Tour de France

[Vinnie_Johnson]

I'm so glad Armstrong didn't win. Guy is a jerk.

[Kobulingam]

Contador is the best climber of all time, and considerably better than Armstrong ever was (especially acceleration on climbs).

And all this at an age that is considered young for a GC contender.

[IceColdBrewski]

Lance played the role of support rider, just as he was expected to do. All that speculation that he would attack Contador turned out to be nonsense. In fact, it was Contador who took flack for ignoring the team gameplan. Not once, but twice.

The haters won't admit it, but they're pissed that Armstrong will still be standing on the podium with a 3rd place finish. He ended up being THE big story of the tour.

[Vinnie_Johnson]

Lance played the role of support rider, just as he was expected to do. All that speculation that he would attack Contador turned out to be nonsense. In fact, it was Contador who took flack for ignoring the team gameplan. Not once, but twice.

The haters won't admit it, but they're pissed that Armstrong will still be standing on the podium with a 3rd place finish. He ended up being THE big story of the tour.

Ratings were also up 88 percent from last year.

[johngateswhiteley]

I'm so glad Armstrong didn't win. Guy is a jerk.

i've often found that people who don't understand compe ion, or aren't compe ive themselves...don't understand many athletes.

[IceColdBrewski]

Contador is the best climber of all time, and considerably better than Armstrong ever was (especially acceleration on climbs).

And all this at an age that is considered young for a GC contender.

Greatest in the world currently, sure. But best climber of all time? That could be debated until the cows come home. Take some of the great old school climbers in their prime, put them in one of the high speed bikes of today, and who knows how much better they could've been. That's like picking a current NASCAR driver and calling him the greatest driver of all time. But back when the sport was young, drivers didn't have luxuries like power steering, wind tunnel tests, and 7 post shaker rigs that make the car a rocket before it ever turns a lap. Plus, it's easy to look like "the best climber of all time" when you have great climbers like Armstrong, Kloden, and Levi taking turns doing all the work up front.

I know one thing. Contador made a lot of enemies on team Astana this year. His team that flat dominated for most of the tour. And its best riders will likely be telling him to off as they go join Lance on his new Radio Shack team next year. And since he also pissed off team director, and master tactician John Bruyneel, he'll be joining Armstrong as well next year. It will be interesting to see what Contador can do next year with a team that likely won't be even half as good as the one that worked to put him on the podium this year. Good luck finding halfway decent riders who are willing to be ed over after doing most of the work. Not to mention a team director who's willing to be ignored. But who knows. Maybe he'll be able to find a sponsor that's willing to fork over the kind of cash needed for decent teammates who won't mind sacrificing a podium finish for his glory.

[lefty]

LMAO Armstrong

I can't stand him

[mountainballer]

I know one thing. Contador made a lot of enemies on team Astana this year. His team that flat dominated for most of the tour. And its best riders will likely be telling him to off as they go join Lance on his new Radio Shack team next year. And since he also pissed off team director, and master tactician John Bruyneel, he'll be joining Armstrong as well next year. It will be interesting to see what Contador can do next year with a team that likely won't be even half as good as the one that worked to put him on the podium this year. Good luck finding halfway decent riders who are willing to be ed over after doing most of the work.

you really think Contador and Armstrong are that much different? they are the same, Contador is just the next version of Lance. (who also wasn't exactly everyones darling and a popular teammate in his domination days). finding a good team is just a matter of money. if Contador's team can offer enough, they will also find enough good or at least decent riders, no matter if Contador is the greatest a**hole in the world.
fact is, he is the future of the sport (if he doesn't get trapped like so many in the last years), he is just 26 and has already won the tour twice plus the Giro and the Vuelta, (Armstrong was 27, when he won the tour the first time) he could dominate the next 8 years. there will be enough riders, who want to jump on this bandwagon and, as much as in any other sport, the riders salary is tied to the teams overall success.

[Freeze]

Greatest in the world currently, sure. But best climber of all time? That could be debated until the cows come home. Take some of the great old school climbers in their prime, put them in one of the high speed bikes of today, and who knows how much better they could've been. That's like picking a current NASCAR driver and calling him the greatest driver of all time. But back when the sport was young, drivers didn't have luxuries like power steering, wind tunnel tests, and 7 post shaker rigs that make the car a rocket before it ever turns a lap. Plus, it's easy to look like "the best climber of all time" when you have great climbers like Armstrong, Kloden, and Levi taking turns doing all the work up front.

I agree, a guy like Indurain wasn't the best climber of his time, but he won several stages because of the great work of his team Banesto climbers.

I believe only Pantani (RIP) was dominating enough in the mountains to win the tour without good climbers on his team.

I know one thing. Contador made a lot of enemies on team Astana this year. His team that flat dominated for most of the tour. And its best riders will likely be telling him to off as they go join Lance on his new Radio Shack team next year. And since he also pissed off team director, and master tactician John Bruyneel, he'll be joining Armstrong as well next year. It will be interesting to see what Contador can do next year with a team that likely won't be even half as good as the one that worked to put him on the podium this year. Good luck finding halfway decent riders who are willing to be ed over after doing most of the work. Not to mention a team director who's willing to be ignored. But who knows. Maybe he'll be able to find a sponsor that's willing to fork over the kind of cash needed for decent teammates who won't mind sacrificing a podium finish for his glory.

I do have a different opinion on this. I believe that since Amstrong has announced his comeback, Bruyneel wanted him as the leader of the team for the tour. I know he stated previously that Contador was the leader, but I don't feel this to be true, first because Lance said he wanted to win it all, second because of the 3rd stage when his teammates were working for Amstrong when Contador was in a group behind, and then in the mountains, I had the feeling that Kloden was working for Lance much more than him. Furthermore, Bruyneel and Amstrong share a glorious past, and a special relationship.
Contador shut his mouth until he got the yellow jesey, and then report that he was pissed of all of this, considering he should have been The leader of the team, uncontested, due to his recent victories (Tour 2007, Giro & Vuelta 2008).
Anyway, don't worry for his future, plenty of teams (Caisse d'epargne already offered him a deal) will be glad to get him next year if he decide to leave Astana, and plenty of very good riders appreciate him, and would be glad to share his prize-money.

[Freeze]

1) thats his opinion

2) how many of those riders tested positive for doping?

Plenty of them, I'd say a third has been tested positive. But plenty of them haven't, but acknowledge later that they were using (Riis, Virenque, Fignon,...). And of course you also have those who will never admit they have used (Amstrong, Hinault,....).

I'm glad the anti-dopping rules have evolved, with samples who can now be conserved for years. In a recent report, the AFLD (Association Française de Lutte contre le Dopage, the French organism who was in charge of the test during the Tour 2008) explained that some samples from last year are gonna be retested with new methods to detect better EPO Cera. They also said they were working on test to find traces of a new product wich allow users to lose weight and gain strengh. There is no test today, but they believe they could soon have one.

[Indazone]

Contador was successful in his impression of Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore. He definately made himself the ass of the Tour.

El Pistolero, "There is no I in team" - Lance Armstrong.

[Bartleby]

Contador is the best climber of all time, and considerably better than Armstrong ever was (especially acceleration on climbs).

I would put Van Impe, Pantani, and Virenque ahead of Contador when ranking the best climbers of all time.

[Brazil]

^Virenque is not really a pure climber like Pantani for instance, Virenque is not an explosive guy who can put 5 min alone to everybody in 10 km in l'Alpe d'Huez.

[Brazil]

I was checking the NY times site and I found a serie of articles about Lance Armstrong and I remembered this thread.

Is there anybody still believing Armstrong is clean ?

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/refere...ong/index.html

[Brazil]

Lance Armstrong has never failed a drug test. Never. I don't see how you can hate on him.

So the fact that other cyclists have later admitted to using drugs means you can hate on Lance? WTF??? I don't give a anyway. The dude had tumors removed from his brain and had one of his testicles removed. He's an inspiration to anyone that's been affected by cancer.

I know it's your opinion and your in tilted to it but its wrong. Lance has never tested positive for drugs so shut your mouth or show us proof.

The guy gets tested more then any other rider out there and has never tested positive.

[lefty]

Brazil with the bombs on Vinnie_Johnson and @tlongII

[tlongII]

[Brazil]

[Brazil]

[The Reckoning]

damn bukefal was dead on