Armstrong Will Not Return to Tour de France, Official Says (url)
"The author of the article, Samuel Abt, has been covering cycling for the Times for quite a while. I am sure that he has his contacts in the cycling world. But what ever happened to having two independent sources before you print a story?
He says the story comes from a ""high ranking official of the organizers of the TDF"" That means the ASO. Would it be surprising if somebody in the ASO was tired of Lance winning every year? Especially after Lance has crushed the field three days in a row in the Alps? Why not express this wishful thinking to reporters looking for a story!
Lance Armstrong is going to be at the TDF next year looking for number seven (assuming he wins this year). This is what he lives for. Lance is not Marcel Duchamp who gave up painting and took up chess, i.e. he isn't suddenly going to change his schedule to do the Giro and Vuelta, but skip the TDF. Please. Does Joe Torre want to go and manage the Brewers, just because he started his pro career with the Millwaukee Braves??
And the ASO doesn't just run the TDF, they also run Paris-Nice, the Dauphine-Libire, and how many other races? They need TDF money to run these others, pay Jean-Marie Leblanc and others. As much as the ASO and others would want a French winner, you don't want your number one draw to the whole event gone.
Sam probably has to file two reports a day during the TDF, and had a story that was easliy denyable by Lance's agent (Stapleton) and the team event's director (Osipow). Thus, it was a quick write up. It was a little different in flavor than the usual ""Lance Wins (Again)"" headline that will intrigue the general readership of the New York Times. This doesn't change that it is not a believable story to a cycling enthusiast, and so I regard this as sloppy Journalism.
Mr. Abt, put down the fois gras and Champange and find out what's happening in the T-Mobile camp between Kloden and Ullrich. It may be difficult to get two corroborating sources, but I'd guess there's enought dirt to make a juicy story. Or how about the rude fan behavior, particularly about the German fans spitting on McEwen and Chechu Rubiera? Compare and contrast that with fan behavior in 1986 and 1996, when Hinault and Indurain were trying for their sixth TDF crown!!"
...lance'll be on the road with sheryl crow. :)
chris wrote:
> Lance Armstrong is going to be at the
> TDF next year looking for number seven
> (assuming he wins this year)
"""Lance Armstrong is going to be at the TDF next year looking for number seven (assuming he wins this year). This is what he lives for.""
Maybe. A spokesman for USPS says there's a 50-50 chance Armstrong will do the Giro and other races instead of the Tour.
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap-tourdefrance-armstrong&prov=ap&type=lgns
""Chainwheel"""
"http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/24/sports/sportsspecial/24lance.html
LONS-LE-SAUNIER, France, July 23 (AP) - Lance Armstrong said Friday that he would race again in the Tour de France, although maybe not next year.
Armstrong, who is on the verge of becoming the only rider to win the Tour six times, said he would like to concentrate on other races but was not prepared to turn his back on the Tour for good."
Abt has known Armstrong for years and I'd bet the (unstated)second source is Armstrong himself.
I was under the assumption that I think Lance Armstrong has to attempt the tour per the contract with Discovery Channel as the new sponsor. I'm sure he could get out of it...but would he?
He wants to ride the Giro. I don't think that he has ever attempted it. Since he doesn't want to do the double - no Tour for Lance. Maybe he'll ride the World's next year. He would begin and end his career in the Rainbow jersey
Having recently returned from the Best Trip of My Life (i.e., to the Tour de France), I am rooting for Lance to do a different major ride next year. My Tour trip was so perfect that I don't dare repeat it, for fear of the second time not being as good. (Is there a Sheryl Crow song in there?)
But a trip to the Giro, now that sounds like fun!
hannah
"On today's broadcast, Phil Liggett claimed that somebody doesn't know how to translate French correctly. Phil and Paul don't believe the story for a moment.
Somebody is having a laugh having suceeded in planting this ""story""."
who care if Lance wins a 7th tour de france, been there, done that, the record is broken (without much drama)
It would be much more interesting, and much more meaningful for his legacy, to see him go after other races
n.b. the tour would also be better without him next year
