Armstrong coming back for the 2009 TdF

[Tetedelacourse]

Yup, read the article and he's 100% right.

The people who support Lance (as opposed to cycling fans per se) are the same people who will pick Man Utd as their football team of choice. They're not fans of the sport, they just want to be associated with winners. Sadly it seems there are many in the world of pro-cycling who are prepared to roll over and show their belly to the old dog, yet again. It's alpha-wolf syndrome isn't it? If Contador is already saying that Lance can win and beat him, then he is a gutless coward and deserves no respect. I hope that there are more like O'Grady who will be queuing up to show Lance that it's over and that he should have stayed away.

Do you have any sporting heroes Chuffy? Does that mean you're a fan of winning or a fan of the sport? Can you only be a fan of a sport if you don't support the most successful in that sport? I'm surprised at a comment like that from you.

 

[Blue]

I think the article from CW is a crock of crap. People want to see the likes of Armstrong. I think he is comming back for a simple reason - he hasn't been replaced since he left. I hope he wins next year.

Competitive cyclists have to remember that the TdF is not just about hard core cyclists. It is a national spectacle watched by millions - many of whom have no great interest in cycling as such. I watched the Tour on TV for about 15 years before I bothered to buy a bike. I know there were many like me.

 

[Chuffy]

Do you have any sporting heroes Chuffy? Does that mean you're a fan of winning or a fan of the sport? Can you only be a fan of a sport if you don't support the most successful in that sport? I'm surprised at a comment like that from you.

Heroes? No, because hero worship will always blind you to someone's faults and anyway, heroes have a way of letting you down, one way or another. There are people I admire, but heroes? No.
Maybe I was a bit harsh, or generalising too much, but as someone else said on this thread, it's as if some of Lance's fans stopped bothering with the Tour since their man quit. When Liverpool were winning everything (late 70s iirc) oddly enough loads of kids my age made the decision to support...Liverpool. Turn to the 90s and the same happened with Man Utd. Early 00s and Chelski reaped the benefit. Glory hunters and those who only bother with a sport if they can latch onto the alpha-dog (or team) aren't fans of the sport, they just want to boost their self-esteem by hooting 'all u haterz r jus jealous' at anyone who dares challenge the heroic status of their man/team. Happened in F1 with that cheating kraut bastard morally challenged gentleman Michael Schumacher. I don't dispute that there are many who are genuine fans, of Lance, of Schumacher, of Man Utd etc, and who don't have my jaundiced views on heroes, but there are also a great many more who just want the glory.

You've done the homework Tetters, you know how thin the ice is when cycling tries to clean itself up (post Simpson, post Festina, post Landis etc etc). The likes of Armstrong coming back can only make that transformation more difficult.

He got away with it. Do any of you think he'd get away with it in 2009?

Again, you know the history. Ricco said that he should have been caught many times before he finally was. The dopers will always find ways. Surely you don't believe that the war is won and that no-one can get way with doping? That would be naive, to say the least.

 

[yello]

I think the article from CW is a crock of crap.

I found myself nodding in agreement with most, if not all, of it.

I think he is comming back for a simple reason - he hasn't been replaced since he left.

I don't know what you mean? "Replaced"... there's been a winner every year since his retirement. Do you mean 'Has anyone else established a strangle hold on the event?'. The answer to that is, fortunately, no. Besides LA's reasons for coming back are, I suspect, way more complex and personal than the simple one you offer.

I'm happy to acknowledge LA's supreme talents on a bike, he was a worthy winner, but I doubt, however, that I'd like him. The stories I'd read about his controlling nature in the peleton, the big 'I am' attitude he had (and he still thinks he can do it; put a call in to Sarkozy to make sure he's included! I mean, who does he think he is!!). I don't want to see him back in cycling because the new era is fresh and I don't want him making it stale again. That's why I found myself agreeing in such a heartfelt way with that article.

 

[Kovu]

Yup, read the article and he's 100% right.

The people who support Lance (as opposed to cycling fans per se) are the same people who will pick Man Utd as their football team of choice. They're not fans of the sport, they just want to be associated with winners.

True in most cases, but not on CC. Nearly everyone on here doesn't support Lance, so if they come out saying they do, there pretty brave souls.

 

[stoatsngroats]

I think that LA returning to the 2009 Tour would be fantastic for world cycling....

I think that the french public would be very upset that he might return to the Tour, and I think he would have strong enough support to achieve greatness again - it would be a really good spectacle.!

I think he never doped, in any way, and that his physiological stature is sufficient to explain his strength, stamina, and ability. Some men can move mountians, others can just write about them...

I'm excited by this news, and I'm not about to argue ANY of the aforementioned beliefs - all of which I hold dearly, and completely un-ironically!

Good Luck Lance....!

 

[yello]

I think that the french public would be very upset that he might return to the Tour

And I think you'd be wrong. MOST French don't know that much about cycling, so would know LA's name but beyond that... they'll turn out to cheer the French riders as they always do.

The French that do know about cycling would, I guess, be divided on similar lines to other nationalities. Don't believe what LA has to say about 'the French' when he only really means some sections of the French media.

 

[Kovu]

After thinking about Lance coming back ... I think it's going to make the '09 tour very interesting for the world to see. I am not a Lance supporter, but I am yet to think he doped and if he does make another win then that is some brillance, espeically after so long out of the sport.

 

[Chuffy]

And I think you'd be wrong. MOST French don't know that much about cycling, so would know LA's name but beyond that... they'll turn out to cheer the French riders as they always do.

We have a 26 year old French chap here on work experience. He had never heard of Jacques Anquetil. Never. That really surprised me. It would be like someone here having never even heard of Bobby Charlton.

The French that do know about cycling would, I guess, be divided on similar lines to other nationalities. Don't believe what LA has to say about 'the French' when he only really means some sections of the French media.

Heh, those nasty bits of the media who have a habit of printing inconvenient truths? Although given his frog on the end of a cowboy boot t-shirt and his comments about the French football team having tested positive for being 'peanuts' he's going to have an uphill struggle to convince people.

 

[maurice]

And I think you'd be wrong. MOST French don't know that much about cycling, so would know LA's name but beyond that... they'll turn out to cheer the French riders as they always do.

It depends how you define "don't know much", but I'd say they know more than the British do. The only non-cyclist at work I can discuss the tour with is French (funnily enough he's not a great fan of Armstrong, I can't wait to see his reaction to the news when he gets back off holiday ).

Also when I toured France the locals knew a fair bit more than here, last year while it was on a hotel manager was complaining that the French didn't dope enough to keep up with the others.

 

[Cathryn]

I just think it's funny that I'm suddenly supporting Cadel Evans. Never thought that would happen

 

[Kovu]

I just think it's funny that I'm suddenly supporting Cadel Evans. Never thought that would happen

"Step on my dog ... I will cut your head off!"

I was a big supporter of Valverde in this year's tour, stuck with him from the start to the finish

 

[Cathryn]

I preferred the Schlek brothers. Could never decide which I fancied most...assuming they put on about four stone.

 

[Kovu]

The younger one ... Andy Schlek, he was right at the front of the peloton the whole time pulling everyone along.

 

[Cathryn]

And he was cute. But they both are.