Professional Cycling For the Fans - If (and it's a BIG IF) Lance wins ...

... he'll have to thank the people who helped him get there. Hmmm, who would that be now ... Chris Carmichael? The Postal team? Johan Bruyneel? No, I'm thinking about the people who have REALLY motivated him. Here's my top 5 thus far:

1. Gilberto "I'm going to dominate Armstrong in the mountains" Simoni
2. Greg "I doped, so Lance is doping becasue I'm the best American cyclist of all time" LeMond
3. The entire French media
4. David "I've got absolutely no proof, but I need the money" Walsh
5. Roberto "I can win on my own" Heras

Motivation. Pure motivation.

If yer saying negative criticism and anger are big motivators, I agree 100%. Personally, my best successes have resulted when there was someone there who said I couldn't do it. When I get talked down to, especially.

... he'll have to thank the people who helped him get there. Hmmm, who would that be now ... Chris Carmichael? The Postal team? Johan Bruyneel? No, I'm thinking about the people who have REALLY motivated him. Here's my top 5 thus far:

1. Gilberto "I'm going to dominate Armstrong in the mountains" Simoni
2. Greg "I doped, so Lance is doping becasue I'm the best American cyclist of all time" LeMond
3. The entire French media
4. David "I've got absolutely no proof, but I need the money" Walsh
5. Roberto "I can win on my own" Heras

Motivation. Pure motivation.

Ha a very great list i must say. I love the Roberto "I can win on my own" Heras and 3. The entire French media.

... he'll have to thank the people who helped him get there. Hmmm, who would that be now ... Chris Carmichael? The Postal team? Johan Bruyneel? No, I'm thinking about the people who have REALLY motivated him. Here's my top 5 thus far:

1. Gilberto "I'm going to dominate Armstrong in the mountains" Simoni
2. Greg "I doped, so Lance is doping becasue I'm the best American cyclist of all time" LeMond
3. The entire French media
4. David "I've got absolutely no proof, but I need the money" Walsh
5. Roberto "I can win on my own" Heras

Motivation. Pure motivation.

How about a few more..

"We didn't know he's going to survive cancer and come back to win, so we fired him." Cofidis
"He'll be a dead man soon, why waste money." former sponsors

Lance is about to set a record that probably will never be broken.

No wonder why Greg Lemond is talking crap about him.

No wonder why the anti-American French Press don't want to give him any credit for his achievements.

This might motivate me.

I don't know if that would motivate me more than scare me.

I cannot understand why there seems to be NO crowd control at the Tour. What, do they think there won't be mishaps or accidents (say, a MUSELI BAG) with one of the riders and a rabid fan? They shouldn't even be touching the riders, yet on today's stage, they were touching, hitting, tapping, and pushing the riders. Personally, I would have been p!ssed off.

Hopefully, the tour organizers will look back on the tape and realize they need to have some better protection of the riders. I would hate to see a repeat of the museli bag from last year.

Koffee

I don't know if that would motivate me more than scare me.

I cannot understand why there seems to be NO crowd control at the Tour. What, do they think there won't be mishaps or accidents (say, a MUSELI BAG) with one of the riders and a rabid fan? They shouldn't even be touching the riders, yet on today's stage, they were touching, hitting, tapping, and pushing the riders. Personally, I would have been p!ssed off.

Hopefully, the tour organizers will look back on the tape and realize they need to have some better protection of the riders. I would hate to see a repeat of the museli bag from last year.

Koffee

True, but Eddie Merckx is a better example. That's what the tour is all about, (fans on the side of the road). We have to hope that what they experienced today is about the worse that it can get. A rabid fan though can take anyone out.

This might motivate me.

I don't know about this. The camera angle is awfully perfect, the guy is the only one making fingers, it's not a frame from a movie clip. The stage stretches over 140 miles and finding this perfect spot. Considering all that, this maybe a set-up by the photographer.

see his sandals his a looser, the color of his clothes, his a f*******k***ng loser

This might motivate me.

I think it's great. So, there's one guy who expressed his opinion at the time. There are many others who are cheering both of them on. It almost looks like Basso is smiling when he sees the excited Basque fan.

The tour runs a fine line with crowd control. A big part of the appeal of cycling is how close the fans can get. You can see the drop off in the number of fans once the barriers come up in the final 2k. I'm just amazed that there wasn't one drunk of angry fan today that decided to take the result of the tour into his own hands. They ride through thousands of people and they just get touched slighly, not really too bad.

Of course, if anything really bad happens, ala Merckx, then they'll have to address it. I think the fans realize this and don't want that to happen.

I thought Greg Lemond was a better man than that, where is this printed so I can read it for myself.
Sorry I just saw the bost about it.

True, but Eddie Merckx is a better example.

Not really. That was more like a direct assault that could happen on any otherwise-quiet climb. Crowd control would be important moreso because of accidental problems like a bag catching a rider's handlebars...

It almost looks like Basso is smiling when he sees the excited Basque fan.

It's more like Ivan is laughing at this drunko.

I dont know if this was what I was seeing, but today there was a guy running alongside lance when he and Basso were climbing up the final few KM's, and a scooter came over and pulled infront of the guy and stopped him. Is that supposed to be some sort of security?

My wife, who's watching her second tour, gets all up in arms over this too.

Big deal. The amount of accidents that have happened due to fan interaction is minimal when compared to the thousands of riders who've ridden the tour during it's history.

It's part of cycling. Why change it now? 'Cause LANCE could be affected? This is one of the few sports where fans can get close to and run with their heros. Don't steralize things by putting up barriers and keeping fans 20 feet from the action.

It's part of cycling. Why change it now? 'Cause LANCE could be affected?

Maybe because there wasn't 1 million people on the Alpe of Huez in 1986

There's been some huge crowds on that hill before.

However, I could justify barriers for the coming time trial.

I agree, I hope there are barriers on Alpe d'Huez, but I doubt there will be.

Laggard is right however that the fan-caused accidents are minimal. Doesn't stop me from worrying about whether someone is going to take Lance and Basso (or anyone else) down, though.

At least it's not tacks in the road... :)

I agree, I hope there are barriers on Alpe d'Huez, but I doubt there will be.


I guess there will be barriers for the second half of the climb.
Who knows how good the control will be. I think I read that each rider will have two support motorcycles to 'guard' them.

On the road stages, I think the wild, huge crowds are just part of the race. But for a time trial... I hope it doesn't cause a problem. I'm slightly worried about the crowds on l'alpe d'huez this year.

If they do not put bariers up for a TT then the organizers are just plain stuuuupiid!

Riders need to be focused on the task at hand and not a mob of morons yelling and screaming and waiting til the last moment to hopefully get out of the way.

I always thought the crowd control at the Giro was very good- cops are everywhere, and they have good security forces that walk around and direct people who do not have the badges that gives them access to the riders. Plus, the good towns will always put up the barriers too. Granted, I haven't been to eveyr stage every year of the Giro, but I've been to a number of different stages at different times for the Giro, and it's always the same type of very good, strict security measures. Somehow, by the time the riders get to France, they've lost control of the situation. Even at the Tour de Suisse, when I went to the last stage, the barriers were so numerous that it seemed like Lugano was made out of barriers! The entire course was barriered from start to finish.

It would be nice if the french took a page from the other longer tours and took a look at the security efforts the other countries do. I'm seriously scared for these riders!

Koffee