Comments on: Armstrong’s long and winding road to Tour

By: woah

woah — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:31:48 +0000

Carbon footprint .. massive !

By: JackyO

JackyO — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:59:28 +0000

Lance Armstrong is a really insporational man. I enjoy cycling more since Ive read his books and the experiences he has been thru with cancer and his continued cycling! Amazing!

By: Paulo Pereira

Paulo Pereira — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:30:20 +0000

Saw teh Tour of UTAH release the other day and was just wondering if they will run a prize or a stage in memory to Terry Mcginnis.I travelled with Terry to follow the ToC last year, we rode together many days. real good buddy. The converstation was always crossed with his passion for the race he organized, his passion for cycling and so on.He deserves it and his family and friends will be happy.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:04:00 +0000

thanks Steve. I’m laughing at myself now.

By: stevefroth

stevefroth — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:47:47 +0000

no, keep going, we are enjoying this .. sf

By: Martytardy

Martytardy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:10:05 +0000

@beebo: I seriously doubt that ANY pro riders go into a season hoping to win every race possible. Cycling is such a demanding sport that it's just not realistic to expect that of anyone, including your man Merckx. Riders set goals for themselves each year, maybe the Tour, or the Giro, but for others it is the classics, such as Paris-Nice. The overall team, likely the manager/owners or others, in conjunction with the riders, also sets team goals for the season and they all work together to accomplish those team goals and, as best as they can, in a way to help the individual riders meet and accomplish their own goals. To call the other races “training rides” for Lance or anyone else, is a little bit casual, perhaps even disrespectful because, while they do help improve each riders fitness and help them build up to their peaks, the riders do seek for certain results from each one. That may not mean that they are seeking to WIN the whole thing, some early races they might just wish to reacclimate to bumping elbows with the peloton in a competitive situation, or have other goals/purposes in mind. Hardly base enough to compare with “training rides” that they do as a team such as in the preseason.

By: Martytardy

Martytardy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:55:05 +0000

sorry, that sounds a little bit moronic. I should say that “clime” is another word, or the root of, “climate”. weather to me seems more of a right-now type of word whereas the climate is more general and refers to the overall general weather patterns of a particular area/locale. maybe I'll just shut up now rather than making myself look more foolish than I already do.

By: Martytardy

Martytardy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:51:44 +0000

“climes” is more than just weather, it is the root of “climate”, which is more than just the weather.

By: a_casual_observer

a_casual_observer — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:58:16 +0000

Clearly, you know what you're talking about. Still, unfortunately, there are those who just don't get it. They might point to his fourth place finish in the 1998 Tour of Spain–dolts. While others might point out his two second place finishes in Amstel Gold, or his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Or maybe they'll, fools that they are, dig a lil' deeper and point-out his second place finishes in San Sebastian and Zurich. But I doubt anyone (certainly not you) would consider his voctories in the 1995 San Sabastien or the 1996 Fleche Wallonne–not to mention his victory in the 1993 World’s–would serve as evidence that he did “'race' pre- or post- Tour.” Sadly Bebo, not everyone is as well informed as you. =

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:20:14 +0000

haha!!! What grade are the readers of this article? Reading and understanding more than Dr Suess must be hard if you've never heard of the word climes.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:14:12 +0000

It's great he's doing some of the spring classics but what about Paris Roubaix? No other win would do more to bolster his place in history…

By: jayb

jayb — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:48:27 +0000

Greatest of all time? Check this out: http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/ranking...If you look at the history and have any objectivity, Merckx is it. No one close, no one better. An absolute dominating machine. If you want to compare eras, don't come up with how the current era is tougher “with the 10 month schedule”. The racing was tougher then, much more so, look at the tour stages and overall km. The riders had no control, the peloton wasn't full of a bunch of divas who could dictate. Then look at how EM just dominated it. Days in yellow? The hour record? Lance want's to go pound on trigeeks and weekend warriors in CO. Nice gig if you can get it, but he is not the greatest, just ask Lance.

By: andre_morton

andre_morton — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:22:10 +0000

When referencing Lance's career it's probably a good idea to note whether you are discussing pre cancer or post cancer as the two phases are fairly distinct. Funny though none of you mentioned his win at Fleche Wallone which is considered a semi classic but a highly revered win in European circles.

Pre cancer Lance was a larger man physically with a focus on the Spring Classics who raced for a Motorola team that was equivalent at that time with a Bbox Bouyges today in terms of personnel depth. And as a fan who came online during that era of mid 90's those battles at Paris Nice were fantastic. Competition is what makes for great races and he was always a great competitor.

Also comparing Eddie Merckx to Lance is pretty silly as no one can come close to his achievements during that era of cycling which is so much different from this one. Which is no sleight to his achievements, but even a man of his stature would be hard pressed to win 440 races in the current hell for leather 10 month racing season.

By: hoboman

hoboman — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:16:33 +0000

Funny, if he was racing the LBL and Amstel to win then he failed. He never won a pre-Tour classic, and 2nd is losing (just almost not losing), You are correct about old school, someone came in 2nd to Eddy Merck every year when he was winning those pre-Tour races

By: smittyj

smittyj — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:20:33 +0000

I know it takes all kinds (ilks) but if you don't like LA, why read an article that blatantly decries that it's about "Lance" when this obviously upsets you? The headline should have given you a clue.

Also amusing that when you comment about word usage it would be great to look up the definition first. Clime: noun, from the Greek word klima meaning regions of the earth, denoting warmer, colder, drier, wetter, etc.

Lance has defiantly been doing the warmer climes, climbing Kona only a few days ago.

By: abcharlton

abcharlton — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:10:53 +0000

I didn't really start to follow cycling until after Lance's retirement, but seeing him back out there added a lot of excitement to last season. Looking forward to more!

By: icfantv

icfantv — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:37:17 +0000

True…save for that one Dauphiné TT years back (2004?) when Mayo “beat” him and all the talk was how much trouble Lance was in…Could be wrong here, need someone to check my dates/riders for me.

By: whippedcream

whippedcream — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:22:00 +0000

wow, you’re idiots…

By: sierracanon

sierracanon — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:19:00 +0000

Which is why Merckx is a greater cyclist than Lance… he rode every race to win. Even though LA has won more tours, Eddie has won more races than just about anybody. LA has always been a one race guy.

By: TT

TT — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:45:00 +0000

Are you kidding Beebo?? Check out his battles with Jaja @ Paris-Nice or his old school LBL performances to name a couple. During the Tour era, see Amstel Gold. lance doesn’t do ‘casual’. He goes to test himself AND to win.