Lance Armstrong appears set to return for the Tour de France 2009
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/09/08/lance.ap/index.html?cnn=yes
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/09/08/lance.ap/index.html?cnn=yes
Armstrong to Return
- Thread starter Alex
- Start date
I like this guy.
I made a small fortune selling his wrist bands on ebay.
I made a small fortune selling his wrist bands on ebay.
Interesting - I await to see more of this....
I think he will, he has nothing to do all he does now is workout with moviestars in Hollywood, probably thoguh over the past two years that he could have won it
Take a year off, pump yourself full of drugs and come back.......a pattern is forming.
j/k
j/k
What age is he now? After a year off, surely he will struggle to get back to the fitness level that he had.
excellent.
I especially liked this part:
VeloNews, which said Vanity Fair will publish an extensive article detailing Armstrong's comeback, said the cyclist will race for no salary or bonuses and post his internally tested blood work online.
I especially liked this part:
VeloNews, which said Vanity Fair will publish an extensive article detailing Armstrong's comeback, said the cyclist will race for no salary or bonuses and post his internally tested blood work online.
He doesnt need a salary when he gets the kind of endorsements that he gets
I meant the drug testing part
I am sure he didn't rest at all. I would say he trained the same way but just didn't race.
I reckon he`ll be fit as a fiddle to be fair.
Rumour has it he`s going to be racing for Astana, who were excluded from this years Tour. If he does he`ll have Contador, Kloeden and Leipheimer among others as teammates. I`m not sure all of them, if any, will be happy if he`s made captain and they have to race for his chances.
It will be interesting all in all to see how he performs, and the Tour especially lacked a superstar this year, IMO.
Rumour has it he`s going to be racing for Astana, who were excluded from this years Tour. If he does he`ll have Contador, Kloeden and Leipheimer among others as teammates. I`m not sure all of them, if any, will be happy if he`s made captain and they have to race for his chances.
It will be interesting all in all to see how he performs, and the Tour especially lacked a superstar this year, IMO.
Kloeden and Leipheimer won't have a major problem with it, as they'd have been helping Contador anyway. It will be interesting to see what Berti does if Armstrong does indeed join Astana. I hope they do line-up for different teams because Contador attacking Armstrong on the Alps and the Pyrenees is a mouthwatering prospect for any cycling fan.
Didn't he run a marathon in his year "off"? I'm sure he'll still be very fit, and he's got a bit of time before the tour to get up to his very high fitness level again.
Yes, and he finsihed 2nd in an insanely long mountain bike race as well.
and he banged Kate Hudson, resident Hollywood whore
and he banged Kate Hudson, resident Hollywood whore
Like you wouldn't?
I most certainly would.
Kloeden and Leipheimer won't have a major problem with it, as they'd have been helping Contador anyway. It will be interesting to see what Berti does if Armstrong does indeed join Astana. I hope they do line-up for different teams because Contador attacking Armstrong on the Alps and the Pyrenees is a mouthwatering prospect for any cycling fan.
Armstrong will own him. Contador had problems against Rasmussen, whom Armstrong regularly blew away.
To be fair, it was when Armstrong was in his early 30s, but I reckon he's still got the legs.
Armstrong must be gettin paid loads by the Tour De France organisers or the cycling body to compete, to attempt to generate interest in a disgraceful drug cheating bastard of a sport!
The sport's great, cheating and all.
Cheating's actually painful, and it's about endurance of constant pain versus endurance of 5 hours of pain to win a race. Many cyclists choose the former, despite the risks and the discomfort.
There's been drug cheating of some sort going on for nigh on 60 years, since the war, and dishonesty (e.g. taking the train) for a couple of decades before that as well.
Cheating's actually painful, and it's about endurance of constant pain versus endurance of 5 hours of pain to win a race. Many cyclists choose the former, despite the risks and the discomfort.
There's been drug cheating of some sort going on for nigh on 60 years, since the war, and dishonesty (e.g. taking the train) for a couple of decades before that as well.
Few friends of mine use steroids & all that crap, and we had a conversation about EPO etc at the weekend... they were saying that EPO (i think) allows them to break through the pain threshold quite easily & they dont feel the pain!
Will he win the TDF again? I think yes.....
Like you wouldn't?
I most certainly would.
You bet I would any and every day of the week
It's the degree of usage I suppose.
Pro cyclists use enough to raise their haematocrit to about 55%, and maybe 60% if they figured out a way to beat the drug tests. That's enough to turn your blood into thick tar, and require you to raise your heart rate every hour so that you don't get a heart attack. You can't sleep for more than 30 minutes at a stretch.
I read that in Marco Pantani's biography. Really fecking scary.
Er.... how clean do you think he was in the 2007 tour?
Dunno. Probably cleaner than when he regularly got beat by Armstrong... it's getting a lot harder to hide now.
how long do the effects of steroids last?
Doubt it. Rasmussen's consistency on the climbs during the 2007 Tour was something we'd never previously seen from him before. He'd always been a very talented climber but wasn't able to stay with the pace day after day.
He was 33 when he rode the 07 Tour, so for him to suddenly find that level of performance at the back of end of his career naturally raised suspicions. The fact he missed several drug tests and lied about his whereabouts in the run up to the tour suggests to me that he was cheating.
Agree about the consistency of the time trialling, but he had been training heavily in Latin America at altitude for 2 seasons to correct that fault. I suppose that he'll be labelled a cheat now, but there's a fairly strong posibilitiy that he wasn't cheating (as much?)
Isn't 28-33 the peak years for a cyclist?
Isn't 28-33 the peak years for a cyclist?
Agree about the consistency of the time trialling, but he had been training heavily in Latin America at altitude for 2 seasons to correct that fault. I suppose that he'll be labelled a cheat now, but there's a fairly strong posibilitiy that he wasn't cheating (as much?)
Isn't 28-33 the peak years for a cyclist?
I'd say 27-31. Even so I find it unlikely that a rider coming towards the end of his career could find the form needed to win a Tour de France that we hadn't seen from him in previous years. It smacks of a rider hoping to cash in before his body packs up.
Being seen training in the Italian countryside when he was supposed to be in Mexico also raises a lot of questions. It wouldn't surprise me if he was seeing an Italian doctor at the same time.
Pretty clued in Spin
Thats the shit the boys were saying last weekend. Your blood thickens up - a clot develops & a heart-attack can only be round the corner!
How long's he been retired for? Has he kept himself fit?
Wouldn't surprise me if he came back and won it though.
Wouldn't surprise me if he came back and won it though.
Retired after winning the Tour in 2005, yeah he has been working out a ton. I wouldnt be surprised if he won either, doubt he would come back either unless he thinks he can, and the man has a heart of a champion.
This guy has taken drugs in the past? Why the feck would anyone want him near the sport? The genuine people in the sport must be absolutely sickened to see this prick coming back.
Floyd Landis announced he's returning as well
I saw that, what a prick once again trying to ride on the back of Lance's coattails
Lance will be racing with Astana.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/09/24/armstrong.ap/index.html?eref=T1
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/09/24/armstrong.ap/index.html?eref=T1
So what do you guys think of Armstrongs refusal to have his old blood samples retested to prove his innocence beyond doubt?
Personally, that tells me that he knows the new testing methods will prove beyond doubt that he is a drug cheat like the rest of them - only he's gotta better talent!
Personally, that tells me that he knows the new testing methods will prove beyond doubt that he is a drug cheat like the rest of them - only he's gotta better talent!
I wouldn't trust the bastards who maintain they still have a sample of his urine. It could very well have been manipulated
It's been a witch hunt against him forever.
He's never been found guilty of doping.
He's a freaking legend.