Sir Lance - alot ... lives to ride again!

[Roy Hersh]

So does Lance Armstrong have it in him to really compete in 2009's Tour de France?

For those seriously into biking or those that just follow the sport, does he have any real chance to win an 8th time? I guess a lot has to do with the team surrounding him.

[Andy Velebil]

in a word...NO. I really don't think he cares about the Tour. he's already won it many times and I honestly think this comeback is because he never did many races once he started winning the Tour. I know thats hard to understand, but he really did only do a handfull of races each year and focused 100% on the Tour. I think he regrets not being able to do the other races and now wants to try to win some of those...namely the Giro, but some smaller races to. Lance was a very good one-day classics rider and short duration stage racer before he got cancer..actually he wasn't a good long stage race rider at all prior to cancer. I'm sure he will ride it to help deflect some of the attention from Alberto, a very good tactic in my book. But even though the Giro and Tour are both 3 weeks long, the Tour is much more physically AND mentally demanding. The Tour is the worlds most watch single sporting event (second in one-day viewership to the World Cup) so there is a lot of external pressures that come with the Tour.

[Derek T.]

I don't pretend to understand the world of cycling but will always remember the look on my son's face when Andy told him he used to ride in the same team as Lance Armstrong

[Andy Velebil]

same races as juniors, but not the same team. He used to kick everyones butt even back then. He really is a perfect specimen as an athlete.

[Erik Wiechers]

same races as juniors, but not the same team. He used to kick everyones butt even back then. He really is a perfect specimen as an athlete.

Lets hope he always stayed away from using steroids. If he is ever caught then i will never watch cycling anymore. We have seen too many people caught the past years in the tour.

[Glenn E.]

I agree with Andy for the most part.

I'm quite sure that Lance does have it in him to ride the Tour this year, but I doubt that he's riding it to win it. My guess is that he is riding the Giro to win it, and riding the Tour to support Alberto. However, as Andy said, I think that Astana is probably going to set things up to look like Lance is their guy so that he can take the pressure, and then have Alberto waiting in the wings to win it.

I simply can't see any other way for the two of them to exist on the same team. Lance is far too dominant of a rider to not be in control of the team, but that doesn't mean he has to be the GC contender. Alberto, as good as he is, quite simply isn't Lance. He doesn't lift the entire team with his presence. He doesn't wear down the other teams with his presence. He doesn't have the singular focus on the Tour de France that is requried to dominate it. Lance has all three, and that's why he wins.

I don't think Lance dopes. As he has pointed out repeatedly, he is the single most tested athlete in the history of sports. Sure, it is theoretically possible that he's found some invisible designer drug that no one can detect, but at some point during those 7 consecutive victories you'd think SOMEONE would have slipped up if he was doping. (The farcical attempts by l'Equipe to prove otherwise simply reinforce the point.)

Someone (I don't remember who off the top of my head) did an analysis of Lance and discovered that he processes lactic acid at a phenominal rate - far and above what any normal person can do. What that means is that his muscles recovers from physical exertion significantly faster than anyone else's. He may not be any faster than anyone else during the 1st week of the tour, but by the 2nd week he's still fresh every morning while everyone else is wearing down. By the time they hit the nasty mountain stages (typically late in the 2nd week or early in the 3rd), Lance has a rather dramatic advantage.

The real question in my mind is whether or not he's going to do the Vuelta and go for the win there. Can you imagine Lance winning the Giro, Alberto the Tour, and then Lance again the Vuelta? Clean sweep for Astana!

[Moses Botbol]

I don't think Lance will have it in him to win the TdF, he'll be too pooped from the Giro to mount an attack and Contador is too good! This year's TdF has the real meat and potatoes at the end of the tour with a smaller time trial. A lot of things can happen in a Grand Tour, including crashes of Contador or Armstrong. Astana has too many cards to play should anyone fall off.

I would respect Armstrong more if he concentrated on the Classics. One day, fastest man, tough conditions; now that is a bike race! L-B-B, P-R; let's see him win one of those. Boonen or Cancellara could put some hurt on Armstrong should he want to duke it out. I do think he is capable of winning Classics. I would've loved to see him do a 1 hour record attempt, but I think he's old at this point. Sure Moser (one of my favorite riders ever) did it, but was doping...

This year's Giro is going to be one of the most spectacular tour's of all time. I can't wait. It's going to be dog fight royale as no one is going to roll over for Armstrong and he's not as familiar with several of summits as others. It's also difficult to train the summits beforehand as the snow is barely gone before the Giro starts. Basso is going to want to save face, so expect him to give 100% and we saw in TdF what that means against Armstrong. Armstrong couldn't shake him in the mountains.

[Moses Botbol]

Next year's Giro will have a 61.5-kilometre time trial on stage 12, yikes

That's going to be a dagger for whomever thought they could win but isn't tops in time trialing. This could be just what Lance needs to win.

[Andy Velebil]

my gosh that's a long ITT! But a good thing for Lance as that is what he has always excelled at in the past.

[Moses Botbol]

my gosh that's a long ITT!

Tell me about it. That is brutal. Two climbs in it too. How are mountain stages set up for the Giro? Gaia or Stelvio included?