Azevedo to wear number #1

bobke said:

http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/other/06/20lance.html

Bruyneel says Azevedo will wear number 1 for Discovery.
Lance won't be there.

Well nice to see that at least Bruyneel seems to recognize that Azevedo represents the best chance for Discovery at the Tour. Sentimental favorite Hincapie is a pipe dream.

As for Lance not being at the Tour ... who cares? If I remember correctly, he retired.

tcklyde said:

Well nice to see that at least Bruyneel seems to recognize that Azevedo represents the best chance for Discovery at the Tour. Sentimental favorite Hincapie is a pipe dream.

As for Lance not being at the Tour ... who cares? If I remember correctly, he retired.

Actually, I think the reason why Azevedo is No 1 is because he is the first name alphabetically on the roster. Since they have co-leaders, they figure just to go with the order in alphabetical, to keep it simple so no one gets and perceived notion they are the No 1 guy.

bobke said:

...snip...
Lance won't be there.

Now that's news.

I suppose you can't have 9 number 1's in the team.

mitosis said:

Now that's news.

I suppose you can't have 9 number 1's in the team.

C'mon guys, everyone knows the plan was for Lance to be there in the last week to see Basso and Ullrich do their thing. To ride in the team car and bring publicity to his team, in positive way.

If he went it would all be negative publicity about JMLeblanc and the french lab blah blah blah. SO its purely a PR move.

But...
It is pretty huge for the greatest ever TdF rider not be there the year fter he stops.
It is a big snub whether any one here cares or not.

As long as Crowe is not there it's fine with me.

jhuskey said:

As long as Crowe is not there it's fine with me.

What's wrong with Crowe?

cyclingheroes said:

What's wrong with Crowe?

I have never cared for her, but I think I developed a resentment because she as a non-cyclist used her celebrity status to get to ride in the team car and garnered more attention than the race sometimes .
Yes I know Lance probably wanted her there but it still irked me.
I hate soap operas!

jhuskey said:

I think I developed a resentment because she as a non-cyclist used her celebrity status to get to ride in the team car and garnered more attention than the race sometimes

Well, I'd have to say that it was not Crowe's being a celebrity in general that got her the team car ride. Wouldn't it be Crowe's status as LA's girlfriend at the time?!!!

jhuskey said:

I hate soap operas!

I don't like them as well but i enjoy the soap operas on this forum😄

musette said:

Well, I'd have to say that it was not Crowe's being a celebrity in general that got her the team car ride. Wouldn't it be Crowe's status as LA's girlfriend at the time?!!!

I would say both.

cyclingheroes said:

I don't like them as well but i enjoy the soap operas on this forum😄

Yes, but only up to a point. Some of the re-runs get tiresome.

bobke said:

statesman.com20lance.htmlOpen ↗

Bruyneel says Azevedo will wear number 1 for Discovery.
Lance won't be there.

Thats awesome ! Now Sastre can ride up to Azevedo and say: "Hey Lance, do you think you'll win the Tour ?" !

Good to see Azevedo getting the No 1 spot : he's a good rider.

limerickman said:

Good to see Azevedo getting the No 1 spot : he's a good rider.

To be honest he shouldn't be wearing it.... only the winner from the previous year should be wearing it.... from memory nobody wore a number 1 in 88 or 87 when Roche and LeMond didn't return to defend their titles.

whiteboytrash said:

To be honest he shouldn't be wearing it.... only the winner from the previous year should be wearing it.... from memory nobody wore a number 1 in 88 or 87 when Roche and LeMond didn't return to defend their titles.

You're correct.

Sorry I misinterpretated the No 1 : I presumed that they were referring to Azevedo as being No I DC rider.

Yep 1987, there was no "No 1" rider : and I think this also applied in 1988.

whiteboytrash said:

Thats awesome ! Now Sastre can ride up to Azevedo and say: "Hey Lance, do you think you'll win the Tour ?" !

😄

HILARIOUS!!!!!!

limerickman said:

You're correct.

Sorry I misinterpretated the No 1 : I presumed that they were referring to Azevedo as being No I DC rider.

Yep 1987, there was no "No 1" rider : and I think this also applied in 1988.

Bib numbers frequently get omitted from archived results so it's kind of hard to find good info on them.

This from http://peloton.blogs.com/peleton_blog/

So who will be wearing #1 in the Tour de France this year? The last time there was no defending champ was ’99 when Pantani and his entire team did not start, and the 2nd palce from ’98 Ullrich did not start either so American Bobby Julich was rider #1.

Before that it was ’88 when Roche did not start so then it went to Carrera rider Urs Zimmerman.

In ’87 it was Jeff Bernard on the Toshiba (former La Vie Claire) team that was #1.

He's wrong about Pantani's team though - Mercatone Uno did ride in 1999 but Julich (third place in 1998) got to wear #1, not a rider from the 1998 winner's team.

cyclingheroes said:

I don't like them as well but i enjoy the soap operas on this forum😄

ROFL 😄

The team that had the GC winner from the prior year gets to decide who wears the numbers allocated to the team (#1 through #9 for all the years starting from 2000 -- for USPS/DC!!!!!). So, if Bruyneel wants to give it to Azevedo, he should get it. Presumably, Hincapie and Popo will be listed somewhere in the #2 through #4 range. Interesting thing is whether Savo will also get that, or will be listed alphabetically below like the domestiques.