If Lance wants to win another tour, there is nothing­ you can do about it, except to keep crying that he­ cheated to win 7. Bunch of whiners. Hell, I hope he­ wins 9 of 'em. Just to burn your @#$% even more.­ Instead of boo-hooing, go write a boring conjecture­ filled book, just print it in french so your­ co-crybabies can understand it.

He did more for cycling in Seven years than cyclings­ previous 100 year history.

Chad you are a @#$% if you­ believe that - The Tour de France is bigger than any­ drug cheating yanky wankkerr

I'm just off to but some eggs from the supermarket,­ so in July 2009 I will have some rotten @#$% to throw­ at the drug cheating b*****d

:))

Watch out for me­ next year on the TV ;)

skelder,
you're right, it has been an interesting­ conversation with people to be sure.
but i hesitate to­ use the new article claiming positive response as a­ gauge - after all they only talked to 3 riders.­ contador, who is obliged by team rules (if lance is­ going there) and by the rules of not nay-saying a­ former great, to say so. rubiera, a former teammate,­ who for some reason would ride another for lance and­ wouldn't think of it for what may very well be the­ next lance in contador. and sastre, so actually­ didn't say anything other than "he was­ exciting to watch those few years ago."

i also­ find it odd that people draw the jordan comparison­ without realizing they argue opposite their point -­ jordan's comeback was laughable at times and proved­ pointless and in the end showed the desperation of a­ man unwilling to let go when his time had clearly­ passed. personally, i find that comparison legit, but i­ don't think that's what prudhomme had in mind­ :)

seby_pricop - and you have the proof of that­ ??

epoche,
constructive points that I don't­ necessarily disagree with. however, first responses­ from the pro's look positive?! maybe he'll be­ Contadors 'super domestique!' or maybe­ he'll build a new team... who knows, but what I am­ enjoying is all this speculation & banter :)

all of u claiming lance used dugs get a life and face­ the facts the reason he cud win was he devoted himself­ and his team 2 the tour and had loss weight after chemo­ which gave him an edge in the mountains, he was tested­ more than anyone and neva tested positive!

chad -
i don't have proof, don't claim to, and­ don't state that lance doped factually. so i owe­ you nothing. now, if you ask me whether or not i­ believe he was doped, i'll admit that i lean toward­ saying "yes" - it's just too clear that­ the practice was widespread amongst the peloton,­ lance's former teamates, and lance's former­ rivals. odds are simply not in his favor. but like i­ stated before, if he was clean, more power to­ him.

skelders -
i think lance's presence can't­ help but distract everyone from the up and coming­ stars. hell, phil and paul still can't talk about­ lance without touching themselves during commentary 3­ years after the man retired. i just want the focus of­ the sport to be watching how the contadors, schlecks,­ nibolis, solers, cavendishs, and others are taking the­ mantle and creating a new era of cycling.
and think­ about what team lance races for. if it's astana,­ contador is screwed. if he goes to CSC, andy is­ screwed. if he goes to Columbia, kirchen is screwed.­ rabobank, menchov is screwed. euskaltel, sanchez and­ anton and astorloza all get screwed. there isn't a­ team he could show up on right now and not totally ruin­ the structure. now all of that would be true too if­ lance were still in the sport and just switched teams -­ but now he's coming out of retirement, for no pay,­ to amuse himself/prove something/raise awareness/who­ cares.
pandering to an unretired rider is not in the­ interest of any team, nor cycling as a whole.

hope he will not return. i think about him as the icon­ of undetected drug user !!! marius

Why would the return of Armstrong damage the up &­ coming stars? I would have thought the likes of­ Contador, the Schlecks, Kohl etc would relish going­ against the old man! I am new to the sport (3yrs in)­ and have always been gutted not to witness him live.­ hopefully now i will. Was he a doper - I really­ don't know! I want to believe his side of the story­ but is there anyone left from that era who hasn't­ been caught? I am surrounded by non believers in my­ club - i guess I'm still a believer - just 8-)

epoche, Give me sum proof that the most tested athlete­ in history doped and I will never write another­ comment. By the way what new cycling hero's are you­ talking about.

chad -
look, i grant your point. he put american focus­ and money into the sport, which has probably been a­ good thing - though I've seen much debate as to­ whether that helped or hurt the sport. and, like you­ say, the sport has been around fro 100 years, so it­ would go on without him just fine.

but if (and­ it's an IF, here) he brought the focus and money­ and interest into the sport by breaking the 5-win­ barrier while doped, he did much more damage to the­ sport than can be made up for. 7 wins likely won't­ be touched again, after all. and his coming back to­ prove something or for publicity doesn't change­ anything.

i'm not a lance hater - i just think the­ sport needed to move on and build on what he helped­ create. his return actually hurts what good he's­ done by not letting the past go. you'll have to­ admit, his presence would be a massive distraction from­ the effort to build new cycling heroes to help carry­ the sport. i want to see what andy schleck turns into,­ not whether lance has still hung on to glory.

if lance­ wants to raise cancer awareness, there are plenty of­ ways to do it. and can he do more than he'd already­ done? we already all saw the "lance with­ cancer" stories and tv ads. he needs to find new­ and different venues - they are out there, and­ they'll cause fewer issues with the sport he helped­ america get hooked on.

I'm tired off people saying that Armstrong did bad­ things to cycling. He did more for cycling in Seven­ years than cyclings previous 100 year history. So try­ to stop for a second think and listen to what you are­ saying and stick to the facts. The Tour generated more­ money in his seven years than probably their previous­ 100. If it's our sport then I say welcome back­ Armstrong what took you so long. Give the American­ credit where credit is due. He has said he is not doing­ it for the money. He is doing it to promote the fight­ against cancer a dreaded disease that affects us all in­ one way or another no matter what country you are from.­ He should be applauded not ridiculed.

rats - i pulled the old "your" instead of­ "you're"

epic fail :(

there's only one reason a 7-time winner comes back­ to race again - to make a point. the only point lance­ would have to make? that he can win clean.
i just­ don't care to see him make that point right now. if­ he was already clean, then awesome - he dominated a­ sport. if he was doped back then, winning now proves­ nothing except that he COULD have done it then too­ instead of helping to break down cycling through drug­ use and is deserving of more scorn than more­ praise.
either way, he doesn't come out ahead.­ he's just managed to get more headlines, stroke his­ ego, shake his finger at his "nay-sayers"­ and, if he does come back to astana, totally ruin a­ team's entire leadership structure and damage the­ future of an exceptionally talented contador (who will­ almost certainly demand to be released i would­ imagine).
i really did have fun watching you, no doubt­ about it. but your done lance, move on. i'm sorry­ you're bored and have nothing else to do, but­ you'll manage.

I hope Armstrong comes back and gives world a lesson­ about nasty rumors about him

Well said Felix, Finally someone with a brain and­ rational to comment on this issue.

Thank you for a positive and thoughtful take on the­ situation. I don't know if the rumor will prove to­ be true, but one publication has confirmed that Vanity­ Fair has an article about Lance in the works, and Pat­ McQuaid of the UCI said he was approached by­ Lance's agent over the summer asking how to get him­ in the biological passport system if he wanted to race­ next year. I don't know when Vanity Fair hits the­ newstands, but if this is true, Lance would probably­ wait until the Vuelta is over to announce, and it's­ the kind of thing he would release on October 2, his­ cancer anniversary. John