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The Official Lance Loving thread...

Mar 10, 2009
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...well, love is probably not the appropriate word, but you get the point.

i also figured there should be one.. so here ya go..

Lance haters...you've got your own thread...contain yourselves.

shall i kick off with um....

Lance has 7 tdf victories. Even the best didn't come close to those numbers.

Lance is the most influential cyclist in the history of the sport. His accomplishments off the bike equal or exceed most other super stars of all sports.

At 37 Lance is again capable of winning the big one. Time will tell.

If Lance is in the TDF this year, my money's on him.

Cheers!

PS I also think this is Levi's year.


__________________
 
Mar 18, 2009
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Sorry, hate to rain on your parade. While I am not an LA fan, this post has nothing to do with hating the man but some of your statements are just a load of idolized rubbish.

Robert Merivel said:
.Lance has 7 tdf victories. Even the best didn't come close to those numbers.

You cannot compare Lance's seven victories, no matter how impressive, to five-time winners Merckx, Anquetil, Hinault and Indurain. Lance only trained and raced for a single race in the year, the TdF. All of the five-time winners of the TdF raced year round, including the classics and other grand tours. They also won multiple grand tours (including doing the Giro-TdF double which Armstrong has said is impossible) and Merckx won the yellow, green and polker-dot jersey in the TdF in one year. So if numbers impress you, then great. But how other riders achieved those numbers is more important to most of us.

Robert Merivel said:
Lance is the most influential cyclist in the history of the sport.
What absolute rubbish. Merckx is the name that will roll of most people's lips when asked the most influential person in cycling. Merckx's influence in the cycling world is still strong and his opinion is often sought, and moreover, respected. The same cannot be said for Armstrong.

Robert Merivel said:
His accomplishments off the bike equal or exceed most other super stars of all sports.
I agree that his LiveStrong Foundation has done a lot for people with cancer. However, he is no different to many other sports stars and celebrities. His profile is higher, but that doesn't mean that he has done more than other sports stars. He is just a squeeky wheel that people have no choice but to listen to. Furthermore, he does not support his own Foundation with the appearance money he receives for participating in races following his comeback - a comeback that was for the purpose of supporting and pushing his Foundation. To look for truly inspirational stories of people helping others but not tooting their own horn, read books like Three Cups of Tea.

Robert Merivel said:
At 37 Lance is again capable of winning the big one. Time will tell.

Time will tell, but there is nothing in his comeback to date to suggest that he will be able to win his 8th TdF.
 
Apr 12, 2009
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elapid said:
Sorry, hate to rain on your parade. While I am not an LA fan, this post has nothing to do with hating the man but some of your statements are just a load of idolized rubbish.



You cannot compare Lance's seven victories, no matter how impressive, to five-time winners Merckx, Anquetil, Hinault and Indurain. Lance only trained and raced for a single race in the year, the TdF. All of the five-time winners of the TdF raced year round, including the classics and other grand tours. They also won multiple grand tours (including doing the Giro-TdF double which Armstrong has said is impossible) and Merckx won the yellow, green and polker-dot jersey in the TdF in one year. So if numbers impress you, then great. But how other riders achieved those numbers is more important to most of us.


What absolute rubbish. Merckx is the name that will roll of most people's lips when asked the most influential person in cycling. Merckx influence in the cycling world is still strong and his opinion is often sought, and moreover, respected. The same cannot be said for Armstrong.


I agree that his LiveStrong Foundation has done a lot for people with cancer. However, he is no different to many other sports stars and celebrities. His profile is higher, but that doesn't mean that he has done more than other sports stars. He is just a squeeky wheel that people have no choice but to listen to. Furthermore, he does not support his own Foundation with the appearance money he receives for participating in races following his comeback - a comeback that was for the purpose of supporting and pushing his Foundation. To look for truly inspirational stories of people helping others but not tooting their own horn, read books like Three Cups of Tea.



Time will tell, but there is nothing in his comeback to date to suggest that he will be able to win his 8th TdF.

Are you saying if you go out on the street and ask people if they know Merckx or LA that most people would say Merckx, apart from that I agree with you
 
Apr 25, 2009
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bikepure said:
i love lance
i love the way he ..........na
i dont trust him.

dodgey guy
flouting the 6 month comeback reg,
not taking a wage but pocketing half a million for TDU
the missing 30 mins in shower gate
twitter ****ter
beating up and stealing the thunder of lower pros in gila
slagging off his team leader AC
hiding and missing tests in texas
route changing the giro
and transforming Astana into SRAM/TREK/Livestrong
and cancer... awareness . I reckon everyone who has cancer is AWARE.
their friends- families- all up to date on the whole thing that kills off a third of us in the developed world.
leave the cancer money in the pockets of the people working in labs to fins a cure!

Yeah keep going.... :)

When you write it down or say it out loud, the gripes against Lance are so microscopically petty and ridiculous! Those that indulge in it generally like to think they come across as very knowing (wink wink), hipper than thou, hardcore racing types (yawn).

Unfortunately the internet is full of no-marks applying peer pressure to gain some kind of acceptance, often indulging in trivial one up-manship and 'conspiracy theories'.

The fact of the matter is, Lance Armstrong is one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen. He uses his influence politically for the benefit of others and has inspired countless people. His legacy is massive.

Go on Lance!
 
Mar 18, 2009
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franciep10 said:
Are you saying if you go out on the street and ask people if they know Merckx or LA that most people would say Merckx, apart from that I agree with you

Rather than knowledge of riders, Robert said "influential". To most people on the street today, I agree with you that the vast majority would know Lance rather than Merckx. But for cyclists, particularly those that know their history, and for people within the pro cycling world, I would still maintain that Merckx is/was more influential than Lance.
 
Apr 10, 2009
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Funny, it took all of three posts before somebody that definitely does not "love" Lance to inject their opinion into this thread.

This I will give him.

He won 7 tours and contrary to public opinion (meaning the opinion of most posters in this forum) it is still quite a feat. I am impressed that he was able to win 7 in a row, even more impressed that he did it focusing solely on it. To hinge your whole season on one race and be able to win it seven consecutive times is impressive.

Lance Armstrong Foundation is great. Can it give a higher percentage of the money to the cause, sure, every foundation can. Did it raise more money for cancer research than most (I would say all very comfortably but I don't know you people personally) here, ABSOLUTELY. I have been directly affected by cancer in losing three generations of my family to the disease and my son is undergoing tests now. The man has raised MILLIONS for the cause.

This is where my problems lie with Lance.

Did he dope? Early in his career, more than likely. Later in his career, more than likely. Does it make him a cheater? If he did, YES, and that is disheartening to say the least. Does everybody (read: the contenders) he races against dope? more than likely.

I want a clean sport. (I even joined bikepure, although I must say I am not too pleased by the way he represents himself here.) I can understand why most feel the pressure to dope to get results. It is their livelihood. At least with Lance, he has taken his fame and tried to use it for good.

Am I a Lance fan?

I heard of him first in Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd (around 87???) saying he may be the next American TDF winner (how funny, great call) and I used to be when he initially raced (Motorola and the classics). I became more of a fan when he came back from cancer, and was a husband and father, as well as being a good bike racer. I am becoming disillusioned with him now, so my short answer would be undecided.
 
Sorry, hate to rain on your parade. While I am not an LA fan, this post has nothing to do with hating the man but some of your statements are just a load of idolized rubbish.

LOL. Of course. But that's not the point of this thread is it?

About the only "positive" thing I can think of to say is that Roberto Heras says he thinks Lance will win the Tour this year. I hope he's wrong, but I was a big fan of Roberto before the floor fell out from under him.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Dr. Wattini said:
Dudes,
give the LA lovers their chance and don't pollute this thread. We (myself included) the haters have our own thread.

its not about love- hate. forum is an medium for opinionated discussion.
Everyone with one ideal is just 'bashing'/
 
Apr 12, 2009
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even though the guy is a massive tool he is the best rider of the epo era and that says something the guy is extremely talented I can't go out there on epo and win the tour so it's more than that he was better than all the other GC riders at that time and that speaks volumes wold he have won 7 if everyone was clean NO but he would've won 3-5, now while the riders from the 50-90s weren't on epo they still doped and while he might not be the best all round rider he was the best on what he wanted to do. I still don't like him though. and to all those people that said he's not even in the top 10 riders of all time get real eddy is still the best but LA is definitely top 10 maybe top 5. I still don't like him
 
Mar 13, 2009
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gingerwallaceafro said:
yeah keep going.... :)

the fact of the matter is, lance armstrong is one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen. He uses his influence politically for the benefit of himself and has inspired countless debate. His bank balance is massive.

Go on lance!

fixed !!!!!!!!
 
Mar 10, 2009
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I think one of the "problems" with a Lance-Loving thread is that cyclists in the know (eg people who comment here) are well aware of Lance's character flaws. I learned of them back in the early 90's from a friend who raced with/against him in the Jr Triathalon leagues in Texas. Thus while we can acknowledge and applaud what he accompliched on a bicycle, we still think the guy is a pr__k.

Seems to me that what really animates the Lance-hating crowd is that others do not share their abject and visceral hatred of the guy.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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If it was not for Dr. Ferrari Lance would have never been top 35 in a single Tour, he would not even be discussed on the forum and he would never have "come back" after age 35.

Look at Indurain passing Lance like I would a woman's cat 3 rider in a TT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmR9k8UAohs

This is before Lance was tuned up by Ferrari, but he still used quote

"EPO, testosterone, HGH, cortizone, steroids" pre-cancer according to his own mouth as testified by Betsy Andreau. Ha! Lance...
 
A

Anonymous

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benpounder said:
I think one of the "problems" with a Lance-Loving thread is that cyclists in the know (eg people who comment here) are well aware of Lance's character flaws. I learned of them back in the early 90's from a friend who raced with/against him in the Jr Triathalon leagues in Texas. Thus while we can acknowledge and applaud what he accompliched on a bicycle, we still think the guy is a pr__k.

Seems to me that what really animates the Lance-hating crowd is that others do not share their abject and visceral hatred of the guy.

i have as little time for those that worship him as some sort of god, as i do with those that hate him more than anything in the world.. the difference is, the lovers dont seem to troll threads quite so much as the "lance has been off his face on drugs since 1984" brigade..

i think hes a great rider, i enjoy watching him race, i think he doped in 99, but so did everyone, and i think he has done a lot to raise cancer awareness... I dont think hes the best role model as far as treating the girls goes..

but then niether was cippo and i liked him too.. :D
 
Must be the privilege of love to be blind.

Of course Lance is a legend of cycling. Nobody can't away take what he did. Infuencial? most probably more than we imagine. He will remain if nothing else the best paid cyclist by far in the history of the sport. Capable almost to own and transform economically any race to suit his atletic goals of the moment. Take the Giro this year: One word from Lance and his handlers' and stages can be altered to suit his purpose, and the race priorities deferred to accomodate the publicity he needs. De facto he is not a participant but a sponsor, just his mere presence changes the quality of the revenues. The entire race was transformed to showcase his return. If that is not influential , let me tell you more. Lance although not the road patron that Eddy or Bernard was, rules when he is on the bike as well as off. He has changed the style of pedaling many pro now use. His taste for and choice of equipment transform the industry. The list of people who ride because of him in the peloton is incredible, not counting the many who rode a bike just because of him.
When it comes measuring his racing achievments by the numbers, his style, his past health history, and his financial obligations all contributed makes him shy compared to the results of the other grand names. Take the 12 grand tours of Merxcc, the 10 of Hinault or the 8 of indurain they all will always be ahead. The only secure number will be his unchallenged TDF number of victories. Interestingly, is efforts to make the giro a more regarded trophee, will in the end cheapen the value of his own palmares. So unfortunately in the absolute number he will alway remain behind those great riders even though , he could be conceded that mano a mano he might have beaten them..
:)
 
Apr 8, 2009
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You Too Can Be A Massive Tool!

They should change the name of this from CN Forum to the "Toolroom". I don't think I've ever seen so much mindless drivel.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Dedelou said:
Of course Lance is a legend of cycling. Nobody can't away take what he did. Infuencial? most probably more than we imagine. He will remain if nothing else the best paid cyclist by far in the history of the sport. Capable almost to own and transform economically any race to suit his atletic goals of the moment. Take the Giro this year: One word from Lance and his handlers' and stages can be altered to suit his purpose, and the race priorities deferred to accomodate the publicity he needs. De facto he is not a participant but a sponsor, just his mere presence changes the quality of the revenues. The entire race was transformed to showcase his return. If that is not influential , let me tell you more. Lance although not the road patron that Eddy or Bernard was, rules when he is on the bike as well as off. He has changed the style of pedaling many pro now use. His taste for and choice of equipment transform the industry. The list of people who ride because of him in the peloton is incredible, not counting the many who rode a bike just because of him.
When it comes measuring his racing achievments by the numbers, his style, his past health history, and his financial obligations all contributed makes him shy compared to the results of the other grand names. Take the 12 grand tours of Merxcc, the 10 of Hinault or the 8 of indurain they all will always be ahead. The only secure number will be his unchallenged TDF number of victories. Interestingly, is efforts to make the giro a more regarded trophee, will in the end cheapen the value of his own palmares. So unfortunately in the absolute number he will alway remain behind those great riders even though , he could be conceded that mano a mano he might have beaten them..
:)

Amen to that! Lance is the BEST!!! GO LANCE!!
 
Belokki said:
Amen to that! Lance is the BEST!!! GO LANCE!!

Armstrong's new bike with his domestiques.

powley.jpg

Note the team colours.
Certainly reminds me of today's stage.