Tour de Lance
Dutch2
1,590 Posts
The Tour de Lance is back.... At the close of today's team time trails, Lance was tied for the yellow jersey. Is it possible for him to win the Tour again?
Comments
In my book, if he flames out tomorrow and finishes dead last he's still the most incredible athlete of our generation.
(Well, my generation. Most of you are still hanging on to Joe DiMaggio.)
[LEFT]BTW... He tweets even more frequently than I do! (lancearmstrong) [/LEFT]
This happens in Track, when someone is entered into a race to serve as a pacesetting "rabbit". The rabbit is generally a fairly accomplished runner in his own right, and on extremely rare occasions the rabbit may feel like the leaders are faltering and he can win the race. This is almost always a misguided flare-up of inflated ego, or may involve some resentment toward the "big name" runners who are not up to the task. It's all-or-nothing for the rabbit in those cases - he either wins the race and establishes himself, or he's never invited to another meet again.
In this case, I think Lance may be genuinely surprised with his own ability. When he signed on, he probably assumed Contador would be the superior rider. But I think it's incorrect to point to this as Lance not being a team player. His allegiance is to the team, not to Contador. If he thinks he can help the team better this way, I'm not going to doubt him. He's worn the yellow jersey enough to have earned the right to make that call, in my opinion. But, like the track rabbit, it may be a gamble. If Lance drops off the pace and his departure from his pre-race role costs the team, he loses all around.
After the race ended Sunday, someone asked Contador what he thought had been the most difficult part of the Tour. His response was funny, and honest. It wasn't the steep mountain climbs or the humidity-drenched flat stages along the southern French coast. Instead, he said: the daily "team meetings." tk