July 22, 200422 yr Lance is in the lead again, looks like 6 straight. Gotta love this guy's heart, way to represent America!!!
July 22, 200422 yr We had a tour de france thread. Lance is the man and should be considered one of the top us athletes of all time. Basso's taking the tour next year though and will eventually be to Italy what Lance is too us even more so than Pantanini(sp?) and it will sadly be Lance's last.
July 22, 200422 yr We had a tour de france thread. Lance is the man and should be considered one of the top us athletes of all time. Basso's taking the tour next year though and will eventually be to Italy what Lance is too us even more so than Pantanini(sp?) and it will sadly be Lance's last. 470744[/snapback] I don't neccesarily believe it will be his last, but I am sure he will take a few years off at least.
July 22, 200422 yr We had a tour de france thread. Lance is the man and should be considered one of the top us athletes of all time. Basso's taking the tour next year though and will eventually be to Italy what Lance is too us even more so than Pantanini(sp?) and it will sadly be Lance's last. 470744[/snapback] I don't neccesarily believe it will be his last, but I am sure he will take a few years off at least. 470753[/snapback] He said it will be. If he were to take a few years off he possibly couldn't even finish, the conditioning and the age factor are too heavy to take a few years off and expect to come back. Anyone that has seen Basso will know that he's a beast, he can beat Lance on small to medium climbs and flat lands, give him a year or two and he will be climbing mountains and destroying the competition. Basso will take two or three tours before he is done.
July 23, 200422 yr i thought Andreas Kloden was gonna take stage 17...wow lance armstrong is the man..with all that said ivan basso IS a beast and he'll be the armstrong of the future..lance has won all these stages cuz of Floyd Landis..GO USPS!!!
July 23, 200422 yr passion, I heard the same thing ... the new sponsors said he needs to ride next year to get sponsorship ... i'm pretty sure he's locked into '05
July 23, 200422 yr it really depends on whom you believe. a number of articles today either say he will or he won't ride the TDF again. here's a couple: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5493267/ http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...l=1053692575155 in all likelihood, lance is the only one who knows for sure...that is, if he even knows the answer for himself.
July 23, 200422 yr Catchoftheday must be hating Lance Armstrong right now....I mean, being such a Europe fan, and hating the U.S.....must suck to see an American (from Texas no less!) win 6 straight times in a European event...
July 23, 200422 yr Lance to return to Tour, but maybe skip 2005 LONS-LE-SAUNIER, France -- Lance Armstrong will race again in the Tour de France, although maybe not next year. The Texan is on the verge of becoming the only rider to win the showcase event six straight times. He would like to focus on other races but is not prepared to turn his back on the 101-year-old Tour for good. "I would do it. I'm not saying I'd never do it again," he said after Friday's 18th stage. "I'll do it again before I stop. It's a special race. It's everything. You can't have this intensity in any other event." Asked if he would skip next year's Tour to focus on other events, Armstrong said: "It's too hard to say." "I haven't made a schedule yet," he added. "It's fair to say there's still a lot of things I'd like to do in cycling, like the classics and the hour record, that require a different type of focus." The key factor would appear to hinge on sponsor demands. Before the Tour, his team signed a three-year, multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with the Discovery Channel, which will replace U.S. Postal Service. "I have to discuss it with them," he said. "If they give me the green light on something like that [riding in the classics and the hour record] I might do it. But if they say 'Lance, we'd like you to do the Tour' I understand that, too.'' The Tour's top three officials said they had not discussed Armstrong's 2005 plans with the five-time champion. "He is doubtless the greatest rider ever in the Tour de France. He is proving that," said Patrice Clerc, president of the Tour. "Now does he want a seventh, or an eighth? I have no idea." However, The New York Times reported Friday that this was the last time Armstrong would compete in the race. A high-ranking official among race organizers, who did not want to be identified, told the paper Armstrong already has informed the Tour of his plans. According to the paper, the official said Armstrong saw no point in trying for a seventh title and that this was a gesture of respect for the four cyclists who have won five times. Before the Tour, Armstrong had said he would race in the Tour in 2005. He also said this month he would be competing in 2005, although he didn't specify whether that would include the Tour. A call to Discovery's office in Silver Spring, Md., was not immediately returned. Former cyclist Johan Bruyneel, manager of Armstrong's team and a friend and mentor, feels the Texan may find the Tour too hard to resist. "We haven't spoken about the program either with him or the other riders,'' Bruyneel told French television. "Personally, I think that for Lance it would be very hard for him to motivate himself without the Tour de France." Dan Osipow, a spokesman for Tailwind Sports, which owns the team, said the team's schedule probably would be drawn up in December. "To say he's out right now is way too speculative. He is going to race a full season, we just can't say what events they will be," he said. "He's clearly insatiable. This race means more to him than anything [else] in sport," Osipow added. Armstrong has outclassed his rivals as the race heads toward the finish Sunday in Paris. He won three consecutive stages for the first time and a total of four in this Tour, matching his best showing since he first won the Tour in 1999. Armstrong has long been criticized for concentrating almost solely on the Tour de France, neglecting classic races that form an important part of cycling tradition. He is now considering some classics and wants to go for the hour record, where cyclists try to ride as far as possible in one hour on a circuit. "I think at some point, I have to start to look at other races in cycling. There's still a lot of things I want to do in cycling," Armstrong said. Armstrong, the father of three children, also has acknowledged that the demands of training for the Tour have taken him away from his family. "I'm more mentally than physically [tired],'' he said Friday. "Mentally I'm ready to go home and see my kids and relax." He said two weeks ago he would skip the Athens Olympics because he wants to be reunited with his children. He has been accompanied in this year's Tour by rock singer Sheryl Crow, following a divorce last year from his wife, Kristin.
July 23, 200422 yr Catchoftheday must be hating Lance Armstrong right now....I mean, being such a Europe fan, and hating the U.S.....must suck to see an American (from Texas no less!) win 6 straight times in a European event... 471929[/snapback] Who cares who he roots for? Is that supposed to establish how patriotic you are?
July 23, 200422 yr never said rooting for Lance defined patriotism... I find it easier if I say things for myself....I'll let you know if I need you to put words in my mouth, alright? :thumbup
July 23, 200422 yr Just like you let CatchofTheDay speak for himself, right? Or did you just pull his name out of nowhere because I didn't see him post in this thread.
July 24, 200422 yr As an Italian I was hoping for an upset by Basso this year but I give props to Armstrong for doing what he has done in his career...definitely one of the all time best. The last dominant Italian climber you were talking about was called Pantani. Among sprinters we have a certain man named Cipollini who is (or was? not sure if hes still racing) amazing.
July 24, 200422 yr so is sheryl crow his new girlfriend or something?! 472982[/snapback] Yes she's been with him through the tour and his many training sessions in France which of course is murder for her publicity team. She occasionally pops up on OLN without all the make up and get up but still hot.
July 24, 200422 yr lance is doing for cycling what ken jennings has done for jeopardy: made it worth watching
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