Lance vs Chris Lieto

donrhummy

Even if you hate Lance, you have to admit this is pretty cool. Lance was training in Hawaii yesterday and saw Chris Lieto (professional triathlete) training there as well (going the other direction). So Lance challenged him to a 14mi TT today on twitter and Lieto accepted!

When was the last time a top professional athlete openly challenged another to a (fun) competition in their best area (Lieto is the record holder for the bike portion of the Ironman)? Pretty cool.

http://www.bikeworldnews.com/index.php/ ... ris-lieto/

DaveyL

Normann Stadler holds the bike course record in Hawaii - 4:18:23. Lieto's bike split in 2009 was 4th fastest in Hawaii.

moray_gub

Seems Lance won


http://www.bikeworldnews.com/index.php/ ... challenge/

"The Queen Kamehameha Highway TT challenge is over and Lance Armstrong beat Ironman champ Chris Lieto by 15 seconds over the 14 mile course. As seen in the shot of his Powertap below, he covered the course in 18 minutes and 35 seconds and threw down an average speed of 56.4 kilometers per hour or 35 mile per hour. "

wonder what info was blacked out on his comp ?

LangerDan

Power - probably average, given that all the other displayed parameters are "average"

DaveyL

Yes, he wouldn't want to give away how many Watts he is producing - closely guarded secret and all that.

Edit: Isn't that a display unit for an SRM? It's certainly not an old PowerTap CPU or the new Joule.

andrewgturnbull

DaveyL wrote:

Yes, he wouldn't want to give away how many Watts he is producing - closely guarded secret and all that.

Edit: Isn't that a display unit for an SRM? It's certainly not an old PowerTap CPU or the new Joule.

Hi there.

It's more likely that the watts were covered up so that Lance couldn't see the figures himself while riding - quite common for testers. If you didn't want the figures shown on t'internet, then surely it would be easier to edit the image, rather than apply gaffer tape?

Cheers, Andy

ps Chris Leito races for Trek/K-Swiss... which makes me think that this is just another publicity stunt...

FransJacques

Its SRM, see any pic of Lance on a bike.

Its electrical tape, not gaffer tape. Sorry, Im anal.

donrhummy

Yes, Lance has always used an SRM.

Pretty cool though, even if it may have been "helped" by Trek. I wish more pro athletes would do stuff like this.

RichN95.

donrhummy wrote:

When was the last time a top professional athlete openly challenged another to a (fun) competition in their best area (Lieto is the record holder for the bike portion of the Ironman)?

I remember a long time ago (mid 90s?) Bath Rugby (Union) team played Wigan Rugby (League) team twice, once with each code. The games were predictably one sided.

prb007

I seem to remember in the 80's an Aussie rules team playing a Gaelic Footbal team - one half each of each set of rules, billed, as I recall, as a 'Cultural and sporting clash of two proud nations' or some such - I think, if my memory serves me right, it turned into World War 3!

Kléber

The thing is I can imagine Armstrong going deep into the red just to notch a win against someone, even the most informal challenges seem to determine his self-esteem.

More broadly cyclists tend to get a bit fussy about doing other sports, so challenging someone else to another bike ride is fairly straightforward. I saw something this winter about FDJ rider Jerome Coppel doing cross country ski races but I don't know if he challenged anyone, he's probably too relaxed to worry about notching up a win.

We've had rugby league and rugby union teams playing challenges and motor racing drivers have challenged each other, for example a rally driver and a Formula 1 driver.

As for the tape on the PC7, some riders don't like to see the wattage they produce when racing, they want to go to the max and then review their power output afterwards.

shinyhelmut

donrhummy wrote:

When was the last time a top professional athlete openly challenged another to a (fun) competition

Jensen Button challenged Lewis Hamilton to race a triathlon a couple of years ago. Hamilton accepted but was over-ruled by his manager (his dad!)

blazing_saddles

Lieto made a counter challenge, that involved swimming.
Lance cried off, saying Bruyneel wouldn't allow it.
Since when was Bruyneel calling the shots?

pontarlier_pete

ShinyHelmut wrote:

donrhummy wrote:

When was the last time a top professional athlete openly challenged another to a (fun) competition

Jensen Button challenged Lewis Hamilton to race a triathlon a couple of years ago. Hamilton accepted but was over-ruled by his manager (his dad!)

"over-ruled by his dad" of course meaning "wriggling out of it while his dad takes the blame to avoid embarrassment"

And to follow on, for "Lewis" read "lance", for "triathlon" read "swimming" and for "dad" read "Bruyneel".

le_patron

Can't imagine a video surfacing of Lieto talking to camera about his 15 second victory with a largely mute Armstrong next to him.

Funny.

pedro118118

Not sure it's really that 'cool'. Sort of like Jenson Button challenging Sebastien Loeb to a race around the streets of Monaco in F1 cars. Hardly apples and apples.

blackpanther

whats the advantage of not seeing the watts and reviewing later?

Kléber

blackpanther wrote:

whats the advantage of not seeing the watts and reviewing later?

If you were being chased by a hungry lion, would it help to know your split times for each 100m section of the savanna

dulldave

Isn't 14 miles in 18:35 pretty damn fast? 37 seconds off the UK 10 mile record.

Kléber

Yes, it's very fast but we don't know the conditions. If the UK records are boosted by passing lorries, it could be that Armstrong had a tailwind, Hawaii is often windy.

shinyhelmut

Sounds like they had quite a tailwind for the TT. From Leito's twitter;

That Kona wind made for a LONG ride back to the start. Thanks @lancearmstrong for a great ride! Time will post soon.
about 15 hours ago from Echofon

dulldave

Yeah, I was wondering if it was downhill with a tailwind.

term1te

RichN95 wrote:

donrhummy wrote:

When was the last time a top professional athlete openly challenged another to a (fun) competition in their best area (Lieto is the record holder for the bike portion of the Ironman)?

I remember a long time ago (mid 90s?) Bath Rugby (Union) team played Wigan Rugby (League) team twice, once with each code. The games were predictably one sided.

I was there! Wigan then went on to slaughter everyone in the Middlesex sevens.

shinyhelmut

I believe Kona is known for as neither still or flat, although I haven't raced there. Yet

Kléber

So many questions? Was Lieto told to dress in Astana or Spanish national kit? Will this be Armstrong's only win of the year?

shinyhelmut

Did Leito have to buy his own wheels?

dulldave

ShinyHelmut wrote:

Did Leito have to buy his own wheels?

Yes, but he had a load of motorbikes to slipstream

blackpanther

Kléber wrote:

blackpanther wrote:

whats the advantage of not seeing the watts and reviewing later?

If you were being chased by a hungry lion, would it help to know your split times for each 100m section of the savanna

I think PLF would be the best advice

dougzz

Moray Gub wrote:

Seems Lance won


http://www.bikeworldnews.com/index.php/ ... challenge/

"The Queen Kamehameha Highway TT challenge is over and Lance Armstrong beat Ironman champ Chris Lieto by 15 seconds over the 14 mile course. As seen in the shot of his Powertap below, he covered the course in 18 minutes and 35 seconds and threw down an average speed of 56.4 kilometers per hour or 35 mile per hour. "

wonder what info was blacked out on his comp ?

His blood values? ...................incoming..................