Armstrong's last tour

AMG said:

Armstrong Will Not Return to Tour de France, Official Says

By SAMUEL ABT

Published: July 23, 2004

LE GRAND BORNAND, France, July 22 - A high-ranking official among the
organizers of the Tour de France said this is the last time Lance
Armstrong will compete in the race.

If he wins for a record sixth consecutive year Sunday, as seems very
likely, Armstrong will not return next year, the official said, but will
instead focus on at least one of the two other big Tours, the Giro
d'Italia in May and the Vuelta a España in September, and several one-day
classics...

Complete article may be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/sports/sportsspecial/23lance.html?hp

(free registration required. Sorry about that, but I can't post the whole
article and also comply with the New York Times's copying policy.)

Enjoy the Tour -- this could well be the last time LA will be a part of it.

-AMG

Yeah, like we believe that... Lance changes like the weather. We won't
know for sure until next spring what he really means to do.

"AMG" wrote...

Quoted message said:

Complete article may be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/sports/sportsspecial/23lance.html?hp

Thanks for the link. You left out...
"That assertion was denied Thursday by Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's agent and
the chief executive of Tailwind Sports, which owns Armstrong's Postal
Service team. "We haven't even discussed that yet," Stapleton said in a
phone interview before the 17th stage Thursday. "No decisions have been
made. "It would be definitely incorrect to say he won't be back next year."

The entire article is based on one official, who sounds more like he'd like
Armstrong out than as if he has inside info: "...the official said Armstrong
saw no point in going for a seventh victory, especially out of respect for
the four other riders who have won five times. Armstrong wants to set a
record for Tour victories, the official said, but he does not want to appear
to be rubbing in any superiority over the feats of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy
Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain."

Sounds like posturing to me.

JF

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

Quoted message said:

AMG said:

Armstrong Will Not Return to Tour de France, Official Says

By SAMUEL ABT

Published: July 23, 2004

LE GRAND BORNAND, France, July 22 - A high-ranking official among the
organizers of the Tour de France said this is the last time Lance
Armstrong will compete in the race.

If he wins for a record sixth consecutive year Sunday, as seems very
likely, Armstrong will not return next year, the official said, but will
instead focus on at least one of the two other big Tours, the Giro
d'Italia in May and the Vuelta a España in September, and several

one-day

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

classics...

Complete article may be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/sports/sportsspecial/23lance.html?hp

(free registration required. Sorry about that, but I can't post the

whole

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

article and also comply with the New York Times's copying policy.)

Enjoy the Tour -- this could well be the last time LA will be a part of

it.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

-AMG

Yeah, like we believe that... Lance changes like the weather. We won't
know for sure until next spring what he really means to do.

This is one of his best tours ever, I can't imagine Lance throwing in the
chips on the worlds biggest race.

"Jim Flom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news😄D0Mc.109493$eO.54088@edtnps89...

Quoted message said:

"AMG" wrote...

Quoted message said:

Complete article may be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/sports/sportsspecial/23lance.html?hp

Thanks for the link. You left out...
"That assertion was denied Thursday by Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's agent

and

Quoted message said:

the chief executive of Tailwind Sports, which owns Armstrong's Postal
Service team. "We haven't even discussed that yet," Stapleton said in a
phone interview before the 17th stage Thursday. "No decisions have been
made. "It would be definitely incorrect to say he won't be back next

year."

Quoted message said:

The entire article is based on one official, who sounds more like he'd

like

Quoted message said:

Armstrong out than as if he has inside info: "...the official said

Armstrong

Quoted message said:

saw no point in going for a seventh victory, especially out of respect for
the four other riders who have won five times. Armstrong wants to set a
record for Tour victories, the official said, but he does not want to

appear

Quoted message said:

to be rubbing in any superiority over the feats of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy
Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain."

Sounds like posturing to me.

JF

I am not sure if I read it here somewhere or what, but I heard that the Giro
organizers were going to offer him a huge appearance fee to race

Dave

Dave H said:

I am not sure if I read it here somewhere or what, but I heard that
the Giro organizers were going to offer him a huge appearance fee to
race

Dave

Poor, poor Simoni. First, he gets beaten by Cunego, next he'll get beat by
Armstrong. :-)

Maybe, just maybe we'll see Ullrich and Hamilton and some other big riders
go after the Giro next year? I can hardly wait.

But I doubt it's true. After winning this year's TdF in such a commanding
manner, Lance would be nuts not to come back and try for 7. Especially now
that Levi Leipheimer is coming over to USPS next year...

Regards,
H.

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

Quoted message said:

"Jim Flom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news😄D0Mc.109493$eO.54088@edtnps89...

Quoted message said:

"AMG" wrote...

Quoted message said:

Complete article may be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/sports/sportsspecial/23lance.html?hp

Thanks for the link. You left out...
"That assertion was denied Thursday by Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's agent

and

Quoted message said:

the chief executive of Tailwind Sports, which owns Armstrong's Postal
Service team. "We haven't even discussed that yet," Stapleton said in a
phone interview before the 17th stage Thursday. "No decisions have been
made. "It would be definitely incorrect to say he won't be back next

year."

Quoted message said:

The entire article is based on one official, who sounds more like he'd

like

Quoted message said:

Armstrong out than as if he has inside info: "...the official said

Armstrong

Quoted message said:

saw no point in going for a seventh victory, especially out of respect

for

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

the four other riders who have won five times. Armstrong wants to set a
record for Tour victories, the official said, but he does not want to

appear

Quoted message said:

to be rubbing in any superiority over the feats of Jacques Anquetil,

Eddy

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain."

Sounds like posturing to me.

JF

I am not sure if I read it here somewhere or what, but I heard that the

Giro

Quoted message said:

organizers were going to offer him a huge appearance fee to race

Dave

Like all else involving the multi-national corp that is LA it will come down
to the almighty $. Too much pressure from sponsors will see him back at the
Tour. He'd rather give the Giro a shot

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

Quoted message said:

Armstrong Will Not Return to Tour de France, Official Says

By SAMUEL ABT

Published: July 23, 2004

LE GRAND BORNAND, France, July 22 - A high-ranking official among the
organizers of the Tour de France said this is the last time Lance
Armstrong will compete in the race.

If he wins for a record sixth consecutive year Sunday, as seems very
likely, Armstrong will not return next year, the official said, but will
instead focus on at least one of the two other big Tours, the Giro
d'Italia in May and the Vuelta a España in September, and several one-day
classics...

Complete article may be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/sports/sportsspecial/23lance.html?hp

(free registration required. Sorry about that, but I can't post the whole
article and also comply with the New York Times's copying policy.)

Enjoy the Tour -- this could well be the last time LA will be a part of

it.

Quoted message said:

-AMG

I thought Lance committed to next year TDF due to sponsorship change.

"LLC" wrote...

Quoted message said:

I thought Lance committed to next year TDF due to sponsorship change.

Not sure what was said elsewhere but from the podium of Discovery Channel
when the sponsorship was announced he was not quite as explicit as that. He
said he would, "not let them down."

Doug Taylor said:

Richard Adams said:

Yeah, like we believe that... Lance changes like the weather. We won't
know for sure until next spring what he really means to do.

So he can switch to politics and run for office. Should be an easy
segue.
--dt

Well, if it was him against GW, Lance gets my vote....

Dan

P.S. Against GW, my cat gets my vote....

Richard Adams said:

Yeah, like we believe that... Lance changes like the weather. We won't
know for sure until next spring what he really means to do.

So he can switch to politics and run for office. Should be an easy
segue.
--dt

If this really is Armstrongs last tour and that he will focus on other
events in the racing calender then I suggest he either go for the
overall World Cup by winning as many events as possible OR do a double
of the Giro and the Vuelta.

Ingemar Svensson said:

If this really is Armstrongs last tour and that he will focus on other
events in the racing calender then I suggest he either go for the
overall World Cup by winning as many events as possible OR do a double
of the Giro and the Vuelta.

Which (if any) do you think would earn him more respect among European
fans and journalists? Do you think such respect is important to him?
Do you think ANYTHING he could do (racing or otherwise) would garner
true respect and admiration from those folks? How about the RvV, LBL,
San Sebastian/Klasikoa Donostiako, Lombardia quadruple? They could
nickname him "Quadstrong".

Nah, he'll still get spit on, fingered, and slandered.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

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

Quoted message said:

Dave H said:

I am not sure if I read it here somewhere or what, but I heard that
the Giro organizers were going to offer him a huge appearance fee to
race

Dave

Poor, poor Simoni. First, he gets beaten by Cunego, next he'll get beat by
Armstrong. :-)

Maybe, just maybe we'll see Ullrich and Hamilton and some other big riders
go after the Giro next year? I can hardly wait.

But I doubt it's true. After winning this year's TdF in such a commanding
manner, Lance would be nuts not to come back and try for 7. Especially now
that Levi Leipheimer is coming over to USPS next year...

Exactly, 3 leaders for 2005:

Classics: George and Lance
Giro = Lance (then Lance can take a vacation statrting July 1)
Tour = Levi
Vuelta = "Ace" Azevedo

Cheers, Ken.

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

Quoted message said:

Armstrong Will Not Return to Tour de France, Official Says

By SAMUEL ABT

Published: July 23, 2004

LE GRAND BORNAND, France, July 22 - A high-ranking official among the
organizers of the Tour de France said this is the last time Lance
Armstrong will compete in the race.

If he wins for a record sixth consecutive year Sunday, as seems very
likely, Armstrong will not return next year, the official said, but will
instead focus on at least one of the two other big Tours, the Giro
d'Italia in May and the Vuelta a España in September, and several one-day
classics...

Complete article may be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/sports/sportsspecial/23lance.html?hp

(free registration required. Sorry about that, but I can't post the whole
article and also comply with the New York Times's copying policy.)

Enjoy the Tour -- this could well be the last time LA will be a part of

it.

And as we all know, these "high-ranking offocials amoung the organizers of
the Tour de France" (We'd NEVER guess that it's Jean-Marie LEBLAN) never
fail to have the facts straight.

But in fact I can almost guarantee you that they are willing to pay Lance
big bucks to stay away from the Tour. As long as Lance doesn't put the
record completely out of sight there's always the hope among fans that some
great new racer will come along and break the new record.

They bought off Eddy Merckx but Eddy has clued Lance in on this and I think
that Lance will not fall for it.

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

Quoted message said:

If this really is Armstrongs last tour and that he will focus on other
events in the racing calender then I suggest he either go for the
overall World Cup by winning as many events as possible OR do a double
of the Giro and the Vuelta.

Lance is completely the wrong body type for most of the World Cup races.
There are very few he could actually win.

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

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

If this really is Armstrongs last tour and that he will focus on other
events in the racing calender then I suggest he either go for the
overall World Cup by winning as many events as possible OR do a double
of the Giro and the Vuelta.

Lance is completely the wrong body type for most of the World Cup races.
There are very few he could actually win.

I actually believe he could do very well in a lot of the races. He
would be in the front group on Milano-SanRemo where he would take some
points in the sprint, possibly a top 10. In de Ronde and PR things
might be harder butwho knows how he would do if he really went for it.
Astel Gold Race is a possible high finish and even more LBL. Klasika
San Sebastian would be a high finish possible victory. Hewcyclassics
and Züri Metzgete would be possible points finishes. as could possibly
Paris-Tours though maybe not top 10. Finally Giro de Lombardia would
be another chance to win. So an overall victory wouldn't be that
unrealistic. However it would take a very diffrent approach to the
season because since he would have to be in his very best shape in
other parts of the season than the last six years not to mention he
would have to keep going all through october.

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

Quoted message said:

"Tom Kunich" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Lance is completely the wrong body type for most of the World Cup races.
There are very few he could actually win.

I actually believe he could do very well in a lot of the races. He
would be in the front group on Milano-SanRemo where he would take some
points in the sprint, possibly a top 10.

If you can't win, don't ride. I agree that Lance would be in the front group
but it would be 30 strong and he really doesn't have a sprint to compare
with the likes of Boonen, Petacchi or even Zabel.

Quoted message said:

Astel Gold Race is a possible high finish and even more LBL.

If you can't win don't ride. He doesn't make big bucks by looking like a
contender.

Tom Kunich said:

If you can't win don't ride. He doesn't make big bucks by looking like a
contender.

I think he was talking about winning the World Cup. With a bit of team
tactics it could be done, as described...

MJ;

--
..signature necesse est

Quoted message said:

I think he was talking about winning the World Cup. With a bit of team
tactics it could be done, as described...

Except, if I understand correctly, there will be no such thing next year.