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Mister Tour de France returns to cycling!!!

How about that. It was all in the news here in Belgium two days ago: Lance Armstrong returns to Tour de France in 2009 to take the infinite EIGHT victory!!!

The man is addicted to structure, fame and victory. Will he be able to pull it off?

Now that would be a full size stunt, wouldn't it! Maybe this will light aspark to the TdF, which was mostly about riding defensive last years.(not all,but mostly).
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Comments

  • Yes it would be amazing, however I've heard rumours he may be joining astana, which despite Contador saying he would welcome it, I'm not so sure!
  • Think Astana is highly likely given Bruyneel heads it up, and especially given Contadors comments the other day ("open arms..etc"). If he does join astana surely Contador/leipheimer won't act as his domestiques? Will be interesting to see how he does if he joins them. Previoulsy at Postal, Discovery etc the whole team was built around him and everyone sacrificed themselves for him on the mountains...I can hardly see contador playing a rubeira/heras role....he will surely want to win it for himself?...Stikes me as too many chiefs not enough indians!!



    another interesting point is that landis is also rumoured to be making a return in 2009...wonder what sort of shape he'll be in...and surely a GC contender (even without "artificial help")??!
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    hillclimb1 wrote:
    Previoulsy at Postal, Discovery etc the whole team was built around him and everyone sacrificed themselves for him on the mountains...I can hardly see contador playing a rubeira/heras role....he will surely want to win it for himself?...Stikes me as too many chiefs not enough indians!!







    How about CSC, where not only the chiefs are able to compete for podium place. Could be that Astana is becoming a team with too much leaders, but that isn't necesarily a bad thing, is it??

    And , I believe Armstrong can manage without help in the mountains too.

    Defo gonna be worth watching!!!
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    Call me a heretic but Armstrong= boring.
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    Partly right jon.E. But sowere the last two years (besides a few modest attacks, rarely).

    Maybe his return will force some real action.

    Lets hope so
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    The man lacks charisma,and expects everyone to listen to what he has to say,I admit it is likely to be more than Cadel,but at least he head butted the camera.Armstrong builds a team around him for the one race and the race becomes totally methodical to the point you can guess which stage he will win to take the race.Maybe Astana want some credibility for their team.
  • sfullersfuller Posts: 628
    I dont think he lacks charisma. He is a living legend and I hope he takes TDF victory No 8.
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    I am not doubting that he is a very good cyclist but ''living legend''??? I am just counting up the number of other grand tour victories he has,ummm let me see.TDF yes but ToI,ToS,one day races ,my list doesn't seem that big.
  • sfullersfuller Posts: 628
    I see what you are saying but the TDF is the big one.... and he one 7.... on the trot... after surviving cancer. Living legend... no doubt.
  • Cant wait [8D]



    Be great to see him return. I reckon he ought to create his own team.



  • Good to have another big story to keep cycling in the UK papers, following Cav's TdF heroics, Olympic success, Tour of Britain etc.



    Also interesting to read of Armstrong's plans to make his dope testing results public. Whatever he maintains in public, it's clear that doping allegations still rankle beneath the surface.



    That said, I've never fully trusted the guy. Call me a cynic, but I still have difficulty believing the human body can come back from that sort of medical trauma to win so many TdFs unassisted, when one race would kill most people. I love cycling but given that the likes of Merckxx and Anquetil openly alluded to their drug use decades ago, it's hard to believe that things have changed. The cleverest dopers have always and will always be one step ahead of the authorities, twas ever thus. Why not just legalise the whole thing?
  • [color=#990000]
    The cleverest dopers have always and will always be one step ahead of the authorities, twas ever thus. Why not just legalise the whole thing?
    [/color]

    [color=#990000][/color]

    tjennings - have I just understood what your saying? !!



    As an athlete I will always, along with thousands of others, strive for clean sport.

    Yes, cycling has had a bad reputation, worse than a lot of other sports, but there are people trying to make sure that cheats are ousted and disqualified from competition.



    Having worked in a department that treats problems related to drug addiction, seeing the devestation it can cause to the individual, family and friends I feel that was a very irresponsible comment to make, this is an open forum free for all to read - including the possibility of young, impressionable minds, who may not sense you may be being ironic!



    [color=#990000]"Armstrong's plans to make his dope testing results public. Whatever he maintains in public, it's clear that doping allegations still rankle beneath the surface."[/color]

    [color=#990000][/color]

    [color=#990000][color=#000000]And they do because of the on going cycnacism like this - the guy is trying his best to be as open and honest as possible - what more can he do?? What more do people want from him - blood?? Oh, hang on, he's offering that one already....!!![/color][/color]

    [color=#990000][/color]

    [color=#990000][color=#000000]Sorry everyone else, but some of the above comments really hit a nerve.[/color]

    [/color]
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    I paraphrase/misquote from yesterdays Guardian...'My admiration is greater than my suspicion.'
  • I was indeed being rather ironic with my above comments, so apologies if these were misconstrued. That said, in no way was I suggesting that all drugs be legalised. It was a throwaway comment so I'm sorry if it hit a nerve.



    I still don't believe Lance, though.
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    Maybe if other cyclists had the same financial and technical support as Armstrong had then maybe! they wouldn't have had to turn to the 'cheaper' alternative of chemical enhancers.Bernaud Hinault is quoted as saying that ''if he had Armstrongs backing,he would still be racing''.The man is clean but I just do not like him.
  • sfullersfuller Posts: 628
    envy is a sin.
  • to survive the cancer shows that for some reason his body is far above average. He is above average. As said above, all the funding and support have helped
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    My 2 cents worth... Lance is undoubtedly a great athlete, he was an excellent triathlete, he won the world championships (Oslo 1993?), he served his time in Europe - getting pilloried by dubious Euro pros.

    He got cancer and survived. This experience fortified him, and he went out all guns blazing (excuse the Texan metaphors) to prove to himself and to spite those who turned their backs on him (European pro peleton), and he won le Tour.

    He was intelligent enough to see that there is a simple formula to achieveing this (strong team, event focused programme, specific training & absolute control over the team) and ruthless enough to see it through (winners are not nice guys). As long as the athlete in question has the engine (vO2 max) and a bit of luck he will do it. Lance was also intelligent enough to see the inter-nicean strife of all other teams (as they jostle against each other for a new contract) and he nailed it year after year.

    CSC learned from him and look what they did this year.

    But... I agree he is not charismatic but he is a winner

  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    STP2
  • ardkeenardkeen Posts: 152
    Charisma never won a race. Interesting that Lance has refused testing of old samples. Looks like he has something to hide. Lance may be a victim of his methods yet, i.e leading edge technology or should I say pharmacology.
  • Lance is a winner, he was given a 20% chance of surviving cancer while it consumed him yet lance still won the fight!!

    Lance is a legend.



  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    He kept on winning his event, the TDF!

    Some people say he's doing it the pharmaceutical way, some say not.

    I think they all do it this way, but HE keeps winning it!!!
  • triadtriad Posts: 62
    STP2
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    Some news on the armstrong front; he won a TT, 25.6k in 33:14 minutes.

    Thats an average of 46.22/hour.

    here's a link to the article:



    http://www.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/2008-11-02-armstrong-race_N.htm?csp=34
  • Any of you lot read BAD BLOOD by Jeremy Whittle, certainly made me change my opinion slightly of Mr Armstrong. Its easy to point fingers and accuses, its a dam sight harder to get up day after day and do what he did (does). I certinly dont think hes whiter than white. Even though as he says hes never failed anything. But the guy is a legend.

  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    News from the Armstrong front: He's in doubt to do TDF 09. He fears for his own safety,when competing the race. Numerous threats were made .

    Now that is so [:@][:'(]. Let the man race, let's see if he can win it again, or who is better. Wouldn't be more than fair I think.



    On the other hand,Johan Bruyneelnoted that Armstrong is great under pressure, he needs it to perform at his best. Maybe a clever move, or not....

    Anyone heard more about this???
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    Found following article about it:

    http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/27793457/

  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    Marketing, profile raising, publicity, all of it. Like him or not, this he does well.

    Its like the big press conference to announce a withdrawal from public life..some what contradictory & almost bound to have the opposite effect.
  • NO



    [:'(]
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    Seems he'll be doing the GIRO too, presentation of the whole GIRO spectacle is this weekend.
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