Lance Armstrong makes history

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 11:56 am

Congratulations Lance!!

http://www.letour.fr/2004/us/index.html

MehYam · Post by **MehYam** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:35 pm

Amazing feat.

Ympakt · Post by **Ympakt** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:40 pm

Congratulations to Lance, good to hear of an American doing well abroad.

suicide eddie · Post by **suicide eddie** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 4:56 pm

he worked well with his team this year, pity he hasnt gone for the triple yet but there are rummurs that he is going to have a go at the classics.

Arol · Post by **Arol** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 6:46 pm

None better!
A 100% Pro. Ran his team like a finely tuned machine. Be a long time before anyine can put a dent in US Postal.
Even the Grand Ol' Belgian Master Eddy Merxx conceede this.

Scratch · Post by **Scratch** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 6:08 am

Tour De Lance!!!! That is a very awesome feat!

Sage · Post by **Sage** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 10:21 am

I still think my avatar's green hair looks fly...

Vertigo 99 · Post by **Vertigo 99** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 10:25 am

wow sage. nice post. No really.

Flabby Chick · Post by **Flabby Chick** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 10:53 am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s ... 919779.stm

I'd have to agree with one of the posters in the thread on bbc that Ed Moses's run of victories was truly amazing. Congrats to Armstrong though, with a team or no, the guy deserves all praise.

PS....the guy that said Emile Heskey once controlled a ball, this achievement far outweighs any of the others you have mentioned! .....made me laugh, but you'd have to be an English football fan to understand.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 11:39 am

The folks calling Lance a solo champion don't understand Cycling. It is by no means a solo sport. With very few exceptions, it is definitely a team sport. And more than almost any other team sport (rowing immediately comes to mind) if the team doesnâ??t work together the team leader isnâ??t going to do very well, especially in the Tour.

Birdseye · Post by **Birdseye** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 11:55 am

I don't know anything about cycling. What does the team do? Is armstrong just one of many bikers? If so, why does he get all the attention?

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 11:58 am

because he is the one that wins.

Lance rides behind his teammates while they brake the wind, then when the end comes he races ahead. There may be more to it then that, thats just what i've heard.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 1:24 pm

Answering the question of how a professional cycling team works would take a while to go into detail but here is a brief synopsis. For a team like US Postal whoâ??s leader, Lance Armstrong, is a contender to win the Tour it works, more or less like this.

For the Tour, the team has 9 riders. Each rider has a specialty. Some are very adept at climbing. These are the small guys. They are usually about 5â??6â?

suicide eddie · Post by **suicide eddie** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 3:42 pm

nicely said dedman.

Robo · Post by **Robo** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 12:22 am

Flabby Chick wrote: PS....the guy that said Emile Heskey once controlled a ball, this achievement far outweighs any of the others you have mentioned! .....made me laugh, but you'd have to be an English football fan to understand.

I get it, heheh

Nightshade · Post by **Nightshade** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 2:41 am

I'm sure the french will miss an american texan winning their race over and over.

Arol · Post by **Arol** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:59 am

ThunderBunny wrote:I'm sure the french will miss an american texan winning their race over and over.

Oh Yah, and the horse might sing!!!

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:04 am

A french rider hasn't won the Tour in almost 20 years. The last French rider to win was Hinault in '85 or '86. They did get the polka dot (King of the Mountain) jersey though. Hats off to Richard Virenque for getting his (record) 7th KoM title. Very impressive feat.

This site does a good job of explaining the team concept and the tactics used in pro cycling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/s ... 022950.stm