Posted on 07/21/2004 1:04:05 PM PDT by BluegrassScholar
L'ALPE D'HUEZ, France (Reuters) - Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has admitted he had seen fans spit at five-times champion Lance Armstrong during the 15.5-km time trial to L'Alpe d'Huez.
Leblanc also said the swarming crowds on the twisting climb on Wednesday had frightened him as riders, including Armstrong, were forced to weave through excited fans who jumped out on to the road.
"I was scared too and I felt relieved when we reached the section with barriers," Leblanc told Reuters after stage winner Armstrong described the stage as a "bad idea" and hit out at some German fans.
"Until this morning, everybody thought this time trial was a good idea and now we realised it was not so.
"There were lots of aggressive fans surrounding the riders and I even saw two idiots spit at Lance Armstrong."
"Unfortunately I doubt you can put barriers on the 14 kilometres of the climb," he added.
Armstrong, who stormed to victory nearly a minute ahead of his closest challenger Jan Ullrich and now looks set for a record sixth Tour win, urged organisers to think seriously about holding another time trial at the ski resort.
"I don't know if that's such a good thing for the Tour de France. I don't think it's safe. I think organisers should watch out," said the American.
according to www.VeloNews.com, there was an estimated 900,000 spectators on the route.
Actually, the Germans were booing and chanting "Judas" to Jens Voigt, a German CSC rider who, when riding a breakaway with Jan Ullrich the day before, was ordered back to the peloton to help his teammate Basso, and Postal reel in Ullrich.
Bjarne Riis, CSC's manager was shown on TV passing notes to Johann Brunyell, Postal's manager, as their team cars drove side-by-side before Voigt was ordered to fall back. Riis and Ullrich are not kissing cousins.
Not that it ends there. Today, When Voight was interviewed on Germany's ZDF (like NBC, CBS, etc.), he was taken off the air when he started to blame the ARD (the other German TV biggie)commentators for inciting the viewership.
Now, the word in Germany is to boycott ZDF and ARD and watch Eurosport, instead, in order to spread the message that they won't tolerate censorship, especially since they are taxed to support the TV stations.
Never a dull moment in socialist Germany.
longjack
Usually avoid CBS but will try to watch this Sunday.....I want him to win!
It's disgusting that spectators would spit on him!
did you hear that the Postal crew car that has now been demoted to the back of the caravan because the driver "blocked" in a camera motorcycle while it was filming Armstrong
Agreed, too bad his kids will have to see it someday.
That guy must really like our president, considering he wants to get so close to him.
They must have been fans of his "ex-wife" and children firts.....
Is my memory at fault but didn't Lance visit the WH and act very chummy with GWB????
Cheering Lance onward.
I'll have to check to see if my tv even goes to cbs anymore!
But yes, have to watch, this will be amazing to see (barring any unforeseen problems in the next few days...).
Many of these people, the spectators today, have been up there on the mountain for nearly a week, the announcers were saying. No doubt very drunk, many of them. There's no control over them.
And 900,000 of them, which works out to nearly 100,000, per km, for today's stage. No crowd control when you've got numbers of drunken people like that.
I cringed every time one of the riders, whether Lance or any of the others, was getting tapped on the back, sometimes repeatedly by the same person.
An announcer said if a rider hits back or touches a fan, they're disqualified! Outrageous.
Yes - it means they're supporters of the Euskatel Euskadi team of Iban Mayo. Mayo, expected to be a major threat to Armstrong, feel behind by 40 minutes and abandoned the race.
Sour grapes...
I'm not sure about that, but he does date Cheryl Crowe who is a HUGE lefty.
Actually, Ullrich did not participate in two TDF's won by Lance. He's finished second to Lance only three times.
I don't follow cycling, but I'd heard that many French like Armstrong for the simple reason that he's a great cyclist.
Well, I don't know my stats that well, but it's my guess that the German fans of Ullrich are not too fond of Lance.
* * * *
Armstrong didn't single out any one group today, but many observers noted that the German fans seemed quite aggressive today towards the American maillot jaune. "It's an interesting mix of people there," he commented. "You don't just have French people, you have a lot of German people and they're very excited. You have a lot of American people and they're excited...a lot of French, Italians...but what I don't understand, when I watch the television and you see certain fans, they cheer for everybody. Once guys droppin', a minute behind, two minutes behind, they cheer for everybody. They don't give 'em the bird, they don't spit on (them), they cheer for them. And then you see some people, once their guy goes by they cheer and then everybody else, they give 'em a hard time...no class."
Armstrong showed a flash of fury when he reacted to the people who had been giving him the bird, spitting on him and writing 'F*** Armstrong' on the road. The tough Texan said, "That motivates me more than anything. It's very simple. It certainly doesn't work against me. I don't want to make it worse than it was. This is big-time sport. If the Bulls play the Knicks and they go into Madison Square Garden, they're not blowing kisses to the Chicago Bulls, back in the old days. This is big-time sport. The people are excited and emotional and they have their guy but that doesn't take away from my love of the game, with my desire to win. In fact, as I said, I think it puts a little fuel on the fire."
What do you mean "starting to"?
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