Support NeoGAF

[andthebeatgoeson]

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=1992610

Lance commits to quest for 7th straight victory

Associated Press

PARIS -- Lance Armstrong will be back in the saddle at this year's Tour de France, chasing title No. 7.

The Tour's only six-time winner finally put an end to questions about his plans for 2005, announcing Wednesday on his Discovery Channel team's Web site that he'll try to extend his record streak of consecutive victories in cycling's most prestigious event.

"I am grateful for the opportunity that Discovery Communications has given the team and look forward to achieving my goal of a seventh Tour de France," Armstrong said, according to the team's site.

Until Wednesday, the Texan had left open the possibility that he wouldn't compete in this year's Tour. As recently as last month, Armstrong said: "I'll definitely be in France this summer. It just might not be on the bike."

He has said he's ready to pursue other challenges in racing and wants to try to win other big races. Still, he has dedicated most of his cycling life to the Tour, leaving little room for such Classic races as the Spanish Vuelta, the Paris-Roubaix or Fleche Wallone, which he won in 1996 shortly before being diagnosed with testicular cancer.

His sixth Tour crown last year elevated Armstrong above four five-time champions: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

The team Web site said Armstrong will start his 2005 season with the Paris-Nice stage race in March. He will then compete in the Tour of Flanders on April 3, before returning to the United States to defend his title at the Tour de Georgia later that month.

Armstrong told the Web site that he and Johan Bruyneel, his friend and team manager, "will evaluate my fitness later this spring and possibly add some races to the calendar."

"I am excited to get back on the bike and start racing," Armstrong said, "although my condition is far from perfect."

Hmmm. Other racers probably won't give much weight to that last bit.

After all, while the Texan will be nearly 34 when the Tour begins July 2 -- too old, some might think, to win the three-week cycling marathon yet again -- there were plenty of doubters last year, too. And yet Armstrong managed to defeat younger competitors with arguably his most dominant Tour de France performance ever.

"It's good that he is there. The best should be at the Tour," said Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour champion and five-time runner-up who is one of Armstrong's biggest rivals.

Andreas Kloden, last year's runner-up, said: "I always said he would ride. I am glad he's there."

Only time will tell whether Armstrong can get as fired up about winning a seventh Tour as he did to clinch record No. 6. But he already has said that if he did come back, he would aim for nothing but victory. He says he loves the classic race too much to treat it with anything less than the respect it deserves.

And Armstrong showed last year that in the saddle, he can shut out all manner of distractions -- from a court battle over a book that implied he used drugs to all the attention focused on his girlfriend, singer Sheryl Crow -- to focus on winning.

This year's Tour de France route passes through Germany and features 21 stages over 2,222 miles from July 2-24.

The mountaintop finishes are less intense and the time trials shorter this year. Both are disciplines where Armstrong excelled in the past, so the changes may mean he will have fewer opportunities to take huge chunks of time off his rivals.

But some initially thought that the 2004 route also might trip up the champion. Instead, it proved just to his liking.

Armstrong's winning margin over Kloden -- 6 minutes, 19 seconds -- was not his biggest. But his five solo stage wins and a team time trial victory with his squad made it arguably Armstrong's best Tour.

Can seven wins top that?

So much for taking a break.

 

[jenov4]

Awesome.

 

[DarienA]

Lance Armstrong's speech in Dodgeball kicks so much ass... the man is my hero.

Lance Armstrong: Hey, aren't you Peter La Fleur?
Peter La Fleur: Lance Armstrong!
Lance Armstrong: Ya, that's me. But I'm a big fan of yours.
Peter La Fleur: Really?
Lance Armstrong: Ya, I've been watching the dodgeball tournament on the Ocho. ESPN 8. I just can't get enough of it. Good luck in the tournament. I'm really pulling for you against those jerks from Globo Gym. I think you better hurry up or you're gonna be late.
Peter La Fleur: Uh, actually I decided to quit... Lance.
Lance Armstrong: Quit? You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit. So what are you dying of that's keeping you from the finals?
Peter La Fleur: Right now it feels a little bit like... shame.
Lance Armstrong: Well, I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't anything to regret for the rest of their life. Well good luck to you Peter. I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever.

:lol

 

[Pimpwerx]

Lance Armstrong's speech in Dodgeball kicks so much ass... the man is my hero.

Lance Armstrong: Hey, aren't you Peter La Fleur?
Peter La Fleur: Lance Armstrong!
Lance Armstrong: Ya, that's me. But I'm a big fan of yours.
Peter La Fleur: Really?
Lance Armstrong: Ya, I've been watching the dodgeball tournament on the Ocho. ESPN 8. I just can't get enough of it. Good luck in the tournament. I'm really pulling for you against those jerks from Globo Gym. I think you better hurry up or you're gonna be late.
Peter La Fleur: Uh, actually I decided to quit... Lance.
Lance Armstrong: Quit? You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit. So what are you dying of that's keeping you from the finals?
Peter La Fleur: Right now it feels a little bit like... shame.
Lance Armstrong: Well, I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't anything to regret for the rest of their life. Well good luck to you Peter. I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever.

:lol

:lol Thanks for reposting that. Yeah, I laughed my ass off when he said that. I love the "what are you dying of" part. PEACE.

 

[speedpop]

I'm not a huge fan of Armstrong, but I'd love to see him kick more arse simply because of being someone so dominant. The issue of him contracting cancer is something entirely different. We're seeing a superhuman feat here. Something which will more than likely never be done again.

 

[Tarazet]

I was just about to post this. This ought to be interesting, because he hemmed and hawed and bided his time for quite a while. Usually he plans his attack on the Tour de France with the anal-retentive detail of your 75-year-old grammar teacher, and furthermore, he usually starts in November or December. Until now, he has said he was going to attack the Spring classics, and he's still saying that he's going to do the Tour of Flanders (a hilly, cobbled and tradition-drenched race that he could do very well in), then decide whether he was going to Le Tour.

He seems more relaxed, happier, less "hungry" and more appreciative of what his sport has to offer. I laughed for a good five minutes at that Dodgeball interview, because he wouldn't have done that three years ago. He probably will win No. 7 no matter what he does, because he's just having a blast riding his bike.

 

[Jotaro]

I'm sure Eddie Merckx would kick is ass if he could write a bicycle today.

 

[AirBrian]

ESPN: Lance commits to quest for 7th straight victory

Meanwhile in France...

"OK, last year's rule changes didn't stop him, what can we do this year...?"

"The Tour would like to announce a new rule change for this year: all Americans must use this bike."

"Aww damn. Time to give Canseco a call."

 

[Shinobi]

:lol :lol :lol

I'm glad he's racing...let's face it, whoever would've won in his absence would've gotten the biggest asterisk dropped against his name since Roger Maris. At least this way a new winner can say they beat the champ. If there is a new winner.

 

[Tarazet]

:lol :lol :lol

I'm glad he's racing...let's face it, whoever would've won in his absence would've gotten the biggest asterisk dropped against his name since Roger Maris. At least this way a new winner can say they beat the champ. If there is a new winner.

Or an old winner - "eternal second" Jan Ullrich actually won the race in 1997, when he was 23. If he wins again, it'll be the biggest gap between wins since Gino Bartali won in 1938 and 1948.

 

[NLB2]

Or an old winner - "eternal second" Jan Ullrich actually won the race in 1997, when he was 23. If he wins again, it'll be the biggest gap between wins since Gino Bartali won in 1938 and 1948.

And you just know this kind of stuff? That's pretty cool

 

[Tarazet]

And you just know this kind of stuff? That's pretty cool

I'm a huge cycling fan. I read Cyclingnews.com as often as I read GAF, and probably more thoroughly. I love taking any chance to talk about my sport of choice.