How strong is Lance Armstrong?

[Joe Brody]

With the Tour de France still a few weeks away and given the International flavor of this board, I was wondering if any members here had any thought as to whether Lance Armstrong has any chance of getting an unprecedented sixth win.

To some, Armstong is an ugly American, to others he is a uniquely American hero (having survived testicular cancer, endured so much conflict, etc.). I don't have much opinion on him personally but I respect anyone that is as focused and determined as he is.

Despite this respect, I doubt he'll win again. He has a great team and he's one of the most focused human beings on the planet, but I think there's too many forces aligned to bring him down.

[Ayrun]

Well, I doubt he'll win as well.

He's indeed extremely focused, I admit… but he's getting older ( and that isn't an advantage in his profession ) and the pressure is getting bigger.

[Magda]

He's only thirty-two-years-old. I wouldn't call that old - even in the world of sports.

[Finn]

Somehow I think Armstrong will win again. I mean, that man is a personalization of the thing people call grit.
(And at least the man's got routine of winning...)

And yes, as Ameera pointed out, the man is far from being too old. 32 - one can be in the fit of his life at this age.

[Joe Brody]

I hope you're right Finn. As for his age, it's true that some biker's actually peak at his age but with all his personal and professional disctractions it's hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Since there's some interest here on Armstrong, below is an excerpt of about a third of this week's Sport's Illustrated cover story on Armstrong. Over the years, they've done a good job of covering him and the writing is always good. Sorry it's a little long but since a money subscription is required to access the story, I'm posting text instead of a link. Start of excerpt:


[. . .]
As Armstrong walks into a stuffy room in the tourist hall for a press conference, he is virtually under siege. Is he a hypocrite? A snitch? A cheater? He is primed for a fight. "The last five years there have been some difficult relations with the French public," a French journalist says. "Will you try to approach a bit more to the French public? Or you don't care?"

"What kind of a difficult relationship are we talking about?" Armstrong replies. "Today, how many people were standing on the side of Mount Ventoux? One hundred thousand maybe? How many times did I hear something negative? Three? Do you have a calculator?" He stares at the reporter long enough to make him squirm. "It's not very many people," Armstrong says finally. "I'm very appreciative of the support, and I try my best to be as friendly as I can, I try to speak the language when I can. Let's not create a problem that's not there." [. . . ]

Armstrong knows he's asking for trouble. Soon L.A. Confidential -- which he derides as "a National Lampoon book" -- will be front-page news [due to it’s unsubstantiated doping allegations], and he could use some French friends. But he isn't interested in currying favor. No, he's grinning as if he'd just won a barroom brawl. "I love it," he says, talking faster now, wired. "The guy who asked the stupid question about the French people hating me? That was good; it was there. I had to take him on."
Last year, as Armstrong prepared for the Tour de France, that vague French disdain for a certain kind of American found a clear target. [. . . .]

Never mind that Armstrong opposed the war too. ("There's a lot of bad guys out there running small bad countries," he says. "Why go and get them?") His problems with the French ran deeper than U.S. foreign policy. His aggressive manner is tailor-made to irritate the French sensibility. He's cocky and judgmental and delivers his opinions without softening kisses on the cheeks. "Roberto's a good guy, but he never fit in with the team," Armstrong says of Spanish cyclist Roberto Heras, who left the U.S. Postal squad after last season and will be one of Armstrong's rivals in this year's Tour. "He didn't use this team to improve himself -- didn't use our knowledge, didn't use our experience, didn't really care. Roberto could be a lot more professional." (Asked about Armstrong's criticism, Heras had no comment.) [. . .]

Yes, Armstrong has learned to speak some French and professes great respect for French culture, but respect isn't love. He got exactly what he gave to the French public -- until last year's Tour, when "all the jeers and taunts from earlier years had totally gone away," he says. "The French fans were completely supportive." [. . .]

Last year Armstrong won the Tour by a nerve-racking 61 seconds. He went into the race suffering from a stomach ailment and preoccupied with his divorce from his wife, Kristin, and he endured a spectacular crash and a cornfield detour to avoid a pile-up. This year he is happier because of his relationship with his girlfriend, singer Sheryl Crow. But the time he has spent away from his three kids has been a torment, and the need to find a sponsor to replace the USPS, coupled with the impending publication of Walsh's book, have provided plenty of stress. Armstrong is angry now, and he feels the best way to answer the charges against him is to win again. He calls it his "mission." [. . . .]

[On not placing well in recent races:] He has sandbagged opponents before, of course. But Armstrong made drastic changes in his schedule to be with his kids in the States this spring, opting out of European races and the chance to measure his top opponents. "I needed to be with my children," he says. "If that's the reason I lose the Tour de France, so be it." [. . .]

Winning five straight Tours is Armstrong's legacy, of course, but he didn't do it alone. No one talks much about last year's winning team time trial, or about how in stage 15 the eight other USPS riders helped Armstrong turn his slim 15-second lead over Jan Ullrich into a 67-second advantage. But the fact is, the other USPS riders are a big part of this decade's greatest sports dynasty. "That team is amazing," says former Postal rider Christian Vande Velde. "They're some of the best riders in the world -- George, Chechu Rubiera, Floyd, Triki Beltran, [Viatcheslav] Ekimov, my idol since I was 12 -- and when new guys come in, they do just as much damage."
Armstrong has welded all this talent into a team dedicated to his success. He also brought in Johan Bruyneel, who has been the team's director for five years. The team's United Nations makeup (Swiss cook, Mexican mechanic, Polish masseur, riders from Portugal, Spain and Russia) should stop anyone tempted to celebrate Armstrong's triumphs as purely American efforts. Armstrong pays his teammates well (all Tour winnings -- some $400,000 for the overall victory plus bonuses -- go to them), and the rest of the year he wisely switches roles with them, breaking wind and chasing down breakaways while they pocket the wins. "You weed out the guys who have personal ambition," he says, referring to riders such as Heras and Tyler Hamilton, who have left to become team leaders themselves. The others know their places. [. . . ]

End of Excerpt.

[vaxer]

I support Lance Armstong, I want him to win again and beat Migel Indurain's record (not sure of the spelling). I don't think he's too old but I'm not sure of what he can do without the USPostals. I also hope he's clear....if you see what I mean.

[Raffey]

I think he can win and win big. He won last year and he was hurt through most of the race.

Unfortunately though there are already rumors linking Armstrong (along with a whole lot of current record breaking athletes) taking performance enhancement meds. Hopefully, the rumors are false.

[Joe Brody]

Excerpts from USPS site News Item:

For Lance Armstrong, when is taking second place in a Tour de France stage a good thing? How about in today's prologue in cycling-crazed Liege to kick off the 2004 Tour. Lance turned in a tremendous performance in the 6.1-km race near the city's center and the only thing that kept him out of yellow was a near record effort by young Fabian Cancellara. The Fassa Bortolo rider turned in the third fastest prologue in Tour history, averaging an amazing 33.2 mph for 6:50.

The weight of the jersey is now with the Fassa team, and they will do their best to defend, but look for fdjeux.com's Brad McGee, the winner of last year's prologue and a top sprinter, to possibly be in the lead at the finish line in Charleroi tomorrow. [...]

With Lance in second and out of yellow, tomorrow allows the USPS team to ride its usual tactics when it comes to early, flat Tour stages. Even though the team rides the entire Tour as if Lance is in the race lead - at the front, sheltering their leader, etc. - tomorrow still puts the race responsibility on another team's shoulders. [...]

Today's atmosphere was more like a mid race time trial crucial to the overall standings as opposed to just the first 7+ minutes of racing. Pavel was the first USPS rider to hit the course at 4:20 p.m., followed by Eki at 4:41 p.m. Eki turned in a terrific time of 7:09, good for the lead early on before he settled into 19th place. [...]

Once back to the team area, Floyd went right to Lance - who got on his trainer at 6:10pm, 52 minutes before his ride - and gave him his impressions of the course. Following Azevedo and Chechu, Lance hit the course last at 7:08 p.m., turning Liege on its head. The last four riders to start - Mayo, Tyler, Jan and Lance - all earned huge cheers from the enormous crowd.

Following the effort, Lance rode straight back to the team area and delivered a big kiss to girlfriend Sheryl Crow, asking "How'd you like that?" Clearly pleased with his effort, Lance got back on the trainer and had conversations with Johan, Chris Carmichael and other members of the team. Old friend Udo Bolts came over to say hello and Lance lit up, clearly happy to see his one-time rival.

Afterwards, Lance admitted he was surprised to take so much time from both Jan and Tyler but reminded everyone that they "don't call it a prologue for nothing." Though he did say he was disappointed to come so close to the stage win and the race lead, the first shot was clearly fired by the 5-time champ.

[...]

[Joe Brody]

I can't wait to get home tonight and watch the re-broadcast on the Outdoor Network:

VILLARD-DE-LANS, France (AP) -- Lance Armstrong retook the overall lead in the Tour de France on Tuesday, outsprinting his top two challengers to win the first stage in the Alps and close in on a record sixth straight title.

Armstrong moved past Ivan Basso and 1997 Tour champion Jan Ullrich to claim his second stage victory in the 2004 Tour and the 18th of his illustrious career.

[Pale Horse]

to quote a favorite movie of mine:

"And then he showed these men of will, what will really was...."

[vaxer]

They're in my region right now! ViLLARD DE LANS is right next to were I'm working. the ALP d'HUEZ 'contre la montre' is going to take place very soon, that's were Armstrong usually beats everyone. he's definatley gonna win!

[Joe Brody]

Let's hope those aren't famous last words. I don't want to jinx the guy.

Vaxar,

Are you gonna go stand along the road and scream like mad?

[Pale Horse]

Yeah, vaxer, go get us a pic or two! :)

[vaxer]

Originally posted by Joe Brody
Are you gonna go stand along the road and scream like mad?

I would love to, but I'll be at work :(
the closest I could get from watching the 'contre la montre' is recording it from my TV. All I've seen from the tour de France right now is the sponsor cars, they're all over the place.

[Pale Horse]

So how do you feel about him, being a resident of France. I mean no disrespect, and I hope that you know I am not being sarcastic. I will not attack your opinion at all. What is your take on his resiliency?

[vaxer]

Originally posted by Pale Horse
So how do you feel about him, being a resident of France. I mean no disrespect, and I hope that you know I am not being sarcastic. I will not attack your opinion at all. What is your take on his resiliency?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. maybe you could clarify what you mean by resiliency (which i thought meant to draw back).

What I feel about Lence Armstrong: I've always supported him and hopes he wins again. i mean he works all year for the only Tour de france. Plus he's about to break the record. I will stop supporting him once we get a good french competitor again.

[intergamer]

Its the same with Indy. Am I the only one who rooted for Belloq?

[Pale Horse]

Originally posted by vaxer
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. maybe you could clarify what you mean by resiliency (which i thought meant to draw back).

What I feel about Lence Armstrong: I've always supported him and hopes he wins again. i mean he works all year for the only Tour de france. Plus he's about to break the record. I will stop supporting him once we get a good french competitor again.

I meant, do you think he is on preformance enhancing drugs?

[Aaron H]

I just saw a news report on him, his lungs are 30% larger than normal, his heart is 2x as large as the average human his size, and his resting heart rate is 32 bpm, less than half of what the normal resting rate is.
Simply put Lance Armstrong is amazing. He'll win...again. I'll be cheering for him the whole way!

[vaxer]

Originally posted by Pale Horse
I meant, do you think he is on preformance enhancing drugs?

For me he's clean util proved otherwise, I presume him innocent. but I wouldn't be surprised if he was on drugs. They're probably ALL on drugs... Normally they test everyone but who knows what new undetectable drug has come out. Anyways for sport's sake I hope he's clean.

[Joe Brody]

I just watched Lance take the mountain. He was incredible. Ullrich was the sterotypical German machine.

Great stage -- lots of rabid fans. There's nothing like that in the States.

[Joe Brody]

I can't believe he took another stage -- got the bonus seconds too. The guy is a beast -- and as by others before, I hope he's clean for the sake of the sport.

[Finn]

Oh yeah, and for those of you out there who already didn't know - Lance won.

Told you.

[vaxer]

Told you too. Six years in a row...we're starting to get used to it.

[Joe Brody]

*****BUMP******

"I do not intend to lose my last tour."

-- Lance Armstrong, from last week's Sport's Illustrated cover story.

[roundshort]

This year is totally different for Lnace, France has done all it can to make sure he does not tkae a 7th. I have no idea how strong Lance is this year, One sually see Terry Lee who is president of Bell Sports and a very good friend of lance, and every year for the last few years he has given very good information on Lances conditioning. This year the Tour change really focus on hurting Lance. The biggest change is their are less mountain stages, Lances strong point, they have also cut the time trials in half, again, Lances second strong suit. The question is how will Lance do on a flat circut, we have never seen him give it his all on this type of course because he has been saving it all for the Mt. Stages, well I hope he bags it, after all he is the Worlds Greatest Sportsman, EVER!

GO LANCE< GO TEAM DISCOVERY Channel

USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA

[roundshort]

Well, it is early in the tour and Team Discovery is shwing it's stuff it took the
team time trail the next couple of stages are boring just keepLance in front of Danger, lets go LANCE!

Damn, it just goes to show tht when America really wants to dominate it really can, I feel bad for Germany though the Tour would have been thiers last few years if it was not Lance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[roundshort]

Lance stays out of trouble again, GO LANCE GO

[Joe Brody]

http://cardsspeak.servebeer.com/images/jesus.jpg

Lance back on top. Let's hope we're all past the bush league psych-out stuff!

[roundshort]

Very Nice JOE!
Lance is up on top and nw time to keep putting the ticks in!



Here he comes, here comes Lance Armstong he's a demon on wheels . . .

Why don't they just rename it the
Tour de Lance!!!!

[vaxer]

I just watched the final on the Champs Elysées and there goes the last and amazing victory for Lance at the Tour de France. Things are really going to change now after seven years of supremacy on the tour.

[VP]

Yeah, now starts the Basso era.

[roundshort]

Basso, probably will have a shot,
But It is great to see America so in the mix, next year with the way Team Discovery knows how to support 1 true captain, George will be big, Levi will be better but what about the new kid, Chris Honer, 33erd for his 1st tour, and if we was a bit better condidtioned in climbinging . . .

I am happy to see Americans have finally come fo age in a spor that we were never really in. It is a sahme to see Lance stop when he is so amazing, with all of the shite he has taken, now one has had to put up with more drug tests, course changes (to try and put him at a disadvantage), but he always shows that no matter what he is the strongest. Not to mention that cancer thing . . .

Thanks Lance, a true inspriation to all of us!