I agree with you. I saw him make the first comment in an interview w/ Frankie Andreu after the race. I think Lance was just a little frustrated that he didn't have the legs he thought he would have and probably doesn't even realize the contradiction of his two statements. That's exactly why they kept atacking Lance and didn't go after Mayo when he took off. They see Lance as the one they need to beat if they are to finish first. Exactly the reason Lance went after Tyler and Beloki and not Iban. That will probably change now-everyone will have to mark Mayo's future attacks and not allow him to gain any type of cushion on them going into the final TT. At any rate, it is rather unseemly to hear the 4-time champ complain about his challengers doing their best to win.

There is so much happening behind the scenes in a race like this. Lance may be trash-talking or faking not to be as strong as in the previous years. It is also interesting that he is making comments about not feeling 100% on the day he takes on the yellow jersey - as if trying to demoralize the competition. I wonder whether USPS is going to try and defend the lead. It seems too early to do so.

I too thought that his contradictory statements might be a proof that he was spent after that stage - not that there would be anything wrong with that. Eh, I guarantee that you won't get a deep thought from me after a mile swim in the ocean - let alone after a stage like the one these guys went through!

Trirunner wrote: I find interesting that he is supposedly complaining about his rivals not chasing Mayo after saying that he decided not to chase him himself because he was no threat. Isn't it double standard?

No, it isn't a double standard, because the rest of the field is racing for second place. And if they don't watch Mayo, they'll be racing for third place.

---

Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

he's syndicated and he says today that Armstrong complained about Hamilton attacking him rather than working to chase down Mayo.

I think the part that LA appears to be missing here is that if between these guy's Beloki, Mayo, Hamilton and Uhlrich they can continuously take him on sans team i.e. let Armstrong push him own team to breaking point then sit in and then push Armstrong the way he pushs his team, prehaps together these guy's can make him fold.

They dont need to worry about Mayo because if they can get Armstrong to crack then Mayo just becomes another guy they can compete with on a more level playing field.

I hope that they attack LA one after another today and Virenque appears to be together again so lets see what happens.

If Armstrong can take on this field and beat them he deserves it and if these guy's can make him crack and one of them wins they deserve it.

Armstrong is aware of the effect a concerted effort by the other contenders can have on him. I don't think he is contradicting himself, however. He wanted to get the lead pack to work together to catch Mayo, which would have been in all of their interests, as opposed to them taking turns attacking him.

While attacking him makes sense from a point of view of cutting his time advantage, it does none of them any good if Mayo is 5 minutes off the front and now they all lose to someone else.

As a previous poster noted, there is so much going on that you really can't contrast two comments made in different contexts, even if they are in the same interview, as Lance may be going stream of consciousness, and coming at things from a new angle.

In any case, god help them all if he gets his legs back, or if he is bluffing. His calculated strategy of doing exactly what he has to to win is really quite amazing.

---

------------------------------------------------------------

I didn't have the feeling beloki and hamilton were
racing for second yesterday. neither was Mayo.

though, I believe that Lance is playing (saying he does not feel good etc...) because yesterday, I had the impression the spanish were all racing against Lance.

I said that I thought before this started that they would want to take LA out of the equation before they started worrying about each other.

Yes they could have worked to catch Mayo and LA would have kept his advantage. LA is proven, Mayo is not, if you wanted to take the chance of working with LA to catch Mayo but preserve LA's advantage you better be willing to bet your bottom dollar that you can take LA or it simply makes sense to attack and attempt to break LA and worry about Mayo later.

Keeping LA and the posties under pressure is the only way you can beat them.

Look if Mayo went again today all the teams can sit back and watch the posties chase it down, they can let them do all the work because LA is in yellow, once all the posties have done there work and its just LA at the front then everyone can keep attacking him.

This whole tour rocks.

As to who looked comfortable, I thought Tylers face all the way up the Alpe was impassive, he just sat in and worked and at one point he was just sat down spinning on Armstrongs wheel while armstron was out of the saddle and spinning.

Tyler learnt a lot it appears from the man.

I think the comments were part of his tactic. Just think about what Lance would prefer to happen in a stage like this. Mayo is up the road, and he doesn't have any domestiques left. Would you prefer it if everybody attacked you or if everybody worked together (basically turning everybody into your personal domestiques)? Obviously the latter. How do you do that? You don't ask them if they will please work for you, you tell them that they risk loosing their spot to Mayo sooner than that Lance looses his. If you're Lance, you tell Hamilton and Beloki that Mayo doesn't interest you, he will bump down them before you.

I'm sure Lance made that clear during the race, but there is no harm in telling them again after, just for future reference. Of course in Hamilton's and Beloki's case, you have to be racing for first, not second, regardless of how big that chance is. And racing for first means you don't help Lance, but rather let Mayo get away far enough so Lance has to work.

The way I see it, everybody rode and spoke exactly the way they were supposed to. The only thing that disappoints me is the way Lance said things, he didn't have to whine about the competition not chasing, he could have just made the observation. It reminded me a bit of how Simoni and Gonzalez talked about Lance before the Tour (and Lance commented about how he thought that lacked class). And does Lance really think the guy with the broken collarbone is supposed to do the work?

Finally, for those commenting on how relaxed Tyler seemed to be riding in the saddle while others stand up, he rides with a 36t inner ring so he can spin a bit better and doesn't have to stand as often (which is the least comfortable position for his collarbone). And I don't think he felt that relaxed, he just happens to smile when it really hurts.

---

Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

  Of course in Hamilton's and Beloki's case, you have to be racing for first, not second, regardless of how big that chance is. And racing for first means you don't help Lance, but rather let Mayo get away far enough so Lance has to work.

If they were to do that, wait for Mayo to get away far enough that Lance has to work...wouldn't that in fact be racing for second? Lance is the leader, they have to break him. Alas, they cannot.

Hamilton is showing more intestinal fortitude than most anyone out there...he has a true champion's attitude and effort going. I hope he is able to continue to do so well. CSC has a great rider in Hamilton, too bad he is hurt, it makes one wonder what he could do when healthy.

---

Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

I disagree, letting Mayo go is not racing for second its forcing the guy in first to decide whether he needs to worry about it.

Everyone is bluffing to some extent, neither Ham or Bel will want to let Mayo get to far ahead but if someone is going to chase him they'd rather it were Lance.

Likewise instead of chasing Mayo why not attack Lance for first continuously, they'd hope at some point between them if he's without domestiques he could crack under enough pressure.......

This is great.

Thanks for the info on the 36, he still looked comfortable sitting in on the wheel though, I've no doubt he's hurting but he looked as deadpan as Lance.

None of you mentioned Vinokourof, but he climbed pretty well the Alpe d'Huez, and he can TT too.

This said, I would love to see Tyler win it all this year. It would certainly be a great story to add to the 100 years of the Tour de France (which also proves that french speaking people can cheer for an american rider, without agreeing with american politics).

You're right, Vinokourov has been awesome and the amazing thing is, he has been all year. None of this saving yourself for the Tour crap, he won Paris-Nice, then Amstel Gold, then the Tour of Switzerland and now this. Cycling needs more guys like Vino, Mayo and Hamilton, true cyclists rather than merely Tour riders.

I know, I know, the Tour is all Armstrong and Beloki care about and they do it very well (until today at least in Beloki's case), but it will only gain my respect, not my admiration the way the other three do. And I don't think the other three would have done much better just racing the Tour, showing that you don't have to forego the early season and do cycling a disservice if you want to be competitive in the Tour.

---

Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

Gerard,

Armstrong raced in the early season. The Tour may be his focus, as it it Tyler's, but it's not fair to argue that he doesn't race.

In my opinion, Armstrong is playing possum, a. la. 2001. There are/were too many strong riders (Beloki, Hamilton, Vini, Mayo, Ullrich, etc.).

Matt

Gerard wrote: "inally, for those commenting on how relaxed Tyler seemed to be riding in the saddle while others stand up, he rides with a 36t inner ring so he can spin a bit better and doesn't have to stand as often (which is the least comfortable position for his collarbone). And I don't think he felt that relaxed, he just happens to smile when it really hurts. "

I think Hamilton's performance is evidence that could be used in an eariler "discussion". One doesn't get much power from using leverage on the handlebars or aerobars. Simply amazing performance in my book.

Unfortunately, this performance will probably be used by some HMO's and Workman's comp carriers here in the States to deny coverage for setting broken bones, since it is clearly unnecessary.

---

--------------
Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

I understand your comments on respect vs. admiration, and I have to agree. However, when one is focused on making history, one does it in the manner deemed most likely to succeed, and this is how he chooses to do it. He's not after being the best liked, or most admired, or anything else other than his goal of making history.

Mr. Hamiliton wins loads of admiration and respect for his effort in this race. I'd go so far as to say he may be the most admired rider in the race for overcoming his injury and continuing at such a high level of performance.

---

Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Ah yes, we have apparently come to the point where a dominant person or team has dominated a sport too long and folks are jumping off the bandwagon. Lance has not ridden away from the rest this year and all of the sudden shrinking violets are coming out and saying things they would never say if he were dominating at this point. I'm not talking about those of you who regularly and wisely consider the other riders capable of competing. I'm talking about the folks who suddenly have the audacity to say "I told you so. I knew all along." when in fact two weeks ago they would have guaranteed Lance was going to win. Now they boldly denigrate Lance as having ulterior or childish motives when he makes any statement. Folks are looking for reasons not to root for him and reading into his comments all manner of nefariousness. C'mon people. Just be honest in the first place and say that you want xxxxxxxx to win and you want Lance to lose. There is nothing wrong with that. It isn't anti-american or anti-Lance. Its just your preference. But don't stoop to character assasination in the process. I like Lance. I like Tyler. I like Ullrich. I don't like Beloki. I don't like Simoni. BUT. . . I don't trash Beloki, even last year after his so-called "half-hearted attack". Every one of those riders rode a hell of a race. Do you really think Lance doesn't know exactly why those guys marked him yesterday and let Mayo go? What do you want him to say? "Yeah, they made the right decision in marking me and letting Mayo go. He's no threat to us."

I am unsure about how to read your comments, but the point of the discussion I initiated was to try and get a better understanding of the race and its players, to try and read between the lines of the comments they make and the way they ride. Nothing more and nothing less. I found it unusual for Lance not to put x minutes on everybody at Alpes d'Huez and it is rare to hear him criticize his opponents. Is he bluffing or is he really hurting? Watching the Tour in the past days has been like watching fireworks, with attacks coming simultaneously from everywhere. If Lance can withstand all these attacks then it will only make his victory more impressive.

he rides with a 36t inner ring so he can spin a bit better and doesn't have to stand as often

How is this done?

I mean technically how does one get the 36 tooth ring onthe standard holes. Or is it the standard holes?

I'll probably get slammed for saying this but I don't think Hamilton is as injured as we're being led to believe. He's certainly an improved rider but he's only staying in touch because Armstrong is waiting for the TT and the Pyrenees.

Lance is just using his usual psychological tools, saying he's tired etc. He's just pacing himself.

Man, I LOVE that this is such a freaking soap opera!! Lies, deceit, distrust, loyalty, injuries, accusations of feigned injuries, bravado, suffering, confrontation, humiliation, jubilation!! Oh yea, I forgot to mention racing. The Tour rocks!!

Now all we need is to find out that Ullrich is Lance's long lost brother, and they were separated at birth but ironically both raised to be bicycle racers, and are now each other's nemesis. Then question then becomes, which one is Austin, and which is Dr. Evil?

---

------------------------------------------------------------

These are the same comments that were being made in the last year's of Indurain's reign.

1. Many people wanted to see the guy win 5 - 6 straight Tours

2. Many did not.

3. Many found the racing "boring" Indurain in Yellow, AGAIN!!

4. Many teams said that they would be going "all-out" attacking "all the time" to knock Indurain off - even talk of teams working together to accomplish this, but it never happened.

5. Indurain dominated the way Armstrong is dominating or has to date - be dominant or close in the ITT's and close and safe in all other aspects of the race.

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

i think i agree. it seems somewhat similar to last year when it appeared(in retrospect) that lance saved himself to a certain extent in the first time trial, so that he'd be ready for the mountains. going up alpe d-huez, he seemed to be pretty comfortable(although he isn't going to let himself look faitgued) and had no trouble marking all the attacks. i can't comment as much on today as i haven't seen the replay, although it sounds like they might have been able to bridge to vinokourov but for the wreck. these first tough stages came very early in the race, and it would seem to me that attacking hard early might lead to negative consequences in the tt's and pyrenees, especially when considering that carmichael preaches doing the most with the least effort possible...

---

f/k/a mclamb6