Originally Posted by
tracyshapiro
I did NOT. But I did greatly admire and respect him. And now, I feel stupid and cheated out of a hero. I'm just thankful he didn't sulky the reputation of other major races as well.
Well, when you built your whole career around focusing on the TdF, to the almost-total exclusion of the other grand tours, it's easy to avoid sullying their reputation.
He entered one Vuelta, and one Giro, if I remember correctly. The Giro wasn't until his comeback year.
This isn't a knock on him--not for doing that, anyway--it was smart marketing by an American, to focus on the only tour that 99% of Americans have ever heard of. Plus, because he basically ran his teams, he got to call his own shots.