For years Lance was clobbering the "climbers" on all the climbs and Phil and Paul persisted in saying he was beating the "specialist climbers." It seems to me it's well beyond time to retire the notion of "specialist climbers" or "dedicated climbers" or "climbing specialists." Lance has made them all look silly time and time again.
On a different note, there have been a number of recent posts begging comparison between Lance and MJ ... US Postal and Da Bulls. MJ had a clause in his contract that allowed him to play in pick-up games, etc. It was called his "love of the game clause." MJ just loved the game so much he wasn't going to be denied the opportunity to play in a pickup game whenever he felt like it. And MJ was nothing if not competitive. I couldn't help but think how much Lance exhibited that same kind of spirit over these last three stages -- especially the two sprint wins. Pump the fist ... purse the lips ... set the steely eyes. Lance clearly loves to race and loves to win. Period.
Lance will go for 7. If not, he'll win darned near everything else in sight next year.
For years Lance was clobbering the "climbers" on all the climbs and Phil and Paul persisted in saying he was beating the "specialist climbers." It seems to me it's well beyond time to retire the notion of "specialist climbers" or "dedicated climbers" or "climbing specialists." Lance has made them all look silly time and time again.
They indeed are "specialists," in that climbing is about all they can do well (at the world class level). They aren't generalists; they can't do it all (like TT). However, Lance Armstrong can climb and TT. Surprising then that he leads the *General* Classification. That Lance is better at both disciplines is irrelevent to the meaning of "specialist."
