Scott Moninger
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Sep. 12, 2008
- Updated Sep. 14, 2008 at 10:35 PM UTC
“I’m surprised, honestly. The guy spoke with a lot of conviction when he said, ‘That’s it, I’ve done everything I wanted to do, I’m out.’ And why wouldn’t he? Quit while you’re ahead. Seven Tours in a row is never going to be matched, at least not in our lifetime. It seems like a lose-lose situation. Maybe he just really misses the sport, I don’t know. As a newly retired guy, I can tell you that’s the last thing I want to do is start training again and come back and race. And Lance is only five years younger than I am. Things just hurt more when you are in your late 30s and early 40s than they do when you’re 25. Watching on TV it may look like fun, but I don’t miss the suffering a bit. I was out of racing for one year and came back at 37 years old. I was at my heaviest and VO2 numbers were way low, and that was from just five or six months of sporadic training. Three years out of competition… it’s going to be a lot of work. Time will tell. It’s going to create a buzz and get a lot of people watching the Tour. That’s the up side.”
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“I’m surprised, honestly. The guy spoke with a lot of conviction when he said, ‘That’s it, I’ve done everything I wanted to do, I’m out.’ And why wouldn’t he? Quit while you’re ahead. Seven Tours in a row is never going to be matched, at least not in our lifetime. It seems like a lose-lose situation. Maybe he just really misses the sport, I don’t know. As a newly retired guy, I can tell you that’s the last thing I want to do is start training again and come back and race. And Lance is only five years younger than I am. Things just hurt more when you are in your late 30s and early 40s than they do when you’re 25. Watching on TV it may look like fun, but I don’t miss the suffering a bit. I was out of racing for one year and came back at 37 years old. I was at my heaviest and VO2 numbers were way low, and that was from just five or six months of sporadic training. Three years out of competition… it’s going to be a lot of work. Time will tell. It’s going to create a buzz and get a lot of people watching the Tour. That’s the up side.”
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