Lance has a little Bobby Fischer in him. Fischer ended his days reading in a Reykjavik bookstore, wanted by Interpol.
Their Parliament made him a citizen & he could never be extradited. The rationale was that their own ancestors had skipped out of Scandinavia one step ahead of the hangman. Nobody ever got killed, they said, playing Chess.
db87 wrote:
Im likely a dirtbag but I admire his ability to lie and also perform. I can think of a few athletes like Jordan, Kobe, Tiger with such a passion for working hard and winning. Lance also only trained for the tour from what I understand. Someone like Sagan is doing races all over the world, charity rides etc. Lance went to Europe before the tour and knew every inch of the race and watching old videos of him is inspiring, drugs or no drugs.
We all knew Bonds was dirty but we watched the tv waiting for the next homerun, same with Mcguire/Sosa, Hicham in the olympics etc. Who gives a f*ck about drugs. He was the best....best cyclist, best doper and best liar.....good for him. One of my favorite pictures ever is the one he posted after they stripped him of his titles, laying in his den with the 7 yellow jerseys....thats the best F.U. ever.
His ability to lie and perform is why he is a role model.
He won because of tenacity, cunning, extreme preparation, attention to detail, discipline, and pure white hot drive. He would not have won without the drugs, but I think the drugs just put him on roughly equal footing as everyone else. That list above is what matters in something like the TDF vs. a one-off race. It's almost like a military operation. The bravest and most talented don't win wars...maybe battles, but not wars. It's the country that has their logistics, supply, strategy, equipment, attention to detail, planning, tactics, and organization squared away.