Newsgroup: it.sport.ciclismo
Titolo: An end of an Era, Lance Armstrong

I didn't really know how hard and what lengths Lance would go through to
achieve excellent until I saw the Health Discovery channel special called
The Science of Lance. Also right after that there was another special about
Lance that also was similar about Lance's approach to winning. It was a real
eye opener and reminded me of NASA documentary with the F1 team and all. I
think it's truly amazing what can be accomplished when you have a very
special athlete who is super human with the right genes and just right
attributes for the perfect cycling body, with lactic acid tolerance, a heart
that pumps twice as much blood in the same time as others, and lungs that
are twice as efficient as other riders. Add to that he has enough money and
the desire to bring together the best minds in the tech world to create the
best custom bikes for all the riders on his team and for each specialty, TT
and climbing bikes, even the team TT bikes are different. Also every piece
of gear, clothes, helmets are worked on by the best expects, and even the
team cook has the food down to a science. The drinks are special, not just
Extran but a special mix, closely guarded secret. Add to that Lance's body
after cancer because a finely tuned machine with 10 increase in body to
power output on the hills, since he lost all the weight plus Lance not only
trains harder and is extremely consistent but it's a science every step of
the way, constantly looking for improvement. Yes, Sherwin said it best, it
only looks easy because Lance makes winning look easy.
I mean when you make the whole rest of the peleton look like clowns and in
the dark ages compared to Discovery, you know there must be a lot of work
gone into training. He didn't win because he is super human, he won because
he had the best coach, the best minds and the ability to bring out the best
of everyone including his team mates, who he cultivated their tremendous
respect to go out and kill themselves to help Lance win. Lance F1 team and
his Discovery organization and everyone involved with Lance at the helm does
indeed make them a very scary dominator of the greatest bike race in the
world. I can only imagine that the other riders in the tour regarded Postal
and Discovery as a runaway freight train at the tour, and nothing short of
nuclear bomb would derail that train.
I doubt seriously for a very long time that any team will fork over the doe
and adopt Lance's methods of winning. For one, its a trade secret that only
Lance and Johan will share next year on the next team as they take up duel
coaching roles, but Lance is gone and there will never be another super
human like Lance. Sure they could use the same formulas to make someone like
Basso win, but no one will every win 7 tours again. No one will every match
making a science out of just the TDF like Lance. I think it is true that
next year the tour will go back to the dark ages and crude formulas of
winning according to what the team budgets can afford. I think only Johan
and Lances team that they coach will be interesting, but I doubt the big
money and anything of the sort will continue, as Basso is hardly the next
Lance.
It is an end of an era, way ahead of it's time, like many great directors of
films from the past, who revolutionized the film industry, as well Lances
formulas and trade secrets will change the sport over time as did Lemond. I
can't imagine how jealous Lemond is, it must be eating him alive!
Oh well,
At least the only two Americans to win the TDF also changed it forever.
Bruce
ps-Johan speaks 5 languages, and I can't even imagine just how valuable a
coach he is. From what I gather, as far as coaches go, he is way ahead of
his time for coaches in cycling. Sheezzz, very scary, the whole Discovery
machine!!

[cut]
IMHO if you miss the leg, your F1 team can't help anymore. So, even if we 
will probably never see again another man like Lance, preparing his Tour as 
well, we will for sure have other talented guys that will bring their 
stories and their ways of living and challenging. Lance isn't the end of 
cycling, he is a very talented guy with his own story.
J. 

 can't imagine how jealous Lemond is, it must be eating him alive!
 
cycling is a sport with a long memory. in other disciplines innovators can be heroes, but our mythes are still girardengo,bottecchia,bartali, coppi.
the paris-roubaix race is a sort of memory refreshing, every year. I don't know if I would prefer to be lance armstrong or tom boonen. or, talking about ex athlets (it's too easy to prefer to be the younger one), to be johan muuseuw or lance armstrong. to solve the doubt i count the balls.

 The Science of Lance.
Neither do I know, in detail, to this day.
Nor do I care the least.
Do you prefer computer generated music, as perfect and flawless as it be,
or a passionate performer who might even be out of tune when playing live?
Sergio
Pisa

 ha scritto nel messaggio 
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beh dai, ci sei andato giù pesante. Nonostante tutto penso che il tiranno 
più di qualche emozione l'abbia suscitata ugualmente, e la sua sotoria ha 
connotazione umane straordinarie. Dalla malattia, alla determinazione nel 
conseguire i suoi obiettivi e i suoi sogni. In quest'ottica non direi che 
Lance possa essere considerato un automa senza emozioni. Senza sbavature, 
forse, ma non senza emozioni e umanità.-
J. 

 forse, ma non senza emozioni e umanità.-
ci mancherebbe che lo discutessimo come uomo. non sarebbe il luogo e non ne
avremmo il diritto.
ma come ciclista mi sento di poterlo discutere e di metterlo al confronto di
cio' che tutti noi amiamo in questo sport e trarne le mie conclusioni.

 wrote in message
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I have no bias among winners for the most part. Just like I feel Luperini is
the greatest rider ever for women, perhaps Lance is the greatest tour rider
ever, but not the greatest, as that belongs to Coppi or Merckx, Bartoli, but
I don't have a problem with Lance using cutting edge technology. I have the
a video called a A Sunday In Hell, where Merckx is seen constantly fiddling
with his bike, adjusting the bars and seat, always trying to gain an edge. I
think smart riders will always try to gain an edge, it's only natural, but
better riding through chemisty is a shame really. I am glad Lance never used
drugs or it would of hurt the sport tremendously. Lance story is unique as
is Lemond, as will others who step up to the plate. I don't think Lance
would be much endured to the Italian public since he never rode the Giro,
but he stuck with the race he was good at, which just happened to be the
biggest in press and payoffs. Can't knock him for that, I think others would
do the same. There is no way Lance could of dominated all the races like
Merckx, Giro and such, so he specialized on one event which is the way of
the future I am afraid. It's much too hard to win like Merckx anymore.
That said, Luperini and Armstrong have 7 tour wins apiece. I still look up
to Luperini much more then Armstrong. For me, she is the real legend of the
sport. I wonder what Faby could of done with all the technology and coaches
Lance enjoyed, perhaps 8 or even 10 Tour wins. :-)
Bruce

 the future I am afraid. It's much too hard to win like Merckx anymore.
this is a sad future for cycling. probabily will be another sport. and i
think i'll not love it.
would you support a basketball team able to win only against la lakers and
missing all the other matches?
well...it's not for us.
organize a "tour of usa" and race there.

 wrote in message
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No, I wouldn't, and to tell the truth I have never been a huge Lance fan for
that very reason. I have oftened critized Lance for not racing the Giro and
Paris-R. I think Lance winning Paris-R would of been interesting, but he is
more interested in the Tour records, press and payoffs then being a well
rounded winner like Merckx. I think it's possible Lance could of won the
Giro and Paris-R but then he would of never won 7 TDF's. The fans are the
ones who lose worldwide. Only the fanatical American Lance cheerleaders are
overjoyed with his 7 TDF wins. Personally as I said, I think the (Science of
Lance) was quite interesting but I think it is sad he ignored the classics.
Also consider if teams start specializing in certain events only, then the
fans continue to lose. Even her in America many of us thought it would be
cool if Lance would of went to win the Giro this year. This also would of
been great for the Giro as organizers and fans in Italy would of loved this
as well. But the TDF gets the most attention, money and press, and I doubt
any rider would take the Giro over the TDF, unless they really love the
sport and want to win for glory and prove they can win classics as well. The
Walmarting of America might also spread to Europe where teams specialize on
only certain races a year. What would happen if no stars showed up to the
classics? In time some classics would dry up and you would end up with just
a few huge races like the Giro, TDF and Paris-R. Look at the Grande Boucle
this year? All the top girls flocked to the Femmes Giro. The biggest race in
the world for women is in Italy! Interesting you think? As the biggest for
men is in France!
No to dispair however, I think things will return to the way teams raced
before Lance as their budgets for now cannot afford them to skip all the
classics and only race the TDF. You won't be seeing Ulrich, Basso, Mayo,
Vino or Herras racing only the TDF next year. Their teams simply cannot
aford to risk that. I would worry about what things look like in ten years
perhaps. By then my zeal as a fan will have vanished as well! :-)
Bruce
ps-I always thought a Tour of the USA would be cool, as the Tour De Pont was
the closest attacting a few big names from Europe.

 this year?
the races make the champions, not the opposite.
so being at roubaix or liege or sanremo and lombardia gives you the rank of
great athlet.
those races are always worth to be watched. sanremo looks an hitchock movie,
the flandres semms to be written by ian fleming, the roubaix remembers me
thomas mann, or tolstoi.....or.... john ford, the lombardia is like those
movies where people are dueling with swords, jumping on stairs and tables.
the tdf of this year was like....watching the paint drying, above all
compared to the "divina commedia" of the giro. it's not an italian
chauvinism, we had boring giros and fantastic tdf too. but this year, even
if basso was competitive angainst lance, i was not attracted by the tv to
watch the tdf stages. and i was really upset about the taleban behaviour of
our governement/state tv that did not broadcast the flandres because of the
death of the pope.
i invited at home friends who love cycling to watch the roubaix together
(well, i was injured, so they had to come!), but i didn't think about it for
the tdf.
in any case in the sport events the absents are wrong.

 in any case in the sport events the absents are wrong.
Quoto
J. ;-) 

 chauvinism, we had boring giros and fantastic tdf too.
That's funny as heck!
Bruce

 the races make the champions, not the opposite.
But the races are only as hard and exciting as the competion. If none of the
top ranked pros show up to race, then it's boring at least not as exciting.
Case in point, 2003 Grande Boucle was fantasic as Brandli, Somarriba and
Luperini battled in the mountains. The top racers made the race exciting and
hard. This years Grande Boucle didn't draw any of the Top Pro women, so
really a race is only as hard and exciting as the talent it draws. The
different being as dramatic as a sanctioned pro road race in Fresno when Tut
won, or a trip to San Francisco to see the T-Mobile International where
Cooke won. Huge different. The racers make the race, but as you say also in
some instances the race makes the champions like the pride and prestige of
the TDF. :-)
Bruce