Anyone notice that Verses dramatic intro to the Tour skipped over Armstrong?

An intro/overview of the Tour that mentions LeMond, but not Lance?

I'm not a slavish Lance-o-phile, but I loved watching some of those rides.

I understand not mentioning Landis, but whiting out Armstrong is pathethic.

I agree.....

While Greg was great in his time....he then went on to become rather whiny when his career was eclipsed by Lance.

When Greg started bad mouthing Lance I stopped liking him

Maybe Lance coverage is yet to come?

I was beginning to think i was the only person who noticed!

Lance cheated and Greg didn't.

Lance cheated and Greg didn't.


I think you forgot your :lol::roflmao2::roflmao2::lol:

From the forming of the earth to the great achievements of Lemond! Skip.........
The new American teams Garmin & Columbia a great new start to the tour.

It was Great!

the motto this year is "take the tour back" (from dopers) and i hope they arent implying that Armstrong did drugs by not mentioning him.
however, who would be interested in a cage fight between LeMond and Armstrong ? the winner fights Kimbo Slice

however, who would be interested in a cage fight between LeMond and Armstrong ? the winner fights Kimbo Slice

Fighting Kimbo is suicide. But he has no stamina and no grappling skills. One day he will get his clock cleaned at he will become a footnote in MMA history. :p

Do they even invite Lance to come over for the TdF? I saw they had Hinault on the podium shaking Valverde's hand and he "only" won 5 (of course...he IS French). It is strange that the guy who won more tours than any is shows up sporadically.

Lance Who?

http://evilbeetgossip.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/bass.jpg

..I saw they had Hinault on the podium shaking Valverde's hand and he "only" won 5 (of course...he IS French). ...

Hinault is the regular fixture.

i just hate that stupid repetitive saab commercial. saabs are awesome cars but that commercial blows.

Not sure about 'awesome' Saabs but I do like the concept of 2 litre turbos.

Lance was never a patron of cycling the way Merckx and Hinault were and are. He raced two months of the year, won a heck of a lot of TDFs and that was it. More than any major star, he didn't have that connection to cycling history, lore or mystique.

I'm amazed that anyone is the slightest bit surprised that he's chosen to stay away from cycling.

I'm amazed that anyone is the slightest bit surprised that he's chosen to stay away from cycling.

Away? Every time my wife opens her People magazine, Lance and one of his boyfriends/girlfriends are in their riding away from the paparazzi on their Treks.

He is different from the others because he has the money to stay away from Pro cycling. He doesn't need it.

i just hate that stupid repetitive saab commercial. saabs are awesome cars but that commercial blows.

It's only the first stage :lol: ...you think you guys are going to make it to the mountains :roflmao2:

Away from the TDF I should have said.

Hinault doesn't need the TDF either. He's financially set for life. Ain't about money.

Lance was never a patron of cycling the way Merckx and Hinault were and are. He raced two months of the year, won a heck of a lot of TDFs and that was it. More than any major star, he didn't have that connection to cycling history, lore or mystique.

He stopped racing...you can stop hating.

Never hated Lance. Not sure where that came from.

i just hate that stupid repetitive saab commercial. saabs are awesome cars but that commercial blows.

That, and a few other commercials are why I tape the morning broadcast as I leave for work, then watch it (fast forwarding through the commercials) when I get home that evening.

Think you're sick of the Saab commercial? You've probably seen every commercial that's going to be on the broadcasts, and you've got 21 days of repetition coming . . . . over and over and over and over and . . . . . . . . . . :cry:

Likewise, I love Saabs. And I've certainly heard worse taglines than "born from jets". After all, the twelve guys who designed the first Saab (and a few models thereafter) were aeronautical engineers. Saab is first and foremost an aviation company. And the car division is part of General Motors, which is why the last 13 years worth are rather vanilla compared to their predecessors.

That, and a few other commercials are why I tape the morning broadcast as I leave for work, then watch it (fast forwarding through the commercials) when I get home that evening.

Think you're sick of the Saab commercial? You've probably seen every commercial that's going to be on the broadcasts, and you've got 21 days of repetition coming . . . . over and over and over and over and . . . . . . . . . . :cry:

Likewise, I love Saabs. And I've certainly heard worse taglines than "born from jets". After all, the twelve guys who designed the first Saab (and a few models thereafter) were aeronautical engineers. Saab is first and foremost an aviation company. And the car division is part of General Motors, which is why the last 13 years worth are rather vanilla compared to their predecessors.

I don't think you've seen the annoying commercial. It says something like: "We take emissions and recycle them into something good. [pause] We take emissions and recycle them into something good. [pause] We take emissions and recycle them into something good. See? Repetition can be good." The commercial was annoying the first time I heard it, and I am not looking forward to hearing it for the next 3 weeks!
The "Born from jets" commercials would be a lot better. Please bring that back Saab! Anything but this new one!

IMHO they made a decision not to cover lance that much in the intro because in years past it has been so Lance heavy. Maybe they figured that some of their fan base is saying 'this is not the TdL for crying out loud'

Just a guess. Lance will get his well deserved coverage at some point

I think VS coverage was excellent. I'm just thrilled that we get as much as we do.

Michael

With their Take back the Tour theme, and the whole buildup at the beginning of yesterday's stage. Armstrong was conspicuously absent in the history part, and Lemond was prominently featured.

After mentioning LEmond, it was logical that the next step was to mention Armstrong's 7 wins, but they didn't breath his name in the piece.

The piece left a very clear negative implication.

Fortunately for the Tour, an exciting finish, as we had with Stage 1, eclipses even the stupidest marketing.

It's not just Landis. Look at all the cyclists they taped. They all had drug/test issues, hence, taking back the tour.

What if a bunch of riders get busted, hardly taking back the tour then is it. It's just a poor media campaign.

Who is this tool that replaced Al Trautwig?

Versus just signed an extension to broadcast the TdF... Do you think they're going to do anything to piss off the ASO?

Hummer. He's a bit of a weenie. From the PBR circuit or something.

He deserves a fair shake....just not from us.

Welcome to the party.

It's only the first stage :lol: ...you think you guys are going to make it to the mountains :roflmao2:

The riders have to keep going for 3 weeks, and you want to abandon the tour just because of some commercials?

A DVR is absolutely invaluable when watching the tour.

Can you name all the guys in that tape?

wasn't he that astronaut guy?

If VS was told NOT to mention Lance, even though he holds a very prominent place in the history of the Tour, then the the ASO are trying to rewrite history to fit THEIR agenda. Look. They tried and tried to prove he was cheating. They never did. Drop it and move on. Acting like he never existed is childish and transparent.

sorry, I guess I'm slow

Especially since they just reinstated Riis' win.

So ... what you're saying is the French are a bunch of ASOs ?

With their Take back the Tour theme, and the whole buildup at the beginning of yesterday's stage. Armstrong was conspicuously absent in the history part, and Lemond was prominently featured.

After mentioning LEmond, it was logical that the next step was to mention Armstrong's 7 wins, but they didn't breath his name in the piece.

The piece left a very clear negative implication.


Versus evidently stuck it to the verbose Al Trautwig!:lol:

merged threads

i just hate that stupid repetitive saab commercial. saabs are awesome cars but that commercial blows.

What do you mean?

What do you mean?

What do you mean?

What do you mean?

What do you mean?

Who is this tool that replaced Al Trautwig?

A tool, but a welcome tool imho....which brings us back to why we're hearing less about Lance....Al's departure means a 90% reduction in the mentions of Lance's name...

fwiw, I've heard Lance mentioned plenty...as is fitting. But there are other cyclists in the world.

Lance was never a patron of cycling the way Merckx and Hinault were and are. He raced two months of the year, won a heck of a lot of TDFs and that was it. More than any major star, he didn't have that connection to cycling history, lore or mystique.

I'm amazed that anyone is the slightest bit surprised that he's chosen to stay away from cycling.

No one has done more to increase the exposure of cycling than Lance Armstrong. The amount of money generated from Armstrong's name alone puts him in a class of his own. For better or worse, the cycling industry would not be what it is today without Armstrong, and that includes the Tour.

Regardless of whether you like Armstrong or not, his contribution to the cycling world is unparalleled. Armstrong is the Tiger Woods of bicycling, plain and simple. Lance Armstrong is a household name, Eddy Merckx (despite his greatness) is not.

I also think this "take back the tour" nonsense is a load of crap. I'd bet that the doping scandals have increased interest in the Tour, and all this BS about tarnishing the Tour's reputation is just public posturing. People thrive on drama and tragedy, and last year's Tour was exactly that.

Like everything else in this world, especially sports, whatever generates revenue is what matters. Controversy is a good thing in this sense, and thus a clean Tour is not good for generating revenue. We just love watching train wrecks...

Admit it. We're all looking for the type of drama we saw last year. Our inflated sense of the self in contrast to our actual behavior is the real mystery here.

He works for ASO during the Tour. Duh.


btw - There's only one rider who won more than Hinault, and his name isn't Armstrong.



You are whistling in the wind. The cult is in full bloom.

The TdF is the only race

Greg LeMond deserves no recognition for anything b/c he and Lance Armstrong don't get along (to put it mildly :) ).

Bernard Hinault is just some old guy that never could've hung with Armstrong

Who's this Eddy Merckx guy? Well he won alot of races but I've never heard of all but one of them and Lance won more TdFs than him anyways.

Nobody in the US rode a roadbike prior to 1999.

The TdF was completely insignificant as a sporting event until it was "discovered" by Lance Armstrong in 1999.


Thing is I admire Armstrong's accomplishments and really respect his cancer work but his cult is irritating.


:beer:

Thing is

I also think this "take back the tour" nonsense is a load of crap. I'd bet that the doping scandals have increased interest in the Tour, and all this BS about tarnishing the Tour's reputation is just public posturing. People thrive on drama and tragedy, and last year's Tour was exactly that.

Like everything else in this world, especially sports, whatever generates revenue is what matters. Controversy is a good thing in this sense, and thus a clean Tour is not good for generating revenue. We just love watching train wrecks...

Admit it. We're all looking for the type of drama we saw last year. Out inflated sense of the self in contrast to our actual behavior is the real mystery here.

And yet, spectatorship and television ratings for the Tour have declined in the last two years. Hmmm.

And yet, spectatorship and television ratings for the Tour have declined in the last two years. Hmmm.

Perhaps. Cite your sources...

I'll answer my own request. A NYTimes article (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/sports/othersports/07sandomir.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=login&oref=slogin) attributes the "Lance effect" as being responsible for the decline, which addresses my earlier post. It's not the doping that's generating the decline...