'Implacable' Armstrong: The monotony of supremacy

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By Siegfried Mortkowitz Jul 18, 2005, 14:51 GMT

US cyclist Lance Armstrong (L) of Discovery Channel Team with his girlfriend US singer Sheryl Crow after the the fifteenth stage of the 2005 Tour de France cycling race, Sunday 17 July 2005 in Lezat-sur-Leze, France. EPA/Tim De WaeleParis - One positive aspect about Lance Armstrong's imminent retirement is that, next year, the Tour de France will have some suspense again. For under "King" Lance's seven-year reign, the most arduous cycling event in the world began to resemble a series of Hollywood remakes. Every year, a group of challengers, which inevitably included Jan Ullrich of Germany, vowed they would attack the Texas native without pity, and every year they were as good as their words, testing Armstrong whenever the chance presented itself. Every year, the French media, who were put off by Armstrong's aloofness, his seeming mechanical approach to the sport and, it must be said, his being American, saw weaknesses in his preparation, his expression and his team, and wished out loud for someone to beat him. And every year it was Armstrong who stood on the top step of the podium at the end of the race, clad in the Tour winner's yellow jersey, with a broad smile on his face. This year looks like being no different: Ullrich and Co. said they would be aggressive, French media said Armstrong was old and his team was weaker than usual, the rivals attacked - and, with one week to go in the race, unless he crashes or falls ill, the 33-year-old American will once again be wearing yellow for the seventh consecutive time when the Tour enters Paris on July 24. "He is implacable," the French sports daily proclaimed in a headline on Sunday, following Armstrong's strong second place in Saturday's first stage in the Pyrenees Mountains. On Monday, after the 33-year-old American again overwhelmed his rivals in Sunday's second Pyrenees stage, Jacques Camus, writing in La Republique du Centre, put it less diplomatically. "This Tour... will be one of immeasurable boredom," he wrote. "So, Armstrong's retirement is welcome. After having nourished the legend of the Tour, he threatened to kill it in practising a style dedicated to hyper-specialists." It must be remembered that the French prefer style over performance, which is no doubt one big reason they have not had a Tour de France winner in 20 years. Nevertheless, they have a point. Armstrong's method and tactics have not changed over the years. He prepares meticulously, so that there is nothing left to chance, trains fanatically, using other races simply as preparation for the Tour - and then wins, and wins the same way. He begins by taking a little advantage over his rivals in the early time trials, increases his lead in the mountain stages, then seals his victory in the last time trial. He has been able to do that because every year he is better prepared and fitter than his adversaries. And he has a better sense of tactics than they do. According to former Tour de France sprint and climbing champion Laurent Jalabert, writing in L'Equipe: "His capacity for analysis, his tactical mastery enable him to turn his adversaries into allies of circumstance, riders who play his game without wanting to." After his riders attacked the American in the mountains on Saturday and were soundly beaten, the sports director of Ullrich,s T-Mobile team, Walter Godefroot, waved the white flag. "You saw the same thing as I did," he told L'Equipe. "A Lance Armstrong that is head and shoulders above everyone else. This is reality. We must live with that and accept his domination." Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc put it this way: "In all eras, there were champions who were better than the others. Great professionals and those who were not as good. Riders who had more class, more physical strength. Leaders who had teams that were superior to the others." The "boring" Armstrong era has one week to go. © dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur