I don’t believe Armstrong uses performance enhancing drugs. I do believe he is the greatest cyclist today if not of all time.
But being the greatest cyclist does not necessarily mean he is any more physically gifted than many other riders.
He simply wants it more than anyone else. I know may sound simplistic but think about it. Cycling, like many many sports is becoming more about science and strategy.
He wants it more all year round…not just the day of the race.
I believe he… Trains harder than anyone else.(all year) Concentrates more on developing his team than anyone else. Expects more of his team than anyone else. Is mentally tougher than anyone else. Studies the sport more than any other rider. Is simply more committed to winning than anyone period.
So being the greatest simply means he knows he can’t do it alone. The time and effort that Lance and his people put into the Tour in the eleven months between races is just more than anyone else. It’s total commitment to winning.
We just assume that every elite athlete has this commitment but they don’t. For many, they are great natural talents who do what it takes to get by, earn a living and get out. It is no different than any profession. Are the best Doctors, Lawyers, Bike shop owners, Chiropractors on some miracle drug? NO! They just simply love what they do and are more committed than the others in their field.
I think Jan is the most gifted GC man in the race, but I think Lance is a smarter racer. Road racing is more strategy than strength. Lance is quite simply better at that than anyone else. I would not call Jan lazy. He trains hard; that is true simply by the fact he is Lance’s top threat. He is just an old school type racer that pays less attention to strategy. For that reason, he has been one step down from Lance on the podium in Paris the past few years.
Trains harder than anyone else.(all year) Concentrates more on developing his team than anyone else. Expects more of his team than anyone else. Is mentally tougher than anyone else. Studies the sport more than any other rider. Is simply more committed to winning than anyone period.
I agree with your points except for 2 and 3 which should be changed to
I could be wrong, but I have read recently that Telekom/T-mobile had/has a larger budget than USPS. Granted, that’s probably the only other team that comes close, but Bruyneel seems to have done a better job than Godefroot in choosing a TdF team over the past five years.
I think people talk a bit too much about how gifted Jan is while not acknowledging that Lance is also one of the most ‘gifted’ in the sport- he was an incredible raw talent in his teens and became world champ at age 21.
I think Jan is the most gifted GC man in the race…
You know what? I think this is b.s. I’m tired of hearing people say that about Jan. Lance is the most gifted. Period. Look at the results. A rider is more than VO2 max and lactate threshold. Which by the way, I’ve never seen Jan’s numbers on either.
I’m a bit over Lance now. Don’t get me wrong I think he is awesome and I hope he wins his sixth. It is just, for me, getting boring! Voeckler has made it interesting, his ride on Thursday was impressive. Long may he stay in yellow. We have tomorrow’s (Friday) stage live on satellite here in NZ. It should be a great stage.
Tyler probably won’t win!! but that bloke has some grit. He reminds me of my other main man Zulle, they both like to fall off!!
What you should be pointing out is Armstrong is the best TDF rider.
If he was the greatest, wouldn’t he be ranked no1 in the world???
He has the right tactics, by having a soley dedicated team to get him to Paris first.
This is something the others have in the past failed to do.
He essentially races only once per year (seriously) the rest are lead up training races.
He elects to not race in the olympics, as he has no focus or strong enough desire to do so. (he wouldn’t win it anyway,wrong type of race & wouldn’t suit him)
World championships have very little value to him.
So I think saying he is the greatest cyclist is wrong. He has so far to date been one of the most successful TDF riders and as we can all see the TDF is very much a team sport, he has the team to work for his goals only. He does have the right formula to win the TDF.
Yes he is a really good rider no question about that but not THE BEST. Yes he may train harder than anybody else & be more focused etc. etc. but for only one race remember.
To be the best I think he has to get out there and prove it in other races also, Back up later in the year for the Vulta or do the Giro or some of the Classics etc. Not necesarily as team leader but as support for one of the other team members who has the capability. Show himself as a little more all round rider, then he maybe the best.
Hey…it goes with success…more money better team, better equiptment…better chef…better coaching…wake up this is capatialism my friend…don’t work hard get nothing…don’t expect hand outs.
Look up some of the numbers Lance has at his disposal regarding his aerobic and anaerobic capacities. Testing done on him returns sometimes inhuman results.
Some of us are born with the right body type to be good swimmers, or good runners. Would Shaq be dominant if he were 6’3" 200#s?
Lance was designed to ride a bicycle. Moreso even following his illness as he had the opportunity to be reborn physically. He works harder than anyone else? Perhaps. But his body allows for it. There are things he does that others are incapable of. His training regimen might be one of them. You and I simply picked the wrong gene pool.
I’ve always thought a telling point in the difference between lance and jan was last year’s final time trial.
lance rode over the course in a car before the tt, whereas jan watched a tape. lance was out there seeing the conditions for himself; jan phoned it in. lance made it to the finish upright the entire way, jan not. jan is behind, the most important ride of the tour was up, and jan made minimal effort to prepare. everyone says jan would have won x tours if lance wasn’t riding. but I wonder. would he really ride as well if he didn’t have a worthy rabbit to chase?
Is this anual budget or tour budget? Some of these other teams participate more fully in some of the other races that USPS doesn’t send full squads to.