The Week That Was...

By Ian Melvin
Jul 27, 2004, 11:27

So the Tour has finished for another year.  Maybe life can get back to normal for me.  Living down here in Australia, if you want to see anything other than a nightly 30-minute slot, we have to keep the coffee brewing as live broadcasts begin at around 10pm.  Is it worth it?  You better believe it!  I can’t imagine a more wonderful feeling than that which I felt last Thursday, propping myself up on my desk, fuelled on disgusting amounts of thick, strong coffee having had a little over three hours sleep after watching the Alpe d’Huez time trial.  Hell, this was bike racing, this was the Tour and what a stage this had been!  Never mind the stage, what a race we were treated to.

Armstrong showed that last year was merely a blip on the road being ploughed out by the Postie Express, carrying their leader on to become the greatest Tour rider of all time.  That’s right, the greatest Tour de France rider of all time.  Over the past six seasons, Armstrong has won the prologue, individual and team time trials and the mountain stages.  He’s often won on his own up until now but this year, just as he did way back in 1993 for his first ever tour stage victory in Verdun, Armstrong showed that he could sprint and win from a small group.  Yes, he’s not won as many stages as Merckx, for example, but I think it’s probably fair to say that there are now a greater number of challengers shooting for the Maillot Jaune than there were in the 70’s and that it would be unfair to judge all Tour winners based solely on stage wins or days in the yellow jersey alone.  Look at the bigger picture here, see where this guy has come from and see what he’s done for the sport.  I work with a bunch of people who wouldn’t even know what a bike looked like if it slapped them around the face but they all know who Lance Armstrong is.  It’s only my humble opinion and I’m sure you won’t all agree with me, in fact, I’m sure it’ll probably be the hot topic in bunches and cafes the world over for many months to come.  And here’s something else for you to mull over, should he continue or should he retire?  Personally I’d love to see Armstrong moving on to tackle some of the other great races in our sport, paving the way for some of the younger riders to really scrap it out next July but then again, the prospect of seven tour victories in consecutive years…

Besides Armstrong, new talent has emerged in the legs of Ivan Basso, Andreas Klöden and Thomas Voeckler; three riders destined to be banging on the podium door for years to come.   Iban Mayo had, in all fairness, a disastrous July, but he’ll be back stronger than ever and I’m sure that one day we’ll see him celebrating in Paris.  Jan Ullrich has again, eventually, proved that were he able to control his weight and out of season lifestyle then maybe, just maybe, he just might be able to add to the title he won in 1997.   Until that day, he may be resigned to playing the support role in the future for Alexandre Vinokourov, Andreas Klöden and when he eventually is given a start, Cadel Evans.

The Tour is however like a double-edged sword.  It can elevate a rider to a hedonistic, all-time high; physically, emotionally and psychologically. It can also bring a rider down, forcing them to look for answers when they are just not there to be found.  One rider to have experienced both the highs and lows is ex-Cofidis rider, David Millar.  In his first interview since being officially sacked by his team last week, Millar explained to the British Guardian newspaper that after such a disappointing 2002 Tour de France, his salary dropped by 300 percent due to his poor performance and EPO was his guarantee to return to his previous best.  After the World Championships in Hamilton last year, Millar explained that “I used them [Eprex], I forgot about them, left them in my bag, went to Las Vegas, was unpacking and found them.  I thought:  What the f### has my life come to? And put them on the bookshelf.  It’s my most private place, a place no-one touches.  It had scarred me: I had won the world championship by a huge margin and didn’t need to do it.  I didn’t want to forget about it.”  The Scot continued that, “I believe in the power of the sub-conscious. It was my get-out.  I wasn’t happy.  I wasn’t enjoying it.  I didn’t like the point I’d got to.  It was an extreme way of doing it, but it’s typical of my style of life.”  Police in Biarritz discovered the two empty capsules when searching Millar’s Biarritz apartment whilst he was in custody.

Reuters last week reported that Ivan Fanini has made available to Millar a place on his Amore e Vita team once he has served any suspensions that come his way.  Fanini explained that, "he (Millar) is only 27 and is a talented rider who has won a world title and stages at the Tour de France and not just with the help of doping.  Riders who confess what they've done should be helped and convinced to speak up, not punished.  By confessing how he cheated he's shown that he's a real man."

As always, keep your thoughts, opinions and ramblings coming my way at ian@roadcycling.com.

Until next week just keep something in mind ­ 341 days till we start again!  That’s 8184 hours, 491040 minutes...!

Ian

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