So LA has hung it up again. To be honest, as divisive as he's been, throughout his career, he will be missed by the peloton. There is no other patron lurking in the bunch. Sure, there are guys who are looked at with reverence, like Jens Voigt, Fabian Cancellara and a few others, but none demand the respect that Lance has over the years.
Now, I'm well aware that there are pros that look at LA with a jaundiced eye, for myriad reasons, but when he spoke, even they listened.
Is he a hero? To some, yes. Is he an asshole? Most likely. Will he be missed? Yep.
Reason for retirement? I'm going to opine here for a moment...
I'm sure he'll say the rigors of training, traveling and being away from his 5 children, which I'm quite sure is partially true. My belief is that he's feeling the heat from the Novitsky investigation and has realized that the battle is probably best fought out of the limelight that follows European cycling.
Don't look for a synopsis of the investigation, or doping, as I really don't give a damn about either. EVERY rider in the bunch was doped to the gills in the Lance Armstrong era. Am I naive enough to think that he didn't dope? Of course not. I think he just did it better than the others. The playing field was level. Oh, and don't forget, he's never tested positive. Rumor, innuendo, and Floyd Landis' crazy rantings aside, there's been ZERO hard evidence of a positive.
I just hope he doesn't turn into a joke, a la LeMond. Some are treating him as such already, but one must remember, before you start calling him a doper, a cheater, or a liar, every hero of past generations was on the AvGas of the time. Hell, Merckx even got caught, MORE THAN ONCE, and he's still thought of as the greatest cyclist of all-time.
Distance and time usually lead to clearer perspective. This will be the case with Lance. The people who are Lance haters now have more than likely adopted this attitude because it's the popular thing to do. I wish I had a time machine to see how they were acting while watching LA shatter everyone during his first few wins. What's the bet they were Lance fans back then? If they say they weren't, they're liars!
The things Armstrong have done for cycling, and charity, far outweigh his alleged 'crimes'. Get over it people...
5 comments:
I enjoyed watching him come up from the 90's until Retirement 1.0 . After he came out of retirement I lost all respect for him as a leader and rider. If he wanted to ride I would've had no issue with him in the U.S. races, but going back into the pro spotlight was not the way to pass the torch onto a new era of young riders. George Hincapie is doing it right by mentoring those he can in his waning years. That's a selfless leader and regardless if he gets sucked into the doping mire he would still command my respect for what he's done in the peloton. LA should be kissing his a$$.
I totally agree...it's easy to be a critic but I don't think Lance saw many of his critics in the mountains in the offseason training like mad.
I understand what you're saying Junk, but that's a double edged sword. Sure, he wasn't exactly a 'mentor' to younger guys, but his U23 team did bring some hammers into the pro ranks this year and last.
That's sort of why I called him both a 'patron' AND an asshole.
He pretty notorious for his 'with me or against me' mentality, and as much as it pains me to admit this, I like that.
MM - I agree with your sentiments. I was just looking at CyclingNews and noticed the semi-positive headlines for Contador but semi-negative for Armstrong. That's f'ing sad. Armstrong kicked everyone's ass - period. That made him hated, literally. Doping - c'mon - maybe he did, maybe he didn't. And the US gov't is trying to nail his ass while the Spaniards are, well, being just like typical Spaniards w/Contador.
Yeah, the whole Contador is a joke. The fact that the Spanish government cleared him because of their Constitutional Law is making a mockery of cycling. It also portrays cycling in an even worse light.
Funny that the rest of the pro peloton thinks he should be banned. Read Boonen's comments on cyclingnews.com
I'll laugh until I vomit when Bertie gets popped for something else this season.
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