Lance and the Tour Down Under
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TriSooner posted 42 weeks ago.
NotAsFast wrote:
Has anyone watched the Tour . . .
There's only one "The Tour" and it's in France. :) And to your OP, I've never been a fan of athletes leaving when on top, then coming out of retirement, only to re-retire as a former shell (Foreman, Jordan, Favre, Randy "The Ram" Robinson). I hope he does well, but anything other than wearing maillot jaune on the Champs-Élysées is a Fail.
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Tikal Dog posted 42 weeks ago.
The Tour Down under is not a priority in Lance schedule for this year so don´t expect him to win the thing. It´s just a preparation for the rest of the year.
Hyperactive Trifueler!!!! (I refuse to let the status go :p)
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jsk85 posted 42 weeks ago.
well it's already over, and he didn't.
I think he got what he wanted out of it...some high intensity race-pace work. Overall he played pretty conservative as I was expecting, I think he went with a breakaway group 1 day, but it was like a 20man group, so not too much individual pulling there I'm sure. I think he also proved he's still in racing condition, not saying he's got 'em scared by any means, but to finish steadily in the middle of the pack w/o a great deal of extra exertion is a good sign at this point.
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tri-ac posted 42 weeks ago.
TriSooner wrote:
anything other than wearing maillot jaune on the Champs-Élysées is a Fail.
I disagree. His reputation (and ego) will be fine if he's top 15 overall. And it will will give him positive coverage in the race (no reporter criticism for underwhelming performances). He has the old guy-been-out-of-it-for-3-yrs excuse to buy him a handicap of several positions from maillot jaune.
Fail will be if he gets shed early on Ventoux and doesn't compete or show clearly that he's delivering Alberto to the top for a first place finish.
Fail will be finishing TT's lower than 15th.
Fail will be DNF.
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J.Michael posted 42 weeks ago.
It's hard for me to remember, but during his career has he ever raced "this early" in the year. I ask because, I can't really recall him racing anything other than the TDF......
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
— Winston Churchill
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SueR posted 42 weeks ago.
He generally didn't race this early as I recall, usually started around TdCali, april may stuff maybe. Although I am 100% of the same opinion as Sooner (stay home, you retired and the maillot jaune idea) I think he is pretty strong to have finished where he did in January. Granted, nobody smart gunning for the TdF or Giro is going too fast in January...It's interesting, I am curious to see how he does even though I am very skeptical of all comebacks
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jsk85 posted 42 weeks ago.
SueR wrote:
Granted, nobody smart gunning for the TdF or Giro is going too fast in January...It's interesting, I am curious to see how he does even though I am very skeptical of all comebacks
True, but there are plenty of riders who aren't gunning for the grand tours (ie, summer domestiques) who are probably attempting an early season peak to get a race win somewhere on the pro scene...it could make or break their futures on teams in many occaisions. So, it's not like everyone was taking it easy in Australia
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RunMDC posted 42 weeks ago.
Interestingly, I heard him do an interview on a local radio show here in Austin, Tx this morning and they asked him about the Tour Down Under and how it felt to be back racing again. His response was not at all about racing but about all the promotions that his team did for his cancer foundation while there. He was excited that the Austrialian government was pledging millions to fight cancer. I am convinced now that he is back at racing to bring publicity to his cancer cause.
I just got finished with my final two stages of the Tour Down under on my DVR while spinning and looking outside at the crappy weather (Rain) and was wondering.
Has anyone who has watched the the Tour have any opinions on his comeback?
I had the general opinion, that he really is more focused on promoting his cancer foundation, which is great, than focusing on himself and the racing.... but after watching the tour and taking into consideration that he hasnt raced for nearly 3 years, he still is up there, the guy is a freak.
Albeit, he has already acheived his goal with myself in getting the exposure, as I will be watching the VS coverage this year of all the bike races (TofCal Feb 14th-22nd) , as well as escaping Melanoma due to early detection at the age of 17.