Ulrich is a great talent, but I think he lost a lot of respect around the world when he started his personal crusade against online file sharing.
I know he's currently with Crow, but didn't he have to divorce his wife for her? What's the story behind that?
The answer is no, and to answer your question, winning the Tour 5 times is "more" than winning the Olympics once. But having both the Tour title and the Olympic Gold Medal is quite nice as well....
Honestly, I don't know the story behind it. Don't know if Sheryl had anything to do with the split, but it was a surprise and quite a story in Austin. Maybe someone else has the details. I'm just enjoying SJC getting ribbed.
http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/6257.0.html Upcoming book alleges Armstrong involved in doping By Agence France Press This report filed June 13, 2004 A soon-to-be-published book entitled "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" alleges that the five-time Tour de France winner has been involved in doping since recovering from cancer in 1998. Charges made in the book, co-written by award-winning Sunday Times sports reporter David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, a cycling specialist formerly with L'Equipe, appear in this week's L'Express, a weekly magazine. The book itself is slated for release on Tuesday. Their book recounts the allegations of a former U.S. Postal physiotherapist that Armstrong used the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin). Irishwoman Emma O'Reilly, who worked with Armstrong for three and a half years beginning in 1998, alleges that he asked her to dispose of bags containing syringes after the 1998 Tour of Holland, only months after the Festina scandal at the Tour de France almost brought the race to its knees. O'Reilly also charges that in May 1999, while Armstrong was at a training camp in the Pyrénées, she was asked to drive to Spain to collect drugs and bring them back into France, which she later handed to Armstrong in a parking lot. While O'Reilly left the team at the end of the 2000 season, she did so under good terms. Former Postal general manager Mark Gorski once referred to the now-33-year-old soigneur as "the heart and soul of the team." "She's so professional and has a wonderful influence on the other staff members and the riders," Gorski told Sam Abt of the International Herald Tribune. Gorski said. "She brings a woman's sensitivity to guys' personalities, their differences in personality, all kinds of things that a male soigneur just can't bring." The 33-year-old Armstrong has always strenuously denied using any performance-enhancing substances. While traces of the corticosteroid triamcinolone, a banned substance found in some medicines and creams, were found in his urine during the 1999 Tour, the UCI did not sanction Armstrong in the matter, saying that he had used the cream Cemalyt to treat a skin allergy, and that it had been given a copy of the prescription for the cream. Armstrong has always denied doping "The UCI declares with the utmost firmness that this was an authorized usage, and does not constitute a case of doping," the governing body said in a statement. However, O'Reilly's claims are supported by New Zealander Stephen Swart, a former teammate of Armstrong's on Motorola during 1994-95. Swart, who retired from professional cycling nine years ago, said he felt pressured to begin doping. "Motorola was throwing all this money at the team and we had to come up trumps," he is quoted as saying in the book, to be published this week. This is not the first time that Walsh has shone a less-than-flattering light upon Armstrong. Days before the start of the 2001 Tour in 2001 Walsh wrote that Armstrong had had close links with Dr. Michele Ferrari, formerly physician to the Gewiss-Ballan team, which he was forced to leave after he said that the banned blood booster EPO, if used properly, was no more harmful than orange juice. Armstrong countered that he had only consulted Ferrari on advanced training methods with a view to attempting to break the world hour record. As regards the new book, meanwhile, Armstrong has sent Walsh a letter threatening a costly legal battle if the book contains allegations that he has resorted to doping. --------------------- To be fair, I don't really think Armstrong dopes more or less than others. I think they all use medical help at least at a borderline legal level.
In the interest of equlity, and in response to SJCs age old "throw as much **** as possible at Lance Armstrong and see what sticks" tactic, it should be mentioned that Jan Ullrich has actually served a suspension for using a banned substance.
I don't know much about this sport but I did watch the tour last year and excited to see what's going to happen this year. Hopefully Armstrong wins it.
That was an ecstacy pill he swallowed in a discotheque during a long time off due to an injury...stupid, but not really performance-enhancing...(at least not on the bike! ). Plus, if anyone has not noticed...I am not very serious about this whole thing .
Armstrong now 4th. (Not that it matters at this point...) ___________________ McEwen wins crash-marred second stage; Armstrong safe July 5, 2004 SportsLine.com wire reports NAMUR, Belgium -- While Lance Armstrong played it safe, Robbie McEwen sprinted to victory Monday in a crash-filled second stage of the Tour de France. Armstrong kept his drive for a record sixth consecutive Tour victory on track by placing comfortably down in the field -- along with several key rivals. As the pack of riders bore down on the finish, McEwen used a burst of speed to get to the front and raised his arms in victory as he crossed the line. Such mass sprints are always hazardous and this one took out two riders who crashed in the last few hundred yards. McEwen beat second-place Thor Hushovd of Norway in the 122-mile route from Charleroi to Namur, with a small detour into neighboring France. But Hushovd, also second in another sprint finish Sunday, still secured the overall race lead and the coveted yellow jersey that goes with it. Spills, wind, and the threat of breakaways fill the first week with stress for Armstrong and his rivals who are saving themselves for their duels in the mountains and later time trials. To keep the five-time champion safe, his U.S. Postal Service squad generally designates two teammates to stay with Armstrong during each stage, Postal veteran George Hincapie said. Hincapie, competing in his ninth Tour, and Viatcheslav Ekimov, a Russian on his 14th Tour, usually take over the bodyguard role for final 12 miles, when the pack is speeding to the line. "We keep him out of the wind, keep him from going too far behind, just keep him in a good position all day -- with as little energy expenditure as possible," Hincapie said. There were several crashes during the stage run under sunny skies. One came just 14 miles from the finish when a pack of riders caught up to six cyclists who had led most of the stage. For Gian Matteo Fagnini, the Tour ended with a crash 25 miles from the finish. The Italian rider for the Domina Vacanze squad injured his collarbone and was taken to a hospital. Other riders caught up in the spill rejoined the race. Tuesday could be another day of thrills and spills, with two sections of cobblestone paths that some riders are dreading. The weather forecast is for sunshine, a good sign for riders since the paving can become treacherous when wet. "Everybody's concerned," Hincapie said. "It's going to be a little technical stage and a lot can be lost." Both cobblestone sections come in the second half of the mostly flat 130-mile stage from Waterloo, Belgium, to the northern French town of Wasquehal. The route should again favor sprinters or riders who brave a breakaway ahead of the main pack. The first cobbled section runs for 1.7 miles. The second, 15 miles from the finish, is nearly three-quarters of a mile long. Punctures, crashes, crowds are all potential hazards. Some say the cobblestone sections have no place in the Tour and could spoil the race if they unseat a top rider. "It's too risky," said Dirk Demol, assistant sporting director for Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service squad. Danish squad CSC plans to fit slightly wider wheels with more grip and have people roadside armed with spares for any punctures, spokesman Brian Nygaard said. Top rider Ivan Basso, an outside contender for the title, has never competed on cobblestones before, although the team scouted both sections twice last week, he added. Riders "don't like it. The element of chance is too big," said Nygaard. "If you have a puncture there and have to wait two minutes for a spare your Tour could be over." Armstrong rival Tyler Hamilton, who fractured his collarbone in a crash on day two of last year's Tour, also ordered wider wheels for his team, their mechanic said. Hamilton says he would have avoided the stones had he designed the Tour route. "But that's what bike racing is all about, different terrain, mountains, flat stages, crosswinds and this year cobblestones," he said. "We'll obviously try to stay toward the front and try to stay upright, obviously. Our goal for that day is just safety."
Mayo crashes, Lance now 5th. _________________ Armstrong takes advantage of Mayo's fall / Associated Press Posted: 12 minutes ago Lance Armstrong turned the ``Hell of the North'' to his advantage. But the cobblestone tracks that bear that menacing name proved disastrous for his Spanish rival Iban Mayo. Mayo crashed Tuesday in the dramatic third stage of the Tour de France marked by the treacherous cobbles, dealing a severe blow to his hopes of winning the three-week race. Armstrong's U.S. Postal squad were ruthless, powering their way to the front of the speeding main pack of riders before it hit the first of the two bone-shaking, dangerous and dusty cobbled tracks on the 210-kilometer (130-mile) route. In the driving seat, the Postals safely shepherded the five-time champion across the obstacle. Other rivals, including 1997 Tour champion Jan Ullrich and American Tyler Hamilton, also emerged unscathed. But Mayo went down as teams were battling fiercely, juggling for position and riding almost flat-out, to place themselves at the front of the pack before it hit the cobbles. As Mayo, with a gaping tear in his shorts, struggled back to his feet, Armstrong and his Postals raced ahead. Mayo struggled to make up the lost time before the finish, but the damage was done. He lost a large chunk of time to Armstrong - a major blow. Jean-Patrick Nazon of France won the stage from Waterloo in Belgium to Wasquehal in northern France. The two cobblestone tracks weren't long - together totaling 3.9 kilometers (2.4 miles). But they proved decisive. Armstrong had warned just a day earlier that the cobblestones could finish some riders' Tours. He was right. Several other riders were caught in the crash that took down Mayo. They included Italian Marco Velo, who finished in a roadside ditch, his collarbone fractured, his Tour over. Mayo can still make up time in later mountain stages that are his specialty. But minutes are a big gap to fill. He risks losing yet more time to Armstrong on Wednesday, in a team time trial that the Postals won last year and are among the favorites to win again. The cobblestones usually form part of the Paris-Roubaix race, a grueling classic known as "The Hell of the North." Not since 1985 had the Tour veered onto cobbles. Some teams and riders complained that they should not have been included in cycling's showcase race. Armstrong said he was in two minds. "Some people's Tour will be finished," he had said on Monday. "I could be one of those people, and I'm not dumb enough to think that I couldn't be. And that would be a shame." "But at the same time, the cobbles are a big part of French cycling," he added. "If you look at Paris-Roubaix, they are a beautiful thing, if you look at it like that, you should say they should be part of the Tour."
