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Merckx tells it how it is

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B

Big GMaC

Nov 24, 2009
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BroDeal said:
From an interview with EM:

Do you think Lance Armstrong has a chance this year?
EM: I don't think so. Now Contador is also very strong. He won the last Tour de France and you have also the brothers Schleck [Andy and Frank] who are good.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/09/fo...rckx-tour-de-france-winner.html?feed=rss_home
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Bro, much as I love the truth being firmly applied by Eddy, this is a pretty old article that has been posted here many times now.

edit: what the hell, its good for a laugh
 
M

movingtarget

Aug 5, 2009
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Merckx

It's not rocket science. Armstrong is too old. It's pretty rare to see someone Armstrong's age winning an endurance event in any sport, no matter how much ability and talent they have. Sure, maybe a one day classic or the world title but not a 3 week race. Maybe even a triathlon or marathon.

Andy Schleck and Contador are still improving. Why Merckx mentions Frank Scheck is strange. If you cannot time trial you will never win the Tour De France. It's not like the old days when great climbers won stages by 10 minutes and could afford to lose time in the time trials. Now you have to be an all-rounder. Recent comments by Armstrong indicate he has doubts as well. He rode aganist Contador and Andy Schleck last year and knows what he is in for. I think most people would agree with Merckx's comments. Third at best I think but I still admired his ride last year. He deserved a podium place. The real battle could be for third place.
 
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kurtinsc

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movingtarget said:
It's not rocket science. Armstrong is too old. It's pretty rare to see someone Armstrong's age winning an endurance event in any sport, no matter how much ability and talent they have. Sure, maybe a one day classic or the world title but not a 3 week race. Maybe even a triathlon or marathon.

Andy Schleck and Contador are still improving. Why Merckx mentions Frank Scheck is strange. If you cannot time trial you will never win the Tour De France. It's not like the old days when great climbers won stages by 10 minutes and could afford to lose time in the time trials. Now you have to be an all-rounder. Recent comments by Armstrong indicate he has doubts as well. He rode aganist Contador and Andy Schleck last year and knows what he is in for. I think most people would agree with Merckx's comments. Third at best I think but I still admired his ride last year. He deserved a podium place. The real battle could be for third place.
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I think Lance is racing for 3rd as well. Even that will be tough, but I can believe it's possible. The only way a win could happen is if misfortune befalls Andy and Alberto. If one is injured and the other dopes out... then he'd have an outside shot... but even then I'm not sure. I can see Lance racing for 3rd to beat others that kill themselves trying to compete with Andy and Alberto, thus gaining time by being more conservative while they lose time bonking after a failed attempt to go with the top 2. I'm not sure I can see Lance racing for first... without the old TT dominance, I just can't see him attacking on the front to gain time very much.
 
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flicker

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kurtinsc said:
I think Lance is racing for 3rd as well. Even that will be tough, but I can believe it's possible. The only way a win could happen is if misfortune befalls Andy and Alberto. If one is injured and the other dopes out... then he'd have an outside shot... but even then I'm not sure. I can see Lance racing for 3rd to beat others that kill themselves trying to compete with Andy and Alberto, thus gaining time by being more conservative while they lose time bonking after a failed attempt to go with the top 2. I'm not sure I can see Lance racing for first... without the old TT dominance, I just can't see him attacking on the front to gain time very much.
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I have a premonition that something will happen to Alberto this year. With much respect i think Schleck A as deserving as he is and definetly such a nice guy will never win a tour. Thus an opportunity for Lance. Even the Lance haters on this forum who rip the wings off of flies for fun know that Lance is an opportunist. It is a questions of numbers then...go Lance.
 
python

python

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polish tried the same premonition

flicker said:
I have a premonition that something will happen to Alberto this year. With much respect i think Schleck A as deserving as he is and definetly such a nice guy will never win a tour. Thus an opportunity for Lance. Even the Lance haters on this forum who rip the wings off of flies for fun know that Lance is an opportunist. It is a questions of numbers then...go Lance.
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just sayin'
 
El Oso

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flicker said:
I have a premonition that something will happen to Alberto this year. With much respect i think Schleck A as deserving as he is and definetly such a nice guy will never win a tour. Thus an opportunity for Lance. Even the Lance haters on this forum who rip the wings off of flies for fun know that Lance is an opportunist. It is a questions of numbers then...go Lance.
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Agree on the first part. IMO Lance will do ANYTHING to keep Contador from winning. But I think Andy can win a GT. If he would win the Tour this year might be his best chance: RS could be desprate to keep Contador off the top step (even if it means hurting their chances) and the course is climbing based with little TTing. Otherwise Andy's best shot might be to do a Giro that Contador doesn't do.
 
BikeCentric

BikeCentric

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El Oso said:
Agree on the first part. IMO Lance will do ANYTHING to keep Contador from winning. But I think Andy can win a GT. If he would win the Tour this year might be his best chance: RS could be desprate to keep Contador off the top step (even if it means hurting their chances) and the course is climbing based with little TTing. Otherwise Andy's best shot might be to do a Giro that Contador doesn't do.
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I agree that Andy should focus on the Giro as long as the Giro sticks to its roots of having a lot of crazy steep climbs in the Alps and Dolomites. Andy should just target whatever stage race has the most climbing; he's like a taller, skinnier Gilberto Simoni.
 
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9000ft

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I think LA will be lucky to stand on the podium. If he was in his prime, an LA/Contador shootout would be a pretty fun thing to watch, but that's not to be. No one is in Contador's league. Schleck is probably the only one who is close, but that's all he is - close. LA might be able to fight it out with all the rest and come out third best, but I have my doubts. We'll see how his April, May, and June go.

All that said, fighting it out for the bottom end of the podium of the tour with the elite stage racers in the world is still a pretty damn impressive achievement for anyone, let alone a guy who is pushing 40.
 
Berzin

Berzin

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9000ft said:
All that said, fighting it out for the bottom end of the podium of the tour with the elite stage racers in the world is still a pretty damn impressive achievement for anyone, let alone a guy who is pushing 40.
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No it's not. Because last year without his team giving him an armchair ride to the finish, he would not have cracked the top 10.

We will see this year when he is left exposed this year in the time trials and the high mountaintop finishes, of which luckily for him there are only three stages.
 
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euphrades

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Berzin said:
No it's not. Because last year without his team giving him an armchair ride to the finish, he would not have cracked the top 10.

We will see this year when he is left exposed this year in the time trials and the high mountaintop finishes, of which luckily for him there are only three stages.
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I am not a Lance fan, but I disagree with your first comment. I watched the TTT and yes that is a group effort but he was driving hard to get the win and the yellow jersey. Other stages he worked hard as was an A$$HOLE on the stage to Ventoux, there is no way to reach the podium and not have some talent. If it was that easy then Wiggins shoudl have beat him.

As for Andy well i would love to see him win but i think he doesn't have it in the TT. Alberto is the one to watch. Some reason I keep thinking he is going to get popped for doping....
 
Angliru

Angliru

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flicker said:
I have a premonition that something will happen to Alberto this year. With much respect i think Schleck A as deserving as he is and definetly such a nice guy will never win a tour. Thus an opportunity for Lance. Even the Lance haters on this forum who rip the wings off of flies for fun know that Lance is an opportunist. It is a questions of numbers then...go Lance.
Click to expand...

I sounds more like a hope and a prayer than a premonition but good luck with that.;)
 
Angliru

Angliru

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BikeCentric said:
I agree that Andy should focus on the Giro as long as the Giro sticks to its roots of having a lot of crazy steep climbs in the Alps and Dolomites. Andy should just target whatever stage race has the most climbing; he's like a taller, skinnier Gilberto Simoni.
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That's the first time I've heard that comparison. Interesting. Simoni is one who excells on the steepest of climbs winning on Zoncolan and Angliru.

I doubt A. Schleck will ever abandon targeting the Tour. Knowing that he is at worst the 2nd best contender to Contador he likely has the confidence to believe that he can bridge the talent gap and beat him, even this year. His doing the Giro for anything other than Tour prep would threaten his form for the Tour, or so the general belief is among most Tour contenders, with the exception of Denis Menchov.
 
Angliru

Angliru

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euphrades said:
I am not a Lance fan, but I disagree with your first comment. I watched the TTT and yes that is a group effort but he was driving hard to get the win and the yellow jersey.
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Yes of course Armstrong contributed to the TTT performance of Astana, but from what I saw he spent more time on the front than the riders who had displayed better form than himself against the clock (Contador, Kloden and Leipheimer) and likely was the reason for his not being in yellow as a result.
Possibly his personal focus of chasing the glory of wearing the yellow jersey at age 38 blinded him to the fact that his form wasn't such that he could be the anchor of Astana's TTT in the same way that he was prior to his retirement in 2005.
 
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Lonman219

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The smart money would be not to bet on Lance. Personally, I don't think he can win anymore. But I didn't think he could win when he won his 6th and 7th TDF. Hands down, AC is the best in the world right now. Andy is right behind that. I have thuoght the same thing earlier on this year that something would happen to AC at some point this year, but to insinuate that Radio Shack or any other team for that matter would do something to sabotage him??? Wow!!! I finally figured out where the conspiracy theorists hang out. And what did LA do on Ventoux that made him an a$$hole???? So much hate for LA comes from pure jealousy. If you wanna talk about who in the peloton is a pr**k, then look no further than AC himself. People complain about a team built around LA to where he is the only one with a chance to win on any race, but they have more racers who can win races on that team besides Lance. In comparison, AC would never let anyone on ASStana who could think about winning besides him. IMHO
 
franciep10

franciep10

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Lonman219 said:
The smart money would be not to bet on Lance. Personally, I don't think he can win anymore. But I didn't think he could win when he won his 6th and 7th TDF. Hands down, AC is the best in the world right now. Andy is right behind that. I have thuoght the same thing earlier on this year that something would happen to AC at some point this year, but to insinuate that Radio Shack or any other team for that matter would do something to sabotage him??? Wow!!! I finally figured out where the conspiracy theorists hang out. And what did LA do on Ventoux that made him an a$$hole???? So much hate for LA comes from pure jealousy. If you wanna talk about who in the peloton is a pr**k, then look no further than AC himself. People complain about a team built around LA to where he is the only one with a chance to win on any race, but they have more racers who can win races on that team besides Lance. In comparison, AC would never let anyone on ASStana who could think about winning besides him. IMHO
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Let's see Vuelta Castilla Y Leon last year AC basically gave Levi the win while driving the pace for levi for the last 7 km of the Mountain Top Finish while pulling back attacks from Valverde and menchov. Now go sit at the back of the bus while the big boys talk
 
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