The freak gains the yellow jersey

[Merlin]

ESPN.com news services


BLOIS, France -- Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel squad won the team time trial of the Tour de France on Tuesday, handing the six-time champion the yellow jersey as overall race leader.

The 33-year-old Texan led his squad to victory for the third straight year in the time trial, clocking 1 hour, 10 minutes, 40 seconds for the 41.85-mile trek from Tours to Blois.

The CSC team of yellow jersey wearer David Zabriskie finished in second place and Jan Ullrich's T-Mobile team came home third.

Discovery Channel team leader Lance Armstrong took the yellow jersey according to provisional results.

Zabriskie fell with less than two miles to go in the stage and finished behind the rest of his team.
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Even at 33 he is better than most cyclists, and after the Tour we will know if he is better than all of them. Hope he gets it done, but this will probably the worst year for him. BTW, the French decided to test him even before the Tour started. I guess politics never ends.

Merlin

[bendog]

no prisoners this time out. jeez. I hope its still on on the OLN in a few minutes. There's a baseball game on espn at noon, if not.

[Ray Finkle]

Armstrong is a freak of nature....I hope he wins.

[bendog]

I heard they tested him twice in one day, and everyone else just once. The funny thing is that those who accuse him of dosing are essentially saying he's better at dosing than anybody else. I doubt he does, or that he uses anything but nutritional supplements to hurry recovery. Anything that would effect his hormonal balance would be scary given his cancer.

But, I think that he wasn't in the shape last year that he is this year. Assuming no bad luck with crashes or illness, I think his chances are pretty excellent this year.

[watermock]

The Frogs can't stand him. They jeer him and insult him, but one nut just keeps on winning. He's quite a story, and I don't think anyone gets a boost out of chemo. I don't know if they gave him steroids to recover, and I think if your given steroids to recover, WTF, they are used alot for injuries. We need to get a stable platform where drugs are used by decent doctors for what they are. Do you know how many lives were saved because medics could shoot up morphine before a soldier went into shock in WW2?

The idea narcotics or steroids have no place in medicine is idiotic. Using them to create an unfair advantage is not only unfair, but a health risk. I'm not a Yankees fan, but it's kinda cool to see Giambi, moved down the lineup turn back into the hitter he really is, a 25-30 guy who can hit .300. He's been very much more forthcoming than Barry Bonds. I'm hoping he recovers, but damn, the guy just pisses me off every time I see him blaming everyone around him. It will be interesting to see if he can generate enough power to beat Hank's record, which is spotless.

Back to Lance. He's almost Mr. Automatic. I'm not really a fan of his, or bike pumping. What irritates me are the Frogs constantly claiming he's cheating. If your not caught, it's not cheating right? One other thing. They chop off one of my nuts and I can't get any steroid therapy because I'm an athlete? What's next, no Chemo? Also, there is no evidence at all. It was stated they test. That doesn't mean Armstong isn't crafty, it also doesn't mean he's doing anything wrong.

To me, it's funny. It's obviously the Bush Administration injecting one balled bycycle riders to make sure Americans are the Master Race. The French have made every tactical decision totally wrong dating back to Napoleon. They haven't even gotten out of a Colonial Mindset. All their former colonies have fallen into chaos. Our record isn't much better, but at we least cut line, who tried to save Vietnam? Yeah it was a mess, but the French ran off! After one siege. Good Lord. I'm not going political. Why do you think they called it French IndoChina for?

[yavoon]

I love armstrong.

[bendog]

I was watching it while stairmastering at lunch. Zabriski took a very nasty fall. Skidmarks all along his left side from ankle to shoulder, and he hit one of those barrier things they use for crowd control. He's gonna feel that for awhile. Tough break.

I thought the Germans were the worst in terms of dissing Armstrong?

This tour is really pissing me off at Mrs Dog for not working for 5 years. I want a new bike, and a ticket over there.

[epicSocialism4tw]

This guy has to be the most dominant athlete of the modern era. Does he ever lose?

[bendog]

I think he has to be equated with Ali in terms of dominance over a time despite physical setbacks. It's amazing Ali was able to regain his form despite having lost his ability to dance for more than a round or so. Armstrong wouldn't have been the cyclist he is but for the cancer. Maybe akin to the Splendid Splinter coming back from crashing a plane in Korea to bat .400.

[Garcia Bronco]

What's funny is for year...we wouldn't hear much about it until the later stages....I've heard a report on every stage thus far. When he was 2 seconds behind the other day someone said...he's losing it...I laughed....they haven't even gotten to the hard parts yet....where btw...Lance is the best.


GO LANCE!

[epicSocialism4tw]

What's funny is for year...we wouldn't hear much about it until the later stages....I've heard a report on every stage thus far. When he was 2 seconds behind the other day someone said...he's losing it...I laughed....they haven't even gotten to the hard parts yet....where btw...Lance is the best.


GO LANCE!

He always takes over the race during those parts.

[Garcia Bronco]

For my 21st Birthday...right as I was about to go into a bar and purchase my first legal alcoholic beverage....Lance crossed the finish line of the Blacksburg stage of the Tour De Pont...which the no longer run.

[illbroncsfn]

Technology plays a more integral role than ever before for Lance Armstrong's Discovery Team. I caught a bit of a special on how differences in jersey fabric will save him over 3 minutes throughout the course of the Tour De France.

I know one thing, I wouldn't bet against him this year...

[gunns]

As much as I enjoyed the Utahn leading I'm rooting for Lance to do it for the 6th time. The enjoyable part is he generally doesn't lead until the tough part of the race and this year seems to be going all out for the entire race.

[Garcia Bronco]

As much as I enjoyed the Utahn leading I'm rooting for Lance to do it for the 6th time. The enjoyable part is he generally doesn't lead until the tough part of the race and this year seems to be going all out for the entire race.


I think it's 7

[Merlin]

Armstrong wouldn't have been the cyclist he is but for the cancer.
He was a top level cyclist when he got cancer, in fact he was a world champion and #1 rated biker (but he had not won the TDF at the time). However the cancer did change his weight distribution (making lighter above the waist), which arguably can help his biking. But many journalist's contention that chemotherapy was the magic bullet that made him great is based on ignorance. In a manner of speaking chemo is concerned with killing the body (chemo kills the fastest growing cells which are the cancer and one's hair which is why hair loss occurs), the last thing a person is after treatment is a better athlete. However, cancer did change him as a person (as it would anyone who was that close to death), and those changes could have made him psychologically stronger and better able to complete in a gruelling event such as the TDF

The enjoyable part is he generally doesn't lead until the tough part of the race and this year seems to be going all out for the entire race.
The mountains and the sprints are early this year which can play to his advantage

Merlin

[Crush Girl]

Armstrong is a freak of nature....I hope he wins.

He truly is!

I was watching "The Science of Lance Armstrong" on Discovery the other night & it was amazing! His heart is bigger, his lung capacity is higher, and his muscles are more efficient than the average human being's. As a sports science major & someone who has a facination with the human body and how it works, Lance Armstrong is definitely someone to study.

LIVESTRONG! Go Lance!

[Merlin]

His heart is bigger, his lung capacity is higher, and his muscles are more efficient than the average human being's
But would that not be true of any elite level athlete? Did they say how he compared with other elite level athletes? My guess he must also have an edge over the average elite.

Merlin

[Crush Girl]

But would that not be true of any elite level athlete? Did they say how he compared with other elite level athletes? My guess he must also have an edge over the average elite.

Merlin

That's what I would have thought, too. And, although they did not give a comparison to other elite athletes, scientists have studied his body over and over, and it seems that his body is (at least partially) naturally more efficient than most people's. For example, his body (for whatever reason)naturally produces less lactic acid than normal, so his muscles do not tire or become sore like yours or mine would while exercising. Also, his heart is larger, allowing better blood flow, his lungs have a higher capacity and he has a higher red-blood cell count than average (which is what he is often tested for - athletes have been known to artificially inject red blood cells to help their body use oxygen more efficiently). He is truly a machine.

[Merlin]

Also, his heart is larger, allowing better blood flow, his lungs have a higher capacity and he has a higher red-blood cell count than average
This is also common among individuals raised in high altitude (the body compensates for the reduction in oxygen), and high altitude training helps produce the same effect.

athletes have been known to artificially inject red blood cells to help their body use oxygen more efficiently).
This was particularly common in cycling, and the American cycling team used it in the 1984 Olympics. Although blood doping (induced erythrocythemia) did help them win a record number of medals (nine total), it also had some very sad repercussions. Because the cyclists did not have adequate time to use their own blood as a transfusion (between the Olympic trials and the games it was not sufficient), they were "forced" to rely on the blood of relatives and others with similar blood types. Consequently, some of the cyclists received tainted blood and a short time after the Games contracted hepatitis.

Merlin