Will Lance Armstrong take his 7th consecutive Tour de France win?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Hueij
But the point is that Armstrong (a great champion, don't misunderstand me) won next to nothing in the years he won the TdF. Merckx won almost everything. I'm sure Merckx would have won a lot more than five Tours had he be concentrating on it, like Armstrong does.

And conversely Armstrong would have won some other evets if he had concentrated on that. So I base my reasoning on what did happen and not on what might have happened had either acted differently.

Armstrong was too focused on the tour de France to be the greatest cyclist ever. I give that to Merckx without question. In what actually happened at TdFs I have to give the nod the Armstrong.

[Hueij]

That´s fighting spirit if I ever saw one...

Don't get me wrong, there's no argument here.

Armstrong was too focused on the tour de France to be the greatest cyclist ever. I give that to Merckx without question. In what actually happened at TdFs I have to give the nod the Armstrong.

The moment Armstrong wins as many green jerseys,King of Mountains jerseys and stages, than maybe I would agree with you. Just winning two more yellow jerseys with today's technology just doesn't cut it.

[Zoid]

But Tour de France is the WorldChampionship of cycling after all. And Lance has won 7 times, therefore he should be the greatest cyclist ever IMO.

[Zopperoni]

The Tour de France is the Tour de France. The World Championship Cycling is the World Championship Cycling. They are two different events, and Eddy won the World Championship three or four times as well.

There is no argument, The Cannibal > The Boss

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Hueij

Armstrong was too focused on the tour de France to be the greatest cyclist ever. I give that to Merckx without question. In what actually happened at TdFs I have to give the nod the Armstrong.

The moment Armstrong wins as many green jerseys,King of Mountains jerseys and stages, than maybe I would agree with you. Just winning two more yellow jerseys with today's technology just doesn't cut it.

Sorry we must agree to disagree. To take anything away from Lance Armstrong as best Tour de France rider is like saying Gretzky wasn't the best hockey player ever because he never won best defenseman, best goalie or best defensive forward.

My personal belief is that Lance Armstrong could have won more stages, and definitely the King of the Mountains had he tried for it. But I don't assess him based on that. To me, SEVEN Straight finishes in yellow is enough for greatest TdF rider. Undefeated for 7 years and completely dominant and retiring at the top-- wow ( I assume he wins this TdF)

[Drake Tungsten]

eddie merckx didnt win 7 in a row - armstrong did. armstrong is the best cyclist ever.

Yep.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

1968 - Won Tour of Italy (also won King of Mountains jersey & green jersey)
1970 - Won Tour de France (also won King of Mountains jersey & eight stage wins)
1971 - Won Tour de France (also won green jersey) & world road championship
1972 - Won Tour de France (also won green jersey) & Tour of Italy
1973 - Didn't compete in Tour de France but won Tour of Italy (also won points jersey) & Tour of Spain
1974 - Won Tour de France, Tour of Italy & world road championship
1975 - Finished second in the Tour de France & broke the world hour record

In 1971, Merckx won 54 of the 120 professional races he entered. At his peak, between 1969 and 1973, he won 250 of the 650 races he contested. During his professional career, he won 445 of the 1,582 races he entered.

Tour of Lombardy - won twice
Paris-Nice - won three times
Milan-San Remo - won seven times
Paris Roubaix - won three times
Liege-Bastogne-Liege - won five times
Amstel Gold - won twice
Tour of Flanders - won twice
Het Volk - won twice
Ghent-Wevelgem - won four times
Fleche-Wallonne - won four times
Tour of Switzerland - won once
Paris-Brussels - won once

You were saying...?

I was sayiing that Armstrong won the tour de france 7 times IN A ROW. Eddie never dominated like that. the tour de france is the toughest cycling event in the world, and when it came to comparing how the two cyclists did on the toughest course in the world of cycling, lance armstrong completly destroys merckx.

[Alexander's Horse]

The Australians were having a good tour until the tragedy yesterday.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Hueij
But the point is that Armstrong (a great champion, don't misunderstand me) won next to nothing in the years he won the TdF. Merckx won almost everything. I'm sure Merckx would have won a lot more than five Tours had he be concentrating on it, like Armstrong does.

While I actually agree that Merckx is the greatest, one has to also take into account that many of the cyclists that Merckx competed against also spread themselves thin by competing in more races.

[CerberusIV]

There was an interesting statistic on the TV text pages here this morning. If Armstrong is still the yellow jersey holder at the end of today's stage he will have picked up 79 yellow jersey results (being first in the GC at the end of a stage). That will tie him in second place alongside Hinault - but a long way back from Merckx who got 111 yellows.

Obviously this is partly due to the TDF being longer in Merckx's day than now but still an interesting comparison.

[Flubber]

Decent stage today

Leaders relaxed and Discovery let 2 or their riders join a break that everyone let go out 20 minutes. The only team that chased at all were concerned their guy could fall out of 10th place in the GC.

Another Discovery stage win (salvodelli)was a nice reward for a team where most of the guys know their job is doing the hard slugging where someone else gets the accolades.

Oh and the long break meant that Discovery passed T-Mobile in the overall team time (best 3 riders). T Mobile was hurt by the withdrawal of Kloden there-- I haven't yet seen the reason but he was rumoured to be not feeling great from the start. It just suprised me that he would quit on a pretty easy amd lazy stage after having worked hard through the mountains

[Hueij]

T Mobile was hurt by the withdrawal of Kloden there-- I haven't yet seen the reason but he was rumoured to be not feeling great from the start.

IIRC he broke a small bone in his hand yesterday.

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Sikander
While I actually agree that Merckx is the greatest, one has to also take into account that many of the cyclists that Merckx competed against also spread themselves thin by competing in more races.

Which actually works as more of an argument for Merckx than one for Armstrong. Very few of Armstrong's opponents focus as much on the Tour as he does. Basso also rode the Giro, for instance.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

IIRC he broke a small bone in his hand yesterday.

plus hes like 10 minutes out so he might as well drop out - he aint catching armstrong.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia


plus hes like 10 minutes out so he might as well drop out - he aint catching armstrong.

True enough but even top 10 looks good individually and T-Mobil would have liked to have the best team time