Is Riis watching a different race?

RJG said:

I watched the coverage twice today, and I couldn't see any sign that Lance
was "hurt" or "on the defensive". He seemed to be able to respond to Basso's
attacks quite easily. I didn't see much difference from last year, when
Basso was also the only rider to stay with Lance in the mountains. I know
that Lance has not been that aggressive in the mountains this year, but he
hasn't had to be aggressive. Whether that is tatical, or whether Lance no
longer has "the Burst", has not been totally clear (although I suspect it's
a combination of both). Sure, Basso has been more aggressive, but he is the
one who has to attack, not Armstrong. I don't see where that makes him
"stronger". Is Riis just pumping his guy up, or did I miss something?

Don't you think that Basso notices things that you can't see on a TV
screen? I think he is right, currently Basso has a small edge, but
not enough to drop Armstrong on a climb.

--
Morten Reippuert Knudsen :-) <http://blog.reippuert.dk>

PowerMac G5: 1.6GHz, 1.25GB RAM, 300+300GB SATA, 8xDVD+/-RW, Bluetooth
mus + tastatur, R9600PRO, iSight, eyeTV200 & LaCie Photon18Vision TFT

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:37:41 +0200, Morten Reippuert

Knudsen said:

RJG said:

I watched the coverage twice today, and I couldn't see any sign that Lance
was "hurt" or "on the defensive". He seemed to be able to respond to Basso's
attacks quite easily. I didn't see much difference from last year, when
Basso was also the only rider to stay with Lance in the mountains. I know
that Lance has not been that aggressive in the mountains this year, but he
hasn't had to be aggressive. Whether that is tatical, or whether Lance no
longer has "the Burst", has not been totally clear (although I suspect it's
a combination of both). Sure, Basso has been more aggressive, but he is the
one who has to attack, not Armstrong. I don't see where that makes him
"stronger". Is Riis just pumping his guy up, or did I miss something?

Don't you think that Basso notices things that you can't see on a TV
screen? I think he is right, currently Basso has a small edge, but
not enough to drop Armstrong on a climb.

Dumbass-

Armstrong has no reason to attack Basso. And Basso can't drop him.

Basso doesn't realize that Armstrong doesn't need to drop him but even
HE know's who the stronger person is.

"At the end, only I and Lance remained as usual; he can’t get rid of
me. It’s striking to think how strong he is, anyway I feel that the
difference between us is shrinking."
Ivan Basso
July 17, 2005

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

Quoted message said:

From ProCycling.com:
http://www.procycling.com/news.aspx?ID=1476

"Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis tonight paid Ivan Basso's climbing the highest
compliment by claiming that his Italian protegé is "stronger than
Armstrong on the hills" as the Tour enters its final 72 hours."

"Armstrong had to ride on the defensive," Riis told journalists at the
Aérodrome de Mende this evening, a few hundred metres from where Basso had
cruised home in 14th position.

I watched the coverage twice today, and I couldn't see any sign that Lance
was "hurt" or "on the defensive". He seemed to be able to respond to
Basso's attacks quite easily. I didn't see much difference from last year,
when Basso was also the only rider to stay with Lance in the mountains. I
know that Lance has not been that aggressive in the mountains this year,
but he hasn't had to be aggressive. Whether that is tatical, or whether
Lance no longer has "the Burst", has not been totally clear (although I
suspect it's a combination of both). Sure, Basso has been more aggressive,
but he is the one who has to attack, not Armstrong. I don't see where that
makes him "stronger". Is Riis just pumping his guy up, or did I miss
something?

Over the course of the high mountain stages this year, Lance has put time
into Basso, not the other way around. Sure, it all came on one stage, but
the numbers don't lie.

--
Bob C.

"Of course it hurts. The trick is not minding that it hurts."
T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

RJG said:

Sure, Basso has been more aggressive, but he is the
one who has to attack, not Armstrong. I don't see where that makes him
"stronger". Is Riis just pumping his guy up, or did I miss something?

Lance's goal is to win the GC, not prove that he can beat Basso on
every climb in the Tour. Lance did the work that was needed in Stage
10 when he left Basso in the dust. Since then, it's Basso's job to
leave Lance in the dust and he has failed to do that.

I don't blame Riis for saying nice things about his rider to the
press, especially since Basso's signed on for two more years. Basso
is a great bike rider and he's going to be the odds on favorite to win
the Tour next year, but he's no Lance Armstrong.

Riis better be careful. If he pisses Lance off (not a hard thing to
do), Lance might decide not to retire just to keep Basso from winning
the Tour next year.

Is there anyone here who thinks that if Lance wanted to, he could't
win the Tour again next year?

Morten Reippuert Knudsen says...

Quoted message said:

Basso has a small edge, but
not enough to drop Armstrong on a climb.

The only edge I've seen Basso have over Lance is that he puts up a cuter camera
face. If he can't drop Lance on a climb, then there's no edge in my mind. If
he's got an edge but doesn't have the balls to go for it, then that edge is
meaningless. There are physical and mental components to performance, but if a
rider lacks self-confidence, any physical superiority you or anyone else
perceives to be real are in fact insignificant. I've been reading and listening
to people say that Lance is gonna do this or do that, gonna win this stage or
that and they have all been wrong. He's simply done what he had to do to get
enough time on Basso, Ras and Jan to be comfortably in the lead - sort of just
like the strategy he revealed before the tour began.

Jack Hollis says...

Quoted message said:

Lance's goal is to win the GC, not prove that he can beat Basso on
every climb in the Tour. Lance did the work that was needed in Stage
10 when he left Basso in the dust. Since then, it's Basso's job to
leave Lance in the dust and he has failed to do that.

Bingo

Quoted message said:

Riis better be careful. If he pisses Lance off (not a hard thing to
do), Lance might decide not to retire just to keep Basso from winning
the Tour next year.

That would be anticlimactic. But very Lance.

Bob C. said:

Quoted message said:

Over the course of the high mountain stages this year, Lance has put time
into Basso, not the other way around. Sure, it all came on one stage, but
the numbers don't lie.

There you go letting facts get in the way of a more romantic interpretation.
Can't you see that Basso has the edge?

RJG said:

I know
that Lance has not been that aggressive in the mountains this year, but he
hasn't had to be aggressive. Whether that is tatical, or whether Lance no
longer has "the Burst", has not been totally clear (although I suspect it's
a combination of both).

Dunno, twice now I think we've seen Armstrong watch somebody (Basso both
times?) make a gap, then Armstrong jumps across to leave some other
rival behind. Maybe those were just "short bursts".

Mark

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mark Janeba said:

RJG said:

I know
that Lance has not been that aggressive in the mountains this year, but he
hasn't had to be aggressive. Whether that is tatical, or whether Lance no
longer has "the Burst", has not been totally clear (although I suspect it's
a combination of both).

Dunno, twice now I think we've seen Armstrong watch somebody (Basso both
times?) make a gap, then Armstrong jumps across to leave some other
rival behind. Maybe those were just "short bursts".

I "saw" it, but until you put it this way did not appreciate it.
Basso attacks. Armstrong sits with his other rivals until Basso
opens a goodly gap that Armstrong can cover. His rivals get
comfortable, then Armstrong leaves them. Diabolical. And it wrong
foots Basso as well.

--
Michael Press