Hi All.
Lance like so many of the bikes we love was born in the on-topic seventies.
As many of you have no doubt realised, Lance gets bad press in Europe because, most of his Tour successes
were not really achieved on a level playing field.
He didn't have to jump through the same hoops as the other riders.
Following the ancient tradition of the European knights of old, European team cyclists wear the colours
of their sponsors with a view to competing week in, week out, to promote their patron's cause.
For cyclists, it meant tackling a punishing schedule of European events, hoping to pinch a bit of Euro TV and press coverage.
The US Postal service does not sell stamps in Europe. There was no pressure for Lance to 'trudge through the mud'
in Flanders, or push himself into a placing in the likes of the Milan San Remo.
He was able to prepare himself for just one competition. The Tour.
Never in the race's history has a rider been afforded the time and resources to prepare in the way he could.
That is why, despite his heroic triumph over the big C, many European's will never place him alongside
Coppi and Bartali, or Merckx, Hinault, Anquetil and Bobet.
I was a fantastic supporter throughout his first Tour win. However his ' Tour and nothing at all' attitude
alienated me too.
Not surprisingly, like one or two CR folk, I was irritated when he announced that he was going to ride the Tour again .
But when he said he was going to ride The Giro too.....
Well, I believe there is a US phrase......"Lets give the guy some slack."
Alfredo Marcantonio
Twickenham,England