For anyone who loves the sport of pro-cycling, or has watched a Tour de France recap on TV or heck, just ridden a bike, 2010 is going to give you a lot of reasons to be an even bigger fan of this great sport. With Lance Armstrong and Radio Shack teaming up and putting together an elite U.S.-based pro cycling team headed by the master strategist behind 9 out of the last 11 Tour de France victories, you couldn’t dream up a better scenario for a fan. Unless of course you threw in one of the biggest rivalries in sport, the assembling of a super strong team, throw in arguably the best cycling coach of all time and oh yeah, you have to get all this done against a crazy deadline because the darn season begins in a couple months.
Lance’s amazing comeback alone deserves every fan’s attention. He is a walking.. er.. cycling magnet for the media and deservedly so. The rest of the peloton might as well have been competing with Obama for interviews during last year’s Tour and de Giro. He brings with him more TV coverage, more sponsorship dollars, bigger audiences, more newspaper coverage, and likely more bike sales in the next year then this sport has seen in a while. Rather than just giving Team RadioShack permission to ride, the UCI, the big Tours and the other teams should be paying him to ride cause he’s going to bring so much heat and light to their sport, which frankly could use some sustained positive news after the negatives of the last few years.
Do you realize Lance Armstrong has stepped up on that podium in Paris every time he’s finished the race? And this fete last year was perhaps the most amazing yet. After being out of the sport for 3 years he gets back on a bike, puts his reputation on the line for no pay, on a team with at least 4 other riders with serious podium aspirations and comes away with a third place finish. Ah, you say third-place big deal, he didn’t win. He was drinking beer for 3 years gosh sakes! He walked away from the intense, constant physical conditioning, mental conditioning, equipment testing, ridiculously strict diet, frequent competitions – NO ONE DOES THIS! Think about this, who do you know in say, pro football, baseball, basketball, hockey, boxing, tennis, golf (help me I’m running out of sports here), that quits, goes and plays with his kids and cooks barbecues in the backyard and then decides to dive back in at the highest level of his sport and beats up on everyone who is anyone? Okay, except for 2 other guys one of which he was supporting as a team member! And lets not forget his comeback training got shot to h… when he broke his shoulder all up, and he did the Giro and the Tour back-to-back. Do you really need more reasons to watch this year?
Okay a few more reasons: Bruyneel, Levi Lepheimer, Chris Horner, Gert Steegmans, Brajkovic, Contador and the Unknown.
The unknown? For instance, can Lance Armstrong still hang with the billy goats on the really tough climbs, particularly on the Tour’s grueling route this year? Will Alberto have a supporting cast like last year to regulate his energy consumption and calculate his explosiveness and will they both be marking each other so closely that a Schleck runs away with a trophy? Will their be team troubles, coach issues, equipment problems, injuries, health issues, heck, I don’t know, troubles getting a date? You don’t know do you? I don’t know. They don’t know. No one knows. There’s one way to find out….stay tuned, this is going to be fun!
By George Hurst, staff writer.
If 2010 Doesn’t Make You a Team Radioshack Fan!
George:
That is so well/excellently said. TRS will only make this years TDF better than last years(which I think was the best I have ever seen).
The only problem one can foresee is the high degree of expectation that is being set for the Team. When you put together the New York Yankees of cycling, losing is not an option.
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Hey I am a fan already – great article!!! Keep them coming!!
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Great, loved your take on LA and road back.
Todd Huff
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Interesting – if factually inaccurate. Unless the podium in 1995 was enormous, then Armstrong certainly hasn’t finished on it every time he’s finished the race (that year he finished 36th)
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Wow way to be picky instead of just appreciating the article… ok so one time, but how about every time since he almost died of Cancer?
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I think 2010 will be a great debut year for Team RadioShack and year two of Lance Armstrong’s return to competitive cycling. For one, there is already a lot of interest generated by the previous Tour’s events, particularly the expectations for another podium win for Mr. Armstrong, something which he actually delivered on in spite of the skepticism of many because of the time he spent away from active competition. I think there is no doubt now as to what Mr. Armstrong’s intentions are for the 2010 installment of Le Tour and whether he can deliver. What’s more, the world, or at least cycling fans, have now seen first hand the power of what Lance stands for and the imagery he presents that keeps many of us glued to our seats for hours on end, waiting for that few seconds of drama and excitement that only Lance can bring to the sport with just a few decisive pedal strokes and with that steely resolve on his face that have pulled us up on our feet to cheer so many times and have made Lance, the champion cyclist and cancer survivor, a hero to us all.
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When will the Radio Shack apparel be out? AWESOME having a real “American Team” again.
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Nice comments guys!!…But don´t forget, Contador is better then Lance everywhere! Next year he will not have to ask permission to “go” or be afraid to lose the race in the hotel.
Lance was very important for the sport, media and most importantly a example for those figthing cancer, but his dreams of regaining the “crown”….that´s ridiculous! Contador is better then he ever been. He knows that !
Lance was counting with the team time trial for the 2010 tour, that was is only chance to put some pressure (not enought) on the spanish but without it and with all those mountain stages, the gap at the end will be at least 8+ minutes.
Regards from Sweden to the great Lance Armstrong.
By the way, great win at leadville 100 !!!
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And that is why Lance is my hero! It was phonemal when he won his 1st tour victory after battling cancer ~ he ran away with the honor. The 2nd straight win was astonishing and he became my hero! The man is a cycling machine and now that he is back on his own team, I think he has a good (no great) chance of running away with the title again. Yea, Contrador is a great cyclist, but he is to erradict to beat Lance at his game.
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George Hurst – what a great article! I will be a fan and look for more articles.
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Anyone looking for a good cycle coach for one to one or long distance training should check out TrainSharp.
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It going to be really cool to watch this year coming up. I think a lot of the riders are going (oh crap he is back). They all have to step up there game now. Because we know how competitive Lance is. So now all the other riders are going to have to work that much harder. If Lance rides a 100 miles a day, they should be doing 200 miles a day. It is going to be fun to watch that is for sure.
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