And maybe it's also because I never really believed 100% in the first place that he came here this year to win it but perhaps to start getting his baby RS team off to a well-financed, I also disagree that this has to be a sad epilogue to a fantastic career.
Come on, ten years from now, no one will remember he lost one. They'll just know he won seven, seven SEVEN! freaking ones.
In fact, if he provides some spectacular heroics in getting his teammate to a podium position, then the statement he makes by finally paying something back to others on his team & ushering them to glory could be an amazing coda to a career which might restore, glory alleluia, some sense of sportsmanship which has been lost, IMHO, from cycling for a while now.
There is no dishonor in being a domestique! They are the real heros. (Viz: George Hincapie, who's NEVER won a tour but has had an amazing TdF career.) Lance could make everybody appreciate them more & that would be a great thing for the sport.
Maybe he could even teach Alberto something by getting Levi to Paris in yellow.
Sorry, I haz sleepy head.;-)
There is no dishonor in being a domestique!
You apparently responded to the wrong post, leilani. I never said or even suggested either of those.
Well, he blew a tire on the cobblestones, in a section where he had to wait a long time for a replacement tire. That was just bad luck.
And the 1st and 3rd crashes weren’t his own doing today, just held him up.
The 2nd crash does appear to be something he could have avoided on his own, clipping his pedal was his own doing.
But this tour has had more than it’s share of people crashing and taking out dozens of other riders.
It’s almost like a jinxed tour. Oil on the track? A reporter stepping in front of a rider AFTER the finish line?
I agree with your sentiments. My statement on luck was not meant to take away from his talent or hard work, both of which I agree are one in a million. But there are times where even the sharpest instincts and skills cannot avoid a crash. Or just bad luck - getting laid out by a camera man after the finish line. Or getting sick with something in July.
Lance took control of everything he could during his run. but some things are out of your control no matter how much you try to. It doesn’t take away from his legacy to point it out because it is true of all great athletic accomplishments.