**I’d be super surprised if Lance ever races triathlons seriously. Why would he? When he retires - I think he will retire = no more competitive sports. How good could he be? Well - compare him to Steve Larsen **
I was thinking about this. What kind of retirement do you think Lance will have a Eddy Merckx type one or a Steve Larsen one. Steve was supposedly retired this year, yet he came out of retirement for the First Union week of races and finished USPRO after doing a fair amount of work. For him it seams being retired just means he doesn’t travel to race, he just does the local race rides in Bend.
It would be interesting to see his bike split in an IM race. BUT also is the question…do they do 110 mile TT’s? Not that he couldn’t adapt but I am sure he is used to doing a fair share of his long rides in some sort of draft pack. Just topic fodder…
That’s a very good point. Steve Larsen was obviously cut out for it, but Udo Bolts and Chann McRae were not able to post the best bike splits in their races. None of those guys are LA, though. It probably wouldn’t be too hard for him to master the discipline, but you never know.
lance is way too competitive to fade away like Merckx. he’ll quit cycling and then immediately attack another sport. he’s way too driven to hang it up in his 30’s. he’ll workout and be competitive for his age in triathlon until he’s 90.
Gregg LeMond took up driving race cars for a while after he retired.
I predict Subaru signs Lance to drive one of it’s rally cars. Rally driving is a time trial format and we know how good he is a time trialing. They also go up hill quite often.
I was reading one of Lance’s books last night (and the title escapes me right now) but it then dawned on me that his style of cycling would be advantageous to running as compared to other cyclists. His high cadence, aerobic style of cycling could lead to a fast leg turnover, the ideal running style.
Why do you people talk like you know Lance since the day he was born?
“He’s way too xxx to do xxx”
“No way he’ll do xxx, because he’s xxx”
And btw Eddy Merckx was ***a lot ***more competitive than Lance is. Merckx raced a whole lot of classics and the Giro, while Lance only focuses on the tour.
I know, but I hate it when people go around saying Lance is the greatest cyclist of all time while he isn’t.
He’s an extremely talented man and he overcame cancer which is amazing by itself, but Merckx raced other races (and won them), and won the tour too, without only focusing on it.
But I think you would have to live in the states to understand the influence he has had on cycling. Plus, I don’t know a single culture/society which does not believe the ‘great person’ from their society isn’t the best to ever grace earth with their presence. It’s been a long time since we’ve had people we could consider a hero and to many, Lance is their hero.
There is no question that Merckx is better than Lance both because he won so may other races and won by so much. Lance is both unique and clearly the best over the last 8 years. Indurain was at least as good as Lance, at least when comparing his career with Lance’s so far. But, Lance is not done and we can’t really tell yet if his total career will be better than Indurain’s.
To repeat what Hid said. Cycling has changed a tiny bit since Merckx was racing. Not to take anything away from Merckx, but times have changed. 15 years ago Lemond and the rest used to race the Giro as a training race for the Tour. I don’t believe any single rider could be competitive in classics and grand tours these days. The training/racing has become to specific for generalists to succeed.
I don’t like the ‘greatest of all time’ label anyway. Its like arguing about whether Bobby Jones could beat Tiger. Lance is without question one of the greatest to ever ride a bike.
I think it is unfair to compare Bolt’s effort to Larsen’s as they had different goals to the race. Bolts had come from a full European Bike race season with very little tri training. He also had a few more people to get past after the swim and was worried how he would cope with the run. Very impressive to do the Ultimate double the TDF and IMH in the same year.
I guess we will not know how Lance would fair against the Top Ironmen unless it actual happens. I think it is unfair on the Top Tri Guys that have spent many years training specifically for Tri’s to say he would thrash them. Out of intrest when he raced Tri’s as a youngster was he “The Best” for his age? How did he compair to say a young Simon Lessing? Whilst his cycling has improved greatly through cycling specific training is it unreasonable to think his Triathlon Peers have not also improved in Triathlon with specific training for the Swim Bike Run?
Still it would be great to see Armstrong lining up against Lessing, Reid, De Boom etc and it would be good to compair his bike splits to Bjorn’s. Unfortunatly I cannot see him putting in the hours to race at a high level once he retires from Cycling. I remember reading how relieved Indurain was when he was finally beat in the Tour and he realised he would not have to go through all that Pain in training. Having said that I read some where that he wants to run a sub 5minute mile when he retires.
the ultimate athlete would be able to win the TDF, IM Hawaii, the Boston Marathon, and the 1500 meter swim in the Olympics all in the same year. This, by the way, Lance will do this year (butterfly in the swim).
Indeed, to run that fast( 2:10) you have to be built a certain way. I have been up close to a number of the top marathon runners in the world and these are all reasonably small(less than 5’8"), slightly built( less than 120 pounds) men.
Not wholly true - Derek Clayton, first man under 2:10 and first man under 2:09, was 6’2", 160 pounds.
this whole thread is void because lance won’t do marathons anyway. they’re too simple. if he does any running competitions, they’ll be off-road endurance runs that last a hundred miles and go up and down moutains. they add more challenge and variety and more closely resemble the complex nature of bike racing.
:In any event, beyond winning another Tour, Armstrong has one more sporting ambition he has to fulfil. He wants to run a sub-five minute mile. “I’d hurt for a week after but I’d love to see if I could do that. Four laps, 75 seconds a lap, wouldn’t that be something?”
“I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn’t it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft… As for me, give me a fixed gear!” – Henri Desgrange
stop talking like you know what Lance will do/won’t do and why.
Quit being retarded. nobody, including lance, knows what he’ll do. My opinion is just as rediculous as yours.
