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Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques?
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I was reading on a separate cycling website today that Lance's season is technically over with the exception of the S.F. Grand Prix. Does this rub anyone else the wrong way? I was just thinking that I would have been nice to see Lance ride the Vuelta in support of Roberto Heras or maybe another one day race in support of Hincapie ? It seems like it would have been a classy thing to do seeing as how they all kill themselves for him in July.



Scott
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [bianchiusa] [ In reply to ]
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He does. He's a super-domestique in the SF GP (ask George how he won the innaugural race).

Don't know about the Vuelta, but another long stage race could smoke the dude. He does support his teammates in the early season races though.


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He does ... [ In reply to ]
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Last year he rode for Hincapie at SF Gran Prix. I suspect he will do the same this year.

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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [bianchiusa] [ In reply to ]
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I don't think the postal guys are complaining about Lance not "working" for them in other races. They get some nice perks by helping him win the Tour ever year. Lance gave all his prize money to the team, granted he doesn't need it but he did it.

Sounds like you are a little bitter becuase Jan didn't have the support from the Bianchi guys like Lance gets from his Postal Team.

PS - I believe I noticed Lance was playing domestiques during the tour when Heras had the yellow that day.

Later,
Mark
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [trimark0769] [ In reply to ]
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Sorry Mark,

No bitterness here. Lance was awesome in the Tour and in the end he deserved to win over Jan. I do however think that this year more than ever the domestiques were what got him there in the end.

As the the S.F. GP, I saw him working for George last year, I guess it would be nice though to see him at Milan-San Remo or the Vuelta, something of a more international caliber.



Scott
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [trimark0769] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:

PS - I believe I noticed Lance was playing domestiques during the tour when Heras had the yellow that day.


First of all, it was Victor Hugo Peña who was in the yellow jersey. Second, Lance was never a domestique during the tour. I saw a picture of Peña wearing the yellow jersey with a bunch of bottles jammed underneath. It was business as usual for the Posties those days.
Last edited by: Bru: Aug 8, 03 11:31
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [Bru] [ In reply to ]
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I had heard some grumblings about having the Yellow Jersey fetching bottles was disrespectful to the jersey. Undecided on whether or not I agree, but I do see the point.
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [bianchiusa] [ In reply to ]
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First, as others have noted, he does ride for his boys, particularly George, in classics. Second, like someone else said, he gives all the money he wins from the tour to his team. What wasn't posted is that Lance reaches into his own pocket to double that so his team gets to split somewhere in the neighborhood of 700K. Not bad for three weeks' work. Third, Lance doesn't ride the Vuelta for Heras but he lets Roberto use the rest of his team which is a great team, better than any Heras could get behind him on his own. Fourth, if Lance rode the Vuelta, there's a good chance that he would win the damn thing (or at least beat Heras) even if he had to carry bottles for Roberto and that wouldn't help anyone.

None of this is a knock on Heras. He is probably my favorite pro rider and I hope (and believe) that after next year, Lance will hand the team to him. He just isn't as strong as Lance and, while he might be able to get a job as a captain somewhere, it wouldn't be on as strong a team as postal.



________________________________________________

Anyone who tells you they're as fast now as they were when they were 18...
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [Rich] [ In reply to ]
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I was unable to follow the Tour day to day this year, but Beltran, the new guy, finished way ahead of Heras in the GC. There may have been other circumstances, but it is not obvious to me that Heras should be the air apparent.

This is not a shot at Roberto. He is awesome.
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Very true... [Rich] [ In reply to ]
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While it's traditional for the winner to turn over the entire race winnings to his team, Lance goes a step beyond by doubling it - out of his own pocket. It's an awesome gesture of thanks to his boys whom he knows he'd never have won a single tour without.


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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [ajfranke] [ In reply to ]
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Heras was not feeling well during the Tour, hence his lackluster performance. There was an article on cyclingnews.com as the Tour was winding down about his troubles. He had some nagging bugs that kept him from performing as he did last year. And speaking of cyclingnews.com, did anyone else read their daily stage write-ups? After watching the stages on OLN, I would read the cyclingnews.com reports. In every article from Stage 1 to the end, the various authors referred to Tyler Hamilton as "the Man from Marblehead." Every single article. Got kind of tired of that moniker. Not that this matters much, but did anyone else notice that?

RP
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [rhpreston] [ In reply to ]
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Heras was sick this year. If you want to see what he is capable of, watch the tape of the '02 tour. He was awesome throughout, but he really showed his stuff on stage 12. Set a pace that pretty much broke Beloki for the first three quarters of the climb, then when Lance attacked, Heras tried to bridge up to Lance (who was going to give him the stage for his help the day before) saw he could but would risk pulling Beloki up to Lance so he sat on Beloki's wheel and then outsprinted him at the line easily to take away a couple of seconds of time bonus from Beloki. That day made me very glad Heras rides for Lance rather than against him. If he ever gets his time trialing down he will be a force. Unfortunately, time may be running out for him.



________________________________________________

Anyone who tells you they're as fast now as they were when they were 18...
sure wasn't very fast when they were 18.
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [Rich] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
First, as others have noted, he does ride for his boys, particularly George, in classics. He rode for himself in the classics this year, but I think that was because George was hurt. Second, like someone else said, he gives all the money he wins from the tour to his team. What wasn't posted is that Lance reaches into his own pocket to double that so his team gets to split somewhere in the neighborhood of 700K. Not bad for three weeks' work. Exactly. That's the payment for their good service. I'm sure they'd rather have that $$ than have Lance work for them at a race or two. Third, Lance doesn't ride the Vuelta for Heras but he lets Roberto use the rest of his team which is a great team, better than any Heras could get behind him on his own. I disagree with you here. While USPS is certainly one of the best teams in the world, the team they sent to the Vuelta last year to back up Heras was not one of the strongest teams there. Phil must have said a dozen times during the coverage how the USPS team was "certainly not the team we saw at the Tour" Most of the time, Christian Vandevelde was the only postal rider able to keep pace with the lead group. The Spanish bring the strongest teams to the Vuelta because it's their big race of the year. Postal's focus is the Tour. Certainly if Roberto's only consideration was that he wanted to win the Vuelta, he could find a stronger team(Spanish) than Postal to help him because that team would focus on the Vuelta. Heras has won the Vuelta in the past, with a Spanish team.
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [bianchiusa] [ In reply to ]
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Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I have a hard time believing Merckx ever rode domestique once he reached the top. We don't question his class. When you're on top riding domestique has only to do with whether it fits into your training and racing schedule, not whether its classy or not. Lance does as much as he can for the other riders on the team, but Lance rides for sponsors. Ullrich rides for sponsors. Merckx rode for sponsors. Those sponsors paid for them to win big races. If riding domestique doesn't fit into the plan for winning those races, they aren't going to do it. It might make a good story if Lance rode for Heras and Beltran in the Vuelta, but it simply doesn't fit into the plan for a sixth TDF.
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Re: Why doesn't Lance ever ride for his domestiques? [TriBriGuy] [ In reply to ]
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I think it was 2000 When Tyler won the Duaphine. Lance was the team leader, but wasnt riding 100% and Tyler was riding well, so Lance became Uber-domestique, helping Tyler win, and Tyler repaid him at the Tour working his A$$ of for Lance for what was his 1st of 3 victories over Jan.


Jason Goldberg
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