ultra-g

Hinault Doubts Armstrong


Can't they give him even a half a gram of credit for what he's accomplished???

MKRG

DOH! I wonder what he thinks now?

BigFloppyLlama

He just seems bitter. Quite honestly, a lot of these former racer folks that step up to badmouth Lance are probably just annoyed at their glory being overshadowed by his.

ultra-g

What I hate is that they act all buddy buddy to his face and then talk crap about him to the newspapers.

gpelpel

There's no badmouthing here. It seems obvious that this interview was done before this year Tour started. Ulrich, Hamilton, and Heras were considered strong contenders at the time, nobody could have predicted the damage Lance and the Posties did in the last 2 days.

allgoo19

I agree with gpelpel. It's like predicting a horse racing, sometimes you are right on the money, othertimes you miss badly. Hinault is just telling his opinion. Honestly, I didn't think Lance would do this good from what I was hearing based on the results of previous races, before the tour started.

hollow

I thought Lance would probably ride well. What I (nor almost anyone) didn't think would happen is Ullrich, Hamilton, Mayo and Heras would ride so poorly.

jackaninny

the interview linked above was posted on the 8th of july 2004 right after the team time trial. i don't know how anyone could take this as anythign BUT a slap in the face. hinault is just showing his true colors like he did when he stabbed lemond in the back - he's giving the french cyclist a bad name.

Hinault doubts Armstrong
By Matt Majendie


Lance Armstrong's chances of winning a record sixth Tour de France are no more than 50-50, according to fellow five-time winner Bernard Hinault.

Armstrong moved into the yellow jersey on Wednesday after a blistering US Postal team time trial.

But Hinault, who dominated cycling for much of the eighties and is now one of the Tour organisers, is not convinced.

"He's not looked that good this year and everyone saw how he struggled in the mountains last year," said Hinault.

"So I'd say his chances of winning are only 50-50 at best."

Armstrong and Hinault are part of a select quintet to have won global cycling's biggest annual event five times. The others are Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain.

But even if Armstrong wins a sixth, Hinault says he has no right to call himself the best ever.

The Frenchman said: "It's wrong to compare eras. He is at the top of his and I was at the top of mine, as were all the other five-time Tour winners.

"Should Armstrong win six, he will be great. But greater than Merckx, Anquetil or Indurain - I'm not so sure."

Hinault believes the stage is set for a new face to wear the winner's yellow jersey in Paris at the end of July.

He said: "For me, the three key men are Jan Ullrich, Tyler Hamilton and Roberto Heras. And this year's course means they all have a strong chance."

shaq-d

hinault was good. but merckx didn't doubt armstrong. i'd say merckx was a bit of a better rider and knows his cycling...

moet

I thought Armstrong looked to be in superb physical condition at the first time trial - pure toned muscle in his legs and not an ounce of fat on the rest of his body. I also think the way the US Postal team have been riding has been quite an amazing sight - totally professional teamwork with one single intention for each stage. None of the other teams looks as strong or cohesive in my opinion.

TandemGeek

Here's a thought... Hinault is a major player in the organization and marketing of the tour itself. As someone who has a keen interest in making sure that cycling fans remain intersted in watching this year's tour do you suspect that his assessment for this article was intentionally designed to create doubt to keep folks interested? After all, if Bernard Hinault says it's a slam dunk by Armstrong -- which is apparently what some of you thought he should have said -- why would anyone want to come out or tune-in to watch if the result is a foregone conclusion.

As for Lance's place in history, again, I think Hinault makes a correct characterization and I believe Lance himself has said the same.

Now, given that hindsight is 20/20, we can all sit in judgement of anyone's predictions for the major players in the tour and the outcome. But, flashback to July 2, who would have been able to predict Voeckler of the "Bakery Boys" being in Yellow for 9 stages or his phenominal efforts in the mountains to retain it. Who could have imagined the other big guns coming up as short as they seem to be thus far? How about that performance of Basso?

I'm sure glad I've stayed tuned-in with my eyes wide open. It's been a fascinating tour thus far... and it's on 2/3's complete. In fact, my biggest concern for Lance at the moment is some over zealous, moron fan causing Lance or riders next to him to crash or faulter or loose focus as a critical moment. Yesterday you had some idiot running along side who appeared to be slapping Lance on the back (although the camera angle could be deceiving), and then you have the wanna-be "cutters" who make a spectacle of themselves for the cameras -- like the longhorn helmet guy with the huge American Flag -- who fail to consider what happens if they get tripped and drop that flag & staff onto their idol. Enthusiasm is one thing, being stupid about it is another.

bac

"He's not looked that good this year and everyone saw how he struggled in the mountains last year," said Hinault.

Last year - I'll give him that ,but "not looked that good this year"??? Huh? He was off the prologue by 2 seconds, and crushed all his primary opponents. Moreover, he, and his team won the TTT. I guess now Hinault will say, "Lance is not that good, did you see Basso plaster him?"

brent_dube

I think he was talking about his performance in the Dauphine

You are all looking at this really biased, simply because of the title of the article being 'doubts Armstrong'. If you all actually thought about it for a second, you would realise that saying that a rider has a 50/50 chance of winning is quite high.

Crack'n'fail

If this article ran sometime just after the beginning of the Tour, the interview probably occured before it even started. And, let's be honest with ourselves, we all (even the most diehard fans) had to think that the field was really deep and Lance was going to have to ride the perfect Tour to win.

Perhaps last year was just a case of Lance riding really badly, maybe the contenders weren't as strong as they seemed. I tell you this much, people who are fans of the Tour and not just fans of Lance should have a lot to be excited about. There's been a lot of young talent doing some impressive things. The future of the sport is about to be upon us and there should be some good riders to pick up the torch when Armstrong, Ullrich and the likes have succombed to age. Basso is a real force, that guy Kloden on T-Mobile looks promising, Cancellara in his first tour looked good, if Cunego can transition to this Tour well he could bring some explosiveness and excitement. It all looks very good.

RiPHRaPH

all greats have bravado and machismo. when you have won on a big stage there is always that big ego. people see how hollow their comments are. and you know how diminishing these french and europeans are when it comes to americans accomplishments, weather its bike racing or winning wars.

SamDaBikinMan

Hinault is a Frenchman you know. This is normal behavior for them.

Backstabbing, treason, lying, cheating, swapping sides when the balance is tipped are all typical French behavioral patterns that we see not only in TDF but in every day dealings with them on almost any issues.

Devil

Hinault defended Lance today from the media:

The last Frenchman to win five Tours de France, Bernard Hinault, is not impressed with Greg LeMond's insinuations that Lance Armstrong has achieved his five Tour victories with a little help. Speaking to Newsweek before the race hit the Pyrenees, Hinault said of LeMond's comments, "This is something that keeps coming back, and I think that some of it may be linked to LeMond's jealousy of Armstrong. The fact is that Armstrong has never tested positive. And as long as you don't have evidence I don't see how you can accuse him." - cyclingnews

So what was that you guys were saying?

crosscut

So Hinault can backpeddle as well as he peddled forward.....

don d.

You mean like when they fought with the colonies in the American Revolution? Or when they gave us one of our most treasured and most recognized American symbols, the Statue of Liberty?

How quickly some forget.

SamDaBikinMan

That statue does nothing to maintain our liberties and freedom. They supported us due to their rooted hatred of the British for hundreds of years.

How easily folks cannot see truth

Now, back to the race.

Hinault has shown true French form by rolling himself to criticize LeMond. Probably due to some heat from his comments earlier. Now if folks start to praise LeMonds comments he will surely roll once more and support them.

brent_dube

Do you have any reasoning to support any of these comments, or any reasoning to support the idea that Hinault's comments were 'heated' towards Armstrong? Or are you just being racist and ignorant?

Again, I'm an Armstrong fan, and I thought his chance of winning is 50/50. Its like saying "there is a 50% chance that Armstrong will win, or a 15% chance that Ullrich will win, or a 10% chance that Mayo will win... (and so on)". Nowone has won six Tours before, and Hinault said that Armstrong is the odds on favorite to win (this was before the Tour started). Sounds more like praise than a dis, to be honest.

allgoo19

Funny, this sounds like some of Americans I know in person. Does this mean I can say, "All Americans are the same, backstabbing, cheating......"?

KennethToronto

There are certainly lots of new potential star riders in the Tour this year, but for anyone who is a fan of the Tour and not just a "Lanceaholic", this edition definitely has to be a disappointment.

The expectations were high and we've been only treated to, more or less, to the drama of the hyped 'contenders' blowing up. I would say last year's tour was waaay more exciting than this one has been.

Devil

Last year's Tour was exciting, but this Tour, in most ways, is even more exciting. It isn't the status quo anymore. The new generation of cycling has arrived and arrived in a big way.

Voeckler, Cancellara, Boonen, Hushovd, Pozzato, Kloeden, Mancebo, Basso, Totschnig.

These are the stars of the future, and I think it's very exciting to watch them test the waters in the Tour for the first time (be it their actual first Tour or their first time as a true contender). I like seeing Lance battle it out with the young guns. I like seeing the battle for the green jersey. I like seeing Voeckler's amazing courage as he gives it everything he has to keep the maillot jaune.

This has been a great Tour so far, and maybe it takes a fan of cycling (not a "Touraholic" or a "Lanceaholic") to see that.

Laggard

Though it's nice to see a new generation of riders come to the front, I'm a bit dissapointed in this years tour.

I'd hoped for a pitched battle between the big 5, but barring accident the whole thing is pretty much wrapped up with a week still to go. It would have been cool if the historic sixth victory would have been his most difficult.

I still enjoy all aspects of the Tour and of cycling. I'll be here long after the TDF is finished - come October I'll be one of the three people interested in the Tour of Lombardy - and I'll be following all the grand tours long after Lance and Tyler have hung up their cleats.

This Tour though, even with it's historic implications, just seems kinda flat. The green jersey and Voeckler being the most exciting stories.