Lance Armstrong

[bulm540]

going for seventh.

[Law Dawg]

Team Discovery took stage 4. Which puts Lance in first today. He is an inpiration!!!

[Matt Cheely]

Absolutly wonderful stage to watch!

Can't believe the yellow jersey fell like that though. They say he didn't touch wheels, and the pavement wasn't wet. I wonder what happened?

[Scooter]

Being in a TTT is a lot of fun. But you have extremely limited visibility since you are in your aerobars tucked tightly behind the rider in front. Occasionally people do go down going straight. Don't know how it happens, but it does. I have had teammates go down in individual TT going straight.

If he hadn't gone down and finished with the same time, it would be interesting to figure out who was in the lead. TdF rules require checking who was ahead down to the hundredths of a second. If it was still a tie, then they would go by who had better finishes, in this case, David Zabriskie would be in yellow since he won a stage.

[bulm540]

I guess we can call it a racing incident.

[BigDave]

I read that his chain snapped.

Go Lance.

[schmitz]

Lance wins "Le Boucle" ; Le Tour de France. First man ever to win "The Tour de France" seven times.

He really earns: MY RESPECT

Just saw price-giving on TV. All of you over there should be very proud!

[3quartertime]

Was just checking out the June issue of Playboy when I noticed the craziest thing. Turns out there are stories and articles!!! Wonder why I never saw that before? Aww, it's probably a new gimick to boost sales or something,,, Anyways.

The interview was with Lance. Not having read alot about him before I was kinda surpised to learn that he's such a down-to-earth guy. He tells a story that he was in the front row at the Grammys with his woman Sheryl Crow. He says, " It's a three hour show, and I was dying, just jonesing for a cold beer!"

Pretty cool I thought.

[Jake Di Vita]

Lance is the man.

That is one dude I would love to meet.

[benos]

Anyone see his cameo in the movie Dodgeball?!

be

[Matt Cheely]

Anyone see his cameo in the movie Dodgeball?!

be

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, what part was it in???

[3quartertime]

He talks Vince Vaughn out of quiting at the airport. Great scene.

[davidwiz]

It's sad that there are people out there who 1) think that just b/c LA has done so well in the TDF that he must be cheating, and/or 2) don't see what the big deal is regarding LA's accomplishments (beating cancer then wining 7 TDFs in a row, etc.), but at the same time, think that someone like a professional baseball or basketball player is an "athlete" who should be worshiped.

[Flexmoney]

David,

I am with you on points 1 & 2, but I don't get what basketball and baseball players have to do with it?

[Jake Di Vita]

I think what he is trying to say is that a lot of people worship baseball, basketball, football (mainstream sports) players but don't consider people like Lance athletes.

[walangkatapat]

Now since Lance is done with all the training and such he can go on my pizza diet, after all one ab is much easier to take care of than six.

[walangkatapat]

It's sad that there are people out there who 1) think that just b/c LA has done so well in the TDF that he must be cheating, and/or 2) don't see what the big deal is regarding LA's accomplishments (beating cancer then wining 7 TDFs in a row, etc.), but at the same time, think that someone like a professional baseball or basketball player is an "athlete" who should be worshiped.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wasn't there another cyclist that had 5 or 6 tours in a row? Did the questions of doping arise with that cyclist as well?

[davidwiz]

David,

I am with you on points 1 & 2, but I don't get what basketball and baseball players have to do with it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Some DJ on the radio yesterday was saying that he didn't see what the big deal was concerning Lance, but he was really impressed with Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth.

[Derek45]

Kicking cancers butt is what impressed me.

[davidwiz]

Wasn't there another cyclist that had 5 or 6 tours in a row? Did the questions of doping arise with that cyclist as well?

Yup. I think Miguel Induráin (4 wins) and Greg LeMond (3 wins) were accused of doping, but like Lance, they all came out clean. However, that's not to say that the sport hasn't had it's share of problems, like the 1998 doping scandal that saw 10 riders implicated.

[Matt Cheely]

Wasn't there another cyclist that had 5 or 6 tours in a row? Did the questions of doping arise with that cyclist as well?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Miguel Indurain (Spain) did 5 tours in a row from '91 to '95. (The first rider to do all 5 in a row) There were always and will always be people that suspect and believe that cyclists are dopers, but before the Festina scandal, doping wasn't at the forefront of cycling.

[j2fast]

Let'm say what they want, LA kicked arse for a long time doing it the right way. No offense intended to our internationl friends but I would like to see another American rider step up but I don't know if anyone else is up to it. Hopefully nothing bad happens to anyone; I'm not trying to be funny at all. The two greatest American cyclist (LA & Greg L) had to overcome cancer and getting shot with a shotgun respectively. Makes my daily gripes pretty insignificant in the grand view of things.

That said next year I'll be cheering for Basso to win and Popovych to continue his accent to the top. Popovych showed a lot this year IMO, after crashing into one of the CSC cars during a decent in stage 10 he gets up and not only rejoins the peleton but leads LA towards another defining moment.

[BrianH]

Wasn't there another cyclist that had 5 or 6 tours in a row? Did the questions of doping arise with that cyclist as well?

Yup. I think Miguel Induráin (4 wins) and Greg LeMond (3 wins) were accused of doping, but like Lance, they all came out clean. However, that's not to say that the sport hasn't had it's share of problems, like the 1998 doping scandal that saw 10 riders implicated.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Merckx had 5, Hinault had 5, Indurain had 5. LeMond has 3.

I thought it was sad last year when Lemond accused Lance of doping. Maybe jealousy got the better of him....

[Scooter]

Drug testing in cycling is pretty strict by any standards. American baseball is like a little slap on the wrist compared with cycling. Cycling basically has a zero tolerance policy. Many years ago, Mapei team was disqualified because they all tested positive for a known steroid. It turns out the steroid was in the chicken that they ate. But even trace amounts gets you disqualified and possibly banned for a year or two.

If you were watching the tour, you will notice right after the riders crossed the finish line, the winner and jersey leaders all head straight to the medical RV to collect urine samples. I can't remember the exact protocol, but it used to be that 3 people have to witness you filling the cup.

There are very few sports that can come even close to the amount of effort put in with cycling. TdF is 21 days where you are exerting 70-100% of maximum effort for 4-5 hours per day. You take the typical super high paid "athlete" in basketball, baseball, football, etc and subject them to 4-5 hour games each day for 21 days. I bet most of them won't make it past 2 or 3 days except maybe baseball players since they spend over 90% of the time either standing or sitting.

Greg LeMond is an interesting story. He was quite bitter. But I can see his point of view. In 1990 he did okay, then in 1991 everyone just seem to ride away from him. Maybe Lance is hurting his bike sales? I guess more people would be buying Treks due to publicity than LeMonds even though Trek makes LeMond bikes.

[Matt Cheely]

I thought it was sad last year when Lemond accused Lance of doping.  Maybe jealousy got the better of him....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've always got the feeling that niether of them like the other. Armstrong and his coach have said that Lance isn't going to get fat like "some other cyclists", and Lemond was saying that training is no different, yet he goes so much faster than we did back in the day. I think it's horse sh.....