Okay folks, I’m going out on a limb here and stating it for the record. Based on the latest from cyclingnews…http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/dec04/dec13news, my call is Lance is NOT racing the tour de france. He’s going to have a killer classics season, perhaps even look to the equivlant of the world cup overall, race either the Giro or Vuelta for an overall win, and Discovery is going to look to Popovych as their Tour de France GC hope, and I believe he’s got what it takes to see the podium in that grandest of grand tours.
I would not try too hard to see what you want to see but rather what makes the most sense for his main sponsor. I don’t think there was any doubt, absent injury, in Discovery’s mind that their jeresy would be at the front of the TdF in 2005. What Lance wants is only part of the equation.
What do you think would be best for this team and their sponsors? To do what they’re expected to do, or to do something suprising and take a shot at being successful at races they traditionally haven’t focused on?
Does anyone know if Discovery Channel will be televising these races? The rumour I heard was that Lance would retire completely and then be an announcer for Discovery, which would get the tv contracts. This seemed consistent with the coverage of OLN (distances in mileage not km’s, American announcers, US sponsors). I would love Pro cycling coverage to be on par with NASCAR or golf.
What I think is not so relevant. What I know is that I would have never agreed to be the title sponsor of the team without some assurance that Lance was racing TdF in 2005. I understand your point about the other races but Discovery wants its name along with Lance’s mug on TV as soon as possible so they can reap the benefits of the sponsorship. They are not going to take a risk of letting Lance race a bunch of classics “do a knee” and never tow the line in the TdF with a Discovery jersey on. In a year maybe but they need him to race this year to make their sponsorship worthwhile. They invested in Lance, and his image, first and foremost, the team second.
Again, don’t look for what you want when analyzing this situation, look for what is in the sponsors best interest, that is where you will find Lance in 2005 IMHO.
What do you think would be best for this team and their sponsors? To do what they’re expected to do, or to do something suprising and take a shot at being successful at races they traditionally haven’t focused on?
To answer your question: To do what they (this TEAM and its sponsors) are expected to do. Unless television coverage changes, the only place that Discovery is going to get North American air time is in the TDF… which means they want Lance there.