Lance is gonna do one more.

That is so great!  What a phenominal athlete he is.  A seventh Tour win would be something else  ... as Eddy Merckx said (prior to last year's win),  "there is no reason why he should not achieve a sixth or even a seventh Tour victory."

Edited by Machiavelo 2005-01-10 3:24 PM

7 times wow. What do you think his chances are?

3 to 2 for the 2005 Tour

7 to 3 for the 2006 Tour

Anybody wanna cover my bets?

With his abilities, training program, leadership ability and the team they put together, not a chance.

I wonder if the Vegas odds might look more like the year Tiger won the British Open, 1 to 2 odds...now there's a bet I'll cover for you!

Watch out for Tyler Hamilton this year. All accidents aside Tyler is a man to beat Lance.

If Lance races he will win unless he has an accident, 03, or an illness. He has the mental advantage over the peleton like no other. Even his rivals no that they are racing for 2nd if he's on. That being said I believe he will ride the classics to win and see how his fitness is late April, May and then make a decision. This will do two things, firstly, take the pressure off himself that he has had to deal with the last few years in the build up to the tour, and second it will be yet another thing for the rivals to his crown to deal with, is he racing is he not.

or NOT

I would be inclined to agree with Steve, especially since as of right now Hamilton doesn't have a team and is fighting to avoid a 2-year ban for blood doping.

bts

I guess I should have checked up on Tyler before saying anything. I just never would have thought he would be in this type of situation. I can only hope he is one in a thousand that comes up with a false positive every time when testing for transfusions doping. Sad news for a Hamilton fan.

It doesn't look good. It was two seperate tests that nailed him (one with two samples), but he hadn't tested positive up to that point. Haven't heard much lately, but I know Phonak dropped him (and a number of their high ranking officials) and is not allowed in competition this year. I think he was talking it to the arbiters in Switzerland.

bts

Regardless, Hamilton is no match for Armstrong.

Why?

Because in order for Hamilton to beat Armstrong he has to be more physically STRONGER than Armstrong because Lance has got him beat by 20 miles in the mental strength department, which I'm sure come into play much more in an epic race such as the Tour...but what do I know, I've never ridden my bike more than 104 miles.

Seems like Lance wants to sit this one out.  Maybe he wants to let someone else win in 2005.  Then he can come back in 2006 and destroy the "champ."  Hopefully he will race TDF this year but I'm coming to terms with he is not.  If not he says he will do the Giro or the Vuelta.  This will give those gret races much better coverage than they usually get. 

Tyler can't win anymore.  Who's going to want to help him?  Even if he does get on a team and they are understanding his team would need some help somewhere along the way.  I don't think any will be coming.  Not this next year at least.

Steve, Steve, Steve
Did you forget TDF 03. BROKEN COLLAR BONE STAGE 6 RING ANY BELLS. WINNING STAGE 16. So don't even go there with the mental toughness.

Yes, Tyler is a phenominal athlete, that goes with out saying. The broken collar bone proves he brings a lot of intestinal fortitude to the table, but you have to agree that there simply is no match for Lance, especially when he is in his top form. Like it was stated earlier in the thread, when Lance is in the TDF, everyone else is racing for #2.

It is really sad to see athletes like Tyler, who are so impressive and gifted, believe that have to go to that next level and cheat. I guess I will never know that pressure to perform due to my significant lack of multi-million dollar endorsements, though.

Food for thought. ;-)