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Armstrong in Amstel Gold - significance?

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Ninety5rpm

Ninety5rpm

Mar 18, 2009
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Armstrong is planning to race in Amstel Gold 2010 this April. This has always been one of his favorite races, but he has never managed to win it.

I think this indicates confidence in his condition, probably more than he had last year.
 
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Cerberus

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Perhaps, it might give an indication. In this years tour he couldn't follow the accelerations from people like Schleck. I think that will prevent him from doing well in Amstel, but iif he does that's interesting.
 
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Ninety5rpm said:
Armstrong is planning to race in Amstel Gold 2010 this April. This has always been one of his favorite races, but he has never managed to win it.

I think this indicates confidence in his condition, probably more than he had last year.
Click to expand...

yeah...this indicates that he needs some good publicity via Holland...he has no chance of winning.
 
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Anonymous

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I think it will be great to watch the transformation of a great GT rider into a great one-day classics rider.

I hope he does RvV and P-R. He'll probably give Boonen a run.
 
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Anonymous

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Scott SoCal said:
I think it will be great to watch the transformation of a great GT rider into a great one-day classics rider.

I hope he does RvV and P-R. He'll probably give Boonen a run.
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Scott even you can't be serious ...correct me would you? there is just no way egostrong does this...he will probably give Boonen a run? There is no way you are being serious my friend...
 
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Cash05458 said:
Scott even you can't be serious ...correct me would you? there is just no way egostrong does this...he will probably give Boonen a run? There is no way you are being serious my friend...
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Nah.. just a little irony. I though it to be a cute twist on the 'once a classics rider turned tour champ' line.

In all seriousness, between the cobbles and the hard men who actually race Paris Roubaix, LA would get beat like a drum.

Another stark contrast between men like Merckx, LeMond and LA. Kinda like NFL receivers who won't go across the middle.
 
Publicus

Publicus

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Ninety5rpm said:
Armstrong is planning to race in Amstel Gold 2010 this April. This has always been one of his favorite races, but he has never managed to win it.

I think this indicates confidence in his condition, probably more than he had last year.
Click to expand...

When has he entered a pre-Tour de France race to actually win it? I mean since he exclusively became a Tour de France rider (circa 1999)? It will be a training/publicity ride at best.
 
Race Radio

Race Radio

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If Armstrong had not suddenly become a GT rider Amstel and Flanders would have been great races for him. It is too bad he did not spend more time on them.

While I am sure he received some nice start money I am glad he is doing it as it will mean live coverage in the US. I would be shocked if he did good though. As you get older the hardest part of racing is recovering from multiple hard efforts. This is all that Amstel is, up/down and attack out of all the 2,000 corners on the course.
 
Publicus

Publicus

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Race Radio said:
If Armstrong had not suddenly become a GT rider Amstel and Flanders would have been great races for him. It is too bad he did not spend more time on them.

While I am sure he received some nice start money I am glad he is doing it as it will mean live coverage in the US. I would be shocked if he did good though. As you get older the hardest part of racing is recovering from multiple hard efforts. This is all that Amstel is, up/down and attack out of all the 2,000 corners on the course.
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That's the only upside I see to this. I want him to enter EVERY race possible so that Versus will cover it. In High Definition. :D
 
Tom T.

Tom T.

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He has entered Amstel Gold to win it at least a couple times. This time he'll be in it until about 30 km to go and then pop off the back for a nice soft pedal home. Training miles and a fat appearance fee, no more, no less.

Oh and to answer the question of significance: none whatsoever if you're looking at it in terms of who is actually competitive in the classics.
 
Ninety5rpm

Ninety5rpm

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Publicus said:
When has he entered a pre-Tour de France race to actually win it? I mean since he exclusively became a Tour de France rider (circa 1999)? It will be a training/publicity ride at best.
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Well, he got 2nd in 1999 and 2001 - I think it's safe to assume he was trying to win when he got 2nd. There is also this:

Inspired by Koppenberg, I drew up a spreadsheet of Amstel Gold finishes for the past 10 years. I was looking for consistency as well as upper-tier results, and ended up with a list of 21 riders who have (A) finished in the top 20 at least 3 times in the past 10 years, and (B) with at least one finish being in the top 10.

I sorted them by number of top 10 results per attempt rather than by finish. Obviously, a DNF isn't always the rider's choice, but I do feel the guys who finish their races consistently should end up higher in the rankings than the ones who don't.

No surprise that the King of Amstel is Michael Boogerd, who in 9 attempts finished in the top 10 every single time, hitting the podium an amazing 78 percent of the time.

Who comes in second? Damn, what's his name? You know--that guy who never cared about any race except the Tour...
...
However you sort it, Lance Armstrong is right up there. Top 10s per attempt? He's second. Top 10s per finish? Third. Podium places per attempt? Third. Same for podium places per finish. Guy deserves credit where it's due.
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http://www.podiumcafe.com/2009/4/14/834915/10-years-of-amstel-gold

There is also the motivation in trying to prove he can win a classic.
 
Ninety5rpm

Ninety5rpm

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Publicus said:
I should use the google next time. Thanks for the info
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Arguably more impressive than the two actual second place finishes is this record among all Amstel Gold racers over 10 years:

"However you sort it, Lance Armstrong is right up there. Top 10s per attempt? He's second. Top 10s per finish? Third. Podium places per attempt? Third. Same for podium places per finish."
 
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Ninety5rpm said:
Well, he got 2nd in 1999 and 2001 - I think it's safe to assume he was trying to win when he got 2nd. There is also this:


http://www.podiumcafe.com/2009/4/14/834915/10-years-of-amstel-gold

There is also the motivation in trying to prove he can win a classic.
Click to expand...

Boogerd drafted Lance for the last 40km and then beat him in the sprint after Lance coudn't drop him up the Cauberg. Armstrong was the strongest rider that day and deserved to win.

Having said that, LA in 2010 is like Hincapie in his prime, and no discredit to Hincapie. LA can be a factor, he can be one of the strong men, but he can't win. No way. Amstel is too long, too hard, too hilly. Has some squirrelly bits, with tight bends and deep gutters, and Armstrong has always excelled at that. With its circuits style, it is like a spring world's. A way underrated race - one of if not the best. Suited to a guy like Frank Schleck.
 
cyclegeek

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I had hoped that when he announced his comeback last year that he would come back to do only the classics. I always thought he would do well in the 1 days. It also would have brought attention to these pillars of the racing community that most Americans never new of. :D
 
lagartija

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the vagabond said:
Boogerd drafted Lance for the last 40km and then beat him in the sprint after Lance coudn't drop him up the Cauberg. Armstrong was the strongest rider that day and deserved to win.

Having said that, LA in 2010 is like Hincapie in his prime, and no discredit to Hincapie. LA can be a factor, he can be one of the strong men, but he can't win. No way. Amstel is too long, too hard, too hilly. Has some squirrelly bits, with tight bends and deep gutters, and Armstrong has always excelled at that. With its circuits style, it is like a spring world's. A way underrated race - one of if not the best. Suited to a guy like Frank Schleck.
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you really need to watch that race again, lance was doing all the sitting on and boogard led out the sprint from the front, as a matter of fact if you watch ''the road to paris'' they even have a clip of bruyneel telling pharmstrong not to pull through and sit on till the sprint.........sorry buddy, just put the koolade down..........:eek:
 
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