SGcyclist

From Lance's twitter feed and Macca's challenge this race looks like it is on. I can certainly see why Macca wants to just go out and race the guy - as an athlete all your life you would like to just race for fun right? But no doubt this will bring up a lot of arguments in the sport.

Fascinating event for cycling and triathlon nevertheless. I mean who will win anyway?

https://decaironman-training.com/2013...-who-will-win/

Brannigan

Oh? Very cool, looking forward to that! Thanks for that post.

3alarmer 

****

Ice41000

Let me guess, there is no testing?

thehammerdog

Lance may be a bit of a tool, but he is a monster of an athlete and has been a competitive pro since a very young age. I wish him well and want to see him compete in races not just some gimmick.

Dan333SP

A bit? Lol.

achoo

They're ALL utter tools at that level.

Because to get to that level you have to be an utter tool such that NOTHING other than winning matters. AND you need to have the right genes, the right opportunities, and avoid injuries.

Campag4life

Lemond who was on Anderson Cooper's show a while back said something quite telling about Lance. Btw, Lemond believes Lance should be in jail and not just stripped of his titles. Lemond said he remembered when young brash Lance was coming up when Lemond was in his prime.
He said that 'unmodified' Lance was never any better than a top 30 rider. Telling and I believe him.

Campag4life

No you misinterpreted or I wasn't clear. Lemond has forgotten more about cycling than the 41 combined. Lemond watched the entire trajectory of Lance's career. He said he wasn't stronger than a top 30 rider before he made 'some changes'.

CbadRider

Moved from Road to Pro.

rumrunn6

and of course 1 person's opinion is fact?

Campag4life

That's right. His position trumps yours and mine and others who weren't there competing.

rumrunn6

hahaha and that's YOUR opinion

rumrunn6

just so there's no hard feelings ...

bikepro

I just wish this guy (Lance) would just go away. I'm really tired of all the cycling news trying to wring the last drop from his stories. We need to be focused on how Cookson is literally reinventing the UCI and the future of cycling.

diphthong

regardless of your feelings or position on armstrong being doped to the gills, microdosing, transfusing, mainlining, whatever...7 tdf's in a row is still a tremendous accomplishment.
sure, he was the most compensated rider and had the most resources monetarily and otherwise but to drag your carcass over the alps and pyrenees and still be in a position to win
year in/year out took beyond ridiculous training, a ton of concentration and a lot of luck. as history has shown, there are very few saints at the top end of cycling. we'll never know
what armstrong would have been capable of post-cancer without doping but a top 30 cycling athlete is still a helluva athlete.

Ice41000

Maybe most of them are tools, probably not all of them, though, but Lance was level or two above everyone else ever.

roadwarrior

If we merely go with the 8/1/98 disqualification date that was imposed by USADA, not stronger than a top 30 rider included a World Road Championship. A San Sebastian win. A Tour du Pont win. US Amateur Road Championship win. To name a few.

If you have not seen "The Armstrong Lie", do so.

BTW...having known several people who had really really difficult childhoods, I am not at all surprised, nor was I ever surprised, at his behavior.

I also did not mention the two triathlon national championships he won before he was 19. He was a pro triathlete at 14.

I respect LeMond. He and his Dad were frequently at the shop I raced out of when I was a kid. His resume is one of the best and his comeback...well truly amazing. But good grief. I think Lance was a bit better than a top 30 rider. Top 30 riders do not win often and if they do it's races like Circuit de la Sarthe and somesuch.

MinnMan

This has gone so far past beating a dead horse that it's not even like beating horse bones anymore. Maybe it's grinding the bonemeal from dead horses.

But addressing Lemond's comments, I say BS. Armstrong dominated because he was a great athlete AND because he cheated. No mid-pack athlete could have done what he did just by doing more doping than the rest. What he could have won in a fair sport, we'll never know, but he wouldn't have been just another domestique in the peleton.

So those of you who say he is a great athlete are right.

And those of you who say he is a dirty cheat are also right.

And I wish he would go away, but the fact that we're even reading this thread suggests that we'll be debating LA for years to come.

mprelaw

That's is probably the most hilarious statement that I've ever read on Bike Forums, and there's a whole cornucopia of them to choose from.

Lance was a "level or two above everyone else ever"? Above Anquetil? Coppi? Merckx? Hinault? Fignon? LeMond? Not only better, but "a level or two above"? I won't throw Indurain in there, because he and Lance are cut from the same cloth.

Cycling existed long before 1999. You need to read some history. What other GTs did Lance ever finish, let alone win? The TdF is only one, and in most years, the Giro and Vuelta are more difficult. Hinault and Eddy won them all, and Hinault won each at least twice.

canam73

Hmm. I took Ice to mean Lance was a level or two above everyone in the "being a tool" category.

beatlebee 

yeah, mprelaw read again.

rumrunn6

I think we can all agree the sport needs a new clean role model (or more than one) to take his place. the sport gained a lot, and then lost a lot.

Caretaker

This should appeal to the kind of people who like watching horses race against zebras.

lenA

what do opinions have to do with facts?