I don't want to spend every single blog talking about Lance and his comeback, but the subject is a pretty target rich environment and it makes for very interesting commentary.  The topic of this blog is to address some of the comments made by Greg Lemond at the Lance Armstrong press conference last Thursday at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas.

One of the points Greg appeared to be making was that he felt it was insufficient to just test Lance's biological parameters.  Lemond wanted Lance to also be tested for such things as Max V02 and power output. Lemond's comments bring up two interesting points. First, if the UCI, and WADA for that matter, are going to use biological passports as their primary weapon against doping, WADA needs to come up with an official list of the parameters which will be tested. Basically, there needs to be some agreed-to official list that makes everyone feel good about the comprehensiveness of the monitoring.

Secondly, I think it is unfair to Lance to require that his Max V02 and power output be made public. Remember, Lance has stated that the results of all his drug testing will be put on a website for all the world to see. I commend Lance for doing this, but he is taking a bit of a risk in that his public values might give his competitors an inside look into his conditioning. That is why things such as power output can't really be made public. Lance 2.0 has stated that he didn't feel ready for the Tour unless he was generating 6.7 watts/kg. If his power output is made public and it is below that level, his competitors may sense weakness and attack.

Of course, Lance could use the website to provide some disinformation to his competitors, but that would be against the purpose of the site so that is out of the question.  If Greg Lemond really feels that the parameters specified by WADA for the biological passport are inadequate, he should take his case directly to WADA.

Bruce

The Vuelta a Espana concluded yesterday in Madrid and Spain's Alberto Contador won his third grand tour claiming the trifecta of the Tour, Giro and Vuelta.  Clearly, the 25-year old is the world's top stage racer he climbs like an angel and time trials well enough to limit his losses.  Unfortunately for American Levi Leipheimer Contador is his teammate which means that unless Alberto totally melts down in the mountains, Levi is going to have a tough time standing on the top step of the podium.

That's both good and bad.  Without a doubt, Levi was the best time trialist at the Vuelta, winning both the races against the clock, and he was clearly the second best rider in the race behind his teammate.  Thank heavens team director Johan Bruyneel let Leipheimer and Contador ride without orders in the final TT, it would have totally bogus to ask Levi to throttle his engine. That would not have been right.

There is a bit of history here. Way back in 2001 when Levi was in his first tour of duty with Bruyneel and the then US Postal Service Team, Leipheimer and his teammate Roberto Heras were locked into a dual for third place going into the final TT.  Bruyneel let them ride then and Levi bested Heras to claim the final spot on the podium and it was that race which really propelled Leipheimer into the upper ranks of the pro peloton.

If anyone has any doubts as to which is the strongest stage race team in the world, I think that question has been answered.  With a win in the Giro and a 1-2 finish at the Vuelta, my guess is that Carlos Sastre is thanking his lucky stars that Team Astana did not get invited to the Tour.  Hopefully, that situation will be rectified for 2009.

The Lance angle in all this is that on Wednesday, the 24th, the Texas Tornado will make a public announcement about his future in pro cycling.  Recently, Armstrong has been logging some pretty serious training miles in both Aspen and Solvang, the big question is not if, it is with whom? Given his strong ties with Trek Bicycles, the most likely candidate is Team Astana, but where does that leave grand tour champion Contador and Leipheimer?

If Lance has any ambitions to win the Tour again, I think he has to sign with Astana.  I think Contador is a strong enough challenger to Lance's ambitions that the only way Lance can neutralize that challenge is to make him a teammate. Lance has a history of doing just that, the most notable example was the signing of Roberto Heras in 2001 after he put Lance in a spot of bother at the 2000 Tour. I don't know what Lance's arrival at Astana will do to team dynamics, but from a purely competition side of things, Contador has to be neutralized.

Of course, all of this is just speculation.  We will hopefully get a much clearer picture on Wednesday.  One interesting piece of fallout from Lance 3.0 (Lance 1.0 was the Motorola years; Lance 2.0 was the post-cancer years) is that the Tour of Georgia just might be saved. Rumours are that the Tour of Georgia will not return for 2009, but the power of Lance may just be strong enough to keep the Georgia race alive.

Bruce

The whole cycling community is buzzing with the recent revelation that seven-time Tour de France champion and living cycling legend Lance Armstrong is reportedly coming out of retirement to re-join his buddies in the European pro peloton. Forget the freefall in the US and world economic markets, this is big news. The 37-year old Texan traded his cleats for running shoes after the end of the 2005 Tour, but after a three-year hiatus this comeback looks to be for real.

Rumours are that Lance's strong showing in the recent Leadville 100 MTB race re-kindled his competitive fire. Armstrong has been using Aspen as his training base and has just recently purchased a place there. Competing in several local and regional races, including the 12-Hour of Snowmass which he won with his three-man team, those who have seen him on the bike say he is as determined as ever to make his return to two wheels a successful one. Lance has been linked to Team Astana being run by the man who directed his seven Tour wins, Johan Bruyneel, though he has scheduled a September 24th press conference to make his plans public.

The big question is at age 37, can the Texas Tornado still be competitive in the European pro ranks? Another question is, after seven Tour de France victories, what does Lance have left to prove on the bike? The question on fitness is really only one that Lance can answer. We all age differently and while no one has ever won the Tour at age 37 (Firmin Lambot won the Tour at age 36 way back in 1922) Lance was the first rider to win the Tour six and seven times and you don't accomplish that without a lot of drive and ambition to complement one's fitness.

When the rumours of Lance's comeback first surfaced about a month ago from deep within the halls of Active.com, speculation was that Armstrong's return would focus on the aspects of cycling, other than the Tour, that the former Discovery Channel rider had not yet conquered. Could Lance become the first American to win the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix the two most revered one-day Classics? Armstrong has shown that he can be competitive in the big one-day races having won the Fleche Wallone and come second in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Amstel Gold, and the Championships of Zurich.

Lance says that one of his major motivations for returning is to spread the word, globally, about cancer. But, if he ends up on Team Astana he will have to contend with Alberto Contador who is on form to win the Vuelta which would give him the trifecta of the three grand tours after his 2007 Tour and 2008 Giro wins.

So, what do you all think about Lance's return to cycling? After having gone out on such a high note in 2005 is this a no-win situation or is there an upside which most cycling aficionados seem to be missing?

Bruce

ps - whatever the reason, it will be great to have Lance back in cycling. He is a great ambassador for the sport. I, for one, would love to see him go back to his winning ways.

Lance Armstrong is, once again, racing a bike. No it's not in France it is in another garden spot, Leadville, Colorado, where the annual Leadville 100 MTB endurance race takes place this Saturday. While anytime Lance throws a leg over a bike it is interesting, what is most interesting to me is the reaction by local bike racers and fans.

Some people I have talked to about Lance and Leadville can only say negative things about the Texas Tornado citing rumours that he has hired a lot of riders to pace him on the course and also wondering why he is doing the race in the first place.  OMG. I just don't understand why many people in this sport don't get the big picture and seem h3ll bent on keeping this sport in the backwater. One only has to look at the bike industry and the general popularity of the sport to realize that the post-Lance years have not been great for cycling.

Lance transcended bicycling and put our passion on the front page of every major newspaper and magazine in the US.  Then there were the TV news and sports shows and that translates to a huge win for our sport. The guy was gold and we all benefited from his presence on a bike.  In recent years, his absence from our ranks is noticeable and I, for one, welcome him back, Kate Hudson or no Kate Hudson.

Welcome back Lance and as I would say to anyone who is about to embark on a race, I hope you meet your goals and have fun doing it.

What does everyone else think?

Bruce

Obviously, we all have our own conditions for calling an event a great race; the recently concluded Giro d'Italia had all the trimmings to make one exceptional race. To be sure, Team Astana's Alberto Contador took the top overall honors, but his fellow competitors forced the outcome to be decided on the final day of the 21-day grand tour.

Lance Armstrong won seven Tours de France, but which one was his "best" victory? Was it the times where the Texas Tornado appeared unbeatable and seemed to just be toying with his rivals? For me it was 2003 when he almost got dropped on Alpe d'Huez, lost to Ullrich in the first time trial and then crashed on Luz Ardiden. Lance looked totally vulnerable and it came down to the final time trial to settle the score.

For me, it is great competition which makes a memorable race. This year at the Giro, going into the final mountain stage, three day before the end of the race, the top three competitors were separated by only 21 seconds. And, all three were bonafide contenders. But, more importantly, all three had looked vulnerable at one time or another.

Leader Alberto Contador had been unable to respond to late stage attacks on both the Alpe de Pampeago and the Marmolada. But, as a true champion does, he didn't just sit up, he rode his own pace and limited his losses. Only four seconds back, Saunier Duval's Ricardo Ricco, lost over two minutes to Contador in the first time trial. He clearly had to make up that deficit in the mountains and his relentless attacks were successful in pegging back critical seconds. Third place Danilo DiLuca, the 2007 Giro champion, had been riding quietly in the lead group, but had not shown any traces of last year's form. His attack on the second-to-last day in the mountains almost put him in the maglia rosa, the pink leader's jersey.

In the end, Contador's consistency in the mountains and his superior time trialing skills neutralized Ricco while DiLuca's audacious attack on the second-to-last mountain stage proved to be too much too soon and he was never able to recover for the final weekend of racing.

Which brings us to the upcoming Tour de France. While Cadel Evans may be the odds-on favorite, his recent knee troubles have limited his pre-Tour training program. Chris Horner likes two-time Vuelta a Espana winner Dennis Menchov. Somewhere lurking in the mountains is Alejandro Valverde. Suffice it to say, there really is no clear favorite and all the top contenders have shown signs of vulnerability in the Tour in the past. Of course, that means it's going to be a great race.

Bruce

ASO announced the twenty teams for the 2008 Tour de France today and not surprisingly, Astana was not on the list. Coincidentally, the Tour of Georgia unveiled their start list for the late-April event and Rock Racing did not receive and invite. While I support the right of race organizers to invite whichever teams they choose, that doesn't mean I have to agree with them about their decisions. In both the aforementioned cases, I think the race organizers have erred in not inviting Astana to the Tour and Rock Racing to Georgia.

The Astana team with 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador and third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer is clearly one of the strongest squads in the pro peloton and on the basis of strength alone deserve a slot. Keeping them out of the Tour means that all the best riders will not be on the starting line. It definitely devalues the 2008 yellow jersey. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Unfortunately, it appears that Astana's problems are probably linked to Johan Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong's seven Tour wins. It seems that ASO still feels that these two somehow pulled of all those victories in a less than honest matter.

Rock Racing was one of the most popular teams at the 2008 Amgen Tour of California. They had huge crowds at their team bus before and after each stage and their riders responded to the attention with Mario Cipollini taking third on Stage 2, Victor Hugo Pena climbing extremely well and Michael Creed aggressively going off the front on several occasions in an attempt to take a stage. However, Michael Ball tangled with race organizers over the exclusion of three riders, something which appeared to the public to be totally arbitrary. Clearly, Michael Ball marches to a different drummer, but judging by the number of fans and the demographic of those fans, his team is generating a lot of buzz about the sport of cycling.

I think to be fair and un-biased if you believe that Astana got a raw deal you also have to feel that Rock Racing was unjustly spurned.  Levi and the boys should be racing in France just as Fast Freddie and his crew should be on the start line in Georgia.  I still support a free market when it comes to races.  Organizers should be able to invite whomever they want though they should have some published criteria so teams have some indication on what they need to do to be considered. I just hope that they can be more fair and just when it comes to team selection.

What do you all think?

Bruce

Word came from Spain yesterday that Jose Luis Rubiera had won stage 2 of the Tour of Muricia. It was the queen stage with big climbs and when it started snowing it turned into a mini-epic. You have to be happy for Chechu, Rubiera's nickname. In his final year of a storied career, the affable rider from Gijon in Northern Spain is a true class act and winning in difficult conditions just adds to the legend.

Less than two weeks ago, he was Levi Leipheimer's right-hand man on the big climbs and rainy, windy flats at the Amgen Tour of California. It was the Chechu of old, pacing his team leader to yet another major stage race win.  For me, it was one of the feel-good stories of the race and it was great to see Rubiera riding again at such a high level.

Chechu has amassed an impressive record throughout his professional career. He rode nineteen grand tours and finished top ten in four of those tours. He won several stages of the Tour de France as a member of the US Postal Service/Discovery Channel team time trial squad and also won two individual stages of the Giro d'Italia. Of course, he was by Lance Armstrong's side from 2001-2005 for the Texan's last five Tour victories.

He rode strongly in all, but the 2002 event. I once asked him what happened in 2002 and he replied that he had tried to do Lance's pre-Tour training program and it had burned him out. "Lance is like a motor bike of 1000cc and I am a 250cc or even less. We can't do the same training, we can't," noted the modest Spaniard.

But, Chechu will retire at the end of this year and join his wife, who is a lawyer, in Gijon. He has a degree in industrial engineering which he received while racing as a professional many times cracking his books in his hotel room after an exhausting six hours in the saddle.

I will miss his infectious smile; his positive attitude and his professionalism. The guy is truly one of the gentlemen of the sport and a class act. To be winning mountain stages and paving the way for your team leader to win a big stage race is truly the best way to exit stage left. We will all miss you. Buena suerte, amigo.

Bruce