Lance to ride tour again. can he make 7?

[Littleodie914]

i don't think i ever liked the idea of hoisting someone like lance as a "true hero." he's a great biker, successfully conquered cancer and made a very good life after overcoming cancer. he's very inspirational.

a lot of people fight cancer courageously and don't make it through - but in my book, everyone who has cancer and fights it for life, regardless of whether they beat cancer or not, whether they go on to win TdF or not, is inspirational and courageous.

to me, hero is someone like those firefighters on 9/11. they put their lives on the line to save others - that's hero to me. beating cancer was not solely his own doing. it took a lot of effort from others and also a great deal of luck. same for him after cancer in picking up his life and becoming a successful biker - it took a lot of effort and support from others and also a bit of luck.

i don't mean to say lance is not a hero. i just don't like to single him out and hoisting him as if only cancer survivors are heros, or that only champion athletes after cancer are heros.

Yea, I see what you mean. Guess I was just a bit steamed about the previous comment about his achievements being the result of steroids.

 

[jxyama]

Didn't they alter the Tour last year to make it more difficult for Lance?

Will they do it again?

The French appear to have great disdain for him...

well, they sort of did. there are less mountain top finishes this year and ITT has been shortened.

i don't think it will make much of a difference. TdF is such a demanding event that the one who wins will not win by chance or minor tweaks of the course. the one with the strongest team and the ind. strength will win.

 

[MemphisSoulStew]

The French appear to have great disdain for him...

Well, it's a two way street that goes back to Lance signing for French team Cofidis before discovering he had cancer. Once he was diagnosed Cofidis were reluctant to honour the contract, assuming that he would never recover enough to race seriously again. The following is taken from an excellent article on Outside Online

But he had another, equally compelling reason to return to his bike: his Cofidis contract. He still hadn't ridden for the team, and as the 1997 racing season began, team officials wanted to know whether they could count on him. Armstrong's agreement with Cofidis was subject to a medical examination he had yet to take when he was diagnosed with cancer. Now Cofidis asked that he be examined by its doctors, a not unreasonable request, especially considering that the company was paying Armstrong $1.25 million a year. But Stapleton [Armstrong's agent] would have none of it. "They forced our hand," Stapleton contends. "No way were we going to let them subject Lance Armstrong to a medical examination in front of the world. At the end of the day, we struck a deal. If Lance didn't ride in four races in 1997, they had the right to terminate his contract.
...
For months Armstrong didn't ride. He traveled, played golf, water-skied, went clubbing. He pushed stocks around on the Internet, enjoyed his new art-filled house and other trophies (a BMW, a Harley), answered thousands of get-well wishes, and got serious with his girlfriend, Kristin Richards, whom he would soon ask to marry. He hung out with the Wallflowers, the Austin-based band that performed a benefit concert for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. He learned, he repeatedly told interviewers, that there was more to life than cycling.

But Armstrong is a rider, compulsive by nature. With each monthly medical exam showing no return of his cancer, his thoughts once again turned to the idea of competing. He no longer thought he could shoot for the Tour de France, as he and Cofidis had hoped, but he believed he could compete again in one-day races. The problem was, after his disease and aborted early comeback, what team would have him? Even the highly optimistic statements from Nichols and his other doctors were insufficient to convince Cofidis that Armstrong was out of the woods.

Armstrong did not, in fact, ride in four races as stipulated by the terms of his Cofidis agreement, so in August of 1997 the company decided to terminate the contract. Armstrong held his tongue for two weeks; then, during a press conference at a bike show in Anaheim, he and Stapleton blasted the company.

So he and his agent struck a deal with his employer, he failed to honor the revised terms of the contract, and the contract was terminated. He then attacked the team for doing what they were perfectly entitled to do, and also made some less than polite comments about the French in general. The French media have been less than polite in return...

 

[absolut_mac]

So he and his agent struck a deal with his employer, he failed to honor the revised terms of the contract, and the contract was terminated. He then attacked the team for doing what they were perfectly entitled to do, and also made some less than polite comments about the French in general. The French media have been less than polite in return...

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

So in other words Lance recently did to his wife (ex-wife?) exactly what he did to his French sponsors a few years earlier, he failed to honor the contract.

A man who doesn't keep his word, or honor his contracts is definitely no hero in my book, regardless of his amazing feats as a cyclist.

 

[Ugg]

Didn't they alter the Tour last year to make it more difficult for Lance?

Will they do it again?

The French appear to have great disdain for him...

The route changes every year. Last year's was average really with slightly more strenuous mountain stages which was actually to Lance's advantage as he is a climber first and foremost. The only truly fixed aspect of the race is the finish in Paris.

Lance is viewed as a great rider in France and his participation brings with it a huge interest around the world. The TDF organizers aren't so stupid as to jeapordize that interest by "fixing" the race. The French in general aren't as enamored of him as they were of Merckx who is Belgian or of LeMond, an American. Mainly because Merckx was incredibly personable and rode with his heart as much as his mind and LeMond actually learned to speak French something Lance does only recently and reluctantly. The French loved the young American upstart with his flashy clothes. He also had a personality. Also, since the cancer, Lance has focused almost solely on the TDF while the majority of his fellow riders are out there riding in other races. He's become somewhat of a one trick pony and not the all around rider that would have made him truly great.

Lance is viewed more as a machine than a person and it's hard to disagree with them. It's hard to get excited about a robot. BUT, his story is very inspirational and nobody out there could fail to appreciate the will power it must take to come back from such a devastating illness.