There’s all kinds of rumors, speculation, clarification and disinformation about Lance’s plans for next year. The Tour? The Giro? Flanders? The 1-hour record in a specially constructed velodrome?
I believe that’s exactly what Lance, and more importantly his main sponsor, want. Lance has proven adept at using the media for his own purposes. In 2003, you barely heard about Lance except the weeks before & during the tour. In 2004, he managed to stay in the news before and after the tour. I think all this is on purpose, with the goal for 2005 simply to make sure that Lance, and the Discovery Channel, are constantly in the news.
I’m willing to bet money that for those on or close to the team, the race schedule is already firmly set, and is designed for maximum sustained publicity.
Here’s my bet: Lance skips the tour in 05 but competes in a much larger number of races, in Europe and more importantly in the US. A few of Lance’s teammates are put in a position to win races, not just support Lance, broadening the publicity engine and creating a stable of talent for future events. Lance also does one or two solo events (let the triathlon speculation begin!) to continue to extend his image and lay the foundation for life after cycling.
In short, I think in 2005 Lance will do a fantastic job for his sponsors, getting them all kinds of great publicity, while also doing a great job for himself by extending himself beyond the tour.
Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports
Park Slope, Brooklyn
He is in California with the rest of the team getting ready to start the second training camp of the winter. I don’t believe this is much different from what he was doing at this time last year or the year before or the year before or the year before . . .
Don’t know what his plans are for the season… but, I do know that he was doing 7 hour rides in the santa monicas during december and is going to hit the mountains in central ca this week.
His responses to those questions sound very politically correct and vague to satisfy a new sponsor early on. At least for me they do.
Also, I don’t remember Lance as having ever been one to be very politically correct unless it suited his aim.
After Discovery has a chance to get to know Lance, do you really believe that in good conscience, they would compel Lance to do something his heart really wasn’t in at the moment rather than something he was passionate about? This could be a gargantuan mistake on Discovery’s part if they did.
Let’s see. What did a passionate Lance do? Just win six Tours de France in six years.
Now if Lance was committed and passionate about expanding and more broadly defining his place in cycling history, would you want to bet against him in a Classics race or the Vuelta or the hour record?
Whatever Lance does, the media will cover. Lance’s failure to participate in the 2005 TDF wouldn’t necessarily mean less visibility or media attention for Discovery. Potentially, it could mean even greater attention and exposure. As well as bringing a more varied cycling diet to at least the US.
After all, if Lance doesn’t ride in the 2005 TDF, does that mean fewer people will buy Discovery bicycles? Discovery is an entertainment company.
Your limiting yourself to believe that Discovery Channel is marketing soley to the US market which may not be the case. In Spain they have a new ad which started the other week with the new team and Lance talking about Vuelta and Spring Classics, the ad shows footage of Spring classics in various countires.
The guys at the lbs were talking about it which surprised me, because most Spanish people dont watch anything other than gossip programs and Grande Hermano.
I was reading today the Cycle Sport edition devoted to Eddy Merckx, and then an article (see below) about Lance published by AP Press, and it got me thinking that Lance might not feel totally complete in his career if he does not accomplish some of the things that Merckx did – things like a Giro victory, or the hour speed record, or victories in the spring classics. You get the sense that Lance has on his mind some of the things that matter to people who appreciate cycling history and he doesn’t want to go down in the history book as the guy who would only ride and win the Tour-- not that there is anything wrong with that!