Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Lance Armstrong - the ultimate athlete of our generation ?

Watching Lance now on his last ever competitive stage as a professional bicycle racer got me thinking .....

Is he not just absolutely awesome ???

Talent, relentless determination, gracious and ultimately dominant in one of the worlds hardest individual events.

Lance Armstrong, I salute you.

[Henners]

... I salute you too

'He said he was into intellectualism, I've never been there but the brochure looks nice'

post race interview .. how humble can this guy be .....

[Ian Harris]

Totally agree with every word regarding Lance Armstrong. I was going to go on a rant about how, purely as a cyclist, he's still not a patch on Eddy Merckx, but I thought that wasn't really appropriate when Armstrong is on the verge of an incredible, unbelievable 7th Tour win.

The really amazing thing is that it was the cancer that was an important contributor to his success as a tour rider. Pre-cancer, he was a beefy one-day specialist, with no hope of clawing himself over the mountains with the leaders. I guess the cancer stripped off a lot of his bulk, and he somehow managed to retain his pre-illness cardiovascular potential.

I hope he now retires and looks after himself. Too many pro cyclists die young, never mind one who has already clawed himself back from the brink of death.

[psychlist]

Originally posted by Ian Harris
Pre-cancer, he was a beefy one-day specialist.....

I used to partake in both his sports, triathlon and cycl races and I would argue the toss about Mercx but one day specialist?? Err, he didnt do bad for a World Champion Triathlete at the age of 21 and was just finding his feet in the peleton with Jim Ocawicz in Motorola! He was drawn to cycling because it was his strongest event of the three and hadn't looked back after that. I agree his Cancer experience had a lot to do with his present standard but it's more to do with mindset. If you WANT to do something bad enough, then NOTHING will stop you, that's one thing he can teach ALL of us even if he truly was an arrogant ****, but then he is Texan and if you listen to most people in the top 1% of their sport they're all much the same, they HAVE to be to get there! He does seem to have come down to near human levels of attitude now he's decided to step down, and, as you say Ian, lets hope he DOES step down or Le Tour will be even more like F1 next year

[Iconic944ss]

Having read both of Lance's book's I can only agree with these sentiments.

The Tour is the ultimate test for cyclist in the hardest race in the world and Lance has dominated it for seven years continuously.

He might not be the best cyclist ever but I think he is the greatest inspiration the sport has ever had.

Frank

[Guido]

Agreed...Lance is an icon of our times..

But hey.....wasn't Rasmusson like a man possessed losing the front and sliding 15 feet on his ar$e in lycra shorts (Youch!!!!) and then having to stop twice to change wheels/bikes and then riding into a ditch and cartwheeling it, again in lycra (Double-Youch!!!!) to still finish the 55km stage. Pretty damn tuff I say.

[Iconic944ss]

Just thought I'd have a quick look to find a suitable photo and of couse, manage to find a totally unsuitable one !!!!

[Gizmo]

A great TDF rider yes, one of the greatest cyclists ever?? not in my opinion. Too few classic wins and not enough major tours although maybe it is now impossible post drugs and with big TDF sponsorship to ever have those days again ( sh*t, even his kids were fully Nike'd today).

Even though he's not one of my favourite riders I still cheered him on today just like I did watching that Oslo worlds win oh so long ago. the 2 Lance's couldn't have been so different post race, then the brash Texas kid who wanted to conquer the world now replaced by a mellow almost humble Lance who understands he's achieved more than even he could dream of and justs wants to spend time with his family.

As an inspiration to others he is priceless and lets hope his absence from cycling gives him more time for fund raising and meeting people,

[hooley]

Steve Redgrave.....(Sir)

Had diabetes for the last 7 years as well....

TOTAL admiration for the guy

Jas