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

[Lawrence of Arabia]

nah

[Alexander's Horse]

green jacket is more interesting now.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Zopperoni

It's a shame that Basso competed in the Giro d'Italia

Agreed. The OLN commentators mentioned that repeatedly and it does seem obvious that it is tough to be at your peak when competing hard soon before an event.

Contrast this with Armstrong who considers EVERY other event to be training for the Tour de France

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
his own teammate, hincapie.

Funny. Hincapie was allowed to go with a breakaway of people that weren't contenders and then could draft since he knew if Armstrong needed him he would have to wait anyway.

The breakaway was irrelevant to the yellow. When it stayed in the lead ( and with Armstrong doing well), Hincapie got permission to try for the win


The attacks were interesting as they came from the T-Mobile trio again but none of them came close to succeeding. Conversely when Basso accelerated and Armstrong followed, everyone else was dropped

[Flubber]

Stage 16

Nothing important changes except Evans puts on a tremendous effort in memory of an Australian cyclist killed in training. Evans had nothing left at the finish as he had been pacemaking much of the day resulting in a lead that vauted him into 7th place in the GC. Oscar Pereiro gets a well deserved stage win .

There were some attacks but Armstrong finished comfortably with his main rivals

[Flubber]

Fight for green

Its down to a 3 man fight between Husovd, O'Grady and McEwen which strikes me as a little odd since Mc Ewen is in 3rd place but has won THREE stages whikle the two guys leading him have some second place finishes only

[Zopperoni]

They focus on the intermediate sprints. McEwen doesn't give a sh*t about those and just wants to win the stage. Fair enough, I suppose

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Zopperoni
They focus on the intermediate sprints. McEwen doesn't give a sh*t about those and just wants to win the stage. Fair enough, I suppose

Ya -- I understand HOW it happened but it still strikes me as odd-- I would have thought the premium on stage wins would be enough that a 3 stage winner would at least have a little lead.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

here's a fun fact: Robbie McEwen's son is named Ewen McEwen.

[Hueij]

Contrast this with Armstrong who considers EVERY other event to be training for the Tour de France

So Eddie Merckx is still is the best cyclist ever...

[Lawrence of Arabia]

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

[Hueij]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
eddie merckx didnt win 7 in a row - armstrong did. armstrong is the best cyclist ever.

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...?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Hueij

Contrast this with Armstrong who considers EVERY other event to be training for the Tour de France

So Eddie Merckx is still is the best cyclist ever...

to me yes but I am now at a point od considering Armstrong the best TOUR DE FRANCE cyclist ever.

Its actually tough to compare the two. Obviously Armstrong at his peak would kich the butt of Merckx at his peak but if you equalize for equipment, training, nutrition and technology who the heck really knows who would win.


As for their records, they are very different, Merckx raced everything and won a lot of things as the recited record shows. He also got beat but he has so very many accolades from so very many races that the sheer weight of awards is immense.

Conversely Armstrong looks poised to be undefeated for a 7 year period . I cannot consider him less great because he wins tactically, intelligenlty and scientifically. In the past 7 years I don't know that we have ever seen how good Armstrong may really be since he rides well enough to get a sufficient edge and then is clearly satisfied to play it safe and shadow his rivals. He's the golfer with a two -stroke lead on 18 that lays up rather than trying to drive over the river.


For me, Merckx record is just too much to discount . . . so best overall cyclist ever - -- Merckx .. . . but limit it to only the TDF and consider no other events and I go to Armstrong-- While Merckx other accomplishments are impressive, the #1 prize is the yellow at the end-- There SEVEN in a row will speak volumes, particularly when you consider that Armstrong won so convincingly each time. I watch the stages and he matches his rivals moves with what looks like ease. I'd be disconcerted if I was Basso since you start to think that there is no way to drop the guy

[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.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Hueij

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...?

But Merckx didn´t have to beat near fatal cancer and still win like 5 times after that... That´s fighting spirit if I ever saw one...