Good bye and don't let the door hit you....

[cinelli]

It appears that the Tour organizers have little affection for Mr. Armstrong and the Discovery Channel team:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2006/tour06/?id=/news/2005/oct05/oct27news3b

[Dr. Doofus]

three summit finishes?

unless there are some moyenne montagne stages that favor something agressive (like Mende in 95), or the stage to Valkenberg gets run off like a mini-Amstel (setting up something like Indurain's attack to Liege), this is going to be a boring tour. A strong time trialist will be able to defend the jersey by catching back on the descents on two of the climbing stages, and only have to worry about cutting losses over three days, with a 56k TT to make up any lost time.

yawn

If Jan can't win on this parcours, he should quit and open up a wurst cart.

[zeroking17]

If Jan can't win on this parcours, he should quit and open up a wurst cart.

Clearly a wurst case scenario.

[Tom]

Ahh... this is great. The world's largest soap opera with a bike race attached.

[sspielman]

Interesting. The Tour organization clearly has no interest in capitalizing on its most winning star. Clearly, they indicated that his reputation was tarnished by the EPO revelations, and his promotion potential as well. It will be interesting to see if certain advertising endorsers follow suit.

[scrooge]

It will be interesting to see if certain advertising endorsers follow suit.

Somehow I doubt it (at least not in the states). I don't know that most folks sporting their livestrong bands etc have any clue that these charges about EPO have been made. Unless I'm overlooking something, they haven't made a very big splash in the American press.

[bluesea]

They've done stupider things. Hey, how about an individual TT into the Champs-Elysées?! Merde.

[Fixed]

three summit finishes?





If Jan can't win on this parcours, he should quit and open up a wurst cart.
Bro I agree cheers :beer:

[Argos]

Interesting. The Tour organization clearly has no interest in capitalizing on its most winning star. Clearly, they indicated that his reputation was tarnished by the EPO revelations, and his promotion potential as well. It will be interesting to see if certain advertising endorsers follow suit.


I would guess that by enrageing Armstrong they will get more publicity then if he attended the presentation and they made nicey-nice with him.

[jeffg]

Un francais ne gange jamais plus le Tour! Jean-Marie le Blance a les rayons du ciel dans le cul. Anus solaire ...

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . I have seen time and again examples of the fact that it's not a good idea to p*ss off Lance in a competitive situation. Just not very smart . . . I would think the French of all people had learned that by now.

I also know that Lance owns part of the Discovery team and has made no secret of the fact that he would still be involved with the team in various capacities and would be training with them. It would not be amiss to see him riding up a storm with them or planning to go to France for the Tour anyway.

So is it a POSSIBLE scenario for him to suddenly show up as a rider at the Tour start line if all this hoo-ha ticked him off enough? What obstacles would stand in the way of Bruyneel pulling a fast one like this? Do the teams have to announce their roster in advance? And if they do, what happens if a rider already announced is not able to compete because of injury--say, a stubbed toe? Can the team director make a last-minute substitution? Are there any official rules about a UCI registered rider returning to competition after he has "officially" retired? I know Ekimov did it.

Just a fascinating though . . . and I can imagine nothing in this world that would P.O. the Frenchies more than Lance suddenly showing up to ride and them not being able to do a d@mn thing about it! :p

BBDave

[jdoiv]

. .
So is it a POSSIBLE scenario for him to suddenly show up as a rider at the Tour start line if all this hoo-ha ticked him off enough? What obstacles would stand in the way of Bruyneel pulling a fast one like this? Do the teams have to announce their roster in advance? And if they do, what happens if a rider already announced is not able to compete because of injury--say, a stubbed toe? Can the team director make a last-minute substitution? Are there any official rules about a UCI registered rider returning to competition after he has "officially" retired? I know Ekimov did it.

Just a fascinating though . . . and I can imagine nothing in this world that would P.O. the Frenchies more than Lance suddenly showing up to ride and them not being able to do a d@mn thing about it! :p

BBDave


All the pro tour teams are automatically in the Tour. They usually release their tour lineup after the Dauphne. They can and often do make last minute changes to that lineup for various reasons. I know there was one or two riders this year that were last minute substitutions (like 48 hours notice). There is no reason that LA could not show up and compete as a last minute Sub. I seriously doubt he would. UCI doesn't have a retirement program similar to that which is in the NFL, so no paperwork would need to be filed.

[gasman]

three summit finishes?

unless there are some moyenne montagne stages that favor something agressive (like Mende in 95), or the stage to Valkenberg gets run off like a mini-Amstel (setting up something like Indurain's attack to Liege), this is going to be a boring tour. A strong time trialist will be able to defend the jersey by catching back on the descents on two of the climbing stages, and only have to worry about cutting losses over three days, with a 56k TT to make up any lost time.

yawn

If Jan can't win on this parcours, he should quit and open up a wurst cart.

I think Jan has spent too much time already with the brauts.

[manet]

.

[BBB]

Surely Armstrong would have to be licensed to race? On the basis he is retired, then presumably he will not be re-applying for a racing license in 2006. Turning up at the "last minute" would require some serious forethought.

Quite apart from this, I'm not sure I understand the obsession with "pissing off" the French. On the other thread on this subject, there is someone who is "still not buying French wine". What's with this? Yeah, the comments by the TdF bosses are a public example of poor form, but why get all nationalistic about it?

[Lifelover]

Interesting. The Tour organization clearly has no interest in capitalizing on its most winning star.

Seems to me that if this tour favors a Time trialest than LA would still be the favorite.

I really don't know but it seems to me that as you got older training for TT would be more forgiving than training to climb.

In climbing the "W" is more important when considering P/W.

Maybe the French are tempting LA to return. :rolleyes: