Le Tour de France - Is anyone watching?

As a former cyclist, I\'ve always been fascinated with the Tour de France.  I watch it every year, and this year is no exception.  I\'ve been particularly nervous for the last week, wondering what unanticipated misfortune might prevent Lance Armstrong from setting a tour record with six consecutive wins.  Now it seems he has it in hand with a 4:09 minute lead over Ivan Basso.

I was never really worried about Ullrich; he just seems to have a loser\'s outlook on this event, and he\'s never really looked strong to me.  What I was really worried about was that some younger rider like Basso or Monqutie or Kloden would prove Lance was over the hill, and crush him on the types of stages he as always excelled at.  That didn\'t happen though.    Yesterday\'s stage on L\'Alpe d\'Huez was stunning.  It was thrilling when Lance chugged past Basso and put a couple minutes on him in a single stage.

What has really surprised me this year was the power and organization of Lance\'s USPS team.  Azevedo, Tricky Beltran, Ekimov, Chechu Rubiera, and of course the great George Hincapie have supported Armstrong with unbelievable consistency.  It\'s going to be awesome to see Lance cap his career off in such a decisive fashion.

[CHIZZY]

what the hell are you talking about? BMX?

Are you telling me you\'ve never heard of Lance Armstrong?

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc

[Kurt Angle]

Lance Armstrong is current seeing Sheryl Crow. At least I think he is.

[GmanJoe]

I\'ve been watching this too. I was gonna post the results yesterday but feared that the mods would lock it as a spam thread.

[CHIZZY]

I was yankin\' yer chain...IMO the tour de france is NASCAR for homosexuals.

Yeah I had it streaming here at work today - talk about an exciting finish on stage 17!!!!  

Armstrong is the Wayne Gretzky of cycling.  I am also taking special glee in the that he is doing all of this in France in front of the French and I hope Chirac has a heart attack when Armstrong rolls into Paris.

Originally posted by CHIZZY
I was yankin\' yer chain...IMO the tour de france is NASCAR for homosexuals.

I consider it more of a sport than NASCAR, golf and even baseball.

its awesome him being from Austin, he\'s huge here.

Originally posted by GigaShadow
Yeah I had it streaming here at work today - talk about an exciting finish on stage 17!!!!  

Armstrong is the Wayne Gretzky of cycling.  I am also taking special glee in the that he is doing all of this in France in front of the French and I hope Chirac has a heart attack when Armstrong rolls into Paris.

I don\'t think this needs to be thought of in political terms.  The French used to love Greg LeMond, although his name certainly helped.  I think they also appreciate and respect Lance.  It\'s the Germans who have been poor sports in this years Tour.  I guess seeing Ullrich, Kloden, and the rest of T Mobile get pwn3d by the posties was too much for them.  

Do you know if Armstrong has said anything about a seventh?

I thought he said he would definitely NOT compete in another Tour de France after this year.  I think that was said as much as a month or two ago, so who knows if he would change his mind.  I think retirement from the tour would be his best choice, but he might continue to ride in other smaller events, or participate in managing the team.  They will have a new sponsor, so I can\'t call them "USPS."  I heard speculation the team may be sponsored by the Discovery Channel next year.

Originally posted by Coredweller
I don\'t think this needs to be thought of in political terms.  The French used to love Greg LeMond, although his name certainly helped.  I think they also appreciate and respect Lance.  It\'s the Germans who have been poor sports in this years Tour.  I guess seeing Ullrich, Kloden, and the rest of T Mobile get pwn3d by the posties was too much for them.  

I know I was saying it in jest... but LeMond has even said negative things about Armstrong over the doping accusations.  Personally I never cared for LeMond and think he is jealous of Armstrongs accomplishments.

Seriously... I can\'t believe that crap LeMond has been saying about Armstrong.  What a bitter jackass.  Lance destroyed LeMond\'s record years ago; you\'d think he would have gotten over it by now.  :rolleyes:

Not only that, but I think LeMond is also pissed about Armstrong\'s better comeback story.  Sure LeMond overcame being shot in a hunting accident to win the Tour, but Armstrong beat nut cancer and is about to win it 6 times in a row.