Ok…time for reflection (only because it is a slow day at work).
Lance was able to win the tour 7 times simply because he took a meticulous approach to training and treated training as a science (much like Greg LeMond did). If you combine this with physical ability (a quality that the whole peloton has in common) and a deep desire to excel and be the best, you have the ingredients for a true champion.
Talk amongst yourselves…
As much as I admire Lance (which is quite a bit), I think a lot had to do with the fact that he peaked for one race, and one race only. I think that put him at an advantage to the Europeans who were/are expected to race more.
Spot
I was thinking when Raso crashed in the TT that if that was Lance, he would have jumped back on, caught Basso and won the TT. He has heart and a killer instinct.
How many other races does Ulrich do in a year? Doesn’t he plan to peak like LA?
He is a genetic mutant. Either that or cancer treatment altered his body’s basic molecular structure like Spiderman. Hmm, I guess he could be an alien from another galaxy. Some people, of course, call it talent.
He focused on one race 12 months of the year. That would be like Tiger Woods playing Augusta every weekend while the rest of the Tour was playing tournaments. When the Masters rolls around he would have a huge advantage.
He and his team committed huge resources to the effort. From wind tunnel and physiological testing to the neat little Vibra-sorb handlebar inserts, there was no team better prepared than Discovery. Most were probably way behind.
He is surrounded by talent. From his teammates and manager to his trainer and people like John Cobb in the background, Armstrong had a crew of people assisting him that could probably get some people on this board into the top 10. Well…
Chris Carmichael did a long interview on the Jim Rome show today. (Cool to hear cycyling preempt “regular” sports on a call in show.) One of the questions Rome asked asked him was if Lance had not gotten cancer, would we have won the Tour 9 times or 0 times. Carmichael did not hesitate for even in instant before answering “0”.
He said Lance had very unique physcal gifts all along but that there are always 5 or 6 guys at the top with similar gifts so at that level the difference between winning and losing is more often about mental will i.e the will to focus 100% of yourself to training and racing. Carmichael said Lance came out of the cancer thing with a completely different mindset and his level of focus and commitment was what made the difference. He was one of those very rare athletes who was truly able to give 100% to all aspects of his performance day in and day out over a period of years. Carmichael said that sort of dedication and focus is actually pretty rare, even among super elite athletes. Lots of people can give 99% but very few actually can give 100% over long periods of time.
I agree. The cancer was the turning point
He was able to completely re-configure his body post-cancer. The the fit Armstrong before and after photos are amazing
The mental edge that it gave him - well, that’s really hard to quantify. Off the scale! He beat death. It does not get any bigger than that! That is a life altering event.
Fleck
Plus pre-cancer LA carried around much more weight from his tri days.
And he raced more like Vino, attack, attack, attack. Cancer seemed to disabuse him of the notion that the best way to win a race is to continuously go on the attack. Post-cancer Lance only attacked on those streches of road where he could inflict the most time damage for the least amount of effort, i.e. high grade mountaintop finishes and TT’s.
“Europeans who were/are expected to race more.”
i disagree. nobody in the peleton peaks for both the giro and the tour, with the sort of / kind of exception of basso this year.
simoni/garzelli/savoldelli/cunego all peak for the giro. they do the tour with what they have left, and the results are predictable and evident.
ullrich/landis/leipheimer/moreau/vino/et al, peak for the tour, and certain lieutenants who can take the easy day in the tour now and then might lay it out there in the vuelta if they so desire.
then you’ve got the classics riders who almost never do well in the tour GC these days.
that’s just what cycling has evolved into. i think the last giro/tour doubler, prior to basso, was pantani, and it took a hematocrit of 60 or thereabouts, and who knows all what else, to do it.
I think this “he focused soley on the tour” reason for winning the TDF is completely bullshit. Yes, he focused his year on the TDF, but let’s face it - if any of the other pro’s stood a chance of dethroning him, their team and sponsors would also insist they focus solely on the TDF. The same argument goes for why some pro’s don’t race IMH. If they sttod a legitimate chance of winning IMH, they would also focus their year around that race. Believe it or not, I am not the biggest LA fan - but I do think he is the best cyclist of the past decade.
Drugs.
Drugs.
I’m surprised it took as long as it did to get to this one.
I am not suggesting conspiracy, but let me put this one out there…
If Lance had tested positive for PED’s, would it not have been detrimental to every pro cyclist, sponsor’s for those pro’s and every single stakeholder out there (including the fans)? I wonder if it was in anyone’s interest for him to test positive.
Ok…that is bound to rile some people up. I have handcuffed myself to my bed post and I am ready to be whipped.
He must have a great chemist, then. Or who’s been watering down the drugs the rest of the peleton takes?
Drugs.
that’s like saying he won because he had two legs or two eyes, just like every other pro cyclist.
I have a great deal of admiration for Lance. His drive and determination are certainly a large component of his success.
However, he is, as someone else pointed out, a genetic freak. An article I read last week pointed out that his rare combination of physical traits are probably one in a billion. The VO2 Max, power output, low lactic acid generation, etc, combine to give him abilities that most of us could never hope to acquire, with or without the use of drugs.
Maybe I’m being naive in choosing to believe that Lance is a rare human being who achieved incredible things due in equal parts to his character and his amazing constitution. Perhaps the fact is that he survived the cancer that would have killed anyone else for the same reason that he won more tours than anyone else: His incredible constitution.
I’m feeling kind of melancholy today.
The answer is in the brain - not the body. Drive, Determination, Persistence, Confidence. He had all those traits. Combine that with a team that revolves around him and an ample supply of money and you have a recipe for success. The stats saying he is one in a billion physically is bullshit in my opinion. I know guys with a higher VO2 maximum - and that was just in the suburbs of Toronto. He had the physical traits to be at the front of the peloton - I will give you that - but the other things I mentioned pushed him to excellence.
My 2 cents.
I’m not discounting the importance of his psychological traits. I’m just pointing out that without the right combination of rare physical traits, he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish the things that he has.
Given that Lance is the most measured and studied athlete in the world, I’m not sure why you are so willing to discount his rarity as a physical specimen. I don’t think that in any way lessens his accomplishments.
Regarding VO2 Max, I don’t mean to question your credibility, but my understanding is that Lance has a VO2 Max in the 84-85 range, which is one of the highest ever recorded(94 is the highest). If you know people with higher VO2 max’ than Lance, they should be world champions.
You and I seem, for the most part, to be in violent agreement. We differ only in how rare and important we think Lance’s physiology is to his success.
I should have said that I know people that have tested above 80 - so they are in the same ballpark as LA. I think if you looked at the results of VO2 max tests from cross country skiers you would find most of them test at least as high as LA - probably most are higher. I am not naive to the stats coming from sports scientists. While studying to receive my degree in Kinesiology I became very aware at how poorly these tests are executed (low sample size for instance). To extrapolate the data to say that he is one in a billion is simply ridiculous and caters to the media’s representation of him as being immortal. I am guessing you would find many people in the workforce that have never ridden a road bike or put on a pair of racing flats that have a genetic ability above any athlete we have seen to date. This is only logical. Circumstances in their lives (either chosen or as a result of condition) have prevented them from testing their ability on Alp D’Huez.
If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail…put that in yer pipe and smoke it!