Tour De France 2002

[Bret Walker]

Yep it's that time again. And Lance Armstrong is like 4 minutes ahead of the pack, after going into the mountains 20 seconds back.



Full Stage 14 results

[Bret Walker]

After 15 of 20 stages, Lance Armstrong still leads by 4:21.

[glow=red,2,300]Page 2: Is Armstrong Too Dominant?[/glow]

By Joe Lindsey

JULY 22, 2002 So some French fans booed Lance Armstrong on yesterday’s stage to Mont Ventoux. Aside from the irony that these scattered malcontents were shouting the word “Dope!” at a man who has never returned a positive test despite being run through the wringer more than any other cyclist in the past three years and the subject of a two-years-long investigation, while a convicted, confessed doper up the road went for a stage win, these fans’ boorish behavior is in one way merely reflective of a larger zeitgeist in armchair racing, of Monday-morning directeur sportifs who if you believe their bluster, are every bit the match of guys like Johan Bruyneel for tactical mastery.

Armstrong is too dominant, the thinking goes.

He doesn’t merely beat his rivals, he crushes them, and in so doing, any manner of suspense left in the race itself. It recalls the Indurain years, when we wondered how we’d make it through yet another summer of Big Mig’s maddeningly cautious dominance--shadow your opponents in the mountains, kill them in the time trials--that every year locked up yet another parade into Paris in yellow.

It’s the same kind of train of thought that leads people to question whether Tiger Woods simply overpowers the game of golf, or whether an all-Williams Wimbledon final has any excitement to it.

What a ridiculous bunch of hand-wringing apologist schmaltz.

People who complain that Lance’s dominance hurts cycling, or that Woods overpowers a game as rich, diverse and deep as golf, are the same sort of folk who speak in New Agey terms like “dialogue.” They don’t have conversations, they “initiate feedback.” And they’re always worried about everyone’s self-esteem. The other riders aren’t getting any glory, the poor things.

I mean, hey, it’s not right for only one rider to get to wear that special yellow jersey. We should give ALL the riders something bright and shiny to wear. But what, then, about all the spectators on the side of the road? Won’t they feel left out? And…

To anyone who says Lance is too strong--be it fans of his opponents or his opponents themselves, I propose a very simple, elegant solution to the problem:

Beat him.

That’s right. Beat him. Head on, mano y mano, do what you think is impossible. Bernard Hinault, the five-time winner known in his day as “The Badger” for both the signature snarl that creased his face when riding hard and his tenacious refusal to back down from anyone, said during the Tour’s first week that Armstrong’s rivals were much too deferential to him.

And they were. Not in the press, where Galdeano and Beloki and the gang from Spain kept making reference to attacking Lance in the mountains. But in those actual mountains where they were supposed to attack. They just sat on his wheel until Lance went away. Sure, Roberto Heras had rather a lot to do with that, but I didn’t see much aggression coming from the boys in pink. They have a phrase in Texas for guys like Beloki, who talk a big game but never do anything: All hat, no cattle.

Yeah, Armstrong’s dominant. Partly because he’s better and partly because other people aren’t willing to do the work that he does to become better themselves. When David Millar won Stage 13 on Saturday, I noted in no fewer than four race reports and diaries that various people said something to the effect of, “Yeah, great win, but it’s a shame the guy’s not more focused because he could be just an amazing stage racer.”

[Bret Walker]

Continued:


That would be a not-so-veiled reference to Millar’s well-known propensity to party like a rock star at any and all opportunity. Lance lives in Girona, a sleepy Catalan hill town. Millar? Bunks down in Biarritz, the legendary Mediterranean coastal resort where Europe’s rich playboys vacation when they tire of the view from their 20th-floor luxury apartments in Monaco.

Sure, Armstrong’s gifted. He’s got a VO2 max near 90, produces around 500 watts during climbing accelerations and so on and so forth. But he’s not physically gifted so far past other riders that he’s untouchable, some physiological freak of nature that no amount of training and preparation could ever match. Hell, look at Armstrong himself back in 1993--chunky, funky, brash and full of flash (and not a little cash).

Sprinting to victory in a stage of the Tour, dashing off the front in Oslo to win the World Championships, and all the while ignoring his coach’s exhortations to take it easy, let other riders tire themselves out. He was then a lot like Millar now--a great engine, but the driver’s a freaking head case. Even Carmichael says when he first met Lance, the young rider abrasively challenged him, saying there was nothing Carmichael could add to make him better. Hah.

The difference between Armstrong then and now is one thing: focus. He used to pull these gobsmackingly brilliant rides seemingly out of his butt, leading people to say the same sorts of things about him as they do today about Millar. Now he tightly controls that strength, channels it, parses it out in just the amount needed to confirm that yes, in fact he is the man, and no, you cannot in fact beat him. Not now.

But Armstrong’s game is no secret. Everyone knows the Armstrong Plan: train specifically, scientifically for the Tour. Pre-ride all the important stages. Build your team behind one guy, solely (Manolo Saiz--you paying attention here?). Take out all the variables, place everything in your direct control, no matter how seemingly insignificant the detail.

It’s telling that two of Armstrong’s chief challengers for the next few years are former teammates of his--Tyler Hamilton and Levi Leipheimer--who’ve adopted his methods. And that a third, Floyd Landis, is blossoming now in the same system and says Postal is the most professional outfit in cycling.

And that leads to the real reason Armstrong’s not “too dominant” for the game. Even if you grant the “too dominant” idea exists in more than theory, Armstrong’s approach is changing the sport, making it evolve. The guys who realize that, who use his tools and his methods, will be the winners. The recalcitrant, tradition-bound Luddites who don’t, who try to say instead that Lance is the anomaly and the aberration will pass? Well, it won’t, so get used to staring at someone’s ass for most of the race.

There’s a lot of smack about how specialized racers are these days--bemoaning the olden times when a guy like Eddy Merckx hit the Tour with 150 racing days in his legs. That Armstrong comes to it with less than 30. Is it right? Is racing changing for the worse? Again, romantic notions are best left for your significant other, not bike racing. Is the change good? Dunno, but it’s working, and those who follow it are seeing results too.

Hamilton credited Armstrong in part for his time trial stage win at the recent Giro d’Italia, saying he’d reconnoitered the course a la Armstrong, that Lance had specifically given him advice on how to prepare for the race. And the other day in his Cyclingnews.com diary, Landis explained how supportive Postal had been of his bad day on the first mountain stage, how Lance had taken him aside to relate some stories of his past “le jours sans” and how he got over them. What a great mentor, Floyd said. Wonder why Roberto Heras gave up the team leadership at Kelme--as a Grand Tour winner himself--to come ride for Lance? Maybe he wanted to learn something. And who’s the second-best climber in the race? Hmmm…

[Bret Walker]

Continued (Again!)


D’ya hear that, Joseba? Igor? Raimondas? Jan? Are ya with me? Yeah, Lance looks unbeatable now. But only because you’re trying to beat him on the old terms--the ones that are as outmoded and outdated as Ottavio Bottechia’s bike, the kind that only changed gears on a flip-flop hub. As soon as more than a couple of Americans realize that, as soon as the lightswitch clicks on and someone says, “Y’know, that Armstrong guy prepares really well for this race. Maybe we could do that,” then Lance will have some competition. Until then, he’s going to be too strong, too dominant.

Too bad.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joe Lindsey has been riding and racing bikes for 14 years, and covering the sport for the past six for various cycling magazines; he writes Bicycling.com's Bike Life column among other stories. He's covered five Tours de France, an Olympics and numerous World Cups and World Championships. He enjoys photography, telemark skiing and Britney Spears videos with the sound turned off. He can be reached via e-mail at [e-mail] or through his web site, www.joelindsey.com.

[Lost]

does anyone know what this man is talking about ? danm.... old age always get them at some point

[Bret Walker]

I'm a cycling fan, have been since I was a kid. When I was 13 years old I vowed to be the first American to ever win the Tour. Obviously that hadn't happened, and it never will; Lance Armstrong is the first and the best, he's so completely dominant in the Tour that he's changing the way people look at cycling, the way that Tiger Woods changed the way people look at Golf.

Anyway, if you're not a cycling fan, yes, a lot of this will be lost on you. But this is the Sports forum, so I figured this is where it belongs.

And I'll keep you abreast with regular updates. ;D

[Lost]

danm ... you like any sport where things are ridin ( horses and now cycling ) .... and yes please...keep me Abreast

[Bret Walker]

Yes, but I can't stand NASCAR. Go figure.

Or midget riding. You'd think I enjoy the violence of the sport, but it just seems so useless and extreme.

[Lost]

midget riding ? that is sweet shit... i think that is a sport i could masturbate to... like wrestling ...ooooo Cana !

[Bret Walker]

Boogerd Beats Peloton to Punch
In a day that featured three of the highest-ranked climbs in the Tour de France arsenal, a rider from a country known for its absolute lack of mountains gambled big and won. Rabobank rider and perennial Tour de France GC hope Michael Boogerd gave the countless number of orange-clad Dutch fans that gathered on the 179km route from Les-Deux-Alpes to La Plagne something to cheer about.

The 162 riders that started today’s stage were treated to the 34km long climb of the Col du Galibier--the highest summit crossed in this year’s Tour--right from the start. Nearing the summit of that climb, Boogerd attacked with a group of nine other riders and by the bottom of the descent of the Galibier, the group had a lead of 30 seconds. Boogerd, a former Dutch champion and Tour stage winner back in 1996, was to spend more than 150km of the day’s stage riding in front of the main peloton. On the day’s second climb, Boogerd dumped his breakaway companions and went it alone for the final 80km of the stage.

As he entered the final 17km Hors Category climb to La Plagne the lanky Dutch rider had 7:12 in hand over the US Postal-led peloton and just 5:00 over a group of six chasers. Back in the lead group of the race there were a number of serious attacks and 27-year-old CSC-Tiscali rider Carlos Sastre escaped from the lead group with 13km for a serious solo go at Boogerd.

Sastre looked as though he might catch Boogerd on his own, but then defending champion Lance Armstrong (US Postal) dialed up one of his trademark accelerations. Armstrong attacked with just less than 4km to go and set off in pursuit of Boogerd and Sastre. Not one of his main challengers in the overall classification--including Joseba Beloki (ONCE-Eroski), Raimondas Rumsas (Lampre) or Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (ONCE-Eroski)--could match Armstrong’s dizzying pace. But it was not to be for the American today. Boogerd kept a lead of 1:25 on the chasing Armstong/Sastre duo and took his second-ever stage win of the Tour de France.


Lance Armstrong maintains 5:16 lead over the pack.

[Lost]

LAnce armstrong... sounds like a sex fiend

[Bret Walker]

I'd say he has a strong career in porn, if he hadn't lost his testicles to cancer.

However, the fact that he shoots blanks may be quite an asset... ;D

He's already the first American and the first cancer survivor to win the Tour de France, next he could be the first testicular cancer survivor to be a porn star.

[Bret Walker]

Frigo Flys; Armstrong Maintains

The 142km Stage 17 of this year’s Tour de France from Aime north through the Savoie and Haute Savoie mountains to Cluses was the final day of the 3,272-kilometer Tour to feature more than one Category 1 climb. So it was the last chance for Lance Armstrong’s rivals on General Classification to test his mountain mettle, and it was the final stage for the flyweight climbing specialists to take a shot at stage-win glory.

As has been the trend in the six previous mountain stages of this year’s Tour, a small break that was no threat to Armstrong’s overall race lead jumped ahead of the field in the early going and worked together over the day’s 57km of climbing on four categorized passes to make it count.

This day it was three quality riders—Dario Frigo (Tacconi Sport), Giuseppe Guerini (Telekom) and Mario Aerts (Lotto)—who came together near the summit of the day’s first climb, the 1,968-meter Cormet de Roselend, and rode on together to the finish.

The lead trio reached the summit of the day’s final climb, the Category 1 Col de la Colombiere, with 5:20 in hand over the US Postal-led peloton. From the 1,618-meter summit of the Colombiere it was a blazing 21km downhill race to the finish in the manufacturing center of Cluses.

As they rolled onto the wide avenues of Cluses it was anyone’s guess who would win. Frigo looked strong throughout the day, but the Belgian, Aerts was not about to roll over in a sprint finish. With about 1,200 meters remaining in the stage, Guerini tried his hand at an attack to no avail. Then again, with less than a kilometer remaining the Italian had another go. Still to no end. That set up the sprint between Aerts and Frigo, which Aerts led out and Frigo, despite having to dodge a number of spectators’ outstretched hands, easily won from his breakaway buddies.

Lance Armstrong came home in a group of 15 riders at just over 4:30 behind Frigo’s winning time for the stage. The three-time defending champion and second American to win the Tour de France didn’t lose any time to his major rivals in the race, and maintains his imposing overall lead of 5:06 on second-placed Joseba Beloki (ONCE-Eroski) with just three stages remaining.

Stage 17: July 25
Aime – Cluses, 142km
1 Dario Frigo (Ita) Tacconi Sport 4:02:27
2 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
3 Guiseppe Guerini (Ita) Telekom @ 0:02
4 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis @ 2:55
5 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole @ 2:58

General Classification
(After 17 of 20 stages)
1 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 72:50:25
2 Joseba Beloki (Spa) ONCE-Eroski @ 5:06
3 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Lampre Daikin @ 7:24
4 Santiago Botero (Col) Kelme-Costa Blanca @ 10:59
5 Jose Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski @12:08

[Lost]

holy fuck... with that dudes stamina and lack of nuts he could literly go 12 hours... thats alot of cash....eet this penis...err..man

[Bret Walker]

I can see it now:

Tour de Pants starring Lance Armstrong

;D