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Official running, no, make that official CYCLING 97th Tour de France thread...

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by TigerVols, Jun 26, 2010.

  1. GuessWho

    GuessWho Active Member

    You can stick a fork in Armstrong.
     
  2. Deeper_Background

    Deeper_Background Active Member

    Armstrong Hurts Hip
    By ehalliburton@statesman.com | Sunday, July 11, 2010, 01:08 PM

    MORZINE, France _ Lance Armstrong hurt his left hip in the second of three crashes Sunday, but said he has no plans to quit the Tour because of the injury.

    Armstrong said he hopes to recover Monday when the Tour enjoys its first rest day.

    Armstrong first injured the hip last Monday, when he slipped on the rain-soaked roads into Spa, Belgium.
    http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tdf/entries/2010/07/11/armstrong_hurts_hip.html Lance Armstrong's Last Tour Will Not End Well, But What Will Be His Legacy?
    Sunday, July 11, 2010

    The hero will be bloodied. He will fall. It will be a storybook without a happy ending. But I'll bet Lance Armstrong still gets lionized for trying

    In the sport more pockmarked by performance-enhancers than any other, we'll believe that Lance Armstrong is telling the truth because he's Lance Armstrong and accept him never failing a test as incontrovertible proof of innocence? Is his status as the lone clean American to find legendary success in cycling so sacred that we dismiss all suspicions as jealousy? Do we need to believe that badly?

    The fall and rise of Lance Armstrong is either one of the greatest sports stories ever told or one of the greatest sports myths ever sold. I'm not sure we'll ever truly know which. http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/71115/lance_armstrongs_last_tour_will_not_end_well,_but_what_will_be_his_legacy#ixzz0tPlOt8J7
     
  3. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    Lance has had more crashes and flats this Tour than he did in the 7-year run of victories combined.
     
  4. Deeper_Background

    Deeper_Background Active Member

    Kinda cool if Lance would end up getting Levi to the podium, maybe that's something to root for this week.
     
  5. Deeper_Background

    Deeper_Background Active Member

    Peloton won't play waiting game with Armstrong
    By Justin Davis (AFP)

    MORZINE-AVORIAZ, France — Should they have waited, or forged on ahead regardless? That was the question on the minds of fans and media alike Monday a day after seven-time champion Lance Armstrong virtually lost all hope of winning an eighth yellow jersey.

    Armstrong suffered a number of crashes on the 189 km ride from Station des Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz on Sunday, the most fatal one happening at the foot of the Col de la Ramaz, the penultimate climb of the day.

    The American suffered a sore hip and scrapes after crashing when he clipped his pedal at a roundabout. As he dusted himself off, the peloton raced on ahead.

    Some contenders suggested they should have been more fair-play and slowed down to allow Armstrong to rejoin them -- which, in certain circumstances, is part of bike racing etiquette.

    Luxemburger Andy Schleck said after he won the stage: "I thought we should have waited on him, especially given what Armstrong has achieved in the past.

    "You have to have some respect. Plus, it's his last Tour," he said.
    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jdPz_8ASrRZOzKFDCZ8LQHZJmaRQ
     
  6. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    Stupid fucking story. Andy Schleck and a huge number of the peloton crashed in crappy conditions on an oil slick left behind by a motorcycle wreck. LA crashed (like Frank Schleck) due to racing, plain and simple.

    Kharma catching up to Lance, IMO.
     
  7. Deeper_Background

    Deeper_Background Active Member

    Levi 3:59 back of yellow in 6th place after Stage 9. "If I was Levi Leipheimer I'd be a bit worried having Armstrong as an uber-domestique," writes Robin Hazlehurst. "Wasn't he supposed to be working for Contador in the Astana team last year but basically refused to do it and declared himself team leader? Contador actually had to race against half his own team due to Armstrong's ego. Will he actually accept his demotion this year or suddenly start attacking Leipheimer (for an epic stage win) when he feels like it?" http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jul/13/tour-de-france-stage-nine-live
     
  8. Deeper_Background

    Deeper_Background Active Member

    Why It's Good Lance Armstrong's Career Is Over
    Jul 13 2010, 11:45 AM ET


    He might have cheated.

    As his supporters are quick to note, Armstrong has never failed a drug test. Big deal. Barry Bonds never failed a drug test either. No one seems to have trouble believing Bonds was juiced. Armstrong could certainly be cleared of every doping charge, including the latest from Floyd Landis. But some people will nevertheless refuse to believe that he rode clean. Others, particularly in the cancer community, will never believe Lance cheated, no matter what evidence may arise. Given what he stands for within that community, choosing to believe an inspirational ideal rather than a potentially ugly truth is a perfectly understandable response.

    If Armstrong didn't use performance-enhancing drugs, he not only won seven Tours, he did it against cheating athletes. Even if the doping allegations are true, though, that isn't what makes Armstrong so annoying. A big-name athlete using PED's is about as shocking as the gambling at Rick's Café.

    Also? Armstrong seems like a kind of a jerk. Daniel Coyle, author of Lance Armstrong's War, was asked to name the public's biggest misconception about Armstrong. Coyle said, "That he's a nice guy."

    Yes, he survived cancer, and he has performed tremendous amounts of life-saving work on behalf of people fighting the disease. The embodiment of superhuman perseverance, he fought off death to win the world's toughest bike race an astonishing seven times. He bested the Europeans at their own sport, becoming an American icon and inspiring millions. But that still doesn't give you the right to be a jerk.

    He left his wife for Sheryl Crow, then broke an engagement to her for a fling with Kate Hudson.

    An avowed environmentalist, he was cited by his hometown of Austin, Texas, for using more water than anyone else in the city —as much as 300,000 gallons a month. A construction project on his property polluted a swimming hole he shares with several neighbors, and they had to file complaint with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality before Armstrong would pay for the clean-up.

    But Armstrong's crimes are far greater than a little green-washing or standard celebrity selfishness.
    http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/07/why-its-good-lance-armstrongs-career-is-over/59552/
     
  9. UPChip

    UPChip Well-Known Member

    Was this stage win for Casar accomplished without hitting a dog?
     
  10. Deeper_Background

    Deeper_Background Active Member

    Armstrong now 31st at 15:54 back after Stage 9.
     
  11. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    That's a BS story. No, he wasn't supposed to work for Contador last year. Yeah, there was a fracture in the team, but it was as much caused by Contador as Armstrong. It's a wonder either of them won.

    As for today's stage, Evans showed why he'll never win. He can't dig deep.
     
  12. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    Evans has a broken elbow. He busted it in the first crash that Lance got caught up in Sunday.

    That explains the look on Evans' face today on that final climb.
     
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