There is a new story circulating today that a former assistant—Paul
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Re: Armstrong doping question
Tue, 5 Apr 2005 08:25:06 -0500
"Pat" <P...@newstime.com>

Let’s see, poll after poll shows that Europeans dislikes Americans. Lance has never been accepted by the Europeans, especially the French, who are constantly testing and re-testing him.—Pat

In recent times, yes. Mr Bush has a talent for inspiring distaste. But people have been making the same claims about Lance for years, certainly since before Operation Oily Residue started.—Just

Baloney! Euros were trashing candidate Bush well before he was Prez. It isn’t Bush so much as it is American conservativism. Euros are "liberals" in an American sense.—Stephen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wonder why they never did with Merckx, or Hinault or Indurain? Especially so for Mercks since he was so much more dominant.

And don’t say the "techniques" weren’t around. The Eastern Europeans were doing some pretty amazing things to "help" human athletic activity during Olympic competition even in the 50’s.—Stephen

Could be because he raced in all the races, not just one a year. Put yourself in the place of an average team cyclist, racing every other day during the season. Who would you rather be beaten by, a man who’s been riding alongside you through all those races or one who arrives fresh to take the one race everyone in the world has heard of and every cyclist wants to win?—Just

I’d rather not be beaten at all! —Stephen

And the fact that one rider comes in fresh while you’ve been riding flat out for weeks helps this how? ;-)—Just

Doesn’t at all. Are race organizers supposed to define how a racer gets to a race? Should the TdF be like a NASCAR race series where everyone drives cars that are largely standardized, not allowing automotive technology to dictate a winner?

Perhaps to qualify for the TdF you have to ride certain races and finish in certain ranks? Is there something like that already in place? I don’t think I could just sign up for it, so there must be some sort of prerequisites.

At any rate, race criteria don’t prohibit someone from doing as Lance does (specialize). If you choose to run yourself ragged riding flat out every weekend that’s your choice. If that isn’t to your liking, choose another race program.

Trashing Lance for his specialization strategy seems rather shallow, although it certainly is a consideration in determining his place among the greats of bike racing.—Stephen
 
 
 

The UCI test and retest everybody. The UCI are not the same thing as "the French", incidentally.—Just

You haven’t seen how well received he is in France then? The fact LA speaks French is greatly appreciated by the French. Indeed, LA is hero-worshipped in much of the European cycling scene. Many a yellow LA bracelet is spotted on this side of the pond.—wafflycat

We have all seen the news reports as well as the graffiti on the roads. Are you saying the polls are meaningless or just that the polls aren’t answered by some cycling fans?—Pat

Of course there are some people who don’t like LA. But to say that he is trashed/hated/loathed/etc., etc., on this side of the pond as a rule/in general/etc., etc., just isn’t true - do you believe everything you read in the media. I do hope not ;-)

LA is as much hero-worshipped in Europe as on your side of the pond. Indeed, I’m not sure there isn’t a week goes by without him being hero-worshipped in Cycling Weekly over here. So much so the mag gets letters reminding the editor that other world-class cyclists do exist :-)

Perhaps your version of Europe is about as accurate as life in USA is as depicted in "Dallas" Whaddya mean JR was fictional!;-)

Cheers, helen s—wafflycat

Yeah we keep hearing how Euros aren’t "anti-American", they just don’t like our President, feel our political system is corrupt, elections Third World, our businesses anti-Green, our news media uninformed and shallow, and our citizenry over-weight and stupid.

I’ve been to Europe on many occasions, have European friends, and realize like the US, Europe is a big place with a large variety of opinion and viewpoint.

I just believe it is more unified in its anti-Americanism now days. These dislikes were always present, they’ve just gained wider, more vocal following in recent years.

As far as Lance goes, I think he’s somewhat caught up in all this. The assumption of guilt and the demand that he "prove his innocence" is a manifestation of this situation.—Stephen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

For purposes intended here America refers to the United States of America, and Americans refers to citizens of same.

Europeans dislike Americans in general, but then so do most other countries, but that is usually because Europeans want to be European, and not just to be a European copy of America.

If Lance goes around worshiping America and it’s system, then Europeans have no use for that, and he will not get far, if, on the other hand, he just sticks to what he knows, then in general they really don’t care, where your from.....—The