Paris-Nice 2005 **SPOILER***
03-07-05, 09:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Gustaf
wow.
are you serious?
are you serious?
03-07-05, 09:38 AM
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Lance looked fat, slow and uninspired as proven by his time and placing in the prologue.
03-07-05, 09:50 AM
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Atta boy, Boonen!
I got a little freaked out by all those crashes near the end. Don't need another rider going all Tristan Hoffman so early in the season.
I concur.
I got a little freaked out by all those crashes near the end. Don't need another rider going all Tristan Hoffman so early in the season.
Originally Posted by Laggard
Boonen should win everything this spring.
03-07-05, 10:00 AM
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From Procycling: Lance Armstrong described yesterday's Paris-Nice prologue performance as "undoubtedly the worst of my life"
He added that he has no real ambitions for Paris-Nice, “apart perhaps from not finishing last… I have to lose weight and I haven’t got enough power at the moment to be at the front at a race like this.
like we didn't notice this!
He added that he has no real ambitions for Paris-Nice, “apart perhaps from not finishing last… I have to lose weight and I haven’t got enough power at the moment to be at the front at a race like this.
like we didn't notice this!
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03-07-05, 10:04 AM
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Originally Posted by lotek
From Procycling: Lance Armstrong described yesterday's Paris-Nice prologue performance as "undoubtedly the worst of my life"
He added that he has no real ambitions for Paris-Nice, “apart perhaps from not finishing last… I have to lose weight and I haven’t got enough power at the moment to be at the front at a race like this.
like we didn't notice this!
He added that he has no real ambitions for Paris-Nice, “apart perhaps from not finishing last… I have to lose weight and I haven’t got enough power at the moment to be at the front at a race like this.
like we didn't notice this!
Oh well, if Lance wanted a reality check he got one. I just don't know how high his expectations are at this point in the season......However, I think it's a little early for the eulogies....
03-07-05, 10:04 AM
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Lance could have at least put some kind of effort into his ride, you demonstrated a little respect for a race like Paris-Nice. Maybe he could've won, maybe he couldn't have, but for god sakes he could have shown some effort.
As for the temp being a 'frigid' 32F, give me a break. He knows he's going to Europe, he knows its going to be cold, why display some of that massive preperational skill and get there a few days early to acclimatize.
As for the temp being a 'frigid' 32F, give me a break. He knows he's going to Europe, he knows its going to be cold, why display some of that massive preperational skill and get there a few days early to acclimatize.
03-07-05, 10:16 AM
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Originally Posted by The_Convert
how funny was it to hear Paul plug the Gravity Games *in old man brittish accent "when the snow comes down, the heros come up, and they AIN'T afraid of anything."
ahahahaha
ahahahaha
That's exactly the one I was going to bring up. But it was worse, "aint afraid of nothing" (with perfect english pronunciation). Then he followd that up with a tag line from the event, something about "grabbing by the snowballs". Someone's got to figure out that maybe a generic voiceover dude would have been better for that.
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03-07-05, 01:42 PM
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So it looks like maybe Valverde, Julich, Voigt, and who knows as the most likely contenders? Looks like the only other shakeup will be on the hilltop finish.
Riders do that all the time. Remember not everyone is trying to win the GC. Why fight so hard to finish maybe 40th in a prologue that will have no relevance to your goals? Pointless, particularily for a rider like him that doesn't need to search for every possible UCI point.
Originally Posted by pinky
Lance could have at least put some kind of effort into his ride, you demonstrated a little respect for a race like Paris-Nice. Maybe he could've won, maybe he couldn't have, but for god sakes he could have shown some effort.
As for the temp being a 'frigid' 32F, give me a break. He knows he's going to Europe, he knows its going to be cold, why display some of that massive preperational skill and get there a few days early to acclimatize.
As for the temp being a 'frigid' 32F, give me a break. He knows he's going to Europe, he knows its going to be cold, why display some of that massive preperational skill and get there a few days early to acclimatize.
03-07-05, 02:32 PM
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Originally Posted by pinky
Lance could have at least put some kind of effort into his ride, you demonstrated a little respect for a race like Paris-Nice.
03-07-05, 02:50 PM
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Hah, why should I be? He's the one getting paid, he's the one whom so many want to call the best cyclist ever, do you think a rider like Mercx would have come to race to ride it half-assed as a warm up? If he's going to ride like that, why not just do his usual thing of skipping the early season, race the Tour and disappear again. Lance is great and all but as I was originally saying, he's not the greatest cyclist ever.
03-07-05, 02:52 PM
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Originally Posted by pinky
If he's going to ride like that, why not just do his usual thing of skipping the early season, race the Tour and disappear again.
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03-07-05, 03:00 PM
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Originally Posted by pinky
Hah, why should I be? He's the one getting paid, he's the one whom so many want to call the best cyclist ever, do you think a rider like Mercx would have come to race to ride it half-assed as a warm up? If he's going to ride like that, why not just do his usual thing of skipping the early season, race the Tour and disappear again. Lance is great and all but as I was originally saying, he's not the greatest cyclist ever.
03-07-05, 03:10 PM
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Lance has never tried to hide the fact that he's a part time racer. July is all that matters to him and everything else is just training. So it shouldn't be such a huge shock that he shows up a Paris Nice and just goes through the paces.
I know he's won other races but they seem to be oportunistic wins. That's all. Look how many wins he has post July.
I know he's won other races but they seem to be oportunistic wins. That's all. Look how many wins he has post July.
03-07-05, 03:41 PM
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Originally Posted by brent_dube
Armstrong isn't calling himself the greatest cyclist ever
03-07-05, 03:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Laggard
Lance has never tried to hide the fact that he's a part time racer. July is all that matters to him and everything else is just training. So it shouldn't be such a huge shock that he shows up a Paris Nice and just goes through the paces.
I know he's won other races but they seem to be oportunistic wins. That's all. Look how many wins he has post July.
I know he's won other races but they seem to be oportunistic wins. That's all. Look how many wins he has post July.
03-07-05, 03:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Brillig
Have you watched any cycling besides the TDF the last seven years?
03-07-05, 04:00 PM
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Sure, he undoubtedly concentrates on the TdF. But he competes, and competes well, in many other races in the Spring.
2004
1st Tour de France, six stage wins including the Team Time Trial
1st Tour of Alrgarve stage win, 5th overall
1st Tour de Georgia, two stage wins
1st Midi Libre stage win, 6th overall
3rd Criterium International
4th Dauphine Libere
23d Tour of Murcia
2003
1st Tour de France, two stage wins including the Team Time Trial
1st Dauphine Libre, one stage win
8th Amstel Gold
20th Liege-Bastogne-Liege
8th End of year world ranking
2002
1st Tour de France, four stage wins
1st Midi Libre
1st Dauphine Libre, one stage win
2nd Criterium Internantional
3rd Championship of Zurich
4th Amstel Gold
6th San Francisco Grand Prix
2nd End of year world ranking
2001
1st Tour de France, four stage wins
1st Tour of Switzerland, two stage wins
2nd Amstel Gold
2nd Classique des Alpes
8th Setmana Catalana
12th Tour of Aragon
4th End of year world ranking
2000
1st Tour de France, one stage win
1st GP Eddy Merckx 2-man TT with "Eki" Ekimov
1st GP des Nations
2nd Paris-Camembert
3rd Dauphine Libere, one stage win, King of the Mountains winner
3rd Olympic Time Trial
3rd Classique des Alpes
4th GP Gippingen
7th GP Miguel Indurain
13th Olympic Road Race
4th End of year world ranking
1999
1st Tour de France, four stage wins
1st Dauphine Libere stage win, 8th overall
1st Circuit de la Sarthe stage win
1st Route de Sud stage win
2nd Amstel Gold
2nd Ride for the Roses criterium
7th Tour of Aragon
7th End of year world ranking
1998
1st Tour of Luxembourg, one stage win
1st Rheinland Pfalz Tour
1st Ride for the Roses criterium
1st Cascade Classic
2nd First Union Invitational
4th USPro Championship
4th Tour of Holland
4th Vuelta Espana
4th World Time Trial Championship
4th World Road Race Championship
25th End of year world ranking
1st Tour de France, six stage wins including the Team Time Trial
1st Tour of Alrgarve stage win, 5th overall
1st Tour de Georgia, two stage wins
1st Midi Libre stage win, 6th overall
3rd Criterium International
4th Dauphine Libere
23d Tour of Murcia
2003
1st Tour de France, two stage wins including the Team Time Trial
1st Dauphine Libre, one stage win
8th Amstel Gold
20th Liege-Bastogne-Liege
8th End of year world ranking
2002
1st Tour de France, four stage wins
1st Midi Libre
1st Dauphine Libre, one stage win
2nd Criterium Internantional
3rd Championship of Zurich
4th Amstel Gold
6th San Francisco Grand Prix
2nd End of year world ranking
2001
1st Tour de France, four stage wins
1st Tour of Switzerland, two stage wins
2nd Amstel Gold
2nd Classique des Alpes
8th Setmana Catalana
12th Tour of Aragon
4th End of year world ranking
2000
1st Tour de France, one stage win
1st GP Eddy Merckx 2-man TT with "Eki" Ekimov
1st GP des Nations
2nd Paris-Camembert
3rd Dauphine Libere, one stage win, King of the Mountains winner
3rd Olympic Time Trial
3rd Classique des Alpes
4th GP Gippingen
7th GP Miguel Indurain
13th Olympic Road Race
4th End of year world ranking
1999
1st Tour de France, four stage wins
1st Dauphine Libere stage win, 8th overall
1st Circuit de la Sarthe stage win
1st Route de Sud stage win
2nd Amstel Gold
2nd Ride for the Roses criterium
7th Tour of Aragon
7th End of year world ranking
1998
1st Tour of Luxembourg, one stage win
1st Rheinland Pfalz Tour
1st Ride for the Roses criterium
1st Cascade Classic
2nd First Union Invitational
4th USPro Championship
4th Tour of Holland
4th Vuelta Espana
4th World Time Trial Championship
4th World Road Race Championship
25th End of year world ranking
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03-07-05, 04:38 PM
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Originally Posted by pinky
Hah, why should I be? He's the one getting paid, he's the one whom so many want to call the best cyclist ever, do you think a rider like Mercx would have come to race to ride it half-assed as a warm up? If he's going to ride like that, why not just do his usual thing of skipping the early season, race the Tour and disappear again. Lance is great and all but as I was originally saying, he's not the greatest cyclist ever.
03-07-05, 04:47 PM
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Originally Posted by pinky
I never said LA was calling himself the greatest ever, I said others call him the greatest cyclist ever
03-07-05, 04:49 PM
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Outside of three tours and two world's...lemond didn't seem to take many other races all that seriously either. I like the way Lance rides. I like the idea of having a few big objectives during the year and then getting tunnel vision..and building your fitness up to those goals. Lest we forget...the Tour is 23 grueling days...and Milan-San Remo is only one day. You could do all the big classics and still not have raced as many kilometers as one who finishes the tour in Paris. Davide Rebellin is never going to win the Tour...although he could win Milan-San Remo...it takes cyclists like Greg lemond, Lance Armstrong, and Miguel Indurain to win the grand tours. Welcome to modern pro cycling...the age of specialization. There are no more Eddie Merckx's in the peloton.
03-07-05, 04:50 PM
#49
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You know this is going to be a pretty good P-N and it would be nice if every race this year didn't degenerate into a Pro/Anti Lance discussion. Lance is going to race in other races this year besides the TdF because of the ProTour and he won't do well in all of them. Let's all agree that LA is a great cyclist and that he is no Eddy Merckx. There are a lot of great riders in the ProTour this year and I for one was very happy to see Voigt get the prolog win.
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03-07-05, 07:22 PM
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2 questions: would eddy merckx be able to win the tdf today if he were riding? I could imagine that the specialization of armstrong's rivals would be too much for him. when he raced, everyone raced everything, no?
it seems that most arguments are lance vs eddy or indurain or someone else from the past. what about lance vs. his contemporaries. is he even "the best" out there today? clearly he's the best tour de france rider, but is that enough? for instance, did cunego have a better year than lance last year?
just trying to make some folks think, instead of knee jerk responses.
it seems that most arguments are lance vs eddy or indurain or someone else from the past. what about lance vs. his contemporaries. is he even "the best" out there today? clearly he's the best tour de france rider, but is that enough? for instance, did cunego have a better year than lance last year?
just trying to make some folks think, instead of knee jerk responses.