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LANCE ARMSTRONG'S BID FOR COVETED SIXTH TOUR DE FRANCE FOILED
Lance Armstrong's Bid For Coveted Sixth Tour de France Foiled
By Joe King, Dullard Trite, and Richard Longwood Special to ESPN, MTV, MIT, and CYCLINGNEWS.COM PARIS, FRANCE -- Heading into the final stages of the 2004 Tour de France, Lance Armstrong looked destined to be in clear and eternal glory. Another victory and he would create a new cycling pantheon. But long shot Tyler Hamilton was coming on steadily, and suddenly Lance began to look weary. There would be no six-time Tour de France champion. Even when he still was in front by minutes, Johan Bruyneel, Lance Armstrong's coach, knew he was in trouble. "When I looked back and saw the way Tyler Hamilton was coming at us, yeah, I thought we were going to get beat," Bruyneel said. Tyler Hamilton, coached by Urs Freuler, had Lance Armstrong in his sights, and 7 stages from the last stage, Urs Freuler's stallion went by the five time Tour de France champion en route to a commanding victory before a crowd of millions, the largest ever to see a sporting event in France. For the first time in five years, Lance Armstrong didn't win. Freuler and the other Phonak managers Alvaro Pino, Jacques Michaud, and René Savary and Tyler's parents had mixed emotions after last year's situation when Tyler emerged from obscurity last July to become Massachusetts' favorite son and an international celebrity. As Tyler Hamilton and Lance Armstrong galloped out, Freuler got on Bruyneel' s radio frequency and told him, "Better luck next time jackass! You were a fool for letting your pretty boy do all those OLN segments and all those other car commercials." It surprised Bruyneel, who undoubtedly was in an agitated state. "He said he was sorry," Bruyneel said. "I said, 'What are you going to do? That's bike racing.'" Freuler was thrilled over finally beating his jinx race and completing his personal goal. Besides winning 15 stages of the Giro d'Italia, 3 stages of the Tour de France, 5 stages of the Tour de Romandie, 9 stages of the Tour de Suisse, Urs Freuler also took 10 World Track titles. After not making the podium last year at the Tour de France, the Swiss native not only won this year's Tour de France but also did it without Tyler using any performance enhancing drugs. Still, he felt for those who yearned for a Lance victory. "What can I say?" Freuler said. "I feel great, the jihad worked and it was an emotional thing. It's sad because Lance was great for racing." Emma O'Reilly, Ireland's leading big mouth, was weepy and overjoyed. Her feelings were confusing. "This means so much to me," she said. "This is a homebred champion. My husband [Mr. Hamilton, Tyler's father] is the one who decided that we breed and produce this year's Tour de France champion. But we do feel bad for Lance (wink, wink). It's bittersweet. We were rooting for Lance (wink, wink). We love Lance. I think Lance has done more for the racing community and people who love cycling." Love hurts, and Lance went down because he was judged badly by David Walsh and Pierre Ballester at the end of a glorious ride through France. Bruyneel, the only Belgian coach Lance has ever known, asked far too much of him in the most grueling race Lance will ever run. Lance never got a breather in an exhausting stage to the top of Plateau de Beille. He was 30 seconds behind at the first feed zone and two minutes back at the base of the last climb while always battling just to stay in the peloton. His pharmacist was worried a long way out, and he looked more angry than disappointed seconds after Tyler Hamilton crossed the finish line to win the stage. "We just weren't able to manage his hematocrit," Bruyneel said minutes later. "You can't win a 23 day stage race without getting that stabilized. I knew when we didn't win Plateau de Beille that we were in a little trouble. He just wasn't stabilized the way he was in the previous two stages." After taking constant pressure from Roberto Heras and Oscar Sevilla while chasing Jan Ullrich and Iban Mayo, Lance Armstrong took the early lead on the L'Alpe d'Huez stage by 10 seconds half way to the top. Bruyneel had him kick for home early -- too early -- and opened a 20 second lead 6 kilometers from the finish. Heras, Sevilla, Mayo and Ullrich were done, but Tyler Hamilton proved to have the biggest schlong of the day and won big time. The next day, Freuler let Tyler Hamilton move comfortably to the finish in Le Grand Bornand while Lance took the heat down the backstretch, and although Tyler was far back, Freuler still wasn't worried. Tyler Hamilton was on cruise control, and Lance wasn't home free. "At the top of the Col de la Madeleine, I still thought we had a good shot," Bruyneel said, "but then I looked over and saw Tyler Hamilton smoking a cigarette and thought we might be in trouble." He was. Tyler Hamilton ground Lance down and took the lead for good, and Lance had nothing left to throw at him. Tyler Hamilton lost only 12 seconds in the descent into the Le Grand Bornand finish while Lance Armstrong rode at 60 kilometers per hour in the last 2 kilometers, way too fast to recover for the next day. Millions of American people were seriously bummed out because Lance got beat in Paris. Jay Leno had called to ask if Lance would come to California to appear on his show. President Bush issued an open invitation for Lance to visit the Rose Garden. One woman wrote to Bruyneel and asked if she could have a nude photo shoot taken with Lance. All were turned down. "It's unbelievable how it's taken off," Bruyneel said Friday. "It's just kind of snowballed. It seems like the story is flowing across the country and everyone has kind of adopted him as the feel-good story and their favorite Texan." "I think the timing has a lot to do with it. There are so many bad things going on in the world," Jonathan Vaughters of Boulder said when he came to the Paris finish of the Tour de France. "People get tired of looking at the bad things on the front page and they skip to the sports page. They get to read a feel-good story about a little drug using Texas cyclist who's doing swell." "It has been great for the drug companies, and hopefully it continues." Unfortunately for Lance and his connections, it didn't. Bruyneel tried to accentuate the positive while taking the pain with class and grace. While Freuler was being interviewed after the race, Bruyneel congratulated him with a crushing Belgian handshake. "Well, it's tough," Bruyneel said. "We had a shot to make big history here. We didn't do it. We've had a great year. I'm not going to put my head down. I'm proud of the whole team and everybody needs to be happy. They don't need to be sad." Too bad it didn't feel that way Sunday night in Paris, and that wouldn't change Monday morning. |
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#2
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LANCE ARMSTRONG'S BID FOR COVETED SIXTH TOUR DE FRANCE FOILED
Tune in Sunday, 25-July-2004, for accuracy of this prophesy.
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#3
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LANCE ARMSTRONG'S BID FOR COVETED SIXTH TOUR DE FRANCE FOILED
Wow you got a lot of time on your hands. Clearly you didn't type all
this out. "Richard Longwood" wrote in message ... Lance Armstrong's Bid For Coveted Sixth Tour de France Foiled By Joe King, Dullard Trite, and Richard Longwood Special to ESPN, MTV, MIT, and CYCLINGNEWS.COM PARIS, FRANCE -- Heading into the final stages of the 2004 Tour de France, Lance Armstrong looked destined to be in clear and eternal glory. Another victory and he would create a new cycling pantheon. But long shot Tyler Hamilton was coming on steadily, and suddenly Lance began to look weary. There would be no six-time Tour de France champion. Even when he still was in front by minutes, Johan Bruyneel, Lance Armstrong's coach, knew he was in trouble. "When I looked back and saw the way Tyler Hamilton was coming at us, yeah, I thought we were going to get beat," Bruyneel said. Tyler Hamilton, coached by Urs Freuler, had Lance Armstrong in his sights, and 7 stages from the last stage, Urs Freuler's stallion went by the five time Tour de France champion en route to a commanding victory before a crowd of millions, the largest ever to see a sporting event in France. For the first time in five years, Lance Armstrong didn't win. Freuler and the other Phonak managers Alvaro Pino, Jacques Michaud, and René Savary and Tyler's parents had mixed emotions after last year's situation when Tyler emerged from obscurity last July to become Massachusetts' favorite son and an international celebrity. As Tyler Hamilton and Lance Armstrong galloped out, Freuler got on Bruyneel' s radio frequency and told him, "Better luck next time jackass! You were a fool for letting your pretty boy do all those OLN segments and all those other car commercials." It surprised Bruyneel, who undoubtedly was in an agitated state. "He said he was sorry," Bruyneel said. "I said, 'What are you going to do? That's bike racing.'" Freuler was thrilled over finally beating his jinx race and completing his personal goal. Besides winning 15 stages of the Giro d'Italia, 3 stages of the Tour de France, 5 stages of the Tour de Romandie, 9 stages of the Tour de Suisse, Urs Freuler also took 10 World Track titles. After not making the podium last year at the Tour de France, the Swiss native not only won this year's Tour de France but also did it without Tyler using any performance enhancing drugs. Still, he felt for those who yearned for a Lance victory. "What can I say?" Freuler said. "I feel great, the jihad worked and it was an emotional thing. It's sad because Lance was great for racing." Emma O'Reilly, Ireland's leading big mouth, was weepy and overjoyed. Her feelings were confusing. "This means so much to me," she said. "This is a homebred champion. My husband [Mr. Hamilton, Tyler's father] is the one who decided that we breed and produce this year's Tour de France champion. But we do feel bad for Lance (wink, wink). It's bittersweet. We were rooting for Lance (wink, wink). We love Lance. I think Lance has done more for the racing community and people who love cycling." Love hurts, and Lance went down because he was judged badly by David Walsh and Pierre Ballester at the end of a glorious ride through France. Bruyneel, the only Belgian coach Lance has ever known, asked far too much of him in the most grueling race Lance will ever run. Lance never got a breather in an exhausting stage to the top of Plateau de Beille. He was 30 seconds behind at the first feed zone and two minutes back at the base of the last climb while always battling just to stay in the peloton. His pharmacist was worried a long way out, and he looked more angry than disappointed seconds after Tyler Hamilton crossed the finish line to win the stage. "We just weren't able to manage his hematocrit," Bruyneel said minutes later. "You can't win a 23 day stage race without getting that stabilized. I knew when we didn't win Plateau de Beille that we were in a little trouble. He just wasn't stabilized the way he was in the previous two stages." After taking constant pressure from Roberto Heras and Oscar Sevilla while chasing Jan Ullrich and Iban Mayo, Lance Armstrong took the early lead on the L'Alpe d'Huez stage by 10 seconds half way to the top. Bruyneel had him kick for home early -- too early -- and opened a 20 second lead 6 kilometers from the finish. Heras, Sevilla, Mayo and Ullrich were done, but Tyler Hamilton proved to have the biggest schlong of the day and won big time. The next day, Freuler let Tyler Hamilton move comfortably to the finish in Le Grand Bornand while Lance took the heat down the backstretch, and although Tyler was far back, Freuler still wasn't worried. Tyler Hamilton was on cruise control, and Lance wasn't home free. "At the top of the Col de la Madeleine, I still thought we had a good shot," Bruyneel said, "but then I looked over and saw Tyler Hamilton smoking a cigarette and thought we might be in trouble." He was. Tyler Hamilton ground Lance down and took the lead for good, and Lance had nothing left to throw at him. Tyler Hamilton lost only 12 seconds in the descent into the Le Grand Bornand finish while Lance Armstrong rode at 60 kilometers per hour in the last 2 kilometers, way too fast to recover for the next day. Millions of American people were seriously bummed out because Lance got beat in Paris. Jay Leno had called to ask if Lance would come to California to appear on his show. President Bush issued an open invitation for Lance to visit the Rose Garden. One woman wrote to Bruyneel and asked if she could have a nude photo shoot taken with Lance. All were turned down. "It's unbelievable how it's taken off," Bruyneel said Friday. "It's just kind of snowballed. It seems like the story is flowing across the country and everyone has kind of adopted him as the feel-good story and their favorite Texan." "I think the timing has a lot to do with it. There are so many bad things going on in the world," Jonathan Vaughters of Boulder said when he came to the Paris finish of the Tour de France. "People get tired of looking at the bad things on the front page and they skip to the sports page. They get to read a feel-good story about a little drug using Texas cyclist who's doing swell." "It has been great for the drug companies, and hopefully it continues." Unfortunately for Lance and his connections, it didn't. Bruyneel tried to accentuate the positive while taking the pain with class and grace. While Freuler was being interviewed after the race, Bruyneel congratulated him with a crushing Belgian handshake. "Well, it's tough," Bruyneel said. "We had a shot to make big history here. We didn't do it. We've had a great year. I'm not going to put my head down. I'm proud of the whole team and everybody needs to be happy. They don't need to be sad." Too bad it didn't feel that way Sunday night in Paris, and that wouldn't change Monday morning. |
#4
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LANCE ARMSTRONG'S BID FOR COVETED SIXTH TOUR DE FRANCE FOILED
Jiyang:
Clearly I did type all this. I can write like you can play the piano. Richard Longwood "Jiyang Chen" wrote in message ... Wow you got a lot of time on your hands. Clearly you didn't type all this out. |
#5
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LANCE ARMSTRONG'S BID FOR COVETED SIXTH TOUR DE FRANCE FOILED
"Richard Longwood" wrote in message ... Jiyang: Clearly I did type all this. I can write like you can play the piano. Bored or lonely? I think 6 is the curse and Lance will lose. Jan will win by small margin. Richard Longwood "Jiyang Chen" wrote in message ... Wow you got a lot of time on your hands. Clearly you didn't type all this out. |
#6
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LANCE ARMSTRONG'S BID FOR COVETED SIXTH TOUR DE FRANCE FOILED
Richard Longwood wrote:
Jiyang: Clearly I did type all this. I can write like you can play the piano. Richard Longwood Jiyang: Good luck with those lessons. -- -- Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "We should not march into Baghdad. ... Assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerilla war, it could only plunge that part of the world into ever greater instability." George Bush Sr. in his 1998 book "A World Transformed" |
#7
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LANCE ARMSTRONG'S BID FOR COVETED SIXTH TOUR DE FRANCE FOILED
"Raptor" wrote in message
... Richard Longwood wrote: Jiyang: Clearly I did type all this. I can write like you can play the piano. Richard Longwood Jiyang: Good luck with those lessons. Yeah, when did you say you were intending on starting? |
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