Five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault is unconvinced that Lance Armstrong has what it takes to win this Tour: “He’s not looked that good this year and everyone saw how he struggled in the mountains last year,” said Hinault.
“So I’d say his chances of winning are only 50-50 at best.”
This seems a little strange, based on Armstrong’s very good performance in the prologue. None of the other guys Hinault tips have done anything individually in this Tour either, but that’s the nature of the first week:
“For me, the three key men are Jan Ullrich, Tyler Hamilton and Roberto Heras. And this year’s course means they all have a strong chance.”
But even if Armstrong wins a sixth, Hinault says he has no right to call himself the best ever.
The Frenchman said: "It’s wrong to compare eras. He is at the top of his and I was at the top of mine, as were all the other five-time Tour winners.
“Should Armstrong win six, he will be great. But greater than Merckx, Anquetil or Indurain - I’m not so sure.”
What’s with these former winners? Lance has done something never done before; why not show some class. Sorry Bernie, Lance is better than you are and better than you were. It’s not necessary for you or Greg to acknowledge him, because as of now, he is The Man.
“But even if Armstrong wins a sixth, Hinault says he has no right to call himself the best ever.”
Can you put that in any context that doesn’t shed bad light on Hinault?
Some my argue that the Mike Ditka-Buddy Ryan Bears ('84?) weren’t the best ever, but those on that team have certainly earned the right to claim they were. Hinault may have some elaborate formula to determine who was the best ever, but 6 titles kinda clinches it.
I hate the Celtics, but you can’t argue that the old Celtics were the best and most dominant team ever. Why, because they always won.
I think Hinault and many other European cycling centric people look at the Tour as a very important race but they also consider many of the Giro, Veulta, etc. to be equally important. Lance races the Tour, everything else for him is just a tune-up. Hinault and Merckx won a lot of other crits and as a result think of cycling greatness in a much broader context. They did not have the luxury of simply saving themselves for the tour. They raced everything hard. This is why you hear Lance talking about focusing on some other races. He wants to be considered the greatest rider ever, but to do so he needs to hold more than the TDF record. As Francois points out, Lance cannot claim that title until he wins these other races.
If Lance wins too many stages, he’s the new Cannibal. So he rides The Giro and the Dauphine in support of team mates instead of winning them, and he’s a loser?
Has Lance ever said that he wants to be remembered as the greatest rider ever? If so, I’ve never heard it (and I pay pretty close attention). I’ve heard him say that he wants to be remembered as a cancer survivor and a father, that in 20 years when someone mentions the TdF his kids will ask “What’s that?”
Lance has never claimed to be the greatest cyclist ever, and although I’m a big Lance fan, you can’t ignore the other two grand tours just because they’re not as famous as the TDF. Most if not all the other 5 time winners also won a couple times in the Giro or the Vuelta or both. Some of them wontwo grand tours in the same year. Nobody is making up some moving target for him to shoot for, these are important races. That said, I like it better when past champions show some class and support the current generation of champion. I hope that Hinault’s comments were indeed taken somewhat out of context.
Francois, with all love in my heart for you, my only comment is that since Hinault is in the group of riders with five wins, and someone else, whoever, it is, is in the process of surpassing the number of wins of that special clique, that to make negative comments during the event seems a bit classless and like sour grapes. When a home run title is about to be beaten over here in American Baseball, usually surviving family members (or the player if still alive) will come and sit in the stands to cheer him on. They leave the comments like, the balls are harder, the bats are better, his home field was a shorter stadium and he was shot up on steriods to be made by others, and history. We are talking about a “class” thing.
I think when Lance says – next year I want to focus on the Giro, it is pretty much implied that he wants to round out his resume thought I never have heard the words “I want to be remembered as the world’s greatest cyclist” ever come out of his mouth.
Thanks Francois. I think it probably is easier to focus on one race all year. Other cyclists probably don’t have the financial luxury, or their team structures don’t allow it.
But here is this great expert, Hinault, saying Lance doesn’t look good this year, before it even got to the point where he would ordinarily begin to make his move. How foolish Hinault looks. By sour grapes, I meant on Hinault’s part. Emotionally, he lost something today, so he has to diminish the accomplishment of the one who took it from him.
Francois–I HATE it hen somebody has the facts! Damn it. Thanks for your explanation. I will shake Hinault’s hand when they do the ceremony. P.S. Did anybody notice that OLN did not show Lance crossing the line at the finish? The cameras were not on him.
I read that he is not obligated to ride the Tour in 05 according to a quote of Bruyneel. Of course I do not necessarily believe the media as things get so twisted and blown out of proportion by the writers and editors depending on how they want to spin it. Guess living with a PR queen has my view of the media tainted.
I heard Lance in an interview say that he hadn’t decided on next year, but that if Discovery told him they wanted him to ride the TDF he would certainly understand that.
I would think that from a marketing ROI perspective, they would absolutely want him to ride in the Tour. More bang for the buck vs. the Giro and Vuelta.
No, but she’s the one who tells me about how they twist everything and with her working on camapaigns and double top secret stuff I get to see it first hand - very interesting. Glad to hear you are running a bit.