i can't wait to see Le Tour this year. i wanna see who will step it up without Lance in the picture.
speaking of Basso, he has quite the looker as a sister.
Being an agoraphobic adrenaline junkie would be pretty convenient, because you could get your rush from just going to the store to get some milk instead of having to jump off a mountain or out of an airplane.
they also call me "balloon"
Jan will be fine for the Tour. His knee problems are well-documented (probably due to extra early season lbs) but he's always OK come July. There's a lot less climbing than in the Giro, so we'll see.
It'll definitely be interesting to see if Jan gets it all together in time. I can't imagine there'd be as much discussion about this if Jan hadn't been so dominant in Stage 11 (itt) at the Giro. If he'd finished middle of the pack on the day and dropped out of the race miles back of Basso it would have made the pessimist's case a stronger one.
I'm no Ullrich fan but that win at the Giro showed people like me that he can still throw it down and dominate. If he can string a few days like that together and stay mentally strong in the mountains, I'll give that he has a solid chance with the Tour.
There are a few killer storylines that'll play out in the weeks before the Tour… High drama all around.
"It's, like, so much fun."
i can't wait to see Le Tour this year. i wanna see who will step it up without Lance in the picture.
speaking of Basso, he has quite the looker as a sister.
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes, it has not died out."
- The Daily Telegraph (1877)
I'm no Ullrich fan
Me neither, but Lance has left such a void that I think fate will give us the anti-Lance as the next temporary heir to the throne.
A victory by Ullrich would be a victory for Everyman. It would be a victory for everyone that has reached for that extra beer in the fridge, thought twice about it… and then said, "What the hell."
It would be a victory for everyone that has plopped down in an armchair and wondered, "Who the hell stuffed four extra layers of clothing down the front of my pants?"… Only to realize that its your own gut.
It would be a victory for everyone that has cut that last quarter of cake in the fridge into two pieces, leaving one for your girlfriend/wife/SO… only to say, "Ah, f*ck it" and demolish the whole thing with zero regrets.
Jan is a symbol for the dark side in all of us. Go Jan!
"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem
"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk
Lance has left such a void that I think fate will give us the anti-Lance as the next temporary heir to the throne.
Armstrong's absence actually brings drama back to the Tour. This year, the race is partly about which one of the top riders can best overcome their weaknesses and edge out their competition (without having to worry about beating Armstrong). Can a prime Ullrich race healthy for three weeks? Will Basso double up with the Tour? Has Rasmussen learned to time trial?
But I can totally see Jan as Everyman and, even though I won't be laying any money down on him, I'll be thinking of him as I head to the fridge in about 15 minutes…
"It's, like, so much fun."
i don't know why people think Jan doesn't have mental mountain toughness.
he got hammered three years in a row in the mountains by armstrong and still hung in, still gave it all, stage after stage, season after season, knowing full well armstrong had his number. he was THE man to beat, and he got beat and he still would never give up… give the guy some respect for that.
Chirp
i can't wait to see Le Tour this year. i wanna see who will step it up without Lance in the picture.
me too. I'm catching three of the mountain stages. Alpe d' huez for sure. don't know where I'll watch the other ones from. I'm in that area from the 16th to the 20th of July.
"We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture"
goddamn I love Jan.
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(='.'=)
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What a breath of fresh air this forum is.
I'm done with teen angst.
Not many teens here because to paraphrase Nacho Libre - "sometimes we like to wear the stretchy pants" http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/nacholibre/
"We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture"
Jan rode the Giro for fitness, not with GC aspirations - that's well documented. Having to drop out on the second or third last mountain stage is no biggie and certainly not a mental blow. Don't forget that other than Armstrong, he's the best Tour rider by far of the 90s. Basso does not have a mental edge over Jan in that respect.
Remember, too, that while Basso rode very impressively in a very hard Giro, a lot of guys are training only for the Tour - it's going to be way harder to win. Ullrich aside, there's Landis, Leipheimer, Valverde, Evans (who we pass on his training rides twice a week going the other way), Kloden (meh), etc, etc, all who didn't ride the Giro…Basso and Ullrich will be two of the main contenders, but it's not just down to them, that's for sure. How about Boonen and McEwen fighting it out to see who wears green? Rasmussen might be in polka dots, but you won't see him on the podium. Vino? I'm sad to say his Tour looks doubtful unless he can find another ride…I hope he makes it there one way or another because I love watching him ride.
Basso's Giro ride was damn impressive, but it ain't the Tour and you need to keep in perspective his competition at the Giro.
Gutierrez in second? Sandy Casar in 6th? Juan Manuel Garate in 7th? Except for Basso and Savoldelli, none of the Top 10 Giro finishers are capable of even cracking the Top 10 in the TdF. That's also true of Cunego/Simoni. Neither of the two can TT and Simoni has proven to be pretty useless for GC at the TdF.
It's the riders who make the race, and the big guns will be at the TdF. There will be no 9 minute gaps to 2nd place at the Main Event.
"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem
"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk
I never thought the Tour lacked drama during Lance's era. It was always interesting to see the forces arrayed against him and marking his moves and yet somehow he always found a way. Sure it's easy to feign boredom when the same person wins 7 years running, but none of those races were boring.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
I never thought the Tour lacked drama during Lance's era. It was always interesting to see the forces arrayed against him and marking his moves and yet somehow he always found a way. Sure it's easy to feign boredom when the same person wins 7 years running, but none of those races were boring.
Agree'd 100%
Although this Tour is going to be great. The rawness, of so many teams able to produce a winner, is going to be great.
"X is for x-ray. If you've been bikin' and you haven't had an x-ray, you ain't goin' hard enough." - Bob Roll
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