Why did Armstrong race the Giro in 2009? Same goes for Anton this year.

[just some guy]

Fanks .....

 

[la.margna]

well, if they paid you an appearance fee of USD 3m, wouldn't you participate in the Giro?

Secondly, he was riding it as training ride, not full speed and wasting energy.

 

[Moondance]

Why did Armstrong ride the Grio in '09?

€€€€€

Anyway, like other have said, he was pacing himself up all the mountains, and I think I recall, tried one brief attack in a mountain stage.

If you ride the Giro like that it won't sap you quite as much as what Bertie & co. are doing.

 

[Archibald]

Armstrong doing it for the money?? Noooo...

He did it to raise "awareness", because none of us knew what cancer was til he showed us. It was all part of the reason for the comeback.
innit

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Why did Armstrong ride the Grio in '09?

€€€€€

Anyway, like other have said, he was pacing himself up all the mountains, and I think I recall, tried one brief attack in a mountain stage.

If you ride the Giro like that it won't sap you quite as much as what Bertie & co. are doing.

Nah, that was the classic counterattack when Levi was suffering and Lance left him behind to try to bridge to the leaders, fought like a dog to make the junction, then the second he got there Sastre attacked for the stage, di Luca and Menchov followed, and Lance was dropped again.

 

[nvpacchi]

Astarloza is most likely coming back for the Vuelta too.

Personally I hope that Euskaltel lets Anton and Nieve continue to focus on Giro/Vuelta annually, and once Samu is slowing down Sicard will hopefully be ready to assume leadership for the tour

 

[kurtinsc]

If I remember right, at the beginning of the year, the talk was that Armstrong would actually be the Astana leader at the Giro, then ride in support of Contador at the Tour. I have no idea how much BS that was, but it was what the Astana camp seemed to be floating.

But then Armstrong crashed early on in the season, and the "plan" was changed to use the Giro to get race miles in his legs while supporting Leipheimer and peak for the Tour. Leipheimer had to change his prep schedule from a Tour focus to a Giro focus because of it.


Again... that was the public story. In reality perhaps Lance was looking at the Tour the whole time anyway.

 

[movingtarget]

I thought it was more about Armstrong promising the Giro organisers that he would ride the Giro before he retired. I recall something along those lines.

 

[Boeing]

If LA was serious about going for the tour that year, why did he waste energy on the Giro? I mean he did come third that year, so it could have made a difference.

Also many people here consider Anton to be a serious contender this summer in France (he is also talked up as an outsider here: http://www.freebettingonline.co.uk/tour-de-france-betting-2011/)

If he does have a chance then why not skip the Giro like Basso (finally) did this year?

Surely only Contador is super human enough to seriously challenge for both...

Dollar Dollar Bill Yo

 

[nesocip]

Astarloza is most likely coming back for the Vuelta too.

Personally I hope that Euskaltel lets Anton and Nieve continue to focus on Giro/Vuelta annually, and once Samu is slowing down Sicard will hopefully be ready to assume leadership for the tour

I actually think in a year or two when Samu slows down they will just send Sicard for Vuelta/Giro GC and move Anton to TdF, where he could continue the good tradition of top 6-7 EE GC finishers after Zubeldia (sad sad Mayo) and Samu. He just needs some consistency and resilience, otherwise i think he is already there.

No idea what happens to Nieve though, EE are sadly a pretty poor team compared to others and they couldnt even keep Inxausti this year, and in my opinion Nieve is worth even more. I hope Basque patriotism kicks in once he has his options on the table.

They also have some very talented kid, younger even then Sicard, i think this is the guy http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/rider.asp?riderid=17881 cant remember exactly though. Read somewhere that he has immense numbers in testing for his age.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Armstrong also needed race days before the Tour. He'd been out for three years.

this.
the giro can be ok prep if ridden easier. depends on the rider i guess.

anyway anton is a different case, he aint riding the tour, thus the vuelta/giro double makes sense. anyway he won zoncolan, i consider this a sucesful giro. Next the vuelta.

 

[Angliru]

Nah, that was the classic counterattack when Levi was suffering and Lance left him behind to try to bridge to the leaders, fought like a dog to make the junction, then the second he got there Sastre attacked for the stage, di Luca and Menchov followed, and Lance was dropped again.

That was classic especially considering the comments Armstrong made in regards to Sastre and the rest of the contenders in the 2008 Tour. A highlight of my cycling viewing season.

 

[El Pistolero]

That was classic especially considering the comments Armstrong made in regards to Sastre and the rest of the contenders in the 2008 Tour. A highlight of my cycling viewing season.

But in the real world a super old Armstrong did beat Sastre after a 3 year retirement... Of course Armstrong called Sastre a joke that Tour. He was still very much a Contador fanboy back then and ****ed Astana wasn't invited, so his emotions got the upper hand(like most of the time with him)

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Armstrong is a joke compared to Contador anyway. Why are we still discussing him?

 

[The Hitch]

But in the real world a super old Armstrong did beat Sastre after a 3 year retirement... Of course Armstrong called Sastre a joke that Tour. He was still very much a Contador fanboy back then and ****ed Astana wasn't invited, so his emotions got the upper hand(like most of the time with him)

No in the real world Sastre beat Armstrong at the Giro, the race peaked for and it was the other way around for the Tour where Armsrtrong peaked.

Of course Sastre did it all himself at the Giro whereas Armstrong had a team do most of it for him at the Tour.

 

[El Pistolero]

Good cyclists get good teams. Angliru was using a Tour example, not a Giro one. And breaking your clavicle during your prep after 3 years retirement isn't the best way to start a Giro.

You can laugh all you want about Armstrong getting owned by Sastre at the Tour, but you know, he ended in front of him

Think we can all agree that Sastre is but a shadow of his former self.

 

[Angliru]

Good cyclists get good teams. Angliru was using a Tour example, not a Giro one. And breaking your clavicle during your prep after 3 years retirement isn't the best way to start a Giro.

You can laugh all you want about Armstrong getting owned by Sastre at the Tour, but you know, he ended in front of him

Think we can all agree that Sastre is but a shadow of his former self.

No, my example was taken from Libertine's reference to that classic moment in the 2009 Giro where Armstrong, having abandoned Leipheimer to pursue the contenders who had dropped them both, was ceremoniously dropped the moment he made contact with the Sastre group, due directly to Sastre classicly timed attack. Armstrong was left to limp back to his neglected "gregario" duties for Leipheimer.

By the "real world" I'm guessing you don't include the Giro in your definition since this is where my point of reference originates. The Tour was referenced only as a motivation for Sastre since Armstrong belittled his Tour win and all of his competitors that year.

 

[Angliru]

Good cyclists get good teams. Angliru was using a Tour example, not a Giro one. And breaking your clavicle during your prep after 3 years retirement isn't the best way to start a Giro.

You can laugh all you want about Armstrong getting owned by Sastre at the Tour, but you know, he ended in front of him

Think we can all agree that Sastre is but a shadow of his former self.

... and as Armstrong found out last year, no man is immortal.

 

[Ryaguas]

Anton 2011 - Because his team had to do the Giro, and wanted to at least send someone reasonable. Anton wouldn't have been leader at the Tour so it's smart that he does the Giro.

Euskaltel had to do Il Giro but They WANTED to do Il Giro too... and They are having a helluvah Giro... Good racing Kms and experience looking to La Vuelta... Also Anton is fighting his main rival for la Vuelta ---> Lo Squalo

Anton focusing in Le Tour later in his career? Nop... I think that He will do like Heras focusing in La Vuelta, He could go 2 or 3 times to Le Tour but just to hunt stages and racing Kms... Sicard should start showing some results in next 2 years if not... I fear the worst for him...

 

[Ryaguas]

... and as Armstrong found out last year, no man is immortal.

Horner begs to differ

 

[El Pistolero]

No, my example was taken from Libertine's reference to that classic moment in the 2009 Giro where Armstrong, having abandoned Leipheimer to pursue the contenders who had dropped them both, was ceremoniously dropped the moment he made contact with the Sastre group, due directly to Sastre classicly timed attack. Armstrong was left to limp back to his neglected "gregario" duties for Leipheimer.

By the "real world" I'm guessing you don't include the Giro in your definition since this is where my point of reference originates. The Tour was referenced only as a motivation for Sastre since Armstrong belittled his Tour win and all of his competitors that year.

I know, and I explained why he did it. Because Astana wasn't allowed to ride.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You can laugh all you want about Armstrong getting owned by Sastre at the Tour, but you know, he ended in front of him

But we weren't laughing about Armstrong getting owned by Sastre at the Tour, because Sastre didn't own Armstrong at any point that Tour.

We were talking about Armstrong getting owned by Sastre at Il Giro, where Sastre finished 9 places above him on GC, and won 2 stages.

 

[Galic Ho]

If LA was serious about going for the tour that year, why did he waste energy on the Giro? I mean he did come third that year, so it could have made a difference.

Also many people here consider Anton to be a serious contender this summer in France (he is also talked up as an outsider here: http://www.freebettingonline.co.uk/tour-de-france-betting-2011/)

If he does have a chance then why not skip the Giro like Basso (finally) did this year?

Surely only Contador is super human enough to seriously challenge for both...

LA racing the 2009 Giro is easy. They (LA and his goons) knew Shack were coming in as potential sponsors to possibly take the license away from Astana due to the funding issues at hand. Astana eventually made the bank balance payments the UCI required. LA needed to race to get Shack interested. When they couldn't take Astana away from the Kazakh's they staged the coup at the end of the Tour after AC had beaten the rest of the TdF squad and denied LA his rightful Tour. LA also broke his collarbone early in the season at his first joint race with AC. LA was using it as training, apparently. He needed to race to find some form and also to get sponsors interested. Shack only came in because of LA's name. Nothing more, nothing less. He had to race.

So sponsorship is one reason. The other was sponsorship in a different form, but less obvious. Zomegnan was rumoured to have paid LA $2 million, don't know what currency, but I'm guessing US dollars, to race the Giro. Swore he'd never hand over cash again after LA instigated the extra rest day on the Milan stage and cried about the course being unsafe. Note in 2010, the Shack were not invited. LA and Bruyneel are why. Righfully so, they made numerous cracks about the ToC being the second best race in the world last year.

 

[greenedge]

The reason why he did it was because he crashed. He then needed the extra mileage in his legs, because he was still " **** on a bike ". By the end of the Giro he had got a bit of training back in his legs. That sponsorship reason is good too. At the tour remember he could have got the yellow jersey at the start after Astana's TTT. He rode the Giro conservatively too. Cadel came to the Tour feeling crap and so did Menchov 51st. In the last 2 yrs the Giro has just been too hard to use it as training for the tour. That practise was ironically created by LA in the first place. He still ended up going ok in the Tour so we cannot belittle him for it.

Anton is not focusing on the Tour at all. If he was it would be to help Sammy. He's focusing on the Vuelta. In a few yrs time he could go to it but i think this yr for Euskatel it's smart to focus on what they set as their objectives to have something to show. Also Anton needs to show he is GT WINNING material. Sicard will compete in the Vuelta this yr i seem to recall. If he does not go well in a few yrs time Euskatel have ruined probably the biggest young GT prospect about. Euskatel will probably make Nieve ride the TDF too. They shall have a good team too. Verdugo, Izagirre, Cazaux, Nieve, Martinez ( who should be key domestique ), Isasi, Perez, Castrajevo ( hopefully for the TTT ) and Sammy. That is a good solid team. Next yr if Anton wins the Vuelta they can slot him in there too. Anton does also not look like he is trying so much either and it's doable to do Giro and Vuelta, though he won't win Giro.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The reason why he did it was because he crashed. He then needed the extra mileage in his legs, because he was still " **** on a bike ". By the end of the Giro he had got a bit of training back in his legs. That sponsorship reason is good too. At the tour remember he could have got the yellow jersey at the start after Astana's TTT. He rode the Giro conservatively too.

All well and good, apart from that he'd been riding the Giro since long before he broke his collarbone in Castilla y León.

The goalposts shifted from "I'm going to do the Giro and maybe the Tour" to "I'm doing the Giro and the Tour but focusing on the Giro" to "I'm doing the Giro and we'll see how it goes at the Tour".

Part of this was to do with Contador sensing a stitch-up and talking about walking, and Bruyneel needing to assuage his doubts to keep him.