An air of change is pervading the European peloton ahead of this year’s big rendez-vous, when Lance Armstrong puts his yellow jersey up for grabs in his last ever race.
The Tour de France, which survived arguably sport’s biggest ever doping scandal in 1998, is set to provide drama of epic proportions when the 33-year-old American puts his champion’s credentials on the line in July.
Armstrong has won the Tour de France six times — a record which has already surpassed the five won by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain — and some would argue that a seventh title would be something of a formality.
Some of the latter chose not to aim for six or more victories for various reasons but, crucially for Armstrong, nearly all of them experienced the day when the head told the legs to stop turning the pedals.
And French former winner Laurent Fignon is among those who feel the Texan is going a step too far.
”Well he’s nearly 34, so it’s logical he’s retiring — above all if he wants to go out on a high,” said Fignon, who was famously beaten by Greg Lemond when the American won the yellow jersey by eight seconds in a final day time trial in 1989.
”If his aim was to beat the record of five Tour victories, he’s done it. I don’t see how he can motivate himself enough to stay in the peloton.”
Armstrong’s current rivals are being very respectful of the man known in France as ”Le Boss” — although none are likely to wait for him if he slips up on the race and gives them a sniff of victory this summer.
Only one opponent, his eternal rival Jan Ullrich, has openly welcomed the news — but the German’s bid to finally get the Armstrong monkey off his back will not be so easy.
The 1997 winner has also been a five-time runner-up in the Armstrong era, but his relative failings each year have also gone hand in hand with the emergence of a bunch of younger yellow jersey contenders who could give him concern in the future.
”I am not interested in finishing second,” Ullrich, who last year finished off the Tour podium for the first time ever, said last week.
”I couldn’t be more motivated. I’m working like mad to be in top condition and I suspect it’ll be the same for him in his last Tour.”
Even next year, Ullrich will have to deal with up and coming Italian Ivan Basso, the CSC rider who finished third last year, and Kazakhstan’s Alexandre Vinokourov, his team-mate at T-Mobile who followed his stunning victory at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classic last Sunday by saying he is hoping for at least a repeat of
his 2003 Tour podium.
Then, once he is ready, last year’s Giro d’Italia winner Damiano Cunego will be another contender.
The older generation of yellow jersey winners meanwhile have mixed feelings about Armstrong’s decision. Some think he has gone a step too far, while others are confident that his legendary determination will see him through the race’s 3 500km.
Bernard Thevenet, who once gave a flagging Merckx a run for his money on the Tour’s climbs and won the race in 1975 and 1977, has put his money on the American but says that at this late stage, it’s no certainty.
”Even though modern day riders compete a lot less than we used to, I think that Armstrong has put himself under enormous pressure, but there comes a time when you can’t keep it up,” he said.
”He’ll still be in great physical condition, but what is completely symptomatic and characteristic of top level athletes is that your motivation disappears before it goes in the legs.
”We’ll just have to see how he reacts in the crucial stages of the race where he could be prone to a mishap, because you have to dig deep to find the motivation that allows you to take the risks that count towards victory.
”At this stage Armstrong might decide to start listening a bit more to himself. That generally happens when you’re just about to stop.
”I decided to retire when I knew the legs were starting to go. Another sign was that I wasn’t quite prepared to take the risks like I was used to, in the sprints for example, or on the descents of some of the climbs when the roads were slippery.
”For things to work out, your mental attitude can easily make up for a slight lack of race fitness. But when you haven’t got the morale then you’re only going to get 60 or 70 percent out of yourself even if you are on top form.”
Armstrong so far has failed to shine this season, and his performances of late have left even the Texan wondering.
”Can I win this year? I’m not sure, but I’ll try,” he said during the recent Tour of Georgia.
A key fixture for Armstrong will be the Dauphine Libere stage race on June 5-12, where climbs to the mythic lunar landscape of Mount Ventoux and an uphill time trial should give the Texan, and his rivals, a measure of his yellow jersey chances. – Sapa-AFP