Tour de France 2005

[Trek420]

Yeah, me too. made my day...ruined my lunch.

[betagirl]

"The interview of the day with Trent Wilson of Selle Italia:

DZ: Trent if you could make a rubber band bracelet what would it stand for?

TW: Something to do with beer."

[spazzdog]

A couple of things (who knows, maybe more):

1) What's the deal with the Sheryl Crow bashing? If you wanna, that's OK and all, I guess, but I don't get it. They seem very happy with one another and in the end, isn't that the important thing? Yeah, I know... his ex-wife was there thru the recovery and had his children, etc, but people break up. It's life. Would you want to stay with your partner when the flame was... well, out or there was no common interest except the kids? how healthy is that?

2) Are there any French folks on TE? Why do the French hate Lance? This is not meant to incite French bashing, so be nice! He's an amazing athlete... is it because he's American and the U.S. and France aren't exactly huggy buddies these days? Opinions....

spazzdog - diving into the "controversial pool" once again...

(and does it irritate anyone else that you can't do spell check on your posts )

[Veronica]

Why do the French hate Lance?

I'm not so sure they hate him. When he first popped onto the scene, I don't think he was especially respectful to the more senior riders or the traditions of the tour. That irked them. And, it's their race. They want a French cyclist to do well.


I suppose the only thing that bugs me about the Sheryl Crow stuff is that they NEVER interview any other cyclists' wives, girlfriends, etc. I don't think they ever interviewed his wife when they were married. It just seems crass to me. I'd rather hear how some of the "regular" wives deal with their husbands funky schedules, weird dietary needs, obsessions with gear, etc.


V.

[jobob]

Why do the French hate Lance?

That's painting with a mighty broad brush, don't you think?

Odds are the average Frenchman likes Lance I heckuva lot more than I do.

I tend to find questions like that an open invitation for French-bashing, which I find unfair - be it by GW Bush or by some Lance fan.

There's almost a Bush-like attitude amongst some Lance fans - if you don't basically worship the freakin' ground he walks on, there's something wrong with you - "if you're not with him you're against him". Which is the reason why I don't belong to the Cult of Lance - I refuse to be told who I must root for, and I'm tired of him and his yellow bracelets and his endless self-promotion and his superstar girlfriend shoved down my throat.


And as for Ms. Crow, V. hits the nail on the head IMO.

- Jo.

[Dogmama]

Lance fan.

There's almost a Bush-like attitude amongst some Lance fans - if you don't basically worship the freakin' ground he walks on, there's something wrong with you - "if you're not with him you're against him". Which is the reason why I don't belong to the Cult of Lance - I refuse to be told who I must root for, and I'm tired of him and his yellow bracelets and his endless self-promotion and his superstar girlfriend shoved down my throat.
And as for Ms. Crow, V. hits the nail on the head IMO.
- Jo.

I think Lance is an amazing athlete and I admire him for his tenacity & hope he wins his 7th. I also know that he has lots of warts, he's difficult, childish and petulant. I don't own a yellow rubber band bracelet. Switch to my other favorite sport - pro basketball. Yup, they're amazing athletes with lots of warts too.

I don't particularly care about an athlete's persona. I admire them for their accomplishments, their passion for their sport and their willingness to endure hardship & pain to succeed. I like sports where I can see them sweat, see the determination on their faces. Maybe that's why golf never appealed to me

Double bump on V's comments on Ms. Crow. I'd love to hear from "normal" rider's wives/girlfriends. Ms. Crow is too cute for me. Her interview last night was so fake, "Oh, I'm still learning..." Well, honey, if you haven't learned by now ("1 year and 8 months...tee hee..") as they said in the movie Birdcage:

"Try more gum"

[snapdragen]

I used to be a major Lance fan, but I guess I got kinda bored. I really wanted him to do some of the other races this year, and not concentrate on the Tour. I suspect his contract with Disco had something to do with the decision though. I admire the work he's done with the cancer community, and I think he's an amazing athelete.

I do wear the yellow band, more in memory of my best friend, who died two Christmases ago, than as a Lance fan.

Ms Crow - never liked her music, don't care for her. I do think it's silly to have the OLN boys fawning over her.

[MightyMitre]

There's almost a Bush-like attitude amongst some Lance fans - if you don't basically worship the freakin' ground he walks on, there's something wrong with you - "if you're not with him you're against him". Which is the reason why I don't belong to the Cult of Lance - I refuse to be told who I must root for, and I'm tired of him and his yellow bracelets and his endless self-promotion and his superstar girlfriend shoved down my throat.

- Jo.

Thanks jobob - for saying exactly as I feel. As this is an American board I've always been aware that there's probably a lot of support for Mr Lance and I've never wanted to upset too many people or step on anyone's toes.

From a view slightly closer to France and having been to the Tour for quite a few years I wouldn't say the French hate Lance - in fact in recent years they've started to warm to him.
One thing they disliked initially was his lack of passion - winning for him was a job (as he's often said) and the French like to see some emotion. He came across as cold and detached.
Initially Lance's french wasn't very good and he refused to give interviews to French TV in French, which didn't really help either, but he later explained that he didn't want to speak French in case he made an embarrasing mistake or said the wrong thing. I've heard him do interviews in French recently so he's obvioulsy been learning.

DISCLAIMER; I'm not French so any corrections welcome and this is only what I've picked up as a very general French feeling, so I could be totally wrong.

As for Ms Crow - maybe the Crow-bashing was my fault. I was joking about Lance hearing one of her songs and doing badly in the TT, because he had it stuck in his head. Thing is - I didn't even know she'd done some new stuff - there's not much call for Crow over here, so I was just mucking about.

[spazzdog]

MM- seems like a good explaination. I'll take it

I get curious is all, and have nothing against the French (love the food and the wine and the fashion).

The recent news about the ridiculous defamation suit and then the French athletic body's "random" pull of Lance's number for an additional pre-race drug test... it just has gotten old.

I also get it that this is the crown jewel of French sporting events and they haven't had a champion in years. I'm sure that gets them a tad testy. I appreciate all opinions from either side of the old pond

On McEwen's (not McGee) antics at the line: I'm glad he was "relegated". That was soooo blatently impeding some else's line. They should've taken a time penalty too.

From the UCI rulebook:

12.1.021 In stages races, all punishments and penalties shall count against individual general classifications. They may, depending on the gravity of the infringement, and if so decided by the Commissaires Panel, be applied to individual stage classifications.

If in the judgement of the Commissaires Panel, an infringement committed by a rider gives an advantage to the general classification by time of his team, a time penalty of 30 seconds shall also be applied to the team.

10.1.2 Stage Race
1st offence: relegation to the last place in his group, point 1st offence: relegation to the end of his field, point classification penalty equal to the points + 100 + 30" in general classification awarded to the first place of the stage, 200 + 30" in general class.

2nd offence: relegation to last place in the stage, point 2nd offence: relegation to end of stage + 100 classification penalty equal to the points awarded to + 1' in general classification the first place of the stage, 200 + 1' in general class.
3rd offence: elimination + 200 3rd offence: elimination + 200

spazzdog