Benefits of Lance retiring

where are you from? i was on the champs elyses on sunday and yes there were a LOT of americans, the airlines & hotels must have done massively well out of the tour, probably half of the crowd. it did make the difference between needing to get a spot at lunchtime, or 9am.

lance has put a lot of "bums on saddles" as we say in england, he's caused a few million to be spent on bikes and accessories, on french tourism, and raised the profile of the sport internationally.

in addition to comming over to europe in their thousands i would like to see the american contingent grow the sport in the USA, to put pressure on the UCI to sanction more races in the US (ones that count for ranking or protour points), even set up their own tour(s) on a larger scale. there is now the interest, the cash, and influence. it should be a 2 way thing - european fans should be swamping the american races too!

there is no rule that says the tour must be the biggest and best bike race in the world, as lance puts it, why not have a tour of the east coast?!

Check this out:

http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2005/01/17/story1.html

An aquaintance insists that Lance will be in it - but you know how rumors are.

I wholeheartedly agree with gelyk, and I'm an American! Don't get me wrong, I love my country, but when it comes to shoving our opinions down everyone's throat, we're the best! I would love to see some major UCI events in the States. Hopefully the American public who have come to cycling because of LA will continue to ride and enjoy professional racing even without an American dominator like LA. Hopefully those same people will pressure local governments into making cycling less like a crime and make punishments harsher for louts who abouse us and run us over. You never see a bunch of rednecks throw [censored] and curse at people for playing catch in the streets, and what I'm doing is legal! Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the post and rant like that!

Special ed said:

I wholeheartedly agree with gelyk, and I'm an American! Don't get me wrong, I love my country, but when it comes to shoving our opinions down everyone's throat, we're the best! I would love to see some major UCI events in the States. Hopefully the American public who have come to cycling because of LA will continue to ride and enjoy professional racing even without an American dominator like LA. Hopefully those same people will pressure local governments into making cycling less like a crime and make punishments harsher for louts who abouse us and run us over. You never see a bunch of rednecks throw [censored] and curse at people for playing catch in the streets, and what I'm doing is legal! Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the post and rant like that!

Rant away, there i nothing like a good rant to de-stress oneself. Damn rednecks!

But isnt all this talk of the great wave of cycling in the US a bit premature? Money for UCI sanctioned events? On another post there were figures that the American public that watched the tour on American television numbered about 600 thousand ... not even breaking one million viewers?

I would love if the US became more involved in cycling... but it does seem rather like wishful thinking.

It would be nice to see more UCI sanctioned races in North America. At least another minor stage race or a 1 Day Classic. But I'm afraid that is indeed wishful thinking. I don't think North American fans are the type to support big time cycling. We like our sports confined to arenas or stadiums... and even at that, they're kinda lame.

The tour will once again get exciting. I'm sorry... i don't question Lance's greatness as an athlete, but i lost interest after the third win.

On the plus side we may just return to the era of riders racing for the Giro/Tour double. Again that is wishful thinking.

Special ed said:

I would love to see some major UCI events in the States. Hopefully the American public who have come to cycling because of LA will continue to ride and enjoy professional racing even without an American dominator like LA.!

It'll never happen. There isn't enough fan support, especially with Armstrong gone. But, even Armstrong aside, major races in the States aren't doing well. The NYC Championships don't have a sponsor and have been "indefinitely postponed."

justanothergirl said:

It'll never happen. There isn't enough fan support, especially with Armstrong gone. But, even Armstrong aside, major races in the States aren't doing well. The NYC Championships don't have a sponsor and have been "indefinitely postponed."

I think races in the U.S. are just starting to get good. The Tour De Georgia is a good race and in 2006 they are having the Tour of California which is supposed to be a incredible stage race with all the big teams. Give it a couple years and I think it will pick up.... where just getting started!

ryan16 said:

I think races in the U.S. are just starting to get good. The Tour De Georgia is a good race and in 2006 they are having the Tour of California which is supposed to be a incredible stage race with all the big teams. Give it a couple years and I think it will pick up.... where just getting started!

True. But it seems that every time the US gets a new race, another one falls apart. Also, wasn't there supposed to be a Tour of Texas? Or did it happen (or is going to happen) and I just missed it?

Also, would a lot of the non-American cyclists really want to come to the States more than just for the Tour of Gerogia? I know that tennis does it all the time, but they don't have teams, so that makes travel easier.

Would cycling in the States (schedule wise) be similar to how pro cycling is done currently in Australia in Jan/Feb? Or, again, like tennis, where they are in Australia in Jan/Feb/Mar, Europe until July/August and then in the States and eventually into Asia (though there are other tourmanents that take place in other countries/continents during the year as well).

Lance retiring will only dishearten the efforts of American race organizers. Without him, potential sponsors and Joe Public's eye are not caught.

That's okay though. I find it to be more fun following a sport that nobody knows about 'round here, but is still huge in the motherland. Thanks to the internet and flying metal birds, I get to keep up with all the action, even when surrounded by all my red-blooded NASCAR lovin' neighbors.

So, don't worry about the sport grabbin' hold here in the states, just enjoy what you can get. Besides, with only 35,000 licensed racers in the USA, that'll give you a better chance to make cat1 like I did. Imagine trying to climb the ladder if the sport was as big as football (pigskin type that is).
😄

YMCA said:

That's okay though. I find it to be more fun following a sport that nobody knows about 'round here, but is still huge in the motherland. Thanks to the internet and flying metal birds, I get to keep up with all the action, even when surrounded by all my red-blooded NASCAR lovin' neighbors.

Me too. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels that way. As for NASCAR. I tried to watch, I really did. And then I changed the channel.

LOL, are americans allowed not to love there country?😉 Do any americans NOT love there great country😎

Special ed said:

I wholeheartedly agree with gelyk, and I'm an American! Don't get me wrong, I love my country, but when it comes to shoving our opinions down everyone's throat, we're the best! I would love to see some major UCI events in the States. Hopefully the American public who have come to cycling because of LA will continue to ride and enjoy professional racing even without an American dominator like LA. Hopefully those same people will pressure local governments into making cycling less like a crime and make punishments harsher for louts who abouse us and run us over. You never see a bunch of rednecks throw [censored] and curse at people for playing catch in the streets, and what I'm doing is legal! Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the post and rant like that!

MJtje said:

LOL, are americans allowed not to love there country?😉 Do any americans NOT love there great country😎

Sometimes I wonder, but on the other subject ,Lance. He is not gone from cycling he is just not going to race again apparently.

I believe he will continue to be high profile in American Cycling and maybe take it a step or two higher than it is.He has a lot of influence and I hope he uses it wisely.

jhuskey said:

I believe he will continue to be high profile in American Cycling and maybe take it a step or two higher than it is.He has a lot of influence and I hope he uses it wisely.

I hope he does, too. Though I'm not sure exactly what he could do, aside from comentating, which I'd rather he not do.

justanothergirl said:

I hope he does, too. Though I'm not sure exactly what he could do, aside from comentating, which I'd rather he not do.

To my knowledge he has part ownership in Discovery Team and could be a good race organizer and sponsor.
How about the Lance Armstrong Classic?

jhuskey said:

To my knowledge he has part ownership in Discovery Team and could be a good race organizer and sponsor.
How about the Lance Armstrong Classic?

I think you're right about part ownership. I think that I read somewhere that Discovery will have him host TV shows about cycling (I think) and health, etc. As for the race? That might help. But there's got to be some way he can get more people in the US interested in European cycling. Unless, of course, cycling is truly like soccer and Americans just don't like it no matter what.

justanothergirl said:

I hope he does, too. Though I'm not sure exactly what he could do, aside from comentating, which I'd rather he not do.

oh please oh please do NOT let him be a commentator! The race would be over by the time he formulated his thoughts, got advice via headset from his handlers, figured out how he could get his own name into the comment and then finally spit it out! And after all that it would be bland anyway.

There is very little hope for bigtime pro-cycling in North America. Hell, we had the world championships an hour from my house 2 years ago and I can't even find a crit to watch around here.

velofan said:

oh please oh please do NOT let him be a commentator! The race would be over by the time he formulated his thoughts, got advice via headset from his handlers, figured out how he could get his own name into the comment and then finally spit it out! And after all that it would be bland anyway.

Hilarious. And so true. So very true. And, honestly, I don't really care what he has to say!

If America takes over cycling like they take over everything and commercialise it i will kill myself.

Sure, have a fair share of the UCI season, but if i start seeing McDonalds sponsoring events...