Tour de France 2009 - Who wins?

[Folanator]

Contador furious with Armstrong

Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has launched a stinging attack on Astana team-mate Lance Armstrong. The 26-year-old Spaniard won his second Tour title in Paris on Sunday, with American Armstrong finishing third.
"My relationship with Lance Armstrong is zero," Contador told a news conference in Madrid.
"He is a great rider but it is another thing on a personal level, where I have never had great admiration for him and I never will."

I cannot wait for 2010 already!!!!!

[MililaniBuckeye]

Armstrong is one of the last athletes on the planet on whom you want to throw down the gauntlet...

[Taosman]

Bicycling tv coverage is still a recent thing. (Le Tour in HD is just stunning!)
Mountain bikes outsell road bikes by a wide margin in this country.(we invented mountain biking) (no "cool" factor) Even mountain biking has poor coverage.
Americans don't understand this 3 weeks of racing thing. They don't view the athletes as equal to guys playing in the NBA and NFL.
And if you don't get Versus you see little bicycling coverage.
Armstrong does wonders for tv coverage, interest and road bicycle sells!

[jlb1705]

Lance on Twitter:

Seeing these comments from AC. If I were him I'd drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn't win.

hey pistolero, there is no "i" in "team". what did i say in March? Lots to learn. Restated.

[Folanator]

Love Lance, but AC could have been riding with these guys and won.



He can climb better than anyone.

He won the TT.

It's an unbeatable combination.

EDIT: I would not be surprised if he fails a drug test some time soon. Dudes his size do NOT produce the kind of watts needed to win a long TT. That stage win was HIGHLY suspicious IMO.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Folanator

Love Lance, but AC could have been riding with these guys and won.

How'd you get a photo of my riding group?

[ScriptOhio]

Tour truce off, Armstrong, Contador trade barbs

"Hey pistolero, there is no 'I' in 'team'. what did I say in March? Lots to learn. Restated," Armstrong wrote.
The "pistolero" remark stems from Contador's habit of celebrating victories by shooting an imaginary pistol.



Entire article: Tour truce off, Armstrong, Contador trade barbs - Tour de France - CBSSports.com

[Steve19]

Contador furious? About what? That Lance Armstrong didn't kiss his behind?

Giving a decade away, I suspect that Lance will not beat him next year either. I hope that I am wrong.

Let's be a bit more frank than decorum allows Lance to be.

Without Lance, there is no Tour de France. Sure, they have the race but nobody watches. It costs the French many millions of dollars to have Lance Armstrong not in the race. TV revenues. Tourism.

Contador is an egotistic little prat. Lance Armstrong is incredibly well-liked. Want to scare advertisers away and hit yourself in the pocket, genius? Make some more comments.

You have to love the class in Lance's reply. Like he said, the little prat has a lot to learn.

[Oh8ch]

Seeing these comments from AC. If I were him I'd drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn't win.

Actually, I think he does.

[jlb1705]

It depends on the team. Does he win w/ Columbia or Garmin or Saxo Bank? You bet. It might be a little closer though b/c of the TTT. Does he win w/ Euskatel or Liquigas or AG2R? I doubt it.

[Folanator]

Originally Posted by jlb1705

It depends on the team. Does he win w/ Columbia or Garmin or Saxo Bank? You bet. It might be a little closer though b/c of the TTT. Does he win w/ Euskatel or Liquigas or AG2R? I doubt it.

I don't... But again, do not be suprised if AC get's popped for dopeing when he leaves the team. Bruneel is the BEST at it. The rest of the teams are hacks compaired to his teams.

Also, the plot thickens....

Andy Schleck linked to RadioShack team?

French newspaper L'Equipe seems to think so, and has linked Andy Schleck, who finished the Tour de France one step above Armstrong on the podium, to the nascent squad.