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You boys don't really know Lance Armstrong do you? C'mon.

5K views 39 replies 31 participants last post by  Gelo di Cervello 
#1 ·
RBR-TDF Fred here as in I frequent RBR once a year for 3 weeks to check in on what people are saying about the TDF and to get a good laugh. And like many of you, I know how to and enjoy riding my bike. Questions:

Have some of you guys actually met and spent time with Lance Armstrong and have a good idea of what Lance is really like based on personal contact with him? With all the "I don't like Lance's personality" quotes I've read from the RBR experts/regulars the last 3 weeks on this forum, it seems like may of you have met spent some time with and are very well acquainted with Lance and his personality? Are many of you personal friends of Lance or are you basing your dislike of his personality on what you get from the media? Did Lance do something to you personally (ride by you and flip you off, ignored your autograph request, dissed your girlfriend etc etc) that caused you to have such a negative opinion of his personality? I know many of you are sick of all the coverage the now 7 time TDF winner has gotten this year, but do you honestly believe that you can comment on LA's personality without even having met or spent time with the man based on what you've read/heard? C'mon.
 
#3 ·
Buckman said:
RBR-TDF Fred here as in I frequent RBR once a year for 3 weeks to check in on what people are saying about the TDF and to get a good laugh. And like many of you, I know how to and enjoy riding my bike. Questions:

Have some of you guys actually met and spent time with Lance Armstrong and have a good idea of what Lance is really like based on personal contact with him? With all the "I don't like Lance's personality" quotes I've read from the RBR experts/regulars the last 3 weeks on this forum, it seems like may of you have met spent some time with and are very well acquainted with Lance and his personality? Are many of you personal friends of Lance or are you basing your dislike of his personality on what you get from the media? Did Lance do something to you personally (ride by you and flip you off, ignored your autograph request, dissed your girlfriend etc etc) that caused you to have such a negative opinion of his personality? I know many of you are sick of all the coverage the now 7 time TDF winner has gotten this year, but do you honestly believe that you can comment on LA's personality without even having met or spent time with the man based on what you've read/heard? C'mon.
Do you miss the irony that the same could be said for virtually everyone who's an Armsrtong supporter?
 
#4 ·
Right On!!

I'm tired of all the whiners and detractors out there. In 10 years, they'll all be yearning for the "good old days" when Armstrong DOMINATED for 7 TDF's.

I have yet to see a CREDIBLE piece of journalism out there that would show Armstrong to be anything other than a 100% class act. Maybe we've all heard the whole story a few too many times, but that doesn't diminish his accomplishments any.

God forbid, Joe average American knows who Lance Armstrong is (and admires him), not just the cycling elite. Guess we'd better go distance ourselves from him to perserve our elite and aloof status.
 
#6 ·
A Word to the Lance Haters

This is the typical "Type A" cycling personality on display.

Lance has achieved greater things by accident than most of us can ever dream of doing deliberately. His worst day on a bike would be most of our greatest. What he has done to bring cancer survivorship to the forefront is truly remarkable. Now, individuals with cancer have an actual person they can identify with who kicked the affliction and became a better person for it. Can 50,000,000 yellow bracelets be wrong? What significant sporting achievement or contribution to the betterment of mankind have you done lately?

I think that Lance is a class act that history will write good things about. I believe that I will never witness such domination in the sport of cycling for the rest of my life. I am just glad to have seen it. Thank you for the memories, Lance!
 
#8 ·
bas said:
People will clamor for Armstrong to come out of retirement at 41 to tie Basso's record.
I hope you're right!!. I think Basso has a lot of class as well. Look at how he stuck it out in the Gyro after losing fourty odd minutes on one stage from stomach ailments two win a couple of stages. Meanwhile, a bunch of the sprinters had abandoned because they didn't like the mountains. Next year I'm going to have a hard time not pulling for CSC. Especially if Bobby Julich stays on.

There's an interesting article in Velo News on more than 5-time champions within the last year. The upshot of their point is all the 5-time champions have been since the 1960's, and with racing becoming more specialized and people focusing more on fewer races, Lance was probably the first of the more than five champions, not the last. They even went so far as to pick Basso as the next.
 
#9 ·
Pepe said:
I hope you're right!!. I think Basso has a lot of class as well. Look at how he stuck it out in the Gyro after losing fourty odd minutes on one stage from stomach ailments two win a couple of stages. Meanwhile, a bunch of the sprinters had abandoned because they didn't like the mountains. Next year I'm going to have a hard time not pulling for CSC. Especially if Bobby Julich stays on.

There's an interesting article in Velo News on more than 5-time champions within the last year. The upshot of their point is all the 5-time champions have been since the 1960's, and with racing becoming more specialized and people focusing more on fewer races, Lance was probably the first of the more than five champions, not the last. They even went so far as to pick Basso as the next.
Perhaps not as specialized as Lance, though. After all, Basso raced the Giro this year.
 
#11 ·
asgelle said:
Do you miss the irony that the same could be said for virtually everyone who's an Armsrtong supporter?
I'm talking about the people who claim they don't like Lance's personality who act like they have spent enough time with him in person to come to that conclusion. I think there are a lot of Lance supporters like myself who simply enjoy watching an athlete at the top of his game, not to mention admire his involvement in the fight against cancer. See y'all next July.
 
#14 ·
Retro Grouch said:
This is the typical "Type A" cycling personality on display.

Lance has achieved greater things by accident than most of us can ever dream of doing deliberately. His worst day on a bike would be most of our greatest. What he has done to bring cancer survivorship to the forefront is truly remarkable. Now, individuals with cancer have an actual person they can identify with who kicked the affliction and became a better person for it. Can 50,000,000 yellow bracelets be wrong? What significant sporting achievement or contribution to the betterment of mankind have you done lately?

I think that Lance is a class act that history will write good things about. I believe that I will never witness such domination in the sport of cycling for the rest of my life. I am just glad to have seen it. Thank you for the memories, Lance!
I respect Lance as a human. I respect Lance as a fighter. I respect Lance as a survivor. I respect Lance as an athlete. I respect Lance as a cyclist. I do not respect Lance as a racer. We have not seen him dominate the sport of cycling. We have seen him dominate one event. The Tour is a great race, but it is not the entirety of cycling. There are dozens of other races he never even tried. His accomplishment is great, but don't make it out to be more than it is.
 
#15 ·
Frank Tuesday said:
I respect Lance as a human. I respect Lance as a fighter. I respect Lance as a survivor. I respect Lance as an athlete. I respect Lance as a cyclist. I do not respect Lance as a racer. We have not seen him dominate the sport of cycling. We have seen him dominate one event. The Tour is a great race, but it is not the entirety of cycling. There are dozens of other races he never even tried. His accomplishment is great, but don't make it out to be more than it is.
You must not repsect many racers then because LA's overall record is pretty good. Given what dominating the Tour has done for Lance it's a wonder others just didn't do what Lance has done. OR MAYBE THE OTHERS COULDN'T. I'm sure there are very few racers in the last 15 years who wouldn't trade careers with LA.
 
#17 ·
ULF said:
You must not repsect many racers then because LA's overall record is pretty good. Given what dominating the Tour has done for Lance it's a wonder others just didn't do what Lance has done. OR MAYBE THE OTHERS COULDN'T. I'm sure there are very few racers in the last 15 years who wouldn't trade careers with LA.
You're missing the point. The point is, and this has been true since the LeMond days, so it's not unique to "99ers," that it is only in those countries without a rich tradition in the sport (and France, of course) that the Tour de France is this important. The idea that TdF=Super Bowl may be uniquely American. Certainly it's the only race most Americans have ever heard of.

For example, for an Italian riding for an Italian team, it's actually more important to win the Giro. For a Belgian to win any Grand Tour would be huge, but winning the Tour of Flanders and LBL are right up there.

Form the perspective of someone who doesn't buy into the idea that the Tour is the only important race on the calendar, the fact that LA never won much of anything else is a valid criticism, and to me, the biggest hole in his legacy. But, given that most Americans don't feel that way, his (and the sponsors') decisions make sense.

I'd have still liked to see him win the Giro.

--Shannon
 
#18 ·
nwilkes said:
my prediction is that basso doesn't waste time with the giro next year, he will focus on the one that matters now that lance is gone. di luca will win the next giro. why race the giro if you can win the tdf?
Riis would like Basso to skip the Giro. Basso may have a different take on it. One thing I would bet on though, if he does skip the Giro and wins the Tour he will go for the double in 2007.

His performance this year clearly shot down the B.S. assertion that starting in 1999 it suddenly became impossible to do well in the Tour if you raced the Giro.
 
#19 ·
Utah CragHopper said:
Riis would like Basso to skip the Giro. Basso may have a different take on it. One thing I would bet on though, if he does skip the Giro and wins the Tour he will go for the double in 2007.

His performance this year clearly shot down the B.S. assertion that starting in 1999 it suddenly became impossible to do well in the Tour if you raced the Giro.
remember he didn't "race" the entire giro - he rode much of it very poorly. so i'm not convinced about the specialization just yet. when someone wins a double i'll be persuaded. if i were riis i would plan for the tdf only next year, especially with ullrichs enormous strength at the end of the tdf. if ju doesn't hit a car (or barn or whatever) he will be difficult to beat.
 
#20 ·
tube_ee said:
You're missing the point. The point is, and this has been true since the LeMond days, so it's not unique to "99ers," that it is only in those countries without a rich tradition in the sport (and France, of course) that the Tour de France is this important. The idea that TdF=Super Bowl may be uniquely American. Certainly it's the only race most Americans have ever heard of.

For example, for an Italian riding for an Italian team, it's actually more important to win the Giro. For a Belgian to win any Grand Tour would be huge, but winning the Tour of Flanders and LBL are right up there.

Form the perspective of someone who doesn't buy into the idea that the Tour is the only important race on the calendar, the fact that LA never won much of anything else is a valid criticism, and to me, the biggest hole in his legacy. But, given that most Americans don't feel that way, his (and the sponsors') decisions make sense.

I'd have still liked to see him win the Giro.

--Shannon
i may be just making this up, but my perception is that the tdf brings out a bigger cross-section of riders. the giro is overwhelmingly italian, the vuelta is filled with the spanish/basque. and i don't think that heras got shelled last year because the vuelta was so much more important to his team/countrymen. simoni may have lost his legs though.

everyone competes like hell in the tdf. seems like people only skip the tdf because they are injured or exhausted. and nobody rides it for the"training".

for me the tdf is the most exciting tour, by far. i enjoy the classics season just as much. the giro and vuelta are ok. giro better than vuelta though. i don't think it has anything to do with me being american, the other tours just don't really bring out the zeal in the riders like the tdf. or at least it doesn't look that way - and its all about appearances from this side of the television.
 
#21 ·
nwilkes said:
the other tours just don't really bring out the zeal in the riders like the tdf. or at least it doesn't look that way - and its all about appearances from this side of the television.
But what you're seeing is filtered through the perspective of the American media, take a look at a copies of Gazzetta dello Sport during the T our de France and Giro d'Italia and you'd get a much different perspective.
 
#24 ·
your definition of "much of of anything"

tube_ee said:
You're missing the point. The point is, and this has been true since the LeMond days, so it's not unique to "99ers," that it is only in those countries without a rich tradition in the sport (and France, of course) that the Tour de France is this important. The idea that TdF=Super Bowl may be uniquely American. Certainly it's the only race most Americans have ever heard of.

For example, for an Italian riding for an Italian team, it's actually more important to win the Giro. For a Belgian to win any Grand Tour would be huge, but winning the Tour of Flanders and LBL are right up there.

Form the perspective of someone who doesn't buy into the idea that the Tour is the only important race on the calendar, the fact that LA never won much of anything else is a valid criticism, and to me, the biggest hole in his legacy. But, given that most Americans don't feel that way, his (and the sponsors') decisions make sense.

I'd have still liked to see him win the Giro.

--Shannon
Its people who claim he's hasn't won anything important besides the Tour who are the ones guilty of focussing solely on the Tour, labeling US national Championship, Tour of Georgia, Tour de Pont, one-week Tours, and World Championships as insignificant.
I'd cut and past his "not much of anything else" palmares, but I don't want to hog all the bandwidth. You might want to look it up yourself, then rethink your opinion.
 
#25 ·
why oh why

IMO, again IMO its really a slippery slope to assign personality qualities based on an individuals athletic performance. Great athletes are not always great people.

Every sport has the same thing. Have a chat with Dan Marino, what a swell guy. (NOT).

However, WHO CARES? If an athlete is advertising a product or political cause, do you blame them when the politics ruins the project? Wow Lance, you were there at the Cold Fusion helping humanity picnic. So, what are you doing about this Cold Fusion issue?

Unless I missed it, Lance is not a physicist, an engineer, a mathmetician or really anything very much in the way of actually tackling the issue of Cold Fusion. He is in fact a talking head. Thats it.

If you want to know the people, great. However, they are just that. People.
 
#26 ·
nwilkes said:
i may be just making this up, but my perception is that the tdf brings out a bigger cross-section of riders. the giro is overwhelmingly italian, the vuelta is filled with the spanish/basque. and i don't think that heras got shelled last year because the vuelta was so much more important to his team/countrymen. simoni may have lost his legs though.

everyone competes like hell in the tdf. seems like people only skip the tdf because they are injured or exhausted. and nobody rides it for the"training".

for me the tdf is the most exciting tour, by far. i enjoy the classics season just as much. the giro and vuelta are ok. giro better than vuelta though. i don't think it has anything to do with me being american, the other tours just don't really bring out the zeal in the riders like the tdf. or at least it doesn't look that way - and its all about appearances from this side of the television.


You are right, the other tours do not hold the weight to the TDF. In the Giro and the Vuelta, riders are much more likely to drop out either to not waste their season or because they want to wrap up their season. Riders would never drop out of the TDF unless they had to due to serious injury or illness.
 
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