your thoughts on lance
 

hi. i just read some tread that stated that he just dont wanted lance´s victory. the discussion started but i really want to know about your true feelings for the tdf... will he win? will he loose? against who?´i would like to read yoru toughts... not what you would like but probabilities? hmmm thanks.

Another Armstrong thread. Why not?

My personal take on this: I don't particularly want him to win #7, but I don't think that Armstrong cares.

On a more serious note, I think that it's a little early in the season to make educated guesses about his chances, and those of his contenders.

And... what do you think?

Will Armstrong be kissing the podium girls after the Tour of Flanders?

I want him to race. I'd hate to see him lose. My preference would be for him to stop as a winner rather than have the title taken from him. I'm already fairly certain I won't see the six straight record broken in my lifetime.

He'll win, bank on it.

I really want to see a RACE. Not a total dominance by, obviously, one of the best athletes of all time.
I hope that he'll face real contenders, physically and mentally. Having said that, I really wish riders like Beloki, Basso, Vinokourov and perhaps Ulrich (doubt his prowess by now as a real contender against Lance), Mayo etc are in their best shapes of their lives, so we can see a real RACE.

Corsaire

We had a real race in 2003 didn't we ??? 61 seconds ???
Lance was off his form.....
Can he help it if he corrected it in 2004 ????

Why don't the other guys just try harder ********** :rolleyes: ;) :p

I'm not against Lance, I truly admire him, I'm glad he won TDF '04 in such a high fashion. But for the sake of the sport (I'm sure he wishes the same), we better have real contenders to make this 7th a tough bone to chew, if it gets chewed at all.
Basso better has been working in his TT skills.
Corsaire

Well I'll say this....Lance annouced for the Tour earlier than I thought he would....I wonder if it had anything to do with Sheryl's slip of the tongue on that after show with Oprah (which I didn't see, just the regular show) But regardless, all his competitors now can plan & train as they like....the gauntlet has been laid down. :)

I don't see anyone beating him.

I don't mind if he wins. I'm an American, he's brought respectability to a sport where it was lacking (in the US).

I do want to see a race this year, '04 was so anti-climactic and boring. I hope Basso, Ullrich et al give him a run for his money. I just wanted it to be a good race, and a hard fought victory.

vive la Lance!

He'll win as long as some crazy fan doesn't punch him in the kidney.

If it weren't for an abundance of EPO, Lance wouldn't have even won 1 TDF. (I jest)

Seriously, I hope 2005 will be his 7th victory. And if he wins, I hope he retires for good. One of the saddest things to witness is when a formerly-great athlete comes out of retirement only to have his a-- whipped.

It's all about the team. Many of the big names (Ullrich, Basso, Mayo, etc.) could win possibly if was man against man, but Johan Bruyneel(sp?) and the folks over at Postal / Discovery put together such an amazing team. We haven't seen the new Discovery team in action but I'm sure they will put together another amazing team to bring Lance into Paris wearing yellow.

I want him to race until someone knocks him off of the top step of the podium. "Going out a winner." WTF is that? Why do people obsess over their hero "going out on top?" Athletes are people at the end of the day. They're no more deserving of deification than you or me.

Respect the athlete's passion for his sport and you'll respect the sport a lot more.

Lance going for #7 gives me more hope that he truly is clean.... After Tyler getting caught (or at least made to look guilty) if Lance had just sorta disappeared without any more tests, it would've looked suspicious....to me anyway...

That said I'm rooting for Jan, Ivan, and Floyd. :)

Lance is the man and he will get his 7th......can't wait

I just hope, we don't have Lance overlaod on OLN this year.

Hell I just wanna see him RIDE the Tour of Flanders. . .
I didn't see that on his schedule.

Marty

We will.....anyone who doesn't actually ride, doesn't care about anyone or anything in the peleton other than lance.

Why do you hate Lance so much? The dude survived cancer!

Marty, according to CyclingNews Armstrong will have a go at Flanders:

The reality is that Lance and the team out-train every other team in the pack. Also Lance will not ride if he hasn't prepared.

I'm based in the Pyrenees and if I see Basso, Beloki, Kloden or Vinokourov out doing what's necessary I'll let you guys know. (I'm sure Ullrich hasn't got the appetite for the training - just natural talent.)

The riders you mentioned all work as hard as Lance. It's unfair and wrong to say that they don't. Just because you don't see them in your neighborhood doesn't mean that they aren't training hard. It's quite possible that instead of training specifically for the TDF they may instead actually be (gasp!) racing. Imagine that.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm.... I don't hate Lance, I just like other riders more ;)