so, Lance A could not stay away - he could not stay out of the media and go gracefully into retirement. it should not be a surprise, we saw it this year with Bret F, almost with Michael S, we have seen it in the past with many other professional athletes. they retire only to unretire - I am sure it is tough with athletes who call it quits - they do not know what to do with their time and they have a need for competition (and the spotlight). i assume this is what Lance has felt - he ran a few marathons and did reasonably well (hell, in a total BS he got his own finish line in Boston - BS, BS, BS), he tried mountain biking and came in second in the Leadville 100 - maybe he needed more, maybe he needs to be in the spotlight. good for him - I hope he does well.
i am personally not a Lance fan - I respect everything he has done on the bike, for putting cycling on TV in the US, and most importantly for dedicating his name to cancer research (i do respect the Lance Armstrong Foundation and it work). if he wants to come back and race then good for him - the good thing about living in the US is he has that right and if he is good enough to make a team and race in the tour again, then good for him.
i am not sure I buy his excuse of coming back as a way "to bring awareness to the fight against cancer" - i personally think that is crap and it was a convenient way for him to say "I am still better than anyone out there and will beat anyone". however, if he is serious about raising awareness and money for cancer I am sure he will donate all his winnings and salary to LAF or any other cancer related fund out there (rumors were that he was going to do that - we will see)and he will hold fund raisers at all his races in order to raise more money for cancer research. i am sure he will not train as much and make more appearances for the LAF in order to still raise awareness for cancer???
which team will he race for? the overwhelming choice will be Astana - Johan is the manager there now and Lance will probably help get that team back in the tour. i know if I was Levi L on that team - i would be pissed off if Lance joined my team. everything that Levi has worked for will be out the window because lance will have (because he will say he is) to be the focus of the team and will be the number one rider on the team - back to carrying water bottles Levi.
here is an idea though - maybe Lance should start the LAF professional cycling team - he wants to bring awareness to the fight against cancer - how about starting your own professional team - that will put the fight against cancer in the forefront of cycling. he could still be the number one rider on the team.
i wish him luck and i hope he does well and he accomplishes his mission of finally finding the cure for cancer - if he wins another tour in the process good for him.
2 comments:
good, good, good!
very good!
ah Bill. I do believe he is doing this in the global fight against cancer. (And I am NOT just saying that cause I work for him) The research the foundation has done is that outside of the US, cancer comes with a stigma. People can't talk about it, some think its contagious. LA is fed up with how the world views cancer. It is taking too many lives and he wants awareness and action globally. Doing this from the bike...just makes sense.
Post a Comment