Riis vs Lance

donrhummy
donrhummy Posts: 2,329
edited January 2010 in Pro race
Does he WANT Lance to win? Never poke the bear.

There are just a few athletes over time that you NEVER tell them they can't do something or that someone else is better. For example, Michael Jordan (ever see his eyes closed FT to show up Dikembe?), Eddy Merkx and of course Lance Armstrong.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/riis-sa ... tour-again
“There are many more hills this year, the route is harder, and it will give Lance major problems. He must pull himself together to make the top-five,” according to Riis, who won the Tour in 1996.

“I think he can do well, but it will be difficult for him to get on the podium. So he must really do much better, and I do not think he can. He is getting older.”

Comments

  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Riis is right. Same words also apply to Bradley Wiggins (other than being too old).
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Having another year back, and one without injury, might well suit Armstrong. You write him off at your peril. But if Contador's healthy, the Texan is toast and I can easily see Andy Schleck on the podium too, not to mention challenges from many others, from Wiggins to Nibali.
  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    Sorry but you've summarized it incorrectly, it's NOT Riis vs Lance. He's just stating his opinion as a pretty good DS who knows riders and knows the GT winning formula.

    He's factually correct about the vertical meters in the 2010 tour being > than 2009. GT climbing is all about VAM which is a more composite function of power:weight and clearly he feels that Lance's VAM numbers are not the best.

    One thing I'd like to point out to Mr Riis is that Lance's climbing performance was equal to what Frank could throw down on the Ventoux. Andy is clearly a better climber but if all he can do is throw the Schelck 1-2 punch at LA or especially AC, he might be out of cards before he knows it.

    Would love to know more details on what LA is doing differently this year. Anyone have any deets?
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    Given that Lance is so old, as Riis kindly reminds us, I wonder why, beyond saving the world from cancer, he's taking on more races than he did before he retired?

    I always thought the older you get, the better off you are with specialising, because the body takes longer to recover...
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    Kléber wrote:
    Having another year back, and one without injury, might well suit Armstrong. You write him off at your peril. But if Contador's healthy, the Texan is toast and I can easily see Andy Schleck on the podium too, not to mention challenges from many others, from Wiggins to Nibali.

    LA will do very well to better last years 3rd but i certainly see him maybe matching that especially if he can avoid injury, in all this verbal knocking of the man its seems to be easily forgotten that he is an extremely talented bike rider.
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    It's pretty clear that LA can't match AC pedal-stroke for pedal-stroke anymore, either on the climbs or the ITTs. So he'll have to devise and excecute a different plan, if he has genuine desire/belief that he can win the Tour. Seems the obvious tactic will be to out-muscle AC through team-work either on the cobbles or in the wind in the first week. They do have multiple cards to play with Leipheimer, Kloden etc, so they can apply pressure if they're prepared to take risks.

    Everyone continues to talk up Andy Schleck, but the bottom line is he's pretty useless against the clock (at least against the creme-de-la-creme CG riders). He needs to work hard on how to limit his losses in the ITTs, as he doesn't have the acceleration ride AC off his wheel in the mountains.

    My prediction is LA will finish in the Top 10, which, in my view, is still a tremendous performance.

    With Wiggo, it's difficult to tell. Hopefully, he will avoid the couple of bad days he had last year and his consistancy will keep him well up there. Problem is, I don't see where he will gain time on the other major GC contenders.
  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    pedro118118 wrote:
    It's pretty clear that LA can't match AC pedal-stroke for pedal-stroke anymore, either on the climbs or the ITTs. So he'll have to devise and excecute a different plan, if he has genuine desire/belief that he can win the Tour. Seems the obvious tactic will be to out-muscle AC through team-work either on the cobbles or in the wind in the first week. They do have multiple cards to play with Leipheimer, Kloden etc, so they can apply pressure if they're prepared to take risks.

    Everyone continues to talk up Andy Schleck, but the bottom line is he's pretty useless against the clock (at least against the creme-de-la-creme CG riders). He needs to work hard on how to limit his losses in the ITTs, as he doesn't have the acceleration ride AC off his wheel in the mountains.

    My prediction is LA will finish in the Top 10, which, in my view, is still a tremendous performance.

    With Wiggo, it's difficult to tell. Hopefully, he will avoid the couple of bad days he had last year and his consistancy will keep him well up there. Problem is, I don't see where he will gain time on the other major GC contenders.

    He'll gain some time on the cobbles i suspect. Might put him in yellow for a few days. He won't win. A podium will be a stretch me thinks.
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    I hope so.

    As a specator, the best case scenario would be for the likes of AC and AS to lose time in the first week and have to go all out attack to claw it back in the Pyranees & Alps.
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    pedro118118 wrote:
    It's pretty clear that LA can't match AC pedal-stroke for pedal-stroke anymore, either on the climbs or the ITTs. So he'll have to devise and excecute a different plan, if he has genuine desire/belief that he can win the Tour. Seems the obvious tactic will be to out-muscle AC through team-work either on the cobbles or in the wind in the first week. They do have multiple cards to play with Leipheimer, Kloden etc, so they can apply pressure if they're prepared to take risks.


    True, but the problem here is that Lance will have to have a credible threat - i.e. if AC or Bertie let Levi or Kloeden go, that Lance wouldn't end up chasing them himself a la Telekom in 2004(5?) or seeking to usurp them on later stages (like 2009). Whereas AC, for example, would support Frank all the way to Paris.

    Levi & Klodi haven't been hired to do anything other than help LA to get as high as he can, and the Peloton know that. A pity really, as I suspect Kloeden is at least as good as LA.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • Roscobob
    Roscobob Posts: 344
    I thought AC was Bertie?
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Roscobob wrote:
    I thought AC was Bertie?

    Shhhhhh don't link Bertie to those initials, it nearly got him trouble before!
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    Sorry, AS :oops: . Long day!
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • Wooliferkins
    Wooliferkins Posts: 2,060
    Still reckon Bjarne can throw his bike further than Lance
    Neil
    Help I'm Being Oppressed
  • Roscobob
    Roscobob Posts: 344
    calvjones wrote:
    Sorry, AS :oops: . Long day!

    I should have known that but had one on work when I was reading. Sorry mate, wasn't being a f@nny.

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