Fuck this Tour...

The BBQ Pit
1

I’m pitting the 2004 Tour de France for myriad reasons.

First, Lance Armstrong will probably win it. Yes, he survived cancer, yes he is a uniquely dedicated individual, and yes, he may deserve it, but it still sucks. It just isn’t exciting to see him win the sixth tour in a row. The way that he attacks is simply having every other member of his team drive himself into the ground until the entire peleton except for Basso has been thrown off. It’s boring and uninspiring, especially compared to someone like Petacchi or Cunengo in this spring’s Giro. He’s a dick. “It was great to let Basso win,” on Stage 12. He’s also probably doped; consider his legalistic responses to accusations like, “I’ve never failed a drug test.” Well, neither did David Millar.

So, a boring, obnoxious cheater that is almost more organization than individual will probably win.

Second, Tyler Hamilton has yet again been screwed over by a crash caused by poor planning and design on the part of Tour organizers in the say they set up sprint finishes.

Third, every one else of importance has inexplicably and suddenly had some sort of string of bad luck or just put out craptastic performances. Ullrich, Mayo, etc. Why, why, why?

The lone redeming points of this tour have been watching Thomas Voeckler’s courageous defense of the maillot jaune and CSC’s Ivan Basso. Voeckler: getting dropped twice on Stage 13 and catching on back on again, then working balls-out up the climb to hang on by his nails to the yellow. It’s beautiful to watch.

Finally, at least Basso was there to accompany Armstrong to the line on both Stage 12 and 13, preventing this tour from being a complete rout for Armstrong. Let’s hope that we see him continue to do well and possibly even attack Armstrong in the Alps.

If Basso had more focus on the individual time trials, if CSC had more emphasis on the TTT, etc. I just have this sinking feeling that if CSC had organized themselves around Basso the same manner in which Postal is organized around Armstrong, we’d be seeing more similar results.

In conclusion, this Tour sucks. That is all.

2

I am not a “cycling guy” but I have seen Lance dare people to prove that he is cheating repeatedly and no one has found anything yet. There is a reason that he is the King of the Mountains, just look at where he lives and trains (they call it the Hill Country for a reason). In a nutshell he is in incredible shape and he has developed a winning strategy, I personally don’t have a problem with either of those things.

Go Lance Go!!!

Unclviny

3

Actually Richard VIRENQUE is the King of the Mountains at the moment. Armstrong is fourth. Just so you know.

4

Boy, it’s a good thing you don’t follow Formula1. You’d hate Schumaker!

5

I dunno, I find racing of any variety but thoroughbreds utterly uninteresting, and I’m excited by Lance maybe doing something nobody’s ever done before. I think unprecedented feats are pretty cool.

Okay, so Lance wins primarily by strategy. Big whoop. Strategy is part of any competition, and evidently nobody else has enough sense to use that same strategy. People who don’t play smart don’t deserve to win. It’s just that simple.

As for the doping thing, I’ve yet to see one shred of evidence that he’s doping. Okay, so people think he’s weaseling with his “I’ve never failed a drug test” line. These same people would think he was flat-out lying if he categorically denied doping. Folks who want to believe the worst are going to believe it no matter what. Myself, I’m willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt till I see better evidence than “well, you saw how he weaseled the question.”

As for CSC’s organization, well, again, see my comments on playing smart. If they’re not clever enough to organize themselves for best chance at winning, they don’t deserve to win.

6

I don’t think he’s cheating. Like he says, he’s been tested more than any other athlete in history, without so much as an “It was cough medicine, I swear!” to show for it.

That said, I’ll be sad if he wins. Miguel Indurain was one of my early heroes, and his record really deserved to stand longer.

7

I think it’s exciting. I’m not half the bike racing fan that a lot of people are, but it’s cool to be around to see one of the best bike racers in history win the Tour over and over and over again.

er, that’s called strategy, right? Most people consider strategies that work to be a GOOD thing.

Bike racing is a team sport. Do you also think that the wining NHL, NFL, and NBA teams are too “organizational”?

I’ll give you that one.

Overall, I think it’s great to see Lance potentially win again. Cycling history in the making! Go Lance!

8

Why? I thought Indurain was great and I loved the way he used to crush his rivals in the mountain stages. Much like Armstrong does now. I don’t see how anyone “deserves” to have a record stand longer when someone else is capable of beating it.

I kind of agree with the OP, for different reasons. This is shaping up to be more like win #4 where Lance had things sewn up early and the rest of the race was pretty boring. But I think the tour also lacks the diverse personalities of the Indurain days. Where’s today’s Ciapucci?

At any rate, I think Lance is doing a great job. You can’t blame him if the other cyclists aren’t up to it.

9

I don’t want to see him win mostly because I generally dislike when somebody dominates in one athletic event. I dislike Lance (by this point it’s a strong dislike). I’m sick of seeing all the magazines explaining why he’s the greatest human being ever. I liked him through the end of the first tour. I used to like Michael Shumacher when he was battling Mika Hakinin (sp.) and David Coulthard for the championship, now it’s just boring and I dislike him. I used to think Jordon was great but after six in eight, I hate him. I used to like the Lakers but after three straight, I’m about sick of them (still like Shaq though). I also am barely starting to like the Boston Celtics and Montreal Candians because they have sucked for a few seasons.

So basically, if lance wins, I start biking so I can beat him and have him be done with this whole boring “I’m the best biker in history” thing he seems to have going.

I LIKE PARITY!

10

Oh, I forgot about Tiger, one more year of not winning majors and I can almost start cheering for him again.

11

It’s important to recognize that sports figures can’t controll the press, and for some reason the press just loves to have a single individual to focus on (Lance, Tiger, etc.). Look thru the media hype and judge the guy for what he is. Maybe you’ll still decide you don’t like him, but at least give the guy a chance.

I happen to like Lance, and I liked him even back in the early days when he was a “cocky young upstart from Texas”. It ain’t esay being in the media spotlight, and I wonder how the rest of us would come off if we were in a similar situation.

12

Prove it.

Until then, you have nothing to say on the matter.

(And his legalistic responses have been to hire lawyers in England and France to go after those making the allegations. He’s not just sitting back saying he never failed a drug test.)

13

Amen, 5que.

Prove it.

14

Lance Armstrong is in a Kobayashi Maru scenario. Nothing he can do is right. If he were to say “I have never taken drugs.” Then all of his detractors would start screaming “Liar, liar, pants on fire, you had chemotherapy. Do you expect us to believe that chemo isn’t a drug?” So instead he says that He has never failed a drug test. That sounds like a statement of fact to me, but to you it is a legalistic response. BTW this is a statement that some of his challengers coughUlrichcough cannot make. Whatever :rolleyes:

In other sports (and in cycling too I would venture to guess) it is said that you make your own luck. I have read that every year, Ulrich shows up 5-10 kilos heavy at the start of the season. Lance shows up trim and ready to race. It is not surprising to me that Lance drops him like a bad habit in the mountains. If Ulrich has Lance’s dedication, he probably would have already won the tour 6 times instead of once.

Voeckler’s defense of the yellow has been fun to watch. Baring something strange tomorrow, it will not longer be his. Basso has also done very good work in the mountains. It remains to be seen what will happen during the next week.

Armstrong has given the tour several never to be forgotten moments.
[ul]
[li]Faking out everybody by looking completly shagged then turning on the gas.[/li][li]The “look” over his shoulder at Ulrich[/li][li]Waiting for Ulrich after Jan went off road, then when Ulrich was back up, just motoring away.[/li][li]Going up the Alpe d’Huez so fast that other competiors said that it looked like he was going down the hill they were going up[/li][li]His fall and recovery last year, the look of sheer fury in his face as a very pissed off Lance destroyed everybody else.[/li][/ul]

In a world full of pissants, wantabes, and weenies, Lance Armstrong is the real deal. ::: Looks around sees that we are in the pit::: So with all due respect, threemae fuck off and die. :smiley:

15

The man’s a warrior. He doesn’t even allow bad accidents to stand in his way. A lot of people would have been out of the race if they’d gotten their handlebars caught on a spectator’s bag and fell. Most people would not have been able to force their way back to the front. But he got his shit together fast, and dropped everyone else like they were standing still.

As for this:

I don’t know what to say. Bicycling is a team sport, as much as football, baseball, or soccer is. The Posties are a well-honed machine, and a brilliant team.

Lance is like the hunt-master, sending his hounds to the front to harry and harrass the competition until they’re run into the ground. It’s strategy, and it’s superb sportsmanship.

Aside from that, however, you can’t say that Lance is a poor athlete mooching his wins off the work of his teammates. Just watch his rides up Alpe d’Huez.

16

First all, this isn’t a pitting of Armstrong, it’s a pitting of le Tour.

As brilliantly stated by Rick, indeed, everyone fuck off and die. No, he’s not a poor athlete mooching off the rest of the team at all, I just wanted to pit some aspects of him. Again, not pitting Armstrong alone, or even him as a whole, just some aspects of him.

If nothing else, can I pit him for being a God-damned dork and training so hard? Yes, that will be my rant from here on out. Don’t take this too seriously people.

Also, since these threads have taken a similar tack, I’ll put this in:

If nothing else, can we all agree to hope that the second part of the Tour continues to have some excitement? I’ll be rooting for anyone but Lance, but again, nothing personal.

17

Oh, one more thing. I just came up with a good analgy that some more people might appreciate.

What’s wrong with hating the NY Yankees just because they’re the Yankee’s? Yes, the have the best players and the best strategy, but still, no one outside of NY actually wants them to win the World Series.

18

That is not at all true. I live in the midst of flyover country, and I root for them to win.

Just as I root for Lance. Although, in the case of Mr Armstrong, it really does have as much to do with his overcoming great odds, riding with more heart, blah blah blah. The man is also one hell of a human being.

19

Well, if you want to live outside of NYC and still root for the Yankees, I cannot help you.

Yes, the first victories were inspring, but if you’ve been watching you cannot honestly say that LA has been riding with more “heart” than a few other riders in this Tour.

20

Lance is no stronger this year than in some of the previous years. What’s happening this year, though, is that the other “favorites” either didn’t bring their A-game to the race (Ullrich, Mayo, Heras, et. al.), or they are injured (Hamilton).

Think about it. Sure, Lance has got a few guys up front who are jamming the pace. But, by the time the pack whilts to maybe 8-10 guys, they are ALL having to put out the same amount of energy to hang on - including Lance. They are all drafting and pacing each other, albeit at a very hard pace up the mountains. But they are all getting the same advantage. Lance’s team makes sure that the wannabes are separated out, and that the only riders left are the really strong climbers. Lance is having to jam like a maniac to hang with the pace that his teammates are setting. So to are others like Basso and the ones that can hang. The rest dwindle off the back. Well HELLS BELLS! What do you think would happen if, say, Ullrich had an ace team, and his team was pulling him up the mountains? Lance would be right on his wheel, not caring if it was his team or Ullrich’s team doing the pulling.

A rider either has what it takes to maintain that pace up the mountains, or he doesn’t. The team aspect only goes so far, and once the get on the steeps, the team isn’t giving that much benefit anyway unless the attacks are coming, and you can use a teammate to chase down some of them. It’s rider vs. rider at the end of these stages.

Lance is winning this Tour because he’s the strongest of the bunch. Basso is now close to him because it appears that Basso can climb at Lance’s level. I don’t see Basso’s team up there, or the teams of the few other riders who are emerging as contenders. The rest just can’t match the pace.

So, threemae, SHADDUP!