Ace

"John" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Okay - I'm here for probably the only mention about my favorite rider,
José Azevedo. I thought that perhaps he would get the credit he
deserves after having moved to the Mail, but references to this guy
have mostly been tidal-waved into mentions of the team. Again, this is
a guy who pulled "Yosheeba" Beloki and Gonzalex de Galdeano through
Tour mountains while he himself finished 6th, a guy who finished 4th
in the Giro, and who came in 5th this time, including two great
time-trials. I can't think of a rider who gets less recognition (at
least by the OLNers) than him. One of the reasons I like him is that
he is supposed to be a really nice guy. In his hometown, he still
stops at the café after training rides and sits there and has espresso
and ice cream.

It would also be nice if they pronounced his name correctly, but
that's definitely asking for too much.

I can still hear Sherwen on the day Armstrong beat Kloden on the line:
"and they have utterly blown their own teammate right out of his 5th
place". Oh yes, there he came, all of 61 seconds behind, and with an
even bigger lead over sixth place than he had going in.

First off, let me say that I was quite impressed with the performance of
Jose (pronounced "Joe-se" or actually even more of a french sound than
Joe). I think Jose got lots of acclaim from everyone including the OLN
crowd. Problem is, it seems his role was to be Lance's primary liutenant in
the Pyrrenes. Landis seems to have been called on more in the Alps. Landis
also had an amazing final TT. He has the advantage of recency and also ...
he's American. I think those things worked against Jose getting more
acclaim. But I think everyone knows he did a fantastic job. Everyone knows
he was hired to replace Heras and he not only did so, he burned Heras off of
his wheel repeatedly. AND, I believe I read this morning that he was
rewarded with a handsome contract extension by the Discovery Channel.

Bob C.

"psycholist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"John" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Okay - I'm here for probably the only mention about my favorite rider,
José Azevedo. I thought that perhaps he would get the credit he
deserves after having moved to the Mail, but references to this guy
have mostly been tidal-waved into mentions of the team. Again, this is
a guy who pulled "Yosheeba" Beloki and Gonzalex de Galdeano through
Tour mountains while he himself finished 6th, a guy who finished 4th
in the Giro, and who came in 5th this time, including two great
time-trials. I can't think of a rider who gets less recognition (at
least by the OLNers) than him. One of the reasons I like him is that
he is supposed to be a really nice guy. In his hometown, he still
stops at the café after training rides and sits there and has espresso
and ice cream.

It would also be nice if they pronounced his name correctly, but
that's definitely asking for too much.

I can still hear Sherwen on the day Armstrong beat Kloden on the line:
"and they have utterly blown their own teammate right out of his 5th
place". Oh yes, there he came, all of 61 seconds behind, and with an
even bigger lead over sixth place than he had going in.

First off, let me say that I was quite impressed with the performance of
Jose (pronounced "Joe-se" or actually even more of a french sound than
Joe). I think Jose got lots of acclaim from everyone including the OLN
crowd. Problem is, it seems his role was to be Lance's primary liutenant

in

Quoted message said:

the Pyrrenes. Landis seems to have been called on more in the Alps.

Landis

Quoted message said:

also had an amazing final TT. He has the advantage of recency and also

....

Quoted message said:

he's American. I think those things worked against Jose getting more
acclaim. But I think everyone knows he did a fantastic job. Everyone

knows

Quoted message said:

he was hired to replace Heras and he not only did so, he burned Heras off

of

Quoted message said:

his wheel repeatedly. AND, I believe I read this morning that he was
rewarded with a handsome contract extension by the Discovery Channel.

Good to hear Tailwind at least appreciates him. I suspect the tour was
covered MUCH differently in Portugal. Wasn't he the only Portuguese in the
race? I bet the headlines in Lisbon said something like, "Jose hands Team
Leader his sixth Tour victory."

Maybe he'll be team leader for the Vuelta?

Bestest Handsander said:

Good to hear Tailwind at least appreciates him. I suspect the tour was
covered MUCH differently in Portugal. Wasn't he the only Portuguese in the
race? I bet the headlines in Lisbon said something like, "Jose hands Team
Leader his sixth Tour victory."

Interesting conjecture - actually kind of hard to find anything at all
on the Tour in the Portuguese on-line newspapers (way more soccer
stuff). I did find this in Jornal de Noticias (it was the second
paragraph in the story headlined "Armstrong Times Six":

"A festa de Armstrong em Paris tem um convidado de luxo. José Azevedo,
português que foi o principal gregário do americano ao longo de toda a
corrida, também tem boas razões para celebrar, pois além de ter ajudado
o chefe-de-fila da US Postal a atingir o feito histórico único, chega
aos Campos Elísios na quinta posição da classificação geral. Depois do
sexto lugar obtido há dois anos, então ao serviço da ONCE, Azevedo volta
a estar entre os melhores do Tour ."

Essentially, "Ace was the principal domestique in helping LA all the way
through the race and he got 5th on GC to boot, he returned to be among
the best at the Tour after his 6th place two years ago with ONCE"

http://jn.sapo.pt/2004/07/25/desporto/armstrong_vezes_seis.html
--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

Bestest Handsander said:

Good to hear Tailwind at least appreciates him. I suspect the tour was
covered MUCH differently in Portugal. Wasn't he the only Portuguese in the
race? I bet the headlines in Lisbon said something like, "Jose hands Team
Leader his sixth Tour victory."

Maybe he'll be team leader for the Vuelta?

Maybe. But it seems to me that Jose is going to have to make an
appearance in the Volta a Portogallo backed up by at least the ``C``
team although its current proximity on the calendar to the Tour would
probably preclude JA's appearance.

Perhaps the calendar could be rearranged next year? I'm sure it will
come up for discussion at the Worlds (where they usually more or less
finalize the calendar for the next season). Or will the new Pro-Tour
preclude any such appearance?

I agree that Jose did a fantastic job and that he's arguably Postal's most
valuable domestique this year (Close contest with Hincapie and Landis).

My one gripe-He went too hard on L'Alpe Duez. He was all but worthless the
next day and Landis burned him off his wheel.

Not impossible that Johan told Acevedo to let it rip since GC was all but in
the bag...that said, I wonder if he had the go ahead to do that.

Thoughts?

Stan

"John" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Okay - I'm here for probably the only mention about my favorite rider,
José Azevedo. I thought that perhaps he would get the credit he
deserves after having moved to the Mail, but references to this guy
have mostly been tidal-waved into mentions of the team. Again, this is
a guy who pulled "Yosheeba" Beloki and Gonzalex de Galdeano through
Tour mountains while he himself finished 6th, a guy who finished 4th
in the Giro, and who came in 5th this time, including two great
time-trials. I can't think of a rider who gets less recognition (at
least by the OLNers) than him. One of the reasons I like him is that
he is supposed to be a really nice guy. In his hometown, he still
stops at the café after training rides and sits there and has espresso
and ice cream.

It would also be nice if they pronounced his name correctly, but
that's definitely asking for too much.

I can still hear Sherwen on the day Armstrong beat Kloden on the line:
"and they have utterly blown their own teammate right out of his 5th
place". Oh yes, there he came, all of 61 seconds behind, and with an
even bigger lead over sixth place than he had going in.

You are correct that the coverage there is surprisingly scant,
especially in the electronic media. The race itself is covered live on
television, but there appears not to be the kind of attention - say in
the daily news - that they used to give in the days of the amazing
Joaquim Agostinho (lieutenant deluxe for Luis Ocaña). It's much easier
to just go on and on about the soccer pre-season (I'm a big soccer
fan, but I find this nauseating).

I watched the coverage in the States,and I must reluctantly say that I
do think that Azevedo's nationality has somewhat to do with the lack
of acholades. There is a tendency to classify as a "great rider" just
about anyone on screen who is Spanish or Italian, among others. All
you have to do is show Sastre, Mercado, Mancebo, Gutierrez, Pereiro,
ad infinitum, and the "great" tag emerges. I am NOT saying it is a
conspiracy, just a psychological reaction to nationalities considered
prime powers.

Diablo Scott <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Bestest Handsander said:

Good to hear Tailwind at least appreciates him. I suspect the tour was
covered MUCH differently in Portugal. Wasn't he the only Portuguese in the
race? I bet the headlines in Lisbon said something like, "Jose hands Team
Leader his sixth Tour victory."

Interesting conjecture - actually kind of hard to find anything at all
on the Tour in the Portuguese on-line newspapers (way more soccer
stuff). I did find this in Jornal de Noticias (it was the second
paragraph in the story headlined "Armstrong Times Six":

"A festa de Armstrong em Paris tem um convidado de luxo. José Azevedo,
português que foi o principal gregário do americano ao longo de toda a
corrida, também tem boas razões para celebrar, pois além de ter ajudado
o chefe-de-fila da US Postal a atingir o feito histórico único, chega
aos Campos Elísios na quinta posição da classificação geral. Depois do
sexto lugar obtido há dois anos, então ao serviço da ONCE, Azevedo volta
a estar entre os melhores do Tour ."

Essentially, "Ace was the principal domestique in helping LA all the way
through the race and he got 5th on GC to boot, he returned to be among
the best at the Tour after his 6th place two years ago with ONCE"

http://jn.sapo.pt/2004/07/25/desporto/armstrong_vezes_seis.html

Well, he DID get a pony. That has to account for something.

IIRC when Manolo Saiz was casting his net for sponsors and figuring his
team he wasn't all fired up about keeping Jose, as he had his sights set
on Heras. Looks like he goofed in spades, Ace of spades to make a bad pun.

John said:

You are correct that the coverage there is surprisingly scant,
especially in the electronic media. The race itself is covered live on
television, but there appears not to be the kind of attention - say in
the daily news - that they used to give in the days of the amazing
Joaquim Agostinho (lieutenant deluxe for Luis Ocaña). It's much easier
to just go on and on about the soccer pre-season (I'm a big soccer
fan, but I find this nauseating).

I watched the coverage in the States,and I must reluctantly say that I
do think that Azevedo's nationality has somewhat to do with the lack
of acholades. There is a tendency to classify as a "great rider" just
about anyone on screen who is Spanish or Italian, among others. All
you have to do is show Sastre, Mercado, Mancebo, Gutierrez, Pereiro,
ad infinitum, and the "great" tag emerges. I am NOT saying it is a
conspiracy, just a psychological reaction to nationalities considered
prime powers.

Diablo Scott <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Bestest Handsander said:

Good to hear Tailwind at least appreciates him. I suspect the tour was
covered MUCH differently in Portugal. Wasn't he the only Portuguese in the
race? I bet the headlines in Lisbon said something like, "Jose hands Team
Leader his sixth Tour victory."

Interesting conjecture - actually kind of hard to find anything at all
on the Tour in the Portuguese on-line newspapers (way more soccer
stuff). I did find this in Jornal de Noticias (it was the second
paragraph in the story headlined "Armstrong Times Six":

"A festa de Armstrong em Paris tem um convidado de luxo. José Azevedo,
português que foi o principal gregário do americano ao longo de toda a
corrida, também tem boas razões para celebrar, pois além de ter ajudado
o chefe-de-fila da US Postal a atingir o feito histórico único, chega
aos Campos Elísios na quinta posição da classificação geral. Depois do
sexto lugar obtido há dois anos, então ao serviço da ONCE, Azevedo volta
a estar entre os melhores do Tour ."

Essentially, "Ace was the principal domestique in helping LA all the way
through the race and he got 5th on GC to boot, he returned to be among
the best at the Tour after his 6th place two years ago with ONCE"

http://jn.sapo.pt/2004/07/25/desporto/armstrong_vezes_seis.html

Stan,

I think Johan and Lance have the other team memebers ride the TT
strategically. Floyd for all out speed to see how the course goes, then
Jose to report back any changes in conditions, as he started only a few
spots from Lance. Jose was very well placed considering Lances start
time to give a clear picture only minutes old. I rather doubt Lance or
Johan just turn their guys loose.

StanSD said:

I agree that Jose did a fantastic job and that he's arguably Postal's most
valuable domestique this year (Close contest with Hincapie and Landis).

My one gripe-He went too hard on L'Alpe Duez. He was all but worthless the
next day and Landis burned him off his wheel.

Not impossible that Johan told Acevedo to let it rip since GC was all but in
the bag...that said, I wonder if he had the go ahead to do that.

Thoughts?

Stan

"John" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Okay - I'm here for probably the only mention about my favorite rider,
José Azevedo. I thought that perhaps he would get the credit he
deserves after having moved to the Mail, but references to this guy
have mostly been tidal-waved into mentions of the team. Again, this is
a guy who pulled "Yosheeba" Beloki and Gonzalex de Galdeano through
Tour mountains while he himself finished 6th, a guy who finished 4th
in the Giro, and who came in 5th this time, including two great
time-trials. I can't think of a rider who gets less recognition (at
least by the OLNers) than him. One of the reasons I like him is that
he is supposed to be a really nice guy. In his hometown, he still
stops at the café after training rides and sits there and has espresso
and ice cream.

It would also be nice if they pronounced his name correctly, but
that's definitely asking for too much.

I can still hear Sherwen on the day Armstrong beat Kloden on the line:
"and they have utterly blown their own teammate right out of his 5th
place". Oh yes, there he came, all of 61 seconds behind, and with an
even bigger lead over sixth place than he had going in.

StanSD said:

My one gripe-He went too hard on L'Alpe Duez. He was all but worthless the
next day and Landis burned him off his wheel.

Not impossible that Johan told Acevedo to let it rip since GC was all but in
the bag...that said, I wonder if he had the go ahead to do that.

He might also have been told to do it to set time references for
Armstrong.

In any case Azevedo is a great rider.

JT

John Forrest Tomlinson <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

StanSD said:

My one gripe-He went too hard on L'Alpe Duez. He was all but worthless the
next day and Landis burned him off his wheel.

Not impossible that Johan told Acevedo to let it rip since GC was all but in
the bag...that said, I wonder if he had the go ahead to do that.

He might also have been told to do it to set time references for
Armstrong.

In any case Azevedo is a great rider.

JT

Screw the press....although I think they did treat him fairly. you
can't take what Phil says to heart....Hey may have mis-pronounced
joe-says name (although he did get it right once. It's a start)
atleast he did get the actual name right. Poor ben Noval was
consistently called Nozal Axel is Eddie half the time. etc.

Back to my original topic. Screw the press. Ace is Ace for a reason.
He is Lance's Ace card. A nickname that in and of itself is a show of
respect. Lance Johan and the team have obviously have great respect
for him and with the Pro-Tour you got to think old Ace is going to be
a leader for atleast one of 'em Grandiose Tours and if Lance does the
Giro....Especially since I don't think Floyd is ready for prime time
yet(but what do I know...I though Mayo would finish the Tour). One
more year.