Posted on 07/26/2009 12:22:53 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
ARIS — With the Arc de Triomphe in the distance and a sea of fans along the roadside, Lance Armstrong stood on the podium at the Tour de France on Sunday, two spots below what he was used to.
From 1999 to 2005, Armstrong won this race, the most prestigious event in cycling. This time, he was third, behind the winner Alberto Contador of Spain and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.
But for the 37-year-old Armstrong — and for many in the cycling community — it was a victory, even though Armstrong fell short of crossing the finish line first.
“I did my best,” Armstrong said before the final stage of the race, which is typically a ceremonial ride to the Champs-Élysées for the top overall riders. “I came across some guys who were better than me. That’s all I could ask for.”
With Armstrong at this Tour — a 2,150-mile, or 3,459.5-kilometer, race through four countries and two principalities — the race commanded more worldwide attention than the last four Tours did. Those races had gone on during his short-lived retirement.
This time, Hollywood stars like Robin Williams, Ben Stiller and Matthew McConaughey dropped in, paying a visit to Armstrong, the most famous American cyclist.
And this time, the race was in the headlines for good reasons, not bad. Though Armstrong has been dogged by doping allegations throughout his career, particularly in France, his return to the sport after a three-and-a-half-year break overshadowed that.
Also, for the first time at least four years, there were no positive doping cases among riders competing at the Tour.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Woohoo! WTG, Alberto!!!!
I haven’t heard any news recently, but I think Lance is still negotiating to buy the Tour from Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO).
Ping y’all
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
The following from back in Sept, 08 may shed some light on the subject as it seems things maybe have smoothed out a bit.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/124303
snip
The Int’l Cycling Union (UCI) and Tour de France organizers Thursday agreed to “end years of feuding over control of the sport” in a deal that will bring the Tour de France “back within the grasp of UCI,” according to Raf Casert of the AP. .......
.....Meanwhile, Armstrong denied the rumors he is trying to buy ASO. Armstrong: “We don’t have that kind of money. It’s obviously a huge corporation. Secondly, I don’t think they’d sell it to an American, much less a Texan” (“Access Hollywood,” 9/25).
You really can't have to 2 team leaders in the same team fighting for the same title like we had this year with Armstrong and Cantador. One had to make way for the other to win.
Lance and Contador dont like each other based on the exit interview after the podium ceremony. At least they were respectful.
Vino comes back and says “Astana is mine, all mine. I'm the GC contender on this team.” And the Kosacks don't like JB.
Lance goes to Team RadioShack and Contador will have some big money backers building a Team for him this winter for next years TdF.
Big Question is where does JB go? With Lance?
Thx!
Next year should be even more interesting. Hope Versus made a nice profit (shhh, don’t let Obama hear that word) and continues to provide Tour coverage in the US.
Considering his age, plus he broke his collarbone in March, and had surgery to correct it, 3rd place is amazing.
Years ago I broke my collarbone while mountain biking, and even six weeks later, it was still very sore when I got back on the bike. I didn't feel like doing any strenuous biking for weeks after that.
I suspect he will be going for 1st next year, if that age bug doesn't bite him.
I suspect he will be going for 1st next year, if that age bug doesn’t bite him.
LA did well this time and did his team duties. Had Contador not been a team mate then the race may have been closer or different. There were times when he may could have made some time up or pushed the envelope where he remained a team player as he should have. I don’t think he could have won but who knows how it would have turned out. If’as, coulda’s etc don’t change the results though.
I remember in one of his last wins, a rider from Spain (?) went down just in front of him and broke a bone.
To avoid the crash, Lance went off the road and down a steep hill full of dirt and weeds.
You could see in the video that if the crash had happened a few seconds earlier, Lance would have been riding down into a very nasty gulch, and most certainly would have gone over the handlebars into the rocks at 30+ mph....unless he had determined that going over the top of the crash was the better route.
Either way, the result would probably not have been good.
To avoid the crash, Lance went off the road and down a steep hill full of dirt and weeds.
I remember that and wondered how/why the TDF didn’t disqualify him because he crossed the land area and didn’t ride around the road. I know it took longer than had he rode but I’d have bet they would have disqualified him. He was lucky not to have had a tire issue then.
Lots of luck needed to win in that accidents, mechanicals, etc are possiblities.
Should be renamed the Tour de HGH. Athletes, professional or amateur, remain 2-3 steps ahead of the drug testers. They find new ways to dope up without being caught. Cyclists are among the worst.
That's a good point, but I think there are some unwritten "gentleman's rules" in cycling.
If a rider near the front has a flat, or needs to answer natures' call, the other riders will kinda slow down and wait, because they know they might need the same favor some day.
So, they probably determined that his crash avoidance cost him more than enough time to make it "fair".
Just as in baseball or golf, you don't "show up" the opposing player...they aren't written rules, but they exist.
To me, the hero of the Tour was Cavendish, with his six stage wins, including the last, which was awe inspiring ... TO ME ! How could he have failed to gain the Green Jersey? I heard something about a penalty, but I didn’t follow it. Thor, of course, won it, but Cavendish beat him head to head on several occasions, so what can it signify?
The officials said that Cav blocked Thor in one of the races he won. So he lost the 35 points, all points from that day. Kept Thor on top.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.