Poll: are you pleased that Lance is back?

Eurostar

Despite my disgust at the many arrogant, aggressive, nasty, dishonest things Lance has done in the past I'm glad he's back. I'm really enjoying this Tour and I don't think it would be nearly as exciting if it was just Bertie versus Evans, Schleck and Sastre.

And It's such a relief that we're all discussing the racing and not the d*p**g.

dave milne

Eurostar wrote:

Despite my disgust at the many arrogant, aggressive, nasty, dishonest things Lance has done in the past I'm glad he's back. I'm really enjoying this Tour and I don't think it would be nearly as exciting if it was just Bertie versus Evans, Schleck and Sastre.

And It's such a relief that we're all discussing the racing and not the d*p**g.

yeah think I agree with this. Provides a huge amount more excitement to the race with all the inter team fighting speculation bullshit or not. does annoy me when he seems to get more press coverage than cavendish in the uk but that's hardly his fault

afx237vi

Eurostar wrote:

Despite my disgust at the many arrogant, aggressive, nasty, dishonest things Lance has done in the past I'm glad he's back. I'm really enjoying this Tour and I don't think it would be nearly as exciting if it was just Bertie versus Evans, Schleck and Sastre.

And It's such a relief that we're all discussing the racing and not the d*p**g.

Hold your horses. We're only 4 days in. By this time last year we still had Ricco, Beltran, Duenas, Piepoli, Kohl and Schumacher to look forward to.

donrhummy

afx237vi wrote:

Eurostar wrote:

Despite my disgust at the many arrogant, aggressive, nasty, dishonest things Lance has done in the past I'm glad he's back. I'm really enjoying this Tour and I don't think it would be nearly as exciting if it was just Bertie versus Evans, Schleck and Sastre.

And It's such a relief that we're all discussing the racing and not the d*p**g.

Hold your horses. We're only 4 days in. By this time last year we still had Ricco, Beltran, Duenas, Piepoli, Kohl and Schumacher to look forward to.

True but even before them, there was already a LOT of doping talk, particularly in the mainstream press but also with cycling news groups. It was 50% of all the coverage even before the failed drug tests.

NatoED

I'm no fan of lance and wish he had stayed out. If he did want to promote cancer research ect. then why race why not just give his money ?

sonny73

Can 'Not bothered' count as torn between yes and no? I hope so as either way I'm the one loser that had to be different up to now

mhuk

He made the team time trial more interesting and if he can perform in the mountains (and going by his performance in the Giro he's none too rusty) it'll be interesting there too.

ellieb

yeah, it is strange. Despite thinking that he is a doper, that he is probably fairly unpleasant as a person and that it is time for the sport to move on from him, I found myself cheering for the old guy today :?

Homer J

I think alot of people base their opinions on misguided reports in the media and not any facts, how the fu@k do you know if he is a nice person or not, and what does it matter? He won the tour 7 times and is back as a 37yr old and he's kicking some ass. I say hats off to you Lance coz i don't see anyone else doing that for a long time. Like him or not he has put our minorty sport to the fore front.

Glad or not, he is back and proved that he has earned his place in the team. An inspiration to anyone who thinks it's too late in life to have a go.

dilemna

I reckon all those sniping at Lance are those cyclists who could only dream of riding pro who struggle even riding a 10 mile TT in 40 minutes . Their jealously is matched by their inadequacy as a competitive cyclist. I don't know LA from the next top pro sportsman but I do know that like many very successful sportsmen and women at the top eg Michael Schmacher, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Sebastian Loeb, Martina Navratilova, the Williams sisters, Paula Radcliff, bitter armchair spectators will always try to pull chunks out of them. The irony is that these so called spectators have never achieved one professional win let alone a whole string of them. They only love to knock people down to make themselves feel good about their own inadequacies.

Top marks for LA coming back to pro riding at 37/38 years old. It would really be something if he could give the younger riders a scare and finish high up in or win the TdF . Maybe that would finally silence the whining and whinging LA critics.

donrhummy

NatoED wrote:

I'm no fan of lance and wish he had stayed out. If he did want to promote cancer research ect. then why race why not just give his money ?

Here is why:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=livestrong

Look in particular at the "News Reference Volume" at the bottom there. HUGE increase since he announced his return.

And this:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=cancer+l ... all&sort=0

richard wants a baum

dilemna

reckon all those sniping at Lance are those cyclists who could only dream of riding pro who struggle even riding a 10 mile TT in 40 minutes . Their jealously is matched by their inadequacy as a competitive cyclist

Yep thats it, youve found us all out where all wannabies that never made it. :roll: Maybe some of us just dont like the guy, you do know its not compulsory.

Unsheath

dilemna wrote:

I reckon all those sniping at Lance are those cyclists who could only dream of riding pro who struggle even riding a 10 mile TT in 40 minutes . Their jealously is matched by their inadequacy as a competitive cyclist. I don't know LA from the next top pro sportsman but I do know that like many very successful sportsmen and women at the top eg Michael Schmacher, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Sebastian Loeb, Martina Navratilova, the Williams sisters, Paula Radcliff, bitter armchair spectators will always try to pull chunks out of them. The irony is that these so called spectators have never achieved one professional win let alone a whole string of them. They only love to knock people down to make themselves feel good about their own inadequacies.

Top marks for LA coming back to pro riding at 37/38 years old. It would really be something if he could give the younger riders a scare and finish high up in or win the TdF . Maybe that would finally silence the whining and whinging LA critics.

Aghh, the old green eyed monster jealousy card. Im still surprised at how often this one gets pulled out.

Perhaps the bitter ones are long time cycling fans who have a more educated and moral stance on PED's than your everyday Joe Bloggs*. We've seen him come along post Festina and smother the sport in cancer once again. I personally hate cheats and always will continue to do so. It's quite simple really and no need to over analyse me (us) as inadequate amateur win-less wannabe.

You'll find our opinions are fuelled by our passion of the sport and not the OTT love of one man.

*Livestrong warrior

Please resume your tweetering.

grandad3

Why do people always assume that the hate devoted on lance is only due to the fact that he (may) have cheated in the past. I hate the guy fullstop.
Got nothing to do with the fact that I struggle on certain rides, cant drive me car faster than loeb, hit a tennis ball or play boring golf.
Lance is the type of guy who fuels hatred with his arrogance, ignorance and self conceited antics beloved of most americans(god i hate America).
Oh, and I have relations who are american and still cant decide wether I love em

andyp

I don't hate Armstrong but I do think he's a fraud. When he won the Tour in 1999, the year after the Festina Affair, he was seen by many as a beacon of hope, as someone who'd won the Tour clean after nearly ten years of systematic doping. Added to that was the fact that he'd come back from cancer to do this and you had a great story.

The problem is that it was a story. He was using the same drugs as his predecessors, as the retroactive tests on his 1999 samples now show. His message of hope, and one he preaches as a cancer survivor, is a fraudulent one.

pauln99

God i hate America

Location: North Yorks

QED

bompington

grandad3 wrote:

Why do people always assume that the hate devoted on lance is only due to the fact that he (may) have cheated in the past. I hate the guy fullstop.
Got nothing to do with the fact that I struggle on certain rides, cant drive me car faster than loeb, hit a tennis ball or play boring golf.
Lance is the type of guy who fuels hatred with his arrogance, ignorance and self conceited antics beloved of most americans(god i hate America).
Oh, and I have relations who are american and still cant decide wether I love em

So you're saying that your hatred of Armstrong is basically racism then?

Kléber

andyp wrote:

I don't hate Armstrong but I do think he's a fraud. When he won the Tour in 1999, the year after the Festina Affair, he was seen by many as a beacon of hope, as someone who'd won the Tour clean after nearly ten years of systematic doping. Added to that was the fact that he'd come back from cancer to do this and you had a great story.

The problem is that it was a story. He was using the same drugs as his predecessors, as the retroactive tests on his 1999 samples now show. His message of hope, and one he preaches as a cancer survivor, is a fraudulent one.

My thoughts exactly.

On top of it, he's handled the comeback badly. He promised transparency with an anti-doping scheme but abandoned this. His media boycott at the Giro wasn't productive either.

Above all, he's monopolising attention, whether with the media scrum that follows him or the Astana leadership soap opera. Here we are again, we're talking about him when yesterday the real story was probably Cancellara's massive ride, the way he towed around his entire team to keep in yellow as well as the losses incurred by Sastre, Evans and Menchov. There is discussion of this but it's diluted by the news of Armstrong.

But if he's a divisive figure, there's no hatred or jealousy here, just a sense of disappointment at times. He's been Dr Ferrari's biggest client after all, that's just not healthy.

Philip S

I'm pleased his back - I'm not a fan, but his presence has certainly helped liven up the race.

I'm also hoping he loses a slug of time on Friday after a few GC contenders are forced to have a pop. However, I fear that we'll be back to a (light) blue train on the front of the climb - if that's what we get for the mountain stages I may revise my view on his return (possibly not LA's fault, but I'd like to see something fresh in the TdF, not the same old same old).