About Lance ARMSTRONG...

[79.]

Imagine he is going to win a 6th consecutive
Tour de France...
As a Track and Field legend, who would he be
compared to?

I think about Carl LEWIS...

[MJD]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

Class of his own but I'm biased.

[ycn]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

I think he's really incomparable. The French think he's dirty. (If you can imagine that.)

I'll leave others to their own thoughts...

[marathonman]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

Or Al Oerter or Paavo Nurmi

[Friar]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

I don't excuse "dirty", but when you have the big C in three body sections, and survive, you do it by any available means, with some courage thrown in . His story is unbelieveable: clean or not.
I know of no analog in T&F,but there must be one. I was going to mention G.Devers but...

[KevinM]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

I know the story is amazing, but I think we owe it to the guy, and everyone hoping to beat him, to treat him as a great athlete first right now. Honestly, I'll be rooting for Tyler Hamilton as much as Armstrong. Walkovers are boring to me.

[tafnut]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

"Walkovers are boring to me."

I'm pretty sure no one has ever called a Tour de France victory a 'walkover', even in the metaphorical sense.

[Bob Duncan]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

Great story on Lance in SI. Plus, he's got a great girlfriend! What was it somebody said...if Lance lost the Tour de France this year, Sheryl Crow would be called the Yoko Ono of bike racing.

[ycn]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

If Tyler was to steal #6 away from Lance, my heart would hardly be broken. What TH did in last year's tour was one of the greatest stories in the history of that storied competition.

He's right up there on my awe list, after I watched every single stage of Le Tour last year.

[KevinM]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

Yeah, I guess "walkover" is the wrong word, but when nearly EVERY ounce of build-up for the Tour revolves (understandably) around one guy, it gets boring. Sherwin, Liggett, et al do a great job on air, but it's one of those situations, like with Tiger in his prime, where the accolades begin to seem meaningless. The guy is great -- what more can you say?

[richxx87]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

It should be a great tour, I'm going to be there for a week while they do the Alps stages, but I don't think Tyler has a strong enough team behind him to really challenge Lance. Armstrong's real rival and the guy that scares me the most is Jan Ullrich from Germany. Jan is in tip-top condition, just won the Tour of Switzerland, has a strong team and is the only guy who can beat Lance in time trials. I'll be in Grosseto too for the WJC.

[KEL]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

I for one would really like to see Tyler Hamilton or Roberto Heras take the Yellow in this year's Tour.
Before Lance Armstrong, there was another amazing Tour champion by the name of Greg LeMound. He over came a near fatal shot gun blast to his abdomen. With several pellets still lodged in his liver he went on to repeat as a tour winner.
Lost in the publicity about Lance and his relationship with Sheryl Crow was the role his former wife played in his recovery from cancer and their three children. Evidently they got in the way of his fame and 50 million he made in endorsements last year.

Another athlete that dominated his event, at least as much as Lance, was one Edwin Moses.

[Bill S.]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

Lance will win his sixth Tour, it will be the toughest of the bunch and he'll have to fight for every inch of it.

The peloton is going to ride with a vengence this year, because they are protecting the legacies of Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain.

Anyone wearing a yellow wristband?

Favorite Cheryl Crow song: Favorite Mistake (that's the lyric, I don't know if it's the name)

Question: Do your kids care about your personal ambitions? Mine just want me to tuck them in every night.

[exNLAC]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

>Question: Do your kids care about your personal ambitions? Mine just want me to tuck them in every night.<

Yes, and who bore Lance's kids and tucked them in every night while Lance was out screwing around with Sheryl Crow? Who nursed Lance back to health when Cofidis dumped him?

I respect what Lance has achieved as an athlete, but I do not respect him as a man, because he put himself ahead of his children when it came time to choose.

[MJD]

Re: About Lance ARMSTRONG...

Every race in the last 5 years has had a "moment". No way can you call them walkovers.