04/20/24
July 15, 2004
Le Monde: which has previously leveled doping accusations at Armstrong, on Thursday ran an interview with three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond, who suggested he doubts his fellow American is drug free. "Lance is ready to do anything to keep his secret," LeMond was quoted as saying. "I don't know how he can continue to convince everybody of his innocence."
Now this is player-hating. I don't care how true it is, right now the man's in the middle of the friggin' Tour. Hey Greg, where were you last month with this jibberjabber, when Lance could (and did) address it? How about six months ago? Don't tell me you couldn't get an interview in the press. People know who you are. If Mike Vanderjagt can shoot his mouth off in an offseason interview and get headlines, then you sure as hell can. And what about the paper? The French have been winning stages all week, and even if Armstrong gets thrown off his game, no Frenchmanis going to be there at the end, and everyone knows it. Someone at Le Monde, as well as M. Lemond, needs to remove the baguette from their lower colon.
posted by chicobangs at 03:20 PM on July 15, 2004
ass bread....that's awesome.
posted by garfield at 04:06 PM on July 15, 2004
Everybody knows Lance is strongest when he gets to the mountain stages, so my guess is they are trying to get to him psychologically before the riders hit the hills. And the French are just pissed because when they are feasting on bread and cheese, drinking red wine and having a cigarette for dessert, Lance is training. He is always training.
posted by usfbull at 04:14 PM on July 15, 2004
usfbull, it actually sounds like the French have something to brag about. The French, as you indicated, are living large every day of their lives. What does Lance have? A little glory, a rock star past her prime washing his underwear... it ain't nothing, but really, living French has its rewards.
posted by chicobangs at 04:20 PM on July 15, 2004
Le Monde seems to stir up more crap about Lance than any other source. Who knows if he's doping, but it's really, really ugly for Greg Lemond to say he is in the middle of the Tour.
posted by dusted at 05:34 PM on July 15, 2004
JibberJabber... Damn right. Just stone-cold channelling the Mr. T. right now.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 05:51 PM on July 15, 2004
What does Lance have? A little glory, a rock star past her prime washing his underwear Crow is younger than me and still seems more than hot enough to melt my... plastic, not sure where you get the past her prime bit. Her music was never more than okay, maybe one or two really cool songs, so I wouldn't evaluate her on that level. Unless, of course, you're being sarcastic, Mr. Bangs, but you would not do that, would you?
posted by billsaysthis at 07:10 PM on July 15, 2004
Bill, I was talking about her music. I actually think she's a hell of a songwriter, and will be for a while longer, but her days of selling out stadia are numbered at best and probably finished. I didn't say she wasn't hot. And good on Lance, and her, for finding each other. Vavoom, etc. But when I said she was past her prime, I absolutely meant musically. And certainly, Lance is a step up from some of the dorks she's dated (Kid Rock comes right to mind). But as far as the trappings of success... no dis, but I hope he's getting more perks than having anyone, no matter how famous and hot, being his personal caretaker.
posted by chicobangs at 11:19 PM on July 15, 2004
Don't be naive. Every cyclist in the Tour is probably doing something tricky with supplements or blood doping. It's just a matter of who's being smart about it versus those who are careless enough to get caught (where I suppose the expertise of the team doctors plays a role). Cycling has always been dirty (from cocaine to amphetamines to EPO to god-knows-what). But this doesn't reduce my enjoyment of watching the Tour, for some reason.
posted by molafson at 02:33 AM on July 16, 2004
Thank you Molafson, for a bit of perspective. I cannot see how these athletes can be expected to complete the tour without some form of "assistance". As one of them said, some time ago, if they want to stop drug use they should stop designing stages 100's of kilometres long. I cannot see what is in for Lemond, so perhaps there is something in what he says; after all Le Monde isn't the only source of doubt about Armstrong, there is also David Walsh, who has written a book about him and a former physiotherapist on his team who says she supplied him with EPO. The fact that so many cyclists die young ( from Jan. 11, 2003, to June 30, 2004, nine top cyclists died of heart failure) at a time when you would expect them to be as fit as butchers dogs speaks volumes.
posted by Fat Buddha at 03:28 AM on July 16, 2004
molafson's right. They're all on drugs, all the time. Which equals a level playing field I guess.
posted by squealy at 05:43 AM on July 16, 2004
Perhaps these guys are on drugs, that does seem very likely. But why can't LeMond (and others) keep their f-ing mouths shut until after the race? Either because they want to get to him psychologically, as usfbull said, or he just wants someone to listen to him, which is pathetic. Either way, be a gentleman and wait until the race is over before you start throwing around your accusations.
posted by sixpacker at 07:11 AM on July 16, 2004
Drugs or no drugs, he made a major move today. Unless Basso takes us all by surprise it's game over.
posted by Fat Buddha at 10:45 AM on July 16, 2004
I'm unsure as to what LeMond's motive is for giving the press these one-liners on Lance - maybe he misses the glory & limelight? Either way it's poor form and reflects poorly on him. Lance has got *it* again this year as was proved in today's stage. adding another 1:30 or so to his lead over Jan as well as extending his time on everyone else was very impressive. Don't think Basso will be able to close the gap though he rode great today. Nice to see Voeckler hang reasonably close to the leaders and wear yellow for one more day. Tomorrow's gonna be another big stage.
posted by JohnSFO at 11:16 AM on July 16, 2004
Lance has about 4.5 minute lead over Jan after stg.12. Basso is about a minute back of Lance.
posted by garfield at 11:56 AM on July 16, 2004
right you are garfield - I didn't realize it was that much... GC after stage 12: 2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 5.24 6 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 6.33 12 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 8.50 14 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 8.57 16 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 9.01 20 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 9.46 32 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 12.06 wow.
posted by JohnSFO at 12:01 PM on July 16, 2004
right? that was a helluva move today. I'm thinking Tyler or Jan could do the same in a single stage, given the opportunity arises when Lance won't be on their rear wheel.
posted by garfield at 12:08 PM on July 16, 2004
seems it's ullrich down by 3.37 not 4.5 -still bad but not out of reach? also postal's noval and beltran seemed to "take it easy" today and let hincapie do a lot of the work - maybe in anticipation of tomorrow's stage?
posted by JohnSFO at 12:23 PM on July 16, 2004
Hamilton looked in bad shape today, he really struggled up that hill. Basso was incredibly impressive, it will be interesting to see how much it has taken out of him.
posted by Fat Buddha at 12:27 PM on July 16, 2004
Go get'em, Lance!