Lance exclusively in Dutch & Flemish newspapers
Both the Flemmish Het Nieuwsblad and the Dutch Telegraaf will have articles about exclusive interviews with Lance Armstrong both tomorrow and thursday. If we are to believe the teasers Alberto Contador won't be saving these for his scrap book. Lance is ready for war. Why he goes for the Dutch/Flemmish media is a mystery to me. Maybe because of the TdF start in Rotterdam?
about 2 years ago
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Why he goes for the Dutch/Flemmish media
Maybe because his real target is Rabobank? Lance knows a coming hegemony when he sees one.
"The only pain I got time for is the pain I put on fools who don't know what time it is." Edvald Boasson Hagen
by Chris Fontecchio on Dec 29, 2009 3:29 PM EST reply actions
I think
Was getting pretty sick an tired of watching the back of the already progressing hegemony of a young Spaniard named Cantadur or something. I don’t think Lance could stomach more coming hegemonies.
Football is a game, cycling a sport.
Hm
then he could be triangulating. If you see him and Langeveld in secret discussions…
"The only pain I got time for is the pain I put on fools who don't know what time it is." Edvald Boasson Hagen
by Chris Fontecchio on Dec 29, 2009 4:51 PM EST up reply actions
2-pronged media attack
Coincidentally, I’m sure, Bruyneel answered reader questions for Spain’s ElMundo.ES. Mine asking if it wasn’t a conflict of interest for him to personally recruit riders for Radio Shack while being paid to manage Astana (into the ground) didn’t make the cut. But while Armstrong was busy saying that he wasn’t the cause of tension at Astana, and that a lot of the stuff Contador said wasn’t true, Bruyneel’s first response was that he didn’t know where Alberto got the idea that he bought his own TT wheels, because all of the team, especially the leaders, had the same materials.
http://www.elmundo.es/encuentros/invitados/2009/12/3976/
LA apparently feels that Contador, with a mere 2 Tour de France victories, is treated like a King in Spain, which would of course give him a big head. This from a guy who had his personal soigneur hold his TT bike frame on the private plane, along with the personal photographer who was on a moto during his races because there wasn’t room for the film crew.
I understand that Giro and Vuelta wins mean nothing to the guy. But he was around 27 years and 10 months old when he won his first Tour de France. Contador has won 2 Tours, a Giro and a Vuelta, and has a chance to race and maybe win another Tour and Vuelta before he reaches the same age. There’s a big difference between “advice” and trying to put down a competitor in the media to make yourself look better.
Contador is doing just fine without Armstrong. Why doesn’t he offer his advice to someone with talent who hasn’t won a grand tour?
Bruyneel confirms Albertos account ?
Bruyneel just answered reader’s questions for ElMundo, and the first question he addressed was the TT wheels. He said he had no idea where Alberto got that from, as ALL THE RIDERS, especially the leaders, HAD THE SAME MATERIALS.
After the Tour it was reported that Contador had to buy his own wheels before the Monaco time trial, as the ones HE WANTED were not given to him.
Is it even LA/Bert if only one side is talking?
I feel next year it will be more LA and JB trying to attack from the presses on all cylinders and they will get ZERO response from Bert, who will prove his point on the road. It could very well make LA/JB look like clowns to everyone outside of the US media.
March 14, 2010: The great one returns!
They already look like clowns...
They both need a cup of HTFU followed by a slathering of STFU and move on. I intense dislike for a certain Texan Media Whore grows exponentially.
PS I have the recipe for HTFU if anyone is interested.
by Christopher See on Dec 30, 2009 11:51 AM EST up reply actions
This won't stop until the start of the TdF
LA and JB are going to get hitting this issue to try and maintain the appearance of a brewing showdown between the LA and Alberto. They need it to serve as motivation for LA. Even though AC won’t willingly participate, the media LOVES conflict. They’ll bring it up in every interview with AC until the race starts.
+1
They can’t let go. Well, I can. I asked Gavia to take it over, knowing full well she won’t touch it.
"The only pain I got time for is the pain I put on fools who don't know what time it is." Edvald Boasson Hagen
by Chris Fontecchio on Dec 29, 2009 6:00 PM EST up reply actions
It's a wonder anyone understood my original post.
Countless typos. The corrected first sentence is below.
LA and JB are going to KEEP hitting this issue to try and maintain the appearance of a brewing showdown between the LA and Alberto.
Gavia Special Assignment: 2010
Chief of the Lance/Johan Bureau of PdC.
or
CLJB
Good luck Gav. Our hearts are with you.
Well played...
How many more days till classics season anyway?
by Christopher See on Dec 30, 2009 11:53 AM EST up reply actions
The unfortunate thing about hoping that the classics season will wipe away this drivel
Is that Lance is supposed to race against bert at Catalunya, March 22-28. It won’t be the 24/7 Tour hissy fit (that I am building a bomb shelter to protect myself with) but we’ll be getting an ear load in late March too, righty when we hoped we’d be spared.
Ugh.
I'll just do what I usually do and ignore Catalunya
Don’t know how you will cope though? I knew dissing Very Minor Spanish stageraces would pay off one day.
Methinks Lance and Johan are jealous of all the attention that Sky has gotten over Shack.
This is not war on Contador but on none other than Bradley Wiggins.
Wigglypuff Cav Crunch, Breakfast of Madison Champions!
Here's the first wave
It’s ugly. Coincidentally, the first thing Bruyneel mentioned was also the Time Trial Wheels
http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/article/detail.aspx?articleid=G8O2KA8D4
From Google Translate:
“If you just the second time the Tour have won and you are the king of Spain, it is normal that all stories are all right. His career has barely begun. Let us talk again about fifteen years. When I subsequently the Spanish media during the Tour had to face, I fell from one surprise to another. We talked little about the atmosphere in the team, but they apparently do. If you read some Spanish sports daily Marca newspaper as distributed: so many dirty things, unbelievable. Complete bullshit, pieces of mucus, fat lies. They said we were behind him during the Tour. Yeah. Recently he declared that he had no time trial wheels like me during the tour. Yeah. (Evil) First, this is not true. Secondly, it is easy to prove. You only have to grab the phone and calling into bicycle manufacturer Trek. I understand that the Spanish media after their heroic stand, but it was so untrue what was printed. Come on, at the end of the day as a journalist, you fucking do proclaim the truth. ’ "
First portion of the Telegraaf version
This is one where Lance set’s it’s Contador’s fault allowing all of his Tour de France teammates to leave Astana, ignoring the fact that Alberto wanted to be first man out the door, and Bruyneel was in there keeping ushering people out, even those under contract.
http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/wielersport/5678464/__Armstrong_heeft_niets_met_Contador__.html
cn has a translated story on this...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/armstrong-slams-contadors-entourage
my question is, what took la/jb so long to respond? not getting enough love lately?
seriously, we know the usa papers will think this is gospel truth…. but la/jb are the only people who speak of conta this way….
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
After reading that, this is going to be a long 7 months...
Contador is going to look like the anti-christ come Tour time in America.
The one thing that I am very confused about is about the time trial wheels. It seems from the photos, that the only time that Lance and Alberto are riding different wheels is the prologue where Contador is riding a Hed 3 front while Lance is riding a Bontrager piece. I think the whole thing was fabricated by the Spanish media unless Contador had to go out and buy his own Lightweight disc wheels and cover them himself with his own pisterolo cover even though they are the team issued disc wheels.
Lance is the T.O. or Chad Ochocinco of cycling
With a more impressive resume of course, but in the present time his annoying ranting just come off as desperate cries for attention. Win a race in Europe Lance, and perhaps AC will start to take you more seriously.
QOTD ?
Win a race in Europe Lance, and perhaps AC will start to take you more seriously.
by Christopher See on Dec 30, 2009 11:56 AM EST up reply actions
Poor Lance
He just can’t help making himself look like a boorish fool. I am an Americanwho used to love Lance, now I can barely tolerate him and have lost all respect for him. Sad. Sad. Go Contador!
Lance isn't doing anything of the sort.
I would venture a guess that the media is controlling your thoughts on the matter.
No horn, watch for finger.
When you have seven TdF wins, being the bigger man is always a viable option.
Lance consistently chooses not to, and ends up appearing like LeahM says. And if you think that image is a media-construction I have to wonder what the h*** kind of media you’ve been reading?
So what is he doing?
You like to portray yourself as neutral about this whole thing, so how does Lance come off in these interviews—in your opinion?
These interviews don't even sound like LA
It sounds to me like the interveiw was translated to one language and then back to English or something.
But I see nothing wrong here. I think it’s probably true that the Spanish media made up a bunch of crap and JB and LA just don’t care for AC. The media likes to keep asking them about it and they don’t mind telling their opinions.
No horn, watch for finger.
The media told Lance to say that the top 5 from the '08 Tour was a "joke"?
Really?? I could reference other examples too where Lance came down with a major case of foot in the mouth but I’m sure you’d just find another way to rationalize in Lance’s defense.
It's not a matter of making shit up to rationalize and defend someone.
It’s a matter of cutting people some slack for putting their foot in their mouths. Everyone does it, it’s just that some high profile poeple get caught and quoted. I’m not saying Lance isn’t in need of an edit button at times, but I think some of the things he says with a grin that we don’t see. You “haters” aren’t that much different than the “fanatics”, you both have your way of interpreting.
No horn, watch for finger.
Lance is generally considered one of the most media-savvy athletes ever
to simply chalk up a lot of his disrespectful statements as gaffes seems unlikely.
Whether they are gaffes or not doesn't concern me.
I don’t expect social perfection from everyone nor do I want it. In fact, I like the imperfection (disrespect and all), it put’s less pressure on me.
No horn, watch for finger.
My take:
Lance is a dick. Contador is a dick. The difference is, Lance uses his dickishness to fuel shit like winning seven Tours, fighting cancer, and launching an improbable comeback. He’s a dick with a purpose. Contador seems less fueled by aggression, so when he’s a dick (like he was to Levi after the 2008 Vuelta), he’s just a dick.
"dickishness"
You made that up didn’t you? Oops no, there it is in the urban dictionary. First time I’ve seen it used though. Props for usage in a sentence.
No horn, watch for finger.
It is great to know it's real, very useful
for instance “there was quite a large amount of dickishness in sminer’s snarky comment there, what an evil soul he has”. Not that I would EVER say such a thing of course.
March 14, 2010: The great one returns!
On the positive side,
It’s now 10:30am on January 1st (and you posted at 7am, sminer).
I found him endearing
Come on, op het einde van de dag moet je als journalist toch de waarheid verkondigen.
Come on, at the end of the day a jounalist has to tell the truth now hasn’t he?
That is so naïve it’s cute.
Football is a game, cycling a sport.
I think Lance has a damn good chance of dialing up TDF victory #8 this summer.
All the BSing in the media would look normal except for Brunyeel having to do his part, which disappointing, but maybe he really needed the financial clout of Lance to fully escape Astana or something.
Lance/Brunyeel is an interesting couple with a lot of history, but did Brunyeel ever really have the chance to choose between Lance and Alberto? That is unclear to me.
Yes. He can.
by thisisntthezodiac on Dec 31, 2009 12:03 AM EST reply actions
It was clear at the time.
Johan did speak several times how he felt about Lance coming back and even in choosing between Lance and Bert. He mentioned that he had a good working relationship with Bert but with Lance is it more and he couldn’t say no. Not to get all sentimental about it but there’s real love between Johan and Lance. I do find it touching, though I think the media campaign against Bert is silly and I’ll extrapolate to say that Johan would rather not have it happening. But it is in Lance’s personality.
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