Professional Cycling For the Fans - Lance wants the Monaco TT to decide Astana leadership

You've seen it here first.

In French:

http://www.leparisien.fr/tour-de-france/lance-armstrong-gagner-n-est-plus-si-essentiel-01-07-2009-565872.php

In Spanish:

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/2009/07/01/ciclismo/1246438648.html

You've see it here first.

In French:

http://www.leparisien.fr/tour-de-france/lance-armstrong-gagner-n-est-plus-si-essentiel-01-07-2009-565872.php

In Spanish:

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/2009/07/01/ciclismo/1246438648.html

Translated to Russian :D

ПАРИЖ. - Американское Ланс Армстронг, чемпион 7 времен путешествия франция и товарищ в объявленном Астана бухгалтера Альберто испанского, тому если директор оборудования, Johan Bruyneel, аранжирует, то что только головка рядков, " возможно самая лучшая вещь была бы понадеяться к результату первого contrarreloj". " Если уважение Bruyneel которое делает отсутсвием одиночного руководителя, я не ищет револьвер то. Но оно все еще не говорил его к мне. Возможно самая лучшая вещь была бы понадеяться к результату первого contrarreloj" , она объявила Texan в опубликованном интервью газетой ' Он Parisien'. Армстронг, 37 лет, подготовка приносит назад к сознаванию которое пролог 15 километров которые оспорят следующее суббота в Монако и узнают что он пошел в март знать трассу которая описала как как " очень техник, с восхождением от inicio". " Я главным образом шлих в первом contrarreloj" , американско говорить, который не хотело рассматривать к бухгалтеру (выигрывать галлового круга в 2007) как " rival" потому что они " в таких же оборудовании и ем не был добром говоря eso". " говорит к человеку; больше relajado" то прежде чем выбыто его первое из задействовать и его убеждает того " выиграть не более длиной поэтому необходимо, оно идет хотя оно попробовать, конечно ". " Я могу сказать что я здесь для давать мой максимум и что я чувствую сильным. Но я не могу убедить что он идет выиграть. Не более длиной он как просто как antes" , Я заключаю человека который больше путешествия франция выигрывало в истории.

I had to use bablefish to translate. Just in chase you don't read in the above languages. Here is the second link in English

PARIS. - The American Lance Armstrong, seven times champion of the Tour of France and companion in the Astana of the Alberto Spanish Accountant, declared that if the director of the equipment, Johan Bruyneel, arranges that only there is a head of rows, " perhaps the best thing would be to hope to the result of first contrarreloj". " If Bruyneel esteem that makes lack a single leader, I do not look for revolver that. But it has still not said it to me. Perhaps the best thing would be to hope to the result of first contrarreloj" , it declared Texan in an interview published by the newspaper ' Him Parisien'. Armstrong, of 37 years, is preparation brings back to consciousness that prologue of 15 kilometers that will dispute the next Saturday in Monaco and recognizes that it went in March to know the route that described like as " very technician, with an ascent from inicio". " I am mainly concentrate in first contrarreloj" , the American said, who did not want to consider to Accountant (winning of the Gallic round in 2007) like a " rival" because they are " in the same equipment and he would not be well saying eso". " is said to a man; more relajado" that before retired his first of the cycling and it assures that " to win no longer is so essential, it is going although it to try, by all means ". " I can say that I am here for giving my maximum and that I feel strong. But I cannot assure that it is going to win. No longer it is as simple as antes" , I conclude the man who more Tour of France has won in history.

You've see it here first.

In French:

http://www.leparisien.fr/tour-de-france/lance-armstrong-gagner-n-est-plus-si-essentiel-01-07-2009-565872.php



From reading the article, it doesn't look like he has any plans to ride support. But it'll take more than the prologue to figure out who's ready.

It looks like there is a conditional somewhere in what it is reported Lance said.

Years ago they tested the kind of program that bacame babblefish by translating from English to Russian and then back. One rather famous phrase came out:

The Vodka is desirous, but the meat is rotten.

The original English was:

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Lance is no LeMond, I'm pretty sure that whatever he said he said in English. It has been to French and back. I think I will wait before I decide to say nasty things about him.Heck, in htis case I want to see any interview and know the context.

It looks like there is a conditional somewhere in what it is reported Lance said.

Years ago they tested the kind of program that bacame babblefish by translating from English to Russian and then back. One rather famous phrase came out:

The Vodka is desirous, but the meat is rotten.

The original English was:

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Lance is no LeMond, I'm pretty sure that whatever he said he said in English. It has been to French and back. I think I will wait before I decide to say nasty things about him.Heck, in htis case I want to see any interview and know the context.
:lol:

Well, Lance does speak passable French.

I have no idea what that says but anyone who thinks Lance came out of retirement to be a domestique is quite naive. I'm sure Bruneel's hope is that Contador and Armstrong will do a La Vie Claire and destroy the entire field and fight it out amongst themselves. People talk about that being a no-win situation but remember that La Vie Claire went 1-2 on 85 and 86 (in fact they went 1-2-10 in 85 and 1-2-4 in 86). If Lance is strong enough to win (Contador almost certainly will be) then this team certainly has the potential to do the same thing. Of course they also have the potential to completely implode!

It looks like there is a conditional somewhere in what it is reported Lance said.

Years ago they tested the kind of program that bacame babblefish by translating from English to Russian and then back. One rather famous phrase came out:

The Vodka is desirous, but the meat is rotten.

The original English was:

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Lance is no LeMond, I'm pretty sure that whatever he said he said in English. It has been to French and back. I think I will wait before I decide to say nasty things about him.Heck, in htis case I want to see any interview and know the context.

Here's the portion in question and a translation:

"Q: Certains pensent que Johan Bruyneel, le manageur d’Astana, devrait trancher avant le départ de la course…
R: Je ne l’ai pas encore vu. S’il estime qu’il faut un seul leader, je ne chercherai pas à bouleverser ça. Mais il ne m’a pas encore dit ça. Le mieux serait peut-être d’attendre le résultat du premier contre-la-montre."

[translation:]
Q: Some people think Astana's manager Johan Bruyneel should decide before the start of the race...

A: I haven't seen him yet. If he feels we need a single leader, I'm not going to try to interfere with that. But he hasn't said that yet to me. It would be best perhaps to await the results of the first time trial.

Armstrong does ok in French, but he could not have produced that quote. I'm sure it's a translation from English.

[translation:]


A: . It would be best perhaps to await the results of the first time trial.[/b]



This is the operative quote. Its interesting that he picks his strong(est) area to decide who the leader should be....
Not a little unfair I would venture to say.

In

before

the

Howzit... :D

i never knew "Contador" was spanish for "accountant"

Follow this link to a version much easier to understand for us English speakers:
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=4285723

if lance wins the tour he'll be the oldest guy to ever do so.

astana would be crazy to back lance over contador.

ed rader

The best part is when Contador translated from Spanish to English is Accountant.

This is the operative quote. Its interesting that he picks his strong(est) area to decide who the leader should be....
Not a little unfair I would venture to say.

Contador isn't exactly a slouch when it comes to the ITT. I still think Bruyneel is too smart for all this infighting to be real.

So what do you do as a GC contender from another team, when you're in the front group with all the favorites and either AC or LA breaks away...do you go or is the strategy to make you blow and then other guy goes. I guess that's a challenge whether the guys are on the same team or not but it'll make for some interesting calls on tactics.

Contador will start out as the leader. Having three guys as possible winner of GC gives Bruyneel lots of options as the race develops. He can fake out other teams, play one rider against another, go with an unexpectedly strong rider in place of an unexpectedly weak (or ill) rider, etc. But of course if he's too crafty it could all blow up in his face. Anyhoo, it will be lots of fun for us.

He's got 4 even. Kloden is no slouch. (Neither is Leipheimer - not sure who you're thinking of as the fourth now that I think about it)

ESPN has an AMERICAN ENGLISH story from 2 days ago , where Lance says Contador is the main guy, and he'll ride support out of the rules of cycling, the command of his tour director, and the spirit of the race.

But he does expect that the team will win the ITT and whoever has the yellow from Astana from that day forward would be the rider the team would support. He says some nice stuff about Contador but says he doesnt know him well, and it sounds like begrudging respect, which is EXACTLY what youd expect from the sports greatest champion (won the biggest race the most times), towards an "upstart" with one win, and likely better health and conditioning due to younger age.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2009/news/story?id=4296524&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

Having 4 potential GC contenders on the same team gives ole Johan a lot of options, but all this talk is cheap and becomes worthless starting Saturday, when the legs start doing the talking.

In

before

the

Howzit... :D

i never knew "Contador" was spanish for "accountant"

Yes it is.... and Sastre means TAILOR, the guy who tailor clothing stuff....

Yes it is.... and Sastre means TAILOR, the guy who tailor clothing stuff....

And Translated from the French to English

Marco Pantani > Mark Marsh
Lance > Launch

maybe someone should bother asking mumbles vinokourov whom he's got as the protected rider since he's apparently running the team again...

ESPN has an AMERICAN ENGLISH story from 2 days ago , where Lance says Contador is the main guy, and he'll ride support out of the rules of cycling, the command of his tour director, and the spirit of the race.




newb question - are these "real" (i.e. written in black and white) rules, or more of an unwritten code that everyone pretty much has to follow?

where can one read about these rules?

I don't think Lance wants that anymore.

In a Eurosport interview (before the stage) he said !st week will decide. Saturday will give an indication. He kept talking Levi up aswell.

After the stage interview just on, he said he wasn't expecting anything great from himself today, like the jersey. He was happy given where he was against Levi who is a specialist.

Paraphrasing not quoting.

I'm looking forward to seeing climbing stages, in the Giro LA was stronger at the end. It will be interesting to see how Contador deals with the pressure this year. It should be an awesome tour.

Oh please, Di Luca dropped LA like a bag of wet sand, you don't think the same is going to happen with AC and CS? I agree it may turn out to be a great tour, but it won't be because of Lance.

Oh please, Di Luca dropped LA like a bag of wet sand, you don't think the same is going to happen with AC and CS? I agree it may turn out to be a great tour, but it won't be because of Lance.


if you mean because of lance's riding ability i agree. but you have to admit that lance has brought a lot of excitement to the race compared to the last couple of years.

ed rader

Moved several post to the Lance is a doper thread: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=555956

if you mean because of lance's riding ability i agree. but you have to admit that lance has brought a lot of excitement to the race compared to the last couple of years.

ed rader

Definitely. I was getting pretty pissed at all the commercial breaks, then LA came up and they showed his whole run uncut. I don't care about his performance but seeing commercial-free cycling for 20 whole minutes was a breath of fresh air.

If he hadn't come out of retirement we'd all be sitting in front of our PCs watching a pixelated Eurosport feed in Russian. Also, instead of getting yelled at by pissed off drivers on my ride yesterday I got a high-five from some kids. Thanks Lance!

Definitely. I was getting pretty pissed at all the commercial breaks, then LA came up and they showed his whole run uncut. I don't care about his performance but seeing commercial-free cycling for 20 whole minutes was a breath of fresh air.

If he hadn't come out of retirement we'd all be sitting in front of our PCs watching a pixelated Eurosport feed in Russian. Also, instead of getting yelled at by pissed off drivers on my ride yesterday I got a high-five from some kids. Thanks Lance!

Lance did well, but not enough to command a leadership role in Astana. Looks like it's AC's team. Everyone wants to be Lance but there will never be another Lance.

if you mean because of lance's riding ability i agree. but you have to admit that lance has brought a lot of excitement to the race compared to the last couple of years.

ed rader

No, actually at best he is a side show. You know, like circus freaks. The Tour also may suck this year and again, it will have nothing to do about Lance.

Granted, if you are into marketing hype and a ratings grab for Versus, then yes, Lance is awesome. But being a competative force, by his own statement, he is forth on the team. Let him carry water. Even Cadel Evans is more exciting, and he sucks.

But if you are feeling stupid and want Lance to be more exciting, I'll cover any bet you want to place on him winning the Tour.

No, actually at best he is a side show. You know, like circus freaks. The Tour also may suck this year and again, it will have nothing to do about Lance.

Granted, if you are into marketing hype and a ratings grab for Versus, then yes, Lance is awesome. But being a competative force, by his own statement, he is forth on the team. Let him carry water. Even Cadel Evans is more exciting, and he sucks.

But if you are feeling stupid and want Lance to be more exciting, I'll cover any bet you want to place on him winning the Tour.

my take is lance won't even make the top ten so no bet. sideshow or not lance is good for business, and really the TDF is all about money even tho we'd like to think it is about the love of the sport, tradition and the competitive spirit and all that other idealistic bull**** :eek:.

i've attended and photographed the tour of california each of its four years and this year's attendance i'll bet was more than double of any of the previous years....and that was because of lance.

so i'm no lance fan either but he has won more tours than anyone and he did it consecutively after recovering from advanced cancer that should have killed him. and if you don't think lance's return to the sport after a 3.5-year lay-off makes the race more exciting you are blinded by your hatred for the man.

ed rader

Love him or hate him, Armstrong draws the crowds. I think that is a great thing. In order for cycling to grow as a spectator sport in the USA it needs a dimension separate from the racing. Armstrong brings that for now.

my take is lance won't even make the top ten so no bet. sideshow or not lance is good for business, and really the TDF is all about money even tho we'd like to think it is about the love of the sport, tradition and the competitive spirit and all that other idealistic bull**** :eek:.

i've attended and photographed the tour of california each of its four years and this year's attendance i'll bet was more than double of any of the previous years....and that was because of lance.

so i'm no lance fan either but he has won more tours than anyone and he did it consecutively after recovering from advanced cancer that should have killed him. and if you don't think lance's return to the sport after a 3.5-year lay-off makes the race more exciting you are blinded by your hatred for the man.

ed rader

If I were making any money off of the Tour, I would also say Lance is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Woohoo!

But I'm not. And since I don't give a chit about who is making what money, I can care about the competition. Call me an idealist, but I thought a bike race was about who wins, not who has the most sponsors or who can create the most ad revenue. I understand it is a business, but I don't have to be drawn into the bullchit.

And what makes you think I hate Lance? Show me a post or STFU.

I don't think Lance wants that anymore.

I think he got exactly what he wanted. He knows Contador is the stronger rider. He's as much as said so several times.

In the unlikely event that Contador is hurt, what do you pundits think will happen inside Team Astana?

Maybe Lance is aching for money.,,, But it takes a lot from a man who has retired and has 7 consecutive victories and race knowing very well that he does not a chance or edge to race again.

Lance did well, but not enough to command a leadership role in Astana. Looks like it's AC's team. Everyone wants to be Lance but there will never be another Lance.

Not everyone. I know my limitations. Not the greatest, so I want to be Martin. At least I can dream of beiong the guy who setup the best.

I think he got exactly what he wanted. He knows Contador is the stronger rider. He's as much as said so several times.



Apparently not today. Contador caused the break in the peloton. He couldn't keep up.

Contador *caused* the break?? What planet are you on?

Contador *caused* the break?? What planet are you on?



The same planet as Christoph Le Mevel. If you have it TIVO'd, look CLOSELY:




After the stage Frenchman Christophe Le Mevel said it was Contador's failure to stick to the wheel in front of him which caused the split with around 30km to go. "When the split happened I was right on (behind) Contador's wheel," said the Francaise des Jeux rider. "If it's true there were 29 guys in front he must have been 30th and I was 31st. It was him who caused the split."



http://www.bicycling.com/tourdefrance/article/0,6610,s1-7-123-19874-1,00.html

my take is lance won't even make the top ten so no bet. sideshow or not lance is good for business, and really the TDF is all about money even tho we'd like to think it is about the love of the sport, tradition and the competitive spirit and all that other idealistic bull**** :eek:.

i've attended and photographed the tour of california each of its four years and this year's attendance i'll bet was more than double of any of the previous years....and that was because of lance.

so i'm no lance fan either but he has won more tours than anyone and he did it consecutively after recovering from advanced cancer that should have killed him. and if you don't think lance's return to the sport after a 3.5-year lay-off makes the race more exciting you are blinded by your hatred for the man.

ed rader

Well, not quite true. Attendance for the 8-day 2008 TOC (http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/news/press/cities-announced-2009.html) was 1.6 million, while attendance for the 9-day 2009 TOC (http://reviews.roadbikereview.com/tour-of-california/) was 2 million, with attendance by day 8 estimated to be 1.7 million.

I think attendance just appeared to be more because of the frenzy (both by the press and the public) precipitated by Lance's appearance.

Nevertheless, Lance is good for business and I find his life story very compelling. What is more, what he has done for the cause of cancer awareness and research is phenomenal. Hat's off to the man, however, I'm pulling for Team Saxo-Bank and Cervelo, regardless of the odds -- and if I chose some other teams my son would disown me. :)

stan

So Lance is BACK!!
Stepped over Cantador. This man is just amazing!!
I want to be just like him when I grow up, heck, cancel that i want to BE him when i grow up.

I raised the stars and stripes by my door this morning and saluted it along with sending up a prayer that Lance would attack today, and he did, to knock Catntador off 3rd spot!

We get it, Howzit. You are a fan.

As a cancer survivor who gives Lance credit for helping to inspire me and others, I'm glad to see him doing well, too.

Well, not quite true. Attendance for the 8-day 2008 TOC (http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/news/press/cities-announced-2009.html) was 1.6 million, while attendance for the 9-day 2009 TOC (http://reviews.roadbikereview.com/tour-of-california/) was 2 million, with attendance by day 8 estimated to be 1.7 million.

I think attendance just appeared to be more because of the frenzy (both by the press and the public) precipitated by Lance's appearance.

Nevertheless, Lance is good for business and I find his life story very compelling. What is more, what he has done for the cause of cancer awareness and research is phenomenal. Hat's off to the man, however, I'm pulling for Team Saxo-Bank and Cervelo, regardless of the odds -- and if I chose some other teams my son would disown me. :)

stan

i've been in solvang all three years of the ITT (first year it was in san jose) and attendance seemed to be double this year of the previous year. i had to park in a huge parking lot this year and it took us almost an hour to get out of town after the race.

i've also been near the top of the sierra road climb every year. this year it rained hard so it's hard to say what attendance would have been.

i've attended the prologue the last two years but they were in different cities. in sacramento this year there were thousands of people....i won't venture a guess but certainly more than in palo alto the year before.

either the press was lying (possible) or attendance was higher. i really think it's the latter.

ed rader