04.

wannaride

Excellence is boring to those that can never hope to achieve it.

GO LANCE!!!

gabiker

Yes he is also riding in the Tour de Georgia again this year to defend his title here. Yes that is good new for the people that live here and I can say it brought a lot of excitement last year.

lotek 

And I really thought he was going to do the classics
I was just waiting for Lance in Het Volk, Tour of Flancers,
the real spring classics. Lance on the koppenberg . . .
oh well, maybe next year (yeah right).

Marty

RegularGuy

Lucky freekin' Georgia! What we need is a Tour de Illinois.

Laggard

You think he's the only father in the peloton?

velocipedio

it's boring because there was never a doubt. the whole "will he or won't he?" thing was an orchestrated marketing ploy to advance the lance [and discovery brand]. it was like "who shot jr?" that's what i find boring.

as for his greatness... i am willing to concede that armstrong is the greatest tour de france rider ever. however, he does it with so little elan that i find it uninsteresting. i only watched the first week of the tour last year. i probably won't want this year's at all. i do find it dull. whenever any athlete or team dominates a sport for so long, whether it's the yankees or lance armstrong, i find it uninteresting.

and i think the lance brand managers know just how uninteresting the whole thing is. that's why they resorted to the "who shot jr?" strategy this year to keep everyone interested.

personally, i'd rather be doing my own racing that seeing what the best bio- and cycling technology can accomplish in the tour de france.

RoadToad

I, for one, am excited about this. I like him and what he stands for. I also think that the more comptetition there is in the tour, the more exciting it is to watch. Hopefully, this will be a shootout between Lance and Ivan. Go lance!

RT

lotek 

Not defending but he gets crucified for
1) neglecting the kids (riding tour)
2) Not riding classics (taking care of kids).

a conundrum huh?

Marty

DXchulo

Well, it looks like I have to admit that I was wrong about all of this. I thought he was going to focus on some classics and take a year off.

I guess I was just wishing...

Grasschopper

Um WTF dude? Having been in a family where my father was gone and my mother chose her carrer rather than the family I will say NO the children will NOT forgive him and it has been for more than a few months, it has been for years now and every min counts. This absense is exactly why the children of stars (athletes or whatever) are often the ones doing all sorts of drugs, getting into legal trouble and generally not having any respect for themseves or anyone else.

I admire him and anyone else that puts their family before their job. He has the money, he has the fame, he has the victories. He has won more TDF than anyone in history, why does he need to prove himself to anyone? He almost lost his life to cancer.

Why wouldn't he pick his family over his job?

lotek 

I tend to agree with Velocipedio, it is getting monotonous.
The only thing I find interesting is which Jan Ullrich is gonna
show up? Fit and fourth?
At least 2 years ago there was some drama and doubt
that Lance would get 5.

Marty