There's way too much going on for individual replies.
MSR weekend you had him starting off on twitter having a family meal with the visiting kids, then getting ill, dropping out of the race but managing to deal with the ESPN jerk, having a full recovery and going with JB and Baby Mama to spend an hour with, and give an expensive bike to, President Sarkozy.
Next up was Criterium International, some how a major victory for him because of Contador's allergies, and Lance finishing way behind Alberto but that was OK because the team expected that and Lance wasn't trying but Contador was, and of course Armstrong knows how to leapfrog into shape at the right time.
Everyone made predictions about how poorly LA would do at Flanders, yet he apparently had leapfrogged into shape a bit early and put in a strong ride, hinting he could have done even better, but he got behind guys who had to get off their bikes and walk up a climb.
Suddenly there were expectations, and curiosity, and talk about him actually getting results in upcoming events, or even winning some.
Monday rolled around. He finished in the pack for a bunch finish, had a random drug test, a story came out about him dropping other races (including two the media had failed to mention included Contador) because of the annual Soap Box Derby, then teammates from Flanders were getting sick, then he was yet again.
That's a lot of stuff to deal with. I will say that a year ago when I was still a fan and a blogger, and he actually stayed in Texas with his first set of kids, he made a big deal out of the Soap Box Derby. He posted pics. In an article about his going home to recover from collarbone surgery, he said that for the next ten days, he was all about the Soap Box Derby car. But the race is the same time it was last year, and his older son was with him in France not long ago. Whoever keeps track of his schedule and private jet and houses and stuff should have blocked out his calendar for the Derby if it was really important to him. Why let his job and races that he signed up for well in advance conflict with his getting back to ATX, after he'd voluntarily spent weeks away from there in Hawaii, France, and South Africa?
It just seems like a rapid succession of changes. Suddenly he's fit. Remembers what a great dad he is & the Soap Box Derby. Doping control. Others are ill. He's ill. Train and race in America for a couple of months. I don't follow his twitter, but the rest of you can follow just how much of his time he spends in Texas with the family instead of racing for the team built around him.
On the topic of not hearing about him being sick through seven years of Tour wins - I don't know if he was then and it didn't coincide with races, or of he has really been sick lately, but twitter has really changed things. In those seven years, people would have had no idea what he was up to at 4:00 P.M. on a random day in January, and it wouldn't have been repeated in news stories around the globe. I'm just saying...
), but I didn't expect anymore posts from you after Sunday...oh well
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