The Official LANCE ARMSTRONG Thread 2010-2011

[knewcleardaze]

Today's Gila TT. I think this speaks volumes.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/04/news/sergent-shocks-stars-at-gila-tt-leipheimer-leads_113849/attachment/tour-of-the-gila-2010-8

He may need to switch from Shiner Bock to Mich Ultra. Crash diet time...

WOW. In deed it does.
My belly's almost as big as his.
But then again, I'm an old head, and I'm not being paid.

 

[knewcleardaze]

After having another look, Armstrong is done.

 

[ferryman]

What I find disturbing is that 'Cinco' has almost 1700 followers!

don't know about these things but that does that make you 1701?

 

[thehog]

Do not use past form years form as any indication of this year. You cannot use the 10 years prior to 2008 as as reference for anything. There was just way too much doping going on and hiding away in training camps to know what anyones form was. However. In saying all that. When Armstrong raced in previous years and finishing mid-pack he looked good. He looked ready and race was a stepping stone. We should remember Pantani's funeral. Armstrong wanted to attend as was invited. Instead he raced Sarthe to finish 33rd. That was old Lance. Nothing else mattered but the goal. New Lance is much different. Family is coming first. Rightfully so. Earning money now takes priority over performance. Understandable when your close to your last days of a career. Buy guys come on! I mean come on! Stop saying in previous years his fo wad never great. You don't need to be a cyclist to know he looks bad. Real bad. Like he just doesn't care. He set up this stupid team based around himself and now he's stuck. If he was racing for Astana he would have retired... again. He sticking around for the team he created in attempt to prove Contador wrong. He should have ate the pie.

I don't think he's got enough left to win the Tour by any stretch.

But based on his past increases in performance from early season results to June/July form... I think he'll still put in a respectable peformance come July. Probably a top 7-8 finish, in contention for the final podium spot.

Yeah.. not an impressive TT. But he TT'd equal to Vino in the short Criterium International TT earlier in the seaon and was ahead of Zabriskie (who crushed him today) in Murcia.

He'll probably get whatever he always had done in May or early June, and we'll see him near the front come July.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

don't know about these things but that does that make you 1701?

Nooooo....

You can go in and view a persons tweets anytime.
But a 'follower' is someone who 'signs up' to follow a person and gets all the latest 'tweets' from a user.

 

[kurtinsc]

After having another look, Armstrong is done.

Hmm.

Yeah, he's done.

Look how fat his gut is in that picture.


I just can't figure out why he's wearing a discovery uniform.

 

[Publicus]

What I find disturbing is that 'Cinco' has almost 1700 followers!

That's plain creepy.

 

[kurtinsc]

Man, you guys are right about the gut. Look at that thing.

Anyone know why he's wearing an old yellow jersey with the Discovery kit though?

 

[kurtinsc]

Do not use past form years form as any indication of this year. You cannot use the 10 years prior to 2008 as as reference for anything. There was just way too much doping going on and hiding away in training camps to know what anyones form was. However. In saying all that. When Armstrong raced in previous years and finishing mid-pack he looked good. He looked ready and race was a stepping stone. We should remember Pantani's funeral. Armstrong wanted to attend as was invited. Instead he raced Sarthe to finish 33rd. That was old Lance. Nothing else mattered but the goal. New Lance is much different. Family is coming first. Rightfully so. Earning money now takes priority over performance. Understandable when your close to your last days of a career. Buy guys come on! I mean come on! Stop saying in previous years his fo wad never great. You don't need to be a cyclist to know he looks bad. Real bad. Like he just doesn't care. He set up this stupid team based around himself and now he's stuck. If he was racing for Astana he would have retired... again. He sticking around for the team he created in attempt to prove Contador wrong. He should have ate the pie.

Hog, I'm not saying you're wrong... he could be totally slacking and be horrible come July, but I can't accept "oh, don't use previous years form and results."

What else can we use?

The guy regularly did little in previous years... but this year is different.

He regularly showed a big belly in time trials... but this year it's a beer gut.

He regularly made magical huge leaps in form in late may/early June... but it won't happen this year.

He never looked like he cared too much about racing before June in past years with rare exceptions... but this year he REALLY doesn't care.

You could be right... this could be the year it all falls apart and he's sitting in 40th after the first mountain stage and quits the tour... but because of how he's always raced, I don't see how we can tell until at the earliest the Tour de Suisse. It just feels like people are reading a bit too much into results this year... where if they did that in past years they probably wouldn't have expected him to win any of his Tours.

Not that he can win this year in even the best case scenario. But I think he'll still manage a decent showing... top 10 definitely, perhaps even top 5. 3rd at best. Those who think that May/June jump won't come this time around aren't basing that on any solid evidence. It's not like any of us really believe he's ever gotten that bounce naturally anyway.

 

[patricknd]

Do not use past form years form as any indication of this year. You cannot use the 10 years prior to 2008 as as reference for anything. There was just way too much doping going on and hiding away in training camps to know what anyones form was. However. In saying all that. When Armstrong raced in previous years and finishing mid-pack he looked good. He looked ready and race was a stepping stone. We should remember Pantani's funeral. Armstrong wanted to attend as was invited. Instead he raced Sarthe to finish 33rd. That was old Lance. Nothing else mattered but the goal. New Lance is much different. Family is coming first. Rightfully so. Earning money now takes priority over performance. Understandable when your close to your last days of a career. Buy guys come on! I mean come on! Stop saying in previous years his fo wad never great. You don't need to be a cyclist to know he looks bad. Real bad. Like he just doesn't care. He set up this stupid team based around himself and now he's stuck. If he was racing for Astana he would have retired... again. He sticking around for the team he created in attempt to prove Contador wrong. He should have ate the pie.

i think you're completely right. i think he's finding out that it's harder when you're 38, but more than that he just doesn't f**kin want to do the work. i never understood the comeback in the first place. if i was in his position you couldn't have pried my *** off the couch with a crowbar, and being a co-sponsor of radio shack/cancer blows or something like that would have satisfied any need to raise awareness he may have had, and gotten him plenty of headlines.

 

[dolophonic]

It's all there.. but i just don't know.
This guy pulled 3rd last year.. i would not bet against him "finding" the form of his life, sad but i have a bad feeling. Can't trust it.

I balance that with the wise words of Sen Dog.
"fat boy on a diet... don't try it"

We will have the best seats in the house and i'm sure there will be a show!

 

[dolophonic]

Plus he sure is getting his shine on.. honey stinger, frs, what next?

 

[caça-foice]

I swear that I will not be surprised if Lance get ill in early July...

I really think that he will not race the TdF this year... He's old, fat and is not training hard ... and all knows that how more older you get, more you need to train.. if you want to follow the young guys...

 

[Runitout]

Kurt, perhaps I did not express myself clearly enough.

My point was that he was always competitive from about April onwards- good placings in the classics, or a good showing against decent riders in Georgia. He neve dominated before June, but he looked like he was exactly where he wanted to be.

Now, he's looking out of form and out of shape.

Given that his whole aura stemmed from appearing to be an unstoppable force, the master of his environment- then looking like Ulle is directly counter to that aura. I don't know why he would do that deliberately.

I can only imagine that he is sandbagging, becuase if he were genuinely this unmotivated and out of form, why wouldn't he just hang up the bike and chase tail all day? It's not like he needs the money.

While I don't know if he's doing what he needs to in order to ride well in France, it's revisionist history to think he routinely did well in races prior to June even in his winning years.

He probably did more then he's done this season... but not a huge amount more.

The site I look at for past race results doesn't go past top 3 for most races, but from 2000 on, here's a list of his top 3 finishes prior to gearing up for the Tour at the Dauphine Libere or Tour de Suisse in June:

2nd: Paris - Camembert , 2000
2nd: Amstel Gold, 2001
2nd: Criterium Internaitonal, 2002
2nd: GP du Midi-Libre, 2002
3rd: Criterium International, 2004
1st: Tour of Georgia, 2004


That's it. Those are his top-3 finishes before June 1st of each year (outside a couple of crits that didn't have dates that I've never heard of).

Now while it doesn't seem like he's in good shape and he may have had some top 10's in larger races I don't know about... it's not like he ever dominated before June before. In fact, other then some focus on Amstel early on in his GC career... it seems more like he pretty much ignored the early part of his season most of the time.

 

[Bicicleta]

LOL - great article abt 5 Armstrong

http://dlisted.com/node/37087

And Lance's ball deserves the honor of being named Testicle of the Year. That ***** is working harder than a call girl during the Republican National Convention. Go, nut, go!

 

[Berzin]

Given that his whole aura stemmed from appearing to be an unstoppable force, the master of his environment- then looking like Ulle is directly counter to that aura. I don't know why he would do that deliberately.

I can only imagine that he is sandbagging, because if he were genuinely this unmotivated and out of form, why wouldn't he just hang up the bike and chase tail all day? It's not like he needs the money.

The problem with this reasonable line of thinking is that Armstrong has made disparaging remarks about Sastre as a Tour winner. He was very derisive-he thinks the field is weak, which is probably why he came back-I think he thinks he can beat most of the field with one leg. His preparation shows no respect to his rivals.

Then you have his team, who are all going to be there shepherding him over every hill and dale.

He will be exposed in the time trials, and it is to be seen how he is able to counter any strong attacks in the mountains.

But it begs to reason that as an older rider who's been retired for so long he would have to work harder to get to previous Tour levels. Those hard working conditions do not exist in the states.

If he would have stuck to his previous schedule, I would have given him credit for searching out the difficult races and trying to race into form.

But he gains his form in private, doing training rides and racing a domestic schedule with historically weak fields.

This leaves his form open to some well-founded criticism. And since there are no fairy tales in what is arguably the most difficult sport in the world, it is not unreasonable to question how it is he could possibly gain the form necessary to do battle with the likes of Andy Schleck and Contador.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

FWIW, I respect the fact that LA came out to the Tour of the Gila. It's brought a lot of excitement to the race. Bruyneel and Axel Merckx are here as well.

No, I'm not a fan of his, but I do appreciate the fact that big names can have a huge impact on regional races and the enthusiasm of racers and fans.

 

[Berzin]

FWIW, I respect the fact that LA came out to the Tour of the Gila. It's brought a lot of excitement to the race. Bruyneel and Axel Merckx are here as well.

No, I'm not a fan of his, but I do appreciate the fact that big names can have a huge impact on regional races and the enthusiasm of racers and fans.

Those aren't cycling fans-those are star-struck groupies. As soon as Armstrong leaves, so will the contrived enthusiasm the fanboys bring with them.

 

[Ferminal]

He's made a Twitter account for his new kid?

http://twitter.com/Cincoarmstrong

A new playmate for Uncle Taylor I guess.

 

[knewcleardaze]

Lance, The American Hero! Has more kids than an orphanage.
What's with having a bunch of kids out of wedlock, a new trend I missed out on?

 

[dolophonic]

FWIW, I respect the fact that LA came out to the Tour of the Gila. It's brought a lot of excitement to the race. Bruyneel and Axel Merckx are here as well.

No, I'm not a fan of his, but I do appreciate the fact that big names can have a huge impact on regional races and the enthusiasm of racers and fans.

I hear you Moose, but we were pretty excited to be there three or four years ago...
I guess that is the trade off for SRAM stepping in, it is now more of a corporate vehicle whereas it was a grass roots event,supported by the community and racers.(kind of like Vuelta de Bisbee) Still cant knock the hustle, people got to make money.
lance is a partner with SRAM..?
Is he partners with Cycling news? they sure give him beaucoup editorial space.I would love to see more stories like the Cuddels training for the giro, the other race coming up!

 

[woodburn]

Amazing he trails Landis in the overall.

 

[El Oso]

I hear you Moose, but we were pretty excited to be there three or four years ago...
I guess that is the trade off for SRAM stepping in, it is now more of a corporate vehicle whereas it was a grass roots event,supported by the community and racers.(kind of like Vuelta de Bisbee) Still cant knock the hustle, people got to make money.
lance is a partner with SRAM..?
Is he partners with Cycling news? they sure give him beaucoup editorial space.I would love to see more stories like the Cuddels training for the giro, the other race coming up!

You mean like this http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-simoni-pellizotti-scout-plan-de-corones-course

 

[Ferminal]

You mean like this http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-simoni-pellizotti-scout-plan-de-corones-course

Why no stories of Lance training on the epic US climbs?

 

[frenchfry]

i think you're completely right. i think he's finding out that it's harder when you're 38, but more than that he just doesn't f**kin want to do the work. i never understood the comeback in the first place. if i was in his position you couldn't have pried my *** off the couch with a crowbar, and being a co-sponsor of radio shack/cancer blows or something like that would have satisfied any need to raise awareness he may have had, and gotten him plenty of headlines.

The comeback has been worth millions, no need to look any further.