I would substitute the name "Greg Lemond" in your reply to Francois. Then at least you'd be mostly right.

Take it from a guy who, when racing as a junior in the late 70's, might have 10 to 20 guys show up to start (So. Cal. mind you) to post Lemond Tour Win No. 1 where Cat. 4 and 3 fields had to be split at 120 riders per field so we often had A and B fields at a given race.

I was also working in the bike retail biz then and our sales sky rocketed when Greg went to Europe first with Gitane and then with LVC.

Lance and every other US rider in Europe is standing on Greg's shoulders.

Finally, cable TV as we know it today was just a twinkle in the eye of the coverage starved race fan. Try waiting for the lone hour of weekend "Agony of Defeat" coverage then complain about OLN if you like.

Greg is my hero. We raced at the same races but I only ever saw his back as he lapped our field a couple of times.

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Mr. Uncaptured External Costs

Fossil carbon is planetary poison.

There's no doubt Merckx was dominant, but cycling is completely different now - it's impossible to compare on an apples to apples basis. I seriously doubt he would win all three jersey's in todays tour, it's not physically possible. These types of records are the kinds that are diificult enough to achieve that they outlast the evolution of the sport. The same thing will likely happen if Lance wins #7, the sport will change in a way to make it impossible. Part of this evolution is probably due to competitors changing how they race so something like this doesn't happen - you could probably say it's the dominant champions, like Merckx, who are partly responsible for what we have today. One of the biggest reasons Lance has won as many as he has is that no one has figured out how to beat him yet. His approach and execution hasn't changed these past 7 tours.

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"What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind and body can achieve; and those who stay will be champions."

the only way to beat him is to prepare exactly like DSC. One super freak in the team, a team entirely dedicated to helping him, ignoring the classics and other tour, racing them as training races, everything is for the Tour and uniquely for the Tour. The whole team (of 20 something at the start) unique purpose is to peak for the Tour and help Lance, and do like Popovych yesterday when Lance asked, hammer and die...
No other team can afford to do this. T-mobile would never do this for Jan. CSC wouldn't do that for Basso, because the cycling season is more than 3 week long.

I don't think the sport will evolve in this direction after he retires...Teams will go on preparing for the whole pro Tour, because their sponsors demand it.

[reply]For golf fans out there, this is like Tiger's run a few years back. All he did was live for Majors, didn't care about any other tourney and didn't have to. Everyone knew he would win each major, and it made it difficult to watch (if you enjoy watching golf at all). So everyone started pulling against him. There is no golfer in the world I would pay to watch except Tiger, you have to be awed by his game. But that doesn't mean you have to pull for him to win every tourney.

Same with MJ, I hated seeing the Bulls win every year, but couldn't get enough of watching Jordan.[/reply]

I was thinking about that the other day. There are definitely simularities, but there is also one big difference. In golf and in Basketball, there may have been a dominating athlete, but the broadcasts were balanced. Yes, Tiger got a lot of coverage, he should as he was/is the biggest story, but the announcers weren't rooting for him (or against him). They just called the play. OLN doesn't seem to be able to do that, and I fear that very soon, cycling coverage in the US will be way down. Of course, it's not OLN's mandate to promote cycling, but they could do more just to protect one of their franchise broadcasts. I honestly don't know why the average OLN viewer would watch next year. They'd be watching a show where they don't know a single name, unless Lance becomes an announcer.

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

hmm last I checked Hincapie was trying to win some classics. Oh, wait who won the Giro again???

I agree, it's how the tour overall win is valued. Right now, it is apparent it is most important to DSC. There are enough other prizes available at the tour (and other races) that teams are content (or required) to fight for - it reduces the number of people and resources fighting for the overall. If the only thing valued in the tour was overall, I don't think Lance wins this many.

I can't say I can propose a way that things will evolve to change and prevent another overall win streak like 7, but just that his record will stand for so long (if he wins seven), that cycling will likely be different by the time another great comes along and could cocievably break it. I'm guess my main point is that these guys aren't as good as the records they set make them seem, they aren't gods, but are exceptional athletes (with intense desire) in the right situation at the right time who seize the oppurtunities.

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"What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind and body can achieve; and those who stay will be champions."

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to watch any of OLN's coverage this year, so I haven't gotten sick of the Lance-fest. But it can't be worse than golf announcers in general, who want you to think every player on tour is some kind of God. Every shot is impossible, every lie is horrible, blah blah blah. The only thing impossible in golf is having a buffet big enough to feed all of them until they are full.

one could certainly argue that usps/dsc is a stage racing team. between the giro, vuelta, and tdf, has anyone other than merckx won more over a six year period?

maybe dsc can be compared to the new england patriots, where everybody puts their all towards the good of the team. voigt and vino would never have a chance at dsc to attack, and they certainly don't have anyone going for any of the other jerseys.

I hope the trend isn't towards dsc type tour tactics - the result would be terribly boring racing.

I don't think I disagree with anything you've said about Greg LeMond. Particularly about Lance and every other US cyclist in Europe "standing on his shoulders." I know that LeMond was a pioneer and an innovator. But Armstrong is the capitalist. Could LeMond have sold $55 Million in plastic wristbands? I have no numbers in front of me, but I have to think that more average Americans have gotten into cycling - in some form - because of the buzz surrounding LA and that the US bike business has grown like never before in the last few years. I'd even argue that some of triathlon's explosion of growth in the past few years can be attributed to the cult of Lance.

Times have changed and superstar athletes now are as much marketing machines as they are great athletes. And looking at what LeMond accomplished for cycling, I realize you have to take into account what was realistic for athletes to do back then.

I also worry that after the Tour de Lance, North American followers of the race will be relegated to 1 hour per week teevee coverage, at best.

Will Discovery channel even sponsor a TDF team next year? Is there a contract duration longer than this year?

why so bitter? Aren't you just happy Moreau is in 3rd place? ;)

la supposedly had a contract to ride one tour with them, yates has a three year contract, and the original info was that disco has a 'multi-year contract' to sponsor the team. with popo as the next go to guy, surely they won't drop out of the tour.

the race will go on even if amuricans don't watch it. and still be just as good, if not better.

The "team" is a separate entity from discovery. Essentially a group of investors owns the team (LA is a part owner) and they sell naming rights to the team. Over the years this same team has been subaru-montgomery, 7-11, motorola, USPS, and discovery. The team will go on after LA and discovery, probably with a lower budget.

Also, The rules are still being negotitated, but if they are a top tier team (Protour) they will likely be required to be in the TdF.



Styrrell

>Will Discovery channel even sponsor a TDF team next year? Is there a contract duration longer than this year?<<

Of course they will.

Nice rumor on Martin Dugard's blog on active.com that Disco is wanting.....IVAN BASSO. (And not Vino as he wouldn't sell as well to the American market.)

Basso in blue? Would he bring any other Italians????

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Gerard has it right here - OLN knows that its a 1-trick pony regarding the tour. They're milking the 2005 tour for all the Lance they can get because they know that next year there is no real reason for americans to be interested in the tour because there is very little coverage here in the US for cycling - it will just be a bunch of names nobody knows.

I liken it to the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team - they made it to the stanley cup, they had record-breaking attendance (and seat prices). Then no hockey for a year. I forecast that interest in the hurricanes here is mostly gone because people simply lost interest.

Maybe that is a crap analogy. Either way Gerard nailed it. Viewership of the 2006 tour will be wa down in the US because we don't have anyone being marketed as something worth watching to the average American.

OLN - The Only Lance Network.

jsargevt

PS - I do kind of hate the fact that they have those silly livestrong HP laptops on their set. I feel like the integrity of the broadcast is diminished by such overt lance-supporting-product placement although I know it doesn't really matter.

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Do or do not there is no try.

what's your reasoning behind Vino not selling to the American market compared to Basso??

I couldn't follow Dugard's reasoning. Discovery is only figuring out now, after months of negotiating, that Vino is Kazak? And somehow the Ukranian Popovich is a better sell in the US, or what were they thinking when they hired him?

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

Not my reasoning.

http://blogs.active.com/.../new-kournikova.html

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Vino has that blonde, cold, calculating look. Basso and Popo would be easier sells. Basso and his mother's cancer and his cute little daughter--way better marketing.

Remember who they will be marketing to...not you and me, but rather, the masses. Though I don't really like Vino (or Jan).

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

That Dugard blog is a lot of crap...LOL...it makes no sense whatsoever.
I'd like to know how many will know that Kazakhstan and Ukrain were part of the USSR.
If a big guy with a terrible austrian accent was able to become governor if Kalifohnia, I am sure they can market Vino just fine...

I think they can rebrand Vinokourov to be Kazak for "he who makes great wine". Then they get Coppola wines to sponsor the team and Bob Roll's your uncle.

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

No, Vino would have to make a bunch of dumb movies first. Then marry a Kennedy.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I guess Lance would be going for the record this year if not for.............In 1975, he attempted to win his sixth Tour de France, but became a victim of violence in sports. Many Frenchmen were upset that a Belgian might beat the record of five wins set by Frenchman Jacques Anquetil. Merckx held the yellow jersey for 8 days of the race, which raised his record to 95 total days, but during stage fourteen a spectator leapt from the crowd and punched him in the kidneys. He kept racing with a double fracture and took medications. The pain in combination with the medicine caused him to fall during the race. He eventually ran out of energy and lost his lead but on the last stage he showed one last sign of defiance by sprinting ahead of the peloton. He would never win the Tour de France again.

Imagine if that had happened to Lance??? What kind of uproar do you think would be going on now??

man, you're in good shape today! ;-)