capsicum

Is Lance Armstrong the only really good current american road racer? I'd think that there would be two maybe even three in a country of 300 million . If anyone knows of some other real swift american riders list them here lets spread the wealth a little (or in this case fame). Don't list past racers, only currently happening cats.

Note I have nothing against him he is good and earned his fame I just think he can't be the only one.

Rev.Chuck

Tyler Hamilton, Freddy Rodriguez, George Hincappie, Patrick McCarty, Dave Zabriskie, Kenny Labbe,and on and on. There are lots of pro 1/2 guys that are competitive on the national level.

bac

Not to mention Levi Leipheimer, Bobby Julich, and Floyd Landis!

timmhaan

chris horner - he finished 2003 the top-ranked rider in the united states.

DieselDan

Marty Nothstein on the track side.

Tom Danielson is an up and coming rookie.

sorebutt

George Mount (US Hall of Fame), 6th place in the Montreal Olympics Road Race.

DieselDan

Kevin Livingston now retired.

Dr. Eric Heiden- five gold medals in speed skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics, one bronze medel in track cycling at the 1984 Olympics, and was the first US Champion, even winning the race outright aganist a talented field of Euro riders.

capsicum

No No he's retired that will never do.

I think a lot of it is that Lance Armstrong is an easy to remember name with a cool vibe. probably has a lot to do with the fame.

bac

You may be forgetting that cycling is less popular than just about any sport you can name here in the States. To put it in perspective, the only televised cycling coverage is on an obscure fishing/hunting cable network. Even then, live events as monumental as the Tour de France get preempted by reruns of fishing shows.

ChezJfrey

Every time I get a spare moment and turn to OLN, they are televising either, 'Bull Riding,' or, 'American Shooter.' Inopportune programming schedule they've got for me I tell ya!

oldspark

The fact that Lance Armstrong has an easy name to remember has nothing to do with his fame, are we forgetting that he has won the tour five times in a row.

Rev.Chuck

If we had more Americans whooping it up in cycling it would be more popular. We, as a whole, love competition, but it needs to be the "local" boys we can relate with. We had a pro hockey team move into town and now all these die hard southerners are HUGE Hurricanes fans. Never mind none of them ever played hockey or watrched it on TV, or understand what a line penalty is, but now they are the home team. Gotta give em props, put stickers on your car and buy $30 tickets to the game.

capsicum

I know winning 5 times has a lot to do with it but I can't even remember the other guys names from the top of this very thread and 'Armstrong' is a very local-boy american sounding name, but not so common that it dosen't stand out and it sounds powerful -something that americans go for, like the name John Force(drag racer and a great guy). This is a reason many actors use screen name example Ramon Estevez AKA Martin Sheen or Laurence Tureaud AKA Mr. T.
Then again just publisizing local road races and or having an American tour(like "The tour de france") would help?

oldspark

Bicycle racing for the average person(not an avid fan) revolves around the tour de France so most people know Armstrong. I remember Lemond being very popular in his day with no one else from USA being on the radar except for Andy H. when he finished fourth in the TDF. A lot of great races out there that unless you look for the info you never hear about.

tortoise

Don't forget the cancer.

The media jumped on the story with both feet and that's what established his notoriety in the USA. -LA wins five tours without a hiccup from the beginning, he'd be slightly better known than LeMond, and only because of the increased availability of cable/satellite versus 15 years ago.

Average Americans don't care much about cycling. They LOVE courage in the face of adversity.

1oldRoadie

Chuck the problem is in other sports they "watch"...in cycling, your not about to give up good ride time to sit infront of a tv.

oldcyclist

Back in my days, it was John Howard in th USA, And David Mayor-Oaks in Europe.

GeorgiaBlue

Living here in Georgia, the Tour de Georgia was HUGE and mainly because of Lance - but I truly think the cycling world missed on any opportunity to create new 'rock stars'. The Tour de Georgia was poorly covered, with OLN condensing it down to an hour show two or three weeks later. Then OLN starts the "Lance Chronicles" which I can understand - Lance is a special athlete - but when will Lance try to promote cycling here in the states instead of just Lance all the time? I give credit to Lance for championing cancer and bringing the issue to such a stage, but why not champion his sport?

I think America can fall in love with cycling, but they need somebody to tell them who to fall in love with - somebody other than Lance.