I am Lance Armstrongs fan, I will always be. But you­ have to admit Contador is in a very tricky situation.­ The media tried to irritate him so that he can say­ negative things about Armstrong but he didnt. I myself­ dont like when they compare Contador with the 7 tour­ winner Armstrong, but contador behaved as a decent­ human being through out the whole process. So as a­ cycling and Armstrongs fan, you cant help it feeling­ sorry for Contador, he didnt do anything wrong to­ deserve all these.
I dont know about Kloden, but most­ of Armstrongs former team mates are loyal to Armstrong­ even after the change teams. Popovic would work for­ Lance even if you tell him he will not get paid. And­ Lance Armstrong has always said " I cant do it­ without my team mates, they do all the work, I just­ ride the final few miles" even when the whole USA­ thought Lance is doing it alone. Lance is a champ but­ Contador didnt do anything to be in this situatuion, it­ is not his fault. As Lance Armstrongs and Cycling fan,­ I hope Astana riders help Contador when he needs their­ help and treat him with respect.

EPO Riss should keep his comments to himself.

Lance in the past has not outwardly spoken about cancer­ during the race. His focus has always been about­ getting the mental edge on his competitors.This time­ around is very different he must not damage the teams­ chemistry and talk about being a race favorite as this­ would mean his team mate Contador is not, Also he­ realizes he has not had the opportunity to prepare for­ the race as he has in the past. He hasn't been able­ to build and train for a full year....this ultimately­ at age 36 will likely lead to his not being able to­ reach his goal.Why would we expect the same result from­ a 36 yrs old man with limited conditioning as opposed­ to a 32yr old that is fully fit. I believe in his mind­ he feels the race can be won in the third week and­ therefore he can still work himself into condition by­ that time asuming he can stay close in the early going.­ This is the big question can he be only a few min­ behind going into week 3, and what if Cantador is in­ the top three at that time? It is great drama and from­ an American standpoint we have a number of cyclists and­ teams that should be in the thick of the battle to keep­ or interest through the whole race.

theFISH and peter W- on the issue that we mainly hear­ about Lance and cycling and less of cancer, you must­ remember that the cycling media is a huge filter that­ sieves out the non-cycling things of little interest to­ cycling fans- namely cancer awareness.
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Like a­ rifle shooter who applies a "windage factor"­ when there's a strong side wind, we have to adjust­ for the media's huge exaggeration of any conflicts,­ drug rumours, speculations of wins and­ underrepresentation of cancer.
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Media is about­ readers numbers, not about truth.

In the video interview on these­ pages,LA says he­ thinks Sastre will win. And Lance­ talks about cancer­ everyday. On the Livestrong website­ and on his twitter­ pages he makes a video dedication to­ a cancer sufferer­ every day (from all the emails he­ receives). He is­ always wearing Livestrong gear, even­ his bike is­ painted for Livestrong. If he did an­ interview with a­ cycling journalist, do you honestly­ think that the­ journalist would rather print LA talking­ about cancer­ or how he thinks he has a 3 in 1 chance of­ winning the­ TDF?

I still have yet to hear Lance come out and say that he­ is going to win the Tour. Could his references to­ having a 1 in 3 chance be about Astana's chances as­ a team? If you check the start list, Astana has 3­ riders who could potentially end up on the top of the­ podium. But realistically, with the limited­ preparations that Lance has had for this Tour a top 10­ finish is a more likely (remembering his showing in the­ Giro). Yeah this appearance isn't just about­ raising cancer awareness, the main is a cyclist who­ likes to win. It makes more sense to think that Lance­ is using this as a test for the TDF 2010. If he is­ somewhat competitive with only months of training and­ racing under his belt then what can he do with a better­ base? Even if he doesn't win, it still won't­ detract from him being one of the top names in cycling­ history and the top TDF rider ever.

liz s - um...i saw the interview where he said that­ we'll have to wait and see who the leader is in the­ third week. it's not like i'm making anything­ up here....he's talking about winning.
i grant­ your point that the press is more interesting in him­ winning. but everyone knows that. lance knows it­ too.
it would not be hard for him to turn an interview­ into livestrong info instead of him constantly saying­ he might be able to win, and givign himself the 3-1­ odds.
after all, contador was just named the leader­ not 7 days ago, and he's still talking like­ he's the leader.
look, good for lance. i'm not­ hating on his past nor his efforts for cancer.
but why­ not just come clean and admit that he's on astana­ for winning, that he's having serious issues with­ the thought of not being the leader, and that racing is­ his main focus?

I hope children will say no to drugs. About­ lancearms....: Can't trust it

karaevskitrifun, you forget that Riss was never the­ stronger rider. He was nowhere until he doped and then­ fizzled out.
Cyclecrank co uk

Riis was a cheat and as far as I am concerned cheats­ should have no opinion worth printing, Ok Lance is 37­ years old but he will suprise the life out of us all­ when the tour heats up if he is top 20 amazing result­ to have beat 180 of the so called best cyclists in the­ world, anyone who gets beat by him should wonder if­ they should be cyclists at all to have suffered at the­ hands of a guy 3 years retired.Since he has retired­ from the tour there has not been a tour without drugs­ scandals so dry your eyes about Lance and let him do­ his thing ride the bike with his head held high.

I've not once seen or heard Lance Armstrong say he­ will win. In fact, in the video interview on these­ pages, he says he thinks Sastre will win. And Lance­ talks about cancer everyday. On the Livestrong website­ and on his twitter pages he makes a video dedication to­ a cancer sufferer every day (from all the emails he­ receives). He is always wearing Livestrong gear, even­ his bike is painted for Livestrong. If he did an­ interview with a cycling journalist, do you honestly­ think that the journalist would rather print LA talking­ about cancer or how he thinks he has a 3 in 1 chance of­ winning the TDF? Do not always believe what you read in­ the press.

EPO 4ever. Impossible is nothing. LOL

peter w is also right about how we only hear about­ lance racing and wanting to win and having a 3-1 chance­ (uhhh...sure...right...whatever you say there­ buddy).

but not once has the bravado moved aside to­ talk about cancer. but then, we all knew it didn't­ we? he came back to race, not raise awareness.......

Agree Peter W- a top 10 position will be admirable from­ Lance (he'll be cursing 'though!).
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Nay­ sayers like Riis and Hinault and Prudhomme should­ remember thta they're giving Armstrong huge­ motivation.

i think lance has a top 10 in him but no more. the­ biggest cycle race in the world draws the biggest­ riders and lance is no longer one of them. i thought­ the whole point of his comeback was for his cancer­ charity but all i keep hearing is how he wants to win.­ any racer does but come on...out of racing for nearly 4­ years back to the top? at 37? unlikely. good on him for­ whatever it is he hopes to achieve out of this season­ though

Bjarne Riis confessed to taking drugs between 1993 to­ 1998.
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Lets hope the authorities keep a very, very­ close check on Saxobank.

Bjarne should now for best how it feels to be the­ strongest rider in the team and yet be overthrown as­ leader (Riis and Ulrich struggle in T-Mobile), so what­ he says is moderate slap in Lance's face. What he­ really wanted to say was - "I think that Armstrong­ is fool when he comes after 4 years trying to win the­ Tour. He should have stayed in retirement as the­ greatest rider in TdF's history. With the comeback­ he is just ruining the status he had in World Cycling.­ It won't be pleasant to see the champion out of the­ top 10 at the end of the race."