Lance Armstrong finished his final Tour De France earlier today.  It’s not going out on top as most had hoped.  But, he finished a respectable 23rd. 

 

Alberto Cantador won his third Tour in the last four years.  He continues Spain’s dominance in sports starting with Pao Gasol helping the Lakers winning back-to-back title to Rafael Nadal winning Wimbledon to Spain winning the World Cup. 

 

Posted by the Tank.  

Lance Armstrong wasn’t having a good Tour de France after many early crashes and cobblestones.  Lance conceded victory after dropping to 38th place.  It is depressing as I would like to see Lance go out on top.  Lance has moved up to 32nd place through Thursday’s 11th stage.

 

There was an ESPN.com report about Lance’s alleged ownership in Tailwind, his former team.  There appears to be a contradiction with a 2005 deposition.  To put it in context, the question was asked after he just finished riding a stage.  There was also a five year difference.  Who remembers what they ate yesterday much less what they said five years ago?

 

Lance’s problems are growing as federal authorities are issuing subpoenas.  These stem from Floyd Landis’ blood doping allegations. 

 

The Tank’s Bottom Line: Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, especially Lance.

 

Posted by The Tank.

Floyd Landis finally admitted to using performance enhancing drugs when he won the tour a few years ago.  Fine.  I don’t know why he did it.  Maybe a book deal, maybe to clear his conscience, or both.  Who knows?

 

But why did he throw his former teammate Lance Armstrong under the bus?  The IOC and WADA want proof.  He better have it or Lance should throw Landis under the proverbial legal bus.

 

Posted by The Tank.

Leadville, Colorado  is the highest city in the United States at 10, 200 feet above sea level. Every year some crazies get together and do a 100 mile mountain bike race up the mountain. It is the nations highest bike race and Dave Wiens held the record at 6:45:45.

Last year Lance Armstrong entered the Leadville race for the heck of it (this was well before he decided to go back to the tour) and took second place, off first by only 120 seconds. Dave Wiens won again.

Today Lance Armstrong has won the Leadville 100, on a flat tire, in record time, 6:28:50, a new record. (Dave got second place.) Yesterday American pro rider Levi Leipheimer, a good friend of Lance, was talking some (friendly) smack. Levi said on Twitter that if “If I was racing, I’m sure that I would have been told to wait numerous times” referring to Lance being behind him. Lance and Levi talked smack at the Tour de France, saying that they would use the world’s greatest bike race as training for the Leadville 100. Unfortunately Levi broke his wrist on stage 12 of the Tour in a crash and will have to wait until 2010. Lance fired back on Twitter that Levi should bet 1 month’s salary on the 2010 Leadville 100. Can’t wait to watch that one. My money is on Lance, but don’t count Levi out…

 

Posted by Steve in New York

“My relationship with Lance Armstrong is zero. He's a great rider and he did a great Tour. Another thing is on a personal level, where I have never admired him and never will. “ –Alberto Contador, winner of the 2009 Tour de France and teammate of Lance Armstrong.

Lance fired back on twitter:

Seeing these comments from AC. If I were him I'd drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn't win.

Lance went on to tweet:

hey pistolero, there is no "i" in "team". what did i say in March? Lots to learn. Restated.

Where pistolero is a jab at Contador where Alberto always celebrates his wins with a fake pistol shot with his fingers. What did Lance say in March? He spoke to Contador about being a good teammate.

Many times in the 2009 Tour de France Alberto Contador made tactical decisions that went against his team while Lance and others on the Astana team only helped Contador.

If I were Contador, I would drop the drivel and learn from the 7 time champion. Lance split his Tour de France winnings with his team after each of his victories and always stressed how important him team was. I guess Contador is not going to be invited on Lance’s new team. Knowing how Lance treats his teammates and how Contador treats his teammates, expect Lance to have an easy time recruiting. SATT to Contador: Act like a champion!

 

Posted by Steve in New York

Alberto Contador (Spain) took first place in the Tour de France, Andy Schleck (LUX) took second, and Lance Armstrong, 11 years older than Contador, and 14 years older than Andy Schleck tool third in his comeback.

 

Photo: Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images

 

Lance did awesome, he goal was to come back and raise awareness for his charity. He did that, helped his teammate win the tour (Contador), and took third overall, after 4 years out (and 38 years old.)

The Tour has been revitalized. Lance brought new interest back to the Tour. The French love him. Trust me, I did not believe it when I saw it on TV, but when I was in France during stages 7-14, I saw tons and tons of “Livestrong” tee shirts. Sarkozy said he loved Lance. They like him now because he is an elder statesman and not a “machine.”

Lance is building a team for next year, signing Radio Shack as a sponsor, taking his old mentor/coach with him. I don’t expect Contador to be on that team. Lance will make one last push to win, or at least place. He will have some tough competition from Contador and both Andy and Frank Schleck. Andy will only get better and Lance will be another year older. It will be a very exciting Tour to watch.

 

Check out Lance on ESPN:

 

 

Posted by Steve in New York

With 4 days to go, the stakes are high. Lance Armstrong is in 4th place, within striking distance of a 2nd or 3rd place finish in Paris. After 2.5 weeks of cycling, Lance still has it, riding circles around most of the others. His teammate, Alberto Contador, is probably the best cyclist on the planet right now and Lance is playing the good teammate. Twice in the last few days he stayed back to or leaped ahead to help Contador. Alberto will win the Tour de France and Lance will most likely be on the podium with him in second or third. Truly amazing to take 4 years off and then come back and be so dominant.

While I was in France last week I spoke to many of the French about the tour and Lance in particular. They all love him. I saw a ton of “Livestrong” tee shirts in Chamonix and the other Alpine villages. Wait, don’t the French hate Lance? According to Lerant, my trekking logistics manager last week: no. What the French want is a human, not a machine. When Lance won those 7 Tours, they said he was a machine and did not live a little. Now that Lance is back and playing second to his teammate Alberto Contador, Lance is more relaxed, even allowing himself wine at dinner. He is loose, giving interviews, and even joking around with fans and reporters. He is still contending, but more relaxed and according to Lerant, “not a machine this year, so we love him.” Go figure.

What is in the future for Lance? Not sure. That will be the subject of a future blog post of course. :)

 

Posted by Steve in New York

Today the Tour de France starts with a 10 mile time trial on Monaco. What makes this tour interesting is that Lance Armstrong is making his comeback, Roger Clemens style, from retirement. Lance and Roger share some similarities: from Texas, record breaking performances, coming out of retirement, putting themselves first, and PED allegations. Lance said “I’m here to win.” He is riding for team Astana and will have to challenge 2007 Tour de France and 2008 Giro d’Italia and teammate Alberto Contador.

The purpose of a team is to support one rider to win the Tour. Team Astana is going to virgin territory. Lance and Alberto, friends and professionals, could tear the team apart.

The 2009 Tour promises to have some drama. But maybe Cycling needs some drama to get people to watch the greatest sports event of the year.

 

Date (Stage)
Location
Distance

7/4 (1)
Monaco (individual TT)
9.63 mi.

7/5 (2)
Monaco to Brignoles
116.2

7/6 (3)
Marseille to La Grande Motte
121.8

7/7 (4)
Montpellier (TT)
24.2

7/8 (5)
Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan
122.1

7/9 (6)
Girona to Barcelona (Yay Spain! Steve loves Barca)
112.8

7/10 (7)
Barcelona to Arcalis
139.2

7/11 (8)
Andorre-la-Vieille to Saint-Girons (Steve arrives in France)
109.7

7/12 (9)
Saint-Gaudens to Tarbes
99.7

7/13
Rest day (Limoges)
--

7/14(10)
Limoges to Issoudun
120.8

7/15(11)
Vatan to Saint-Fargeau
119.3

7/16(12)
Tonnerre to Vittel
131.4

7/17(13)
Vittel to Colmar
124.3

7/18(14)
Colmar to Besancon
123.6

7/19(15)
Pontarlier to Verbier (Steve leaves France)
128.6

7/20
Rest day (Verbier)
--

7/21(16)
Martigny to Bourg-Saint-Maurice
99.4

7/22(17)
B-S-M to Le Grand-Bornand
105

7/23(18)
Annecy (individual TT)
24.8

7/24(19)
Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas
110.6

7/25(20)
Montelimar to Mont Ventoux
103.8

7/26(21)
Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris
101.9

 

Posted by Steve in New York

On March 17th, the French anti-doping agency, AFLD, came to Lance Armstrong’s home in France to collect a random blood, urine, and hair sample. Although the tests found no trances of banned drugs, the test was delayed by over 20 minutes when Lance’s assistants checked the tester’s credentials and Lance took a shower. The AFLD said Lance "did not respect the obligation to remain under the direct and permanent observation" of the tester. Because of this action, Lance maybe banned from the 2009 Tour de France.

"There's a very high likelihood that they prohibit me from riding in the Tour," Lance said Friday in a video statement posted on lancearmstrong.com. "It's too bad. The Tour is something I love dearly."

 

I am on the fence on this one. I am sure that Lance was just showing his frustration and decided to tweak the testers, since he can’t fake the blood and hair tests. If you are Lance Armstrong and under scrutiny for winning so many tours, just dot every and cross every t. While he did nothing wrong, he is looking guilty.

 

Posted by Steve in New York

Wow it's been an exciting few days in sports. PermaGuest Outlaw Jack here. I apologize for not updating the site but work has gotten more hectic than normal and I haven't yet received any updates from the FIGJAM expedition.

 

On to some sports highlights. . .

 

While watching the early NFL games on Sunday, they break in with news and replays showing the Patriots Tom Brady going down with what would become a season ending injury.  I think Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard, who put the hit on Giselle's Boy Toy (another reason to hate Brady) in the first quarter, summed it up the best by saying "He was in a lot of pain. When you hear a scream, you know that,"

 

 

The Jets' new super star QB Brett Farve had a good game. The final score of 20-14 wasn't really indicative of the entire game. Yes recently cut Jet QB Chad Pennington final 3 minute drive into the Red Zone made it a bit of a nail biter, but the Jets pretty much controlled the field from start to finish. Mr. Green’s first TD Pass as a Jet was a 56 yard wobbler to Jerricho Cotchery who reeled it in at the 10 and crossed the line two seconds later. After our kicker Mike Nugent hurt himself on the ensuing kickoff, Coach Mangini had them go for it on 4th and 13 from the 20. Farve under blitz conditions was classic Farve throwing a Hail Mary that seemed like it would only come down when it knew it would hit a jet and it did! Chansi Stuckey anyone? Who is this kid?!  Again due to Nugent's condition Coach had them go for 2, but it was incomplete. Things got interesting then when Jets Punter, Ben Graham had an ugly kick off and they had back up QB Kellen Clemens kicking off a tee into a net on the sidelines. Seems he may have had some experience back in high school a decade ago. . . . oh boy. But with Brady out, I think the Jets have a legit chance at the wild card.

 

Mets Closer, Billy Wagner is done for the season and possibly all of 2009 let alone maybe his career. It was announced on Monday that he would need to go in for Tommy John surgery. With luck and some confidence of what they've done since early August the Mets pen need to hold the line down the stretch to show that they are not the same collapsing team as last year. Though if they did, that may be good for Willie Randolph's legacy as you could say "Look! It wasn't Willie!". Time will tell.

 

 

My Yankees. . . Yeah they bounced back Tuesday night after a crushing 12-1 loss on Monday, riding Rookie Alfredo Aceves, Jr's first Major League start giving up 5 hits and 1 run over 7 strong innings to a 7-1 win. But unless the Rays and the Red Sox start playing .300 ball this will be the first time in 13 seasons we go home after 162 games. Just think, in his entire Major League career to date, Derek Jeter, who passed Babe Ruth on the Yanks' all-time hit list last night, has always played October Ball.

 

Finally 36-year-old Lance Armstrong said he will come out of retirement to go for a record eighth Tour de France win in 2009. Team to be decided.

 

Now I