The Tour de France 2006 will be a rather enjoyable event.
Lance Armstrong who just won his seventh consecutive title announced his retirement, which in part will be of benefit for the competition since the last three editions have been a competition for second place.
Kudos to second place, Italian Ivan Basso, and third place German Jan Ullrich.
Lance Armstrong who just won his seventh consecutive title announced his retirement, which in part will be of benefit for the competition since the last three editions have been a competition for second place.
Kudos to second place, Italian Ivan Basso, and third place German Jan Ullrich.
I must state here and now that I am not too happy with the way Lance have conducted himself in the last few years, too much of a bully, complete disregard for chivalry, but I guess it is a cultural thing.
The Frankenrider mad scientist creators and their cyborg can go ahead and delude themselves into believing that they won the event, hopefully they are not engineering a replacement, hopefully that piece of shit that heads the Tour will not allow something like that to happen again.
Now, the real bad news is that this is the second disastrous Tour in a row for the Basque riders, but well, at least Beloki did not suffer an "accident" and Mayo did not have to endure any bullying after a fall because well, he did not fall this time around.
Here is the official standings for the Basque riders at the end of the Tour, including this year's lanterne rouge Iker Flores.
15. Haimar Zubeldia
27. Mikel Astarloza
48. Egoi Martinez
60. Iban Mayo
66. Juan Manuel Garate
75. Joseba Beloki
100. Iñigo Landaluze
122. Iñaki Isasi
150. Unai Etxebarria
155. Iker Flores
And Lapurdi's Colombian son:
55. Santiago Botero
Mark my words, every single one of these guys will do much better next year.
.... ... .
"The Frankenrider mad scientist creators and their cyborg can go ahead and delude themselves into believing that they won the event, hopefully they are not engineering a replacement,..."
ReplyDeleteBlex, try not to sound like you been drinking a very bad 1952 Henderson Valley Red that went through vinegar in 1955 and has been left out in the yard ever since.
I have a healthy scepticism of any sportsman/woman who excells in their favoured sport. As a result of that scepticism I have the likes of the Evers-Swindell twins (World and Olympic champs), Melissa Moon (world champ), Beatrice Faumuina (world champ) as a "counter-list" of competitors who are top of their respective fields and absolutely guaranteed "drug free". Or Precious McKenzie world and olymic weightlifting champion and still competing at masters level at the age of 50 mumble.
The word from the sports medicine field is that Armstrong was born with a heart some 30% larger than normal. By the time he had started serious competition his heart was 50% larger than average. That for a start is a serious advantage. It has nothing to do with EPO doping.
I can now give you a parallel in the form of Peter Snell, another NZer. He was at the top in the 1960's (three olympic golds over 1500m and 800m and a longstanding 3:53.6 mile record) at a time when the use of steroids was just coming to light in East German and Russian athletes. It has been rumoured that one of the reasons he took up sports medicine as a profession was the fact that he also made that bridge between enlarged heart deformity and competitive advantage.
Physical advantage can take many different forms. In the case of Precious MacKenzie the fact that he is only a smudge over 4 foot (1.3m) makes his weightlifting much easier - - less distance to lift...
The point being that it is possible for athletes to reach the top in their chosen sport without chemical assistance. They might have a physical advantage - build, circulatory whatever.
I believe that Armstrong falls into that category.
Nah, I'm just bitter about the way things have been going in the Tour.
ReplyDeleteI used to admire Lance, but then he became a complete asshole and well, I'm dishing out some bs his way.
Well, I guess that I misunderstood your intentions.
ReplyDeleteBut if I can misunderstand, then so too may others.
I guess too, that that illustrates a difference between us. In the local street lingo it is "dissing" a person. I call it "libel" or "slander".
Probligo, after last week, I think you owe me (Aleksu) an apology.
ReplyDelete