What will Lance do in 2005

 

	by Paul Rogen Dec 1, 2004

 

It already seems like a long time ago that I squeezed my way up to the barriers in Paris and saw Lance Armstrong sweep down the Champs Elysees to his sixth Tour de France victory. Yet for all the excitement that day it has been amazingly quiet as to what is next for the great American rider. Will he defend the yellow jersey and try for a seventh consecutive win and risk the wrath of the French who already think he has won enough or will he turn southward and try his legs at the Giro and placate the naysayers who say that Lance focuses too much on the Tour to the exclusion of the other great classic stage races? If he was to secure the maglia rosa to go with his wardrobe of yellow, might that quiet the critics? Of course, Lance has never been one to curry the favor of critics. Still, what is he to do on the downslope of a great career? Or, is he even on a downward slope? Last year at this time we all knew that Lance was completely focused to make a valiant try at garnering his sixth straight maillot jaune. He did that in commanding style in 2004, now what will he do in 2005? Is he more concerned with establishing a place in history by branching out to some other major tours or is he contractually committed to try for a seventh TDF win? Either path could secure his position at the very top of the all time cycling pantheon. In spite of his remarkable record at the Tour de France, a misstep now might keep him off the top spot of the podium for the ages.

Last May I watched Damiano Cunego sweep up the Mortirolo in Italy on his way to the 2004 victory at the Giro. I thought I was seeing the future of top flight cycling. Later in the summer, at the Tour de France I thought back to the sight of the diminutive Italian when I listened to the legendary Bjarne Riis list off the challenges of knocking off Lance as the top cyclist of this era. I was at the start of the 14th stage in Carcassonne on a rainy day. Lance had just come through the Pyrenees and had pushed back Ivan Basso with a convincing win at Plateau de Beille. Jan Ullrich seemed to be fading back into the first tier of also-rans. My Roadcycling.com press pass had helped get me into the village to mill about the team buses in a cold rain on a day when not many could really want to ride. The press was asking about Ullrich and the possibility of him moving over to CSC to get some inspired coaching from Riis. Bjarne smiled and indicated he would wait for a call from Jan. Riis is at the stage of his career where the hungry press looks to him for pronouncements as to where the future of cycling will lead. He indicated that he thought Jan was still the top competition for Lance's lock on the yellow jersey but that Jan needed to work harder or smarter in preparation. He indicated that he'd like to help him but that really the future was very difficult to see. About Jan, Riis said, “He could just stay home and do nothing, or he could call me. He knows where I am.” About other young riders including Basso and Cunego he indicated a wait and see approach. Riis was asked more pointedly, who will ever beat Lance? He paused and looked out into the morning rain and then his face was swept by a rich smile that dimpled his Danish cheeks, “I don't know. You know I tried to….” His voice trailed off quickly and he seemed to suddenly think he had other coaching duties as the stage was about to begin and his CSC riders were stomping out of the bus to mount their cycles for another chase at Lance without a chance. Riis had work to do. He would wait for a call later.

I have no idea if Bjarne ever got that call. Apparently not, as Jan Ullrich seems set with T-Mobile for 2005. Lance is now with the Discovery Channel on a two-year deal and has a bevy of new teammates. Cunego is still with Saeco and did a credible job at the Vuelta but did not show himself to be the dominant force he was in the spring in his home country. But he did end 2004 with such a flourish that he was the top rated cyclist by UIC.

Meanwhile, all we see of Lance are the ubiquitous yellow LIVESTRONG bracelets. I know a few weekends back he was at the Ride for the Roses in Austin, Texas. There were tens of thousands of LIVESTRONG bracelets there, but I also see them during my daily travels. I was sitting in a classroom this past week and saw three of twenty students wore them. All fall I caught flashes of yellow in the John Kerry campaign and all over the US.

I have spoken to people all over New England who ask me where I got my band, how they can get one themselves or flash me theirs as if we are a cult of cognoscenti who might know the future and where things are going. Needless to say we don't. We do not know who will ride in the Tour de France, who will get cancer or who will recover, or what Lance Armstrong will do in 2005. I just secured some new yellow bracelets and have been passing them out to cyclists and fans of Lance or to people who quietly comment to me about someone they know or love that had or have cancer. It provides a warm connection to many beyond the cycling community. Everyone is looking forward to next year and seeing what Lance will do next. Meanwhile, the true believers, bike riders and fans, can just wear their LIVESTRONG bracelets and wait. Whatever it is, take comfort over the long winter that it will be good and that someday soon Lance will be vanquished on the road. Maybe Bjarne Riis will have something to do with that? Maybe not?