Was there any ever serious discussion at the time that Lance would attempt the Giro-Tour double? Surely with the best program in the peleton he could have managed it once, considering it was a big thing in the 90s.
He mentioned this on his show recently and made it clear "the only race anyone cares about or has heard of is the Tour de France."
Therefore he put all his efforts into that one race.
I was living in the US at the time and the media dubbed it the "Tour de Lance".
However, both Lance, George Hincapie and Johan Bruyneel all agree the Giro and Vuelta need to be reduced to two-week races to give one rider the opportunity to go for the season "Grand Tour Grand Slam".
I personally think that is the dumbest idea ever.
How is one rider/one team taking all the glory good for cycling?
Share the wealth I say. Three different teams won the GT's last year, but one dominating team snatching all the wins would be the death of cycling.
But, I suppose why would those three care about that?