Armstrong in Amstel Gold - significance?

[Ninety5rpm]

Don't forget Cataluyna, and the Dauphine. I'm guessing the thought/hope is that with so many race miles in his legs, he'll get the kick back that he had in 1999. Problem I see is that he lost it (the kick) before he retired.

That being said, I am not complaining. I want him to enter EVERY RACE humanly possible so that Versus will cover them in HD (which beats the heck out of reading text updates or watching it justin.tv).

Has he committed to Cataluyna and/or the Dauphine?
I know he has opted for Tour de Suisse in one or two years too.

Agree regaining the kick is probably impossible at 38, and that it was gone before he retired (so losing it has nothing to do with the time off).

 

[richwagmn]

Yeah, Strongest! Wow! If strength was all it took to win bike races, Lou Ferrigno would be a bicycling Superstar

Armstrong thinks his way past all others. Phil Liggett told me so.

 

[richwagmn]

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.

This is what I was hoping he would do when he came back (besides going away). LA's single minded focus on the TDF was bad for cycling IMO.

 

[Publicus]

Has he committed to Cataluyna and/or the Dauphine?
I know he has opted for Tour de Suisse in one or two years too.

Agree regaining the kick is probably impossible at 38, and that it was gone before he retired (so losing it has nothing to do with the time off).

I know I read it somewhere that he was doing Cataluyna because that's the first potential tete a tete between him and AC. He may very well scratch it at this point. The Dauphine is an assumption, based on past history. I guess we won't have the answer until we see the course.

Again, g-d bless him for signing up for the classics and any other race.

 

[filipo]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/armstrong-adds-flanders-and-liege-to-race-programme

Now Flanders and Liege are on the schedule. Nice. More live coverage

Oh hey -- anyone have any good streaming links for such things? I've finally kicked cable to the curb.

 

[auscyclefan94]

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.

Fleche is a better race for Armstrong...

 

[Ferminal]

Oh hey -- anyone have any good streaming links for such things? I've finally kicked cable to the curb.

http://cyclingfans.com always have a good spread of links on all major race days.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Yeah, Strongest! Wow! If strength was all it took to win bike races, Lou Ferrigno would be a bicycling Superstar

Chill out, Beavis.

Don't diss the Hulk.

 

[racerralph]

Chill out, Beavis.

Don't diss the Hulk.

I'm chillin' butthead, was the truth too much for you to swallow, cuz I sure didn't mean to offend you. But if all you've got is tryin' to hush me up, for such a mellow comment then maybe YOU oughta take a nap. OH....LOL!

Oh, I see you've already gone....see ya tomorrow!

 

[racerralph]

http://cyclingfans.com always have a good spread of links on all major race days.

Try Steephill.tv, I've had some good results with it.

 

[racerralph]

Oh hey -- anyone have any good streaming links for such things? I've finally kicked cable to the curb.

Sorry, I answered another poster, who was answering you previously, but here's something I've used.
Steephill.tv got me to some good races last season. Give it a try. Sometimes it's frustrating, but not half as much as Versus.

 

[Anonymous]

hes doing flanders and l-b-l now as well..

http://msn.tv2sporten.no/sykkel/lance-armstrong-stiller-i-flandern-og-lige-3090038.html

 

[BikeCentric]

Update on this topic - I was reading my new CycleSport mag last night that has an interview with Andy Schleck. The young Schlecklet has announced that he is targeting Amstel Gold for 2010 with equal importance for him as the Tour de France. He says he will be on a full peak at Amstel and intends to win. Amstel and Liege-Bastogne-Liege are his favorite races on the calendar.

So as a proven LBL winner and overall Ardennes strongman I certainly think we've got another serious favorite for the win at Amstel in Andy Schleck.

 

[Anonymous]

On the question of where to watch: As others have mentioned, Steve at Steephill.tv does a great job of tracking and listing feeds even up to and during races. CyclingFans.com does the same type of thing, but he made me mad a year ago so I won't mention him.

I don't have television, so I've also found daily race coverage on justin.tv, atdhe.net, and especially fromsport.com. If a race is being covered in Italy, I usually go to http://www.worldlivetv.org/. A lot of times I have to watch feeds from Russia or Spain or even China, but steephill will post a link for Eurosport UK audio and I listen to them.

As for the classics, I agree that LA is doing it for practice for the Tour, not to compete. Plus, if it's like last year - Trek will give him another custom painted bike and he only has to ride it once, like Milan Sanremo.

I don't know if anyone else posted this quote Sean Yates gave during a Sky interview:

Most new teams take time to build up to an assault on cycling’s greatest prize. That will not, though, be the intention of Team Sky nor will it be the approach of another significant new team this summer, Lance Armstrong’s Team RadioShack. Which is an interesting point because Yates was also pretty clear that he believes Armstrong, 38, the seven-times Tour champion, does not have it in him to wind back the years and deliver a last glimpse of himself at his best.

If anyone knows Armstrong, it is Yates. They rode together for many years, they roomed together for a while, and, last year, Yates was a director on the Texan’s Astana team.

“He has been quoted as saying he is going to be stronger,” Yates said yesterday. “I think he won’t be. Lance is a one-off. To come back like he has is phenomenal. He has unbelievable motivation, but physically, even for him, there is a limit. Physically he is the same or lower.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/cycling/article6976001.ece