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Tour de France


BenKey

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Well...he's done it again. This guy is awesome! :flag: I don't think the United States will win again for a long time, since after this one he's retiring. I'm sure all of the other competitors are glad this is his last one.

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I have been following the Tour the last 3 years, and he is an amazing champion. Although I did loose a lot of respect for him when he dumped his wife after he started getting famous.

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Lance is the man!!!!

 

I've been following his ride in the newspaper everyday!

 

I know the French are breathing a :sigh: of relief right now since he will be retiring after this. Should be called the Tour De Lance! :crackup:

 

Another thing I admire about the guy is he is soo modest. Winning 7 tours hasn't gotten to his head. That's a good thing, never forget where you came from!

 

Late- Alex

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if anyone else is serious into cycling feel free to let me know. I quit my job with Coca-Cola in febuary to purchase a bicycle shop with my dad. It's always been a passion of mine. I'm willing to extend a SilveradoSS discount if anyone needs anything.

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Lance is the man...greatest AMERICAN cyclist EVER.

 

7 'tours' is incredible.

 

...but he's not the best of all time, as some would believe.

 

Don't forget about Eddy Merckx:

 

r26108_64644.jpg

 

Lance Armstrong's record breaking sixth victory in the Tour de France has rightly drawn a host of accolades.

 

Not only has he become the first man in the event's 101-year history to win half a dozen yellow jerseys, he attained the feat in consecutive years.

 

Many have anointed him the greatest cyclist the sport has ever seen.

 

Put simply, he is not.

 

That man is Belgium's Eddy Merckx.

 

Nicknamed "The Cannibal" for his insatiable appetite for victory and competition, he carved out a career that will likely never be seriously challenged.

 

At the age of 19 in 1964, he won the world amateur road title.

 

In 1967, he won the first of three world professional world titles. Armstrong has achieved the feat once, in 1993.

 

In 1969, Merckx contested his first Tour de France where he recorded the greatest feat in the sport's history by winning the yellow jersey, the King of the Mountains jersey, the green jersey and all three time trials.

 

Nowadays, no rider ever wins both the green and mountains jersey in the same Tour.

 

It is a record which will likely never be matched.

 

In other years, Merckx achieved the following:

 

1968 - Won Tour of Italy (also won King of Mountains jersey & green jersey)

1970 - Won Tour de France (also won King of Mountains jersey & eight stage wins)

1971 - Won Tour de France (also won green jersey) & world road championship

1972 - Won Tour de France (also won green jersey) & Tour of Italy

1973 - Didn't compete in Tour de France but won Tour of Italy (also won points jersey) & Tour of Spain

1974 - Won Tour de France, Tour of Italy & world road championship

1975 - Finished second in the Tour de France & broke the world hour record

 

In his career, he won the Tour de France five times (won 35 stages), the Tour of Italy five times (including 25 stage wins) and the Tour of Spain once.

 

No other rider can boast such an array of victories in the big three Tours.

 

Aside from winning the Tour de France yellow jersey five times, Merckx also won the King of the Mountains three times and the green jersey three times. Armstrong has never won either the polka dot (mountain) or green jersey (points).

 

In 1971, Merckx won 54 of the 120 professional races he entered. At his peak, between 1969 and 1973, he won 250 of the 650 races he contested. During his professional career, he won 445 of the 1,582 races he entered.

 

Nowadays, a cyclist like Armstrong rarely competes outside the Tour de France as he makes it his sole focus of the year.

 

Merckx used to race most of the year and often in most years, he contested both the Tours of France & Italy, as well as each of the one-day classics and many of the minor multi-stage events.

 

Merckx's dominance of other major races included:

 

Tour of Lombardy - won twice

Paris-Nice - won three times

Milan-San Remo - won seven times

Paris Roubaix - won three times

Liege-Bastogne-Liege - won five times

Amstel Gold - won twice

Tour of Flanders - won twice

Het Volk - won twice

Ghent-Wevelgem - won four times

Fleche-Wallonne - won four times

Tour of Switzerland - won once

Paris-Brussels - won once

 

Put simply, he was, and remains, a freak!

 

No cyclist has ever approached his record. It is a reasonable bet that nobody ever will.

 

Whilst Armstrong should be lauded for his achievement in winning a record six Tours de France, when it comes to the question of who is the greatest cyclist, Merckx wins hands down.

 

For mine, Merckx may well be the greatest living athlete, across any sport.

 

Give credit where credit is due, I say!

 

Lance is a bad-ass (even better since he's an American! :flag: ), but don't forget about the bad-asses from the past!

 

- Brian

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I think it's great that when he was seriously ill with cancer, the French kick him off their team. He then not only recovers from cancer, he comes back to cycling, and beats the French on their own turf. Seven times in a row. :thumbs::flag:

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