Originally posted by rhbcouldn't agree more, he has overcome obstacles that most of us can't even begin to comprehend.
Cycling (and the sporting world in general) says farewell to a true great today. An inspiration to many, Lance's story is one of overcoming adversity to become a legend.
Just wanted to share that with you all 🙂
In the UK and Ireland at the moment he is indirectly competing with such greats as Pele, Muhammed Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Aryton Senna (What! No Kasparov!) for the somewhat crass title of the World`s greatest sporting legend.
Although my vote in this debate would go to the man formerly known as Cassius Clay, Lance Armstrong without doubt stands as a shining beacon as an example of what is great in the world of sport
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Originally posted by bloodyboyAs the critics say, he only aims at the top of the Tour de France, where other cyclist do have to show themselves in other courses aswell. Winning this grand cylcing event is a big achievement, especially seven in a row, but a critic remark like this takes a bite out of the glory. And it should indeed, really.
He won the Tour de France today. i think it was his 7th, that is a record. He also beat the most yellow jerseys, in the 70's or 80's(the number of jackets).
If you compare Armstrong with Merckx, he will only pass Merckx in the number of wins in the Tour de France and his professionality, not as a cyclist on the whole. Merckx by the way achieved a total number of yellow jerseys ('jackets'😉 far over a hundred (111, I believe), Armstrong 81. Merckx was able to win other (major) courses aswell.
armstrong:
Teams
1991–1992: United States National Team
1992–1996: Motorola
1997: Cofidis
1998–2002: US Postal Service
2003–2004: US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor
2005: Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
[edit]
Victories
[edit]
1992
First Union Grand Prix
GP Sanson
Longsjo Classic (1 stage win)
Thrift Drug Classic
Tour de Ribera (4 stage wins)
[edit]
1993
Thrift Drug Classic
Trofeo Laigueglia
8th stage of the Tour de France
USPro Championship
West Virginia Classic (2 stage wins)
World Road Championships
[edit]
1994
Thrift Drug Classic
[edit]
1995
Clasica San Sebastian
18th stage of the Tour de France
Tour du Pont (3 stage wins)
West Virginia Classic (1 stage win)
Stage 5 Paris Nice
[edit]
1996
Tour du Pont (5 stage wins)
La Flèche Wallonne
[edit]
1998
Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
Tour de Luxembourg (1 stage victory)
Cascade Classic
[edit]
1999
Tour de France (overall, 4 stage victories)
Prologue Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT)
Stage 4 Route du Sud
Stage 4 Circuit de la Sarthe (ITT)
[edit]
2000
Tour de France (overall, 1 stage victory)
GP des Nations
GP Eddy Merckx
Stage 3 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT)
Bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics Individual Time Trial, Men
[edit]
2001
Tour de France (overall, 4 stage victories)
Tour de Suisse (overall, 2 stage victories)
[edit]
2002
Tour de France (overall, 4 stage victories)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stage 6 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
GP du Midi-Libre
[edit]
2003
Tour de France (overall, 1 stage victory, Team Time Trial)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (Overall), Stage 3 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT)
[edit]
2004
Tour de France (overall, 5 stage victories, Team Time Trial)
Tour de Georgia (overall, 2 stage victories)
Stage 5 Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon
Stage 4 Volta ao Algarve (ITT)
[edit]
2005
Tour de France (overall, 1 stage victory, Team Time Trial)
merckx
Grand Tours
5x Tour de France
5x Giro d'Italia
1x Vuelta a España
[edit]
Other tours
1x Tour de Suisse
2x Ronde van België/Tour de Belgique
[edit]
Classic cycle races
7x Milan-San Remo
5x Liège-Bastogne-Liège
3x Paris-Roubaix
2x Giro di Lombardia
2x Tour of Flanders
[edit]
World titles
4x World Championships
[edit]
Track races
17 six-day races
[edit]
Significant victories by year
[edit]
1964
World Amateur Road Race Champion
[edit]
1966
Milan-San Remo
Trofeo Angelo Baracchi, with Ferdi Bracke
[edit]
1967
World Pro Road Race
Milan-San Remo
La Flèche Wallonne
Gent-Wevelgem
Trofeo Angelo Baracchi, with Ferdi Bracke
2 stages, Giro d'Italia
Critérium des As
[edit]
1968
Giro d'Italia
KoM, Giro d'Italia
Points Competition, Giro d'Italia
4 stages, Giro d'Italia
Tour of Catalonia
Tour of Romandy
Paris-Roubaix
Tre Valli Varesine
[edit]
1969
Tour de France
KoM, Tour de France
Points Competition, Tour de France
5 stages, Tour de France
Paris-Luxembourg
Milan-San Remo
Tour of Flanders
Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Paris-Nice
4 stages, Giro d'Italia
Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
[edit]
1970
Tour de France
KoM, Tour de France
8 stages, Tour de France
Giro d'Italia
3 stages, Giro d'Italia
Paris-Nice
Tour of Belgium
Paris-Roubaix
La Flèche Wallonne
Gent-Wevelgem
Critérium des As
Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
[edit]
1971
Tour de France
Points Competition, Tour de France
4 stages, Tour de France
World Pro Road Race
Milan-San Remo
Liège-Bastogne- Liège
Tour of Lombardy
Rund um den Henninger Turm
Omloop "Het Volk"
Paris-Nice
Dauphiné Libéré
GP du Midi Libre
Tour of Belgium
Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
[edit]
1972
Tour de France
Points Competition, Tour de France
6 stages, Tour de France
Giro d'Italia
4 stages, Giro d'Italia
Milan-San Remo
Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Tour of Lombardy
La Flèche Wallonne
Giro dell'Emilia
Giro del Piemonte
GP de l'Escaut
Trofeo Angelo Baracchi, with Roger Swerts
Hour Record - 49.431km
Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
[edit]
1973
Giro d'Italia
Points Competition, Giro d'Italia
6 stages, Giro d'Italia
Vuelta a España
Points Competition, Vuelta a España
6 stages, Vuelta a España
Paris-Roubaix
Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Grand Prix des Nations
Amstel Gold Race
Gent-Wevelgem
Omloop "Het Volk"
Paris-Brussels
GP Fourmies
Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
[edit]
1974
Tour de France
8 stages, Tour de France
Giro d'Italia
2 stages, Giro d'Italia
World Pro Road Race
Tour of Switzerland
Points competition, Tour of Switzerland
KoM, Tour of Switzerland
3 stages, Tour of Switzerland
Critérium des As
Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
[edit]
1975
Milan-San Remo
Tour of Flanders
Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Amstel Gold Race
Catalan Week
2 stages, Tour de France
1 stage, Tour of Switzerland
Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
[edit]
1976
Milan-San Remo
Catalan Week
[edit]
1977
1 stage, Tour of Switzerland
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx"
it is a long list of achievements whichever way you look at it.
of course both have been seriously suspected of being drug cheats.
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- 23 Mar 04
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- 254967
Originally posted by flexmoreQuite a list in the grand three tours, and adding all the wins in the other 'classical' tours like Milan-San Remo, Dauphiné Libéré, Bastogne-Liège and Paris-Roubaix.
merckx
Grand Tours
5x Tour de France
5x Giro d'Italia
1x Vuelta a España
[/b]
Originally posted by flexmoreArmstrong is a true champion as was Merckx. I'll miss him, but his departure will make the next tour more interesting. I was very impressed with Rasmussen this year, Basso came through and, of course the big German (forget his name right now) could push through for a second win nine years after the last. But probably not.
[b]armstrong:
it is a long list of achievements whichever way you look at it.
of course both have been seriously suspected of being drug cheats.
[/b]
Armstrong is drug free. He's put forward the serious recommendation that the drugs authorities (which he helps fund BTW) hold on to his urine samples for 20 years when testing is even better, to show that he's drugs free. He's probably peed in more bottles than we have in toilets!
it is a long list of achievements whichever way you look at it.As far as drug use is concerned, he has repeatedly been questioned on this, has been through a number of drug tests (and has passed them consistently), and unfortunately, will probably still be questioned on this even years from now. The ONLY reason that he gets so much attention to this drug use issue is BECAUSE of his success.
of course both have been seriously suspected of being drug cheats.
[/b]
People can speculate all they want, but just think about it from his perspective for a second: the man has gone through CANCER. first of all, it just goes to show how firm his resolve is to life itself, not giving up and continuing his cycling career immediately after beating the battle for his life. I can only imagine how terrible it has to be to have cancer and experience excruciating treatments day in and day out. My teacher is a cancer survivor. From the stories she's told, it sounds as if a 15 hour workday would be a blessing compared to what she has gone through. Going along with this idea, it must have been a blessing for Lance just to be able to ride a bike again. From what I have gathered, once you have battled cancer, you can go through anything in life. I'm not saying that competing in the Tour de France is a walk in the park for him, but it may come easier for him than to many others around him who havent had the same experience. Let's also not forget that even BEFORE his cancer experience, he was already a good cyclist. The only "drug" that may have given him an unfair advantage is called "cancer".
PS: dont know if this is true or not, but from what a friend told me, his lungs are also able to expand and gather more oxygen than the average person's. dont know exactly about the validity of this claim, or even how it would work, but this is what I have heard so I added it at the end here since if it is true, it could be obviously considered a clear advantage against the competition.