Ok so while we’ve been gone, Julich retires at 36 same day as Lance re-ups at 37. Wow. The oldest winner of the TdF all-time did it at 36 in 1922. It’s been 3 years since ol’boy raced in the peloton and while he’s done well in some tough-man displays like Leadville, it seems a bit flabbergasting to just ‘come back’. Cippolini is a Sprinter and a Performer and clearly came back to give his ego a taste of the fans and his tax debts a little relief from the Italian government. Lance is a bonified Grand Tour Master – the most golden of all fleece wearers, and to claim that level of comeback is typical of the hubris we expect from the man. The French in particular are asking if it’s so simple to step back in to the Pro ranks, ‘what’s the formula?’ A clear reminder of the somewhat suspect medical miracles that allowed for seven ‘clean’ wins against what we now know was a dirty field. We took a cx ride with Vontz today to sort it all out. Talk of transparency makes the announcement feel so red state/blue state. It’s such a grand word, but how do you define it’s terms? His peers, citing zero proof to verify the stats, have recently called
the doc who posted statistics proving the innocence of the King’s amazing physical recovery a fraud. Since only three people actually found and read them, does it really matter? According to the
BBC, Telecom did a great job of hiring doctors so good, they balanced the sheets with clinical precision to keep the boys ‘’clear’. The claim of ‘all results on the table’ would count only if a variety of independent labs were allowed the access and the budget to properly check the data, and even then all fact would be dependent on awareness of LA’s whereabouts at all times – a basic impossibility. Let’s get a few things on the table. Trek wants their bikes in major races, and they have a multi-year commitment to a team – Tailwind Sports, and therefore Astana – a team currently not invited to the sport’s prestige events (aka Le Tour). If the Texas Kid goes to the Kazak Railway, it could bring Tailwind and Trek back on the big stage. And since Tex allegedly has vested interests in both The Great American Bike Company and Tailwind, there’s backend to consider. Meanwhile, in the home of the free, The Tour of Georgia had recently given up this year’s edition for lack of title sponsor. With the Golden Boy back in the mix and claiming ToG and ToC on his dance card, suddenly both events have juice; Georgia stands a great chance of getting money for the race if Tex is in, and California gets a big boost as well. There’s a lot going on in cycling right now, setting an interesting stage for Armstrong to play out his next act. He could well be taking a page from the unlikely book of surfing, where Kelly Slater has at various times semi-un-retired and fully un-retired to put himself at the brink of an untouchable 9 World Championships. He won his 8th by following a similarly selective ‘see how it goes’ set of events to compete in, while continuing to pursue other interests as a public figure (sitting in with Pearl Jam and Ben Harper for example). While setting new standards for defining ‘old’ in a young man’s competition, his unretirement also served to push a successful industry even further into the black. Perhaps Lance’s will do the same, though the growing chorus of detractors (namely French managers and German broadcasters) might just spoil the party.
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