Tour Down Under

I don't doubt Lance's motivation. The question for me is how many other riders going to OZ have the same level of motivation to stop him. Do LA and Saxo have any beef? Maybe Riis is bitter about having admitted to doping while others are still denying that they did. With Voigt and Stuey at the helm I don't see any Astana breaks going free.

The TDU is a glorified training race. Nice to win but not something you'd base a season on. The real racing doesn't start until March.

classic1 said:

The TDU is a glorified training race. Nice to win but not something you'd base a season on. The real racing doesn't start until March.

rree

Armstrong won't come close to winning.
There will be riders who are much stronger over the type of terrain who have a greater motivation to win.
I see Armstrong being in Australia for a.) training race. b.) promotion. c.)pay packet.

I don't think Armstrong will be here with any intention of trying to win, that is a myth of the Armstrong fans who seem to think he is doing these races with the objective to win.

Trev_S said:

I don't think Armstrong will be here with any intention of trying to win, that is a myth of the Armstrong fans who seem to think he is doing these races with the objective to win.

With other lead riders that would surely be the case, but LA's ego won't let him use this merely for preparation. One of many examples being his taking the sprint in the '04 Tour de Georgia for no reason other than to get his nut into the spotlight some more. He never sprinted post cancer with the exception of mountain breaks. That time, he was racing in the states for about the first time in the Tour era and loved being the center of attention. That's why he's coming back and he will do everything he can to stay there.

Of course, he'll say its because of his natural winning/competative mentality

Flyer said:

rree

ewww

He will definitely want to make an impression. He will need to get some confidence too and send out a message that he is taking this seriously.
If his team is strong then he is in with a chance.

Will be a good struggle amongst the Aussies at least.

Michael ROGERS AUS
Matthew LLOYD AUS
Robbie McEWEN AUS
Stuart O'GRADY AUS
Matthew GOSS
Wesley SULZBERGER AUS (Saw him ride strongly in the Tour of Japan). Good new comer.
Allan DAVIS AUS
Graeme BROWN AUS
Baden COOKE AUS (Hope he shows some form on a few sprints).
Aaron KEMPS AUS
Scott DAVIS AUS

Will be watching these two as well.

Oscar PEREIRO ESP
Gert STEEGMANS BEL

Flyer said:

ewww

eerr

Aussies over rate this race. It’s not even a race. It’s about 7 one day flat training rides. I think it’s on par with the Tour of Poland in terms of boredom. I cannot think of anything more boring to do than watch this race. Well I could read Johan Bruyneel book.

JAPANic said:

Will be a good struggle amongst the Aussies at least.

Michael ROGERS AUS
Matthew LLOYD AUS
Robbie McEWEN AUS
Stuart O'GRADY AUS
Matthew GOSS
Wesley SULZBERGER AUS (Saw him ride strongly in the Tour of Japan). Good new comer.
Allan DAVIS AUS
Graeme BROWN AUS
Baden COOKE AUS (Hope he shows some form on a few sprints).
Aaron KEMPS AUS
Scott DAVIS AUS

Will be watching these two as well.

Oscar PEREIRO ESP
Gert STEEGMANS BEL

whiteboytrash said:

Aussies over rate this race. It’s not even a race. It’s about 7 one day flat training rides.

Not this one sport.

classic1 said:

The TDU is a glorified training race. Nice to win but not something you'd base a season on. The real racing doesn't start until March.

whiteboytrash said:

I think it’s on par with the Tour of Poland in terms of boredom. I cannot think of anything more boring to do than watch this race. Well I could read Johan Bruyneel book.

You could always read Lance Armstrongs twitter page. Or Bassos diary on cyclingnews. Better than mogadon.

classic1 said:

You could always read Lance Armstrongs twitter page. Or Bassos diary on cyclingnews. Better than mogadon.

Don't they have a couple of junior aussie teams in this race ? Love to see an U23 rider hook Armstrong and put him into dirt rendering his season over.

I think the only thing to watch here is to see how many aussie girls Armstrong can bang whilst pregnant girly is at home awaiting his return sometime around the end of July.

whiteboytrash said:

Don't they have a couple of junior aussie teams in this race ? Love to see an U23 rider hook Armstrong and put him into dirt rendering his season over.

I think the only thing to watch here is to see how many aussie girls Armstrong can bang whilst pregnant girly is at home awaiting his return sometime around the end of July.

I wouldn't really call them junior teams. More like combined teams. Its [censored] though. They put a UniSA team together for one race a year but can't find a place for the couple of UCI continental registered teams we have here.

Armstrong will have trouble finding women to his taste out here, he won't be able to get a facsimilie. We have pretty good dentistry out here but people generally don't spend $50k on their teeth like his mom and all his ex girlfriends.

whiteboytrash said:

Aussies over rate this race. It’s not even a race. It’s about 7 one day flat training rides. I think it’s on par with the Tour of Poland in terms of boredom. I cannot think of anything more boring to do than watch this race. Well I could read Johan Bruyneel book.

Spot on. Grand Tour riders should not be anywhere close to racing form in January. Hell, even in the traditional season openers in Majorca, Murcia and Valencia they are only there to stretch their legs and figure out how much work they still have to do before the Giro or the Tour. Even at the height of their powers, the likes of Armstrong and Ullrich never took these races seriously.

He is going there for marketing purposes - his own, for Livestrong and for team obligations.

Denia said:

Grand Tour riders should not be anywhere close to racing form in January. Hell, even in the traditional season openers in Majorca, Murcia and Valencia they are only there to stretch their legs and figure out how much work they still have to do before the Giro or the Tour. Even at the height of their powers, the likes of Armstrong and Ullrich never took these races seriously.

Don't compare Ulle and LA. The former did compete in some early season races for training, however the latter simply never competed this early in the season. However, he did try to win the few races he started because of his MASSIVE EGO.

In an old cyclingnews story, "team manager Johan Bruyneel outlined the racing program for his top rider Lance Armstrong. Bruyneel believes that Armstrong's emphasis of quality over quantity in his training and race preparation is the main reason that Armstrong has won the Tour de France four times in a row. Armstrong doesn't compete often in the early part of the season, but when he does he makes it count. Furthermore, Bruyneel thinks that too much racing could have an adverse affect on Lance's form in the Tour."

LewisBricktop said:

In an old cyclingnews story, "team manager Johan Bruyneel outlined the racing program for his top rider Lance Armstrong. Bruyneel believes that Armstrong's emphasis of quality over quantity in his training and race preparation is the main reason that Armstrong has won the Tour de France four times in a row. Armstrong doesn't compete often in the early part of the season, but when he does he makes it count. Furthermore, Bruyneel thinks that too much racing could have an adverse affect on Lance's form in the Tour."

JB is right, LA need to keep fresh blood to compete at TDF!
But JB or LA are lying because for years one of the 2 said that he were training more and harder than everyone !

Have they not enough learned their lesson?

poulidor said:

JB is right, LA need to keep fresh blood to compete at TDF!
But JB or LA are lying because for years one of the 2 said that he were training more and harder than everyone !

Have they not enough learned their lesson?

I'm beginning to think you and WBT are the same person...

Each country has their tour. If you don't like it don't read about it.. (for the complainers).

I live in Japan now and watching the Tour Of Japan and Japan Cup are 2 of my favorite things to do in the year.

Lance's testicle made a successful cumbak, I'm sure all these people who say the TDU is a nothing race, will be reading the results.

Yes, it is a warm up race. A race is a race though and the riders trying to crack the big time will be treating it seriously. Lance is one of those.

I'm looking forward to seeing the TDU live for the first time on SKY sports.

I would expect the Aussies to be up for this race, given that it is their national race.

it'll be interesting to see how Periero and steegmans go as well.

Has the field been finalised???