Pete - Everything you say is personal opinion and yet­ you talk like its fact. I couldn't give a monkeys­ whether people outside of cycling know about tour of­ flanders. Oh and the other thing is you don't­ need to finish every sentence with an exclaimation­ mark.

pete: "Alberto­ EPO" ..and LA is?
i used to­ love LA because i followed cycling 3 weeks in July and­ i thought the world spins around LA but when I started­ to enjoy cycling from the Tour of Quatar to the­ Worlds.. i lost my respect for LA as a cyclist .. one­ race a year brings you publicity lots of it but that­ doesn't mean you are the best ever..you're just­ pupular
P.S: IN MY OPINION!!!

James, Robin & Kiddy - fantastic ! thanks for the­ laughs. I dunno where to start so I will just waffle.­ I watch Eurosport all the time, I hardly ever here­ them mention LA although I agree Harmon is lazy and­ gets his facts wrong. Ref the Giro being a great race­ - no its not anymore ! its a bastion for dopers ! ­ Scarponi, Ricco, Di Luca and all the random Italian­ riders who seem to win big stages and come from an­ unknown Italian team. I watched the race last year­ and the coverage of LA was good as he is a superstar ! ­ People who are not even cyclists walk up french­ mountains in July to get a look at him. Kiddy, yep LA­ will get gubbed by Alberto EPO at the criterium­ international - BECAUSE ITS MARCH/APRIL ! LA will get­ into peak form for the race in July that everyone in­ the world knows, that all tv stations cover, that all­ magazines cover. I love the tour of flanders but­ nobody outside of the cycling world will know who has­ won it. If LA rides it this year and falls off and­ breaks a finger it will get more coverage than the­ winner gets. JUSTIN- By 'real cycling I mean­ riding the marmotte, Etape, and loads of other alpine­ & pyrennees cols as well as the dragon ride and­ other sportives, I don't race because i am crap and­ don't fancy riding with loads of fat blokes around­ disused airfields.

oh happy days

Good point Thomas

I think it's a good thing Uniballer got a mention­ here, actually.

The Shack can't be bothered­ sending even a token team to the second biggest race of­ the season, while teams that actually care about the­ sport can't get a Protour licence because the devil­ team bought their way in.

That kind of behaviour from­ a supposed champion of the sport should be reported. ­ And scorned.

I thought the main heading of this article was about­ Ricco's missing the Giro (with a picture of him)..­ then they mentioned that Carmiooro-Ngc and Isd Neri­ teams were also missing it... then LA's Radioshack­ team.. It seems to me that some who dislike LA seem to­ the ones making a big deal of it.

Why shouldn't­ they mention it anyway.. he rode the Giro last year, he­ is one of the most famous cyclists that has ever lived­ .. Turst me I am no LA fan.. but come on people­ aren't we just getting a little bit too picky­ here??

This article is about the Giro non-entrants and­ primarilly Ricco (very glad he's not in it by the­ way). I think to be fair to Eurosport mentioning that­ Radioshack aren't entering is relevant. I agree­ that for me personally its not a major deal that­ they're not in the Giro but they are a new high­ profile Pro Tour team so I think it would be worse­ journalism on the part of Eurosport if they hadn't­ of mentioned it at all just because some people have­ had Armstrong overload. Ironically most of the­ Armstrong mentions on this particular web page are in­ the forum below from people fed up hearing about him! ­ All the while the man stokes up this sort of angst­ among people I imagine all the media will carry on­ mentioning him all the more.

Lance has some great accomplishments. He was a great­ rider; is he still? Well third on the podium in Paris­ was not too bad.
I won't go so far to say he was­ the greatest cyclist ever, but as the TDF champion­ it's difficult to argue.
It's just really a­ pity that the media focuses so much attention on him­ that it really polarizes fans.
Personally, that is why­ I don't like Lewis Hamilton. It's not that­ he's a bad driver, I just don't like his name­ crammed in my ears every 30-seconds.
I often find I­ watch sports that I am truly a fan of in a different­ language, or with the volume down. Although I admit, I­ really like to hear Kelly's comments.

Oh here we go again - Lance concentrating on just 1­ race a year - Hasn't got the balls to do anything­ else - He's not a real man compared to the other­ cyclists who are cycling constantly

No ISD-Neri? No Rujano then, he should never have left­ Savio's team. Oh, and Pete, what does

'leave­ the proper cycling to the 7 times TDF winner Lance­ Armstrongs fans.' mean exactly? Do you perhaps ­ mean 'proper cycling forum writing'?

My point wasn't really anti Lance - although­ I'm not a fan. It was more that the Giro is a­ great race that with or without Radio Shack will still­ be a great race. I felt the race was harmed to some­ extent by the constant focus on LA last year. ­

Incidentally I also felt that the Tour during­ "his" retirement was better for not having a­ single point of focus.

By the way - I've never­ indulged in time trialing on dual carriage ways. My­ favourite race is Tour of Flanders.

Same old same old. Eurosport, who clearly have no­ real interest in cycling (except for Saddles),­ can't help themselves and in a typical display of­ lazy journalism have to include 7TTdFWLA (a­ serial-number that I shall now use to describe the­ great man!) in every single article, even if it­ doesn't have anything to do with him, as is the­ case here. Then of course the cycling fans like to­ poke fun at this Lance-loving simplistic approach, and­ then of course the Lance-lovers take it personally and­ get quite personal in return, even though they've­ missed the point.

Pete mate, we're not making fun­ of Lance, I personally am a fan (of his achievements if­ not necessarily the man himself) and while there are­ some legitimate grumbles about his status as­ 'greatest star our sport has ever had' given­ that he only ever focused on three Gallic weeks in­ July, for anyone to return from cancer to do what he­ has done is quite extraordinary and I salute that, as­ do many cyclists. What we're doing is poking fun­ at the lazy Eurosport hacks who think cycling revolves­ around 7TTdFWLA and that a story isn't worth­ anyone's time if it doesn't mention him­ somewhere.

The point is that these people don't­ seem to see cycling the way cyclists do, and I would­ also say that that includes you, as your derogatory­ comments about grass-roots amateur cycling clearly­ suggest that you are not much of a fan of cycling as a­ sport, and as such I suggest you take your opinions­ elsewhere.

Nice to know that Pete will be rooting for "7­ times winner of the TDF" Lance Armstrong this­ season. He & all the other "proper Cycling­ fans" will be able to watch his hero getting­ gubbed, in the Criterium International's 1st stage,­ by one of the 5 true greats to have won all three Grand­ Tours.

Having just spanked other challengers to him,­ in this years Paris-Nice. I'll hazzard a guess El­ Pistolero'll throw the gauntlet down, to another of­ his contemporaries, & he will be found wanting.

tattogimp & robin: Don't worry about your­ viewing on eurosport being ruined - they hardly ever­ mention seven times winner Lance Armstrong, don't­ know why as he's won the TDF 7 times. In­ football they go on about David Beckham endlessly yet­ he's done f*** all for years, in F1 Michael­ Schumacher same story, I have been to the last 5­ TDF's and I can say 100% that last year there was­ more people lining the route because of - you've­ guessed it 7 time TDF winner Lance Armstrong and they­ were not all yanks. Good old Robin, you can correctly­ 'assume' that ASO will invite Radioshack - cos­ Lance Armstrong came 3rd last year and doubles media­ and tv coverage - AND he has won the TDF 7 times - 7­ times !

He is the greatest star our sport has ever had­ and brings people to it in droves ! Now get back to­ your time trialling down dual carriageways and leave­ the proper cycling to the 7 times TDF winner Lance­ Armstrongs fans.

in the same time is the tour of california ,and radio­ shack will be there with his stars , its stupid­ decision to put california in front of the giro

Even though Seven Times Tour de France winner Lance­ Armstrong isn't going to be racing in the Giro we­ can be sure that our enjoyment of the race will be­ ruined because Eurosport will take every opportunity to­ mention Seven Times Tour de France Winner Lance­ Armstrong and his Team because as we all know Seven­ Times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong is the only­ Cyclist in the World and every other Pro Tour rider,­ compared to Seven Times Tour de France winner Lance­ Armstrong, are just blokes who can't breath with­ out Seven Times Tour de France winner Lance­ Armstrong's say so.

I for one wont miss him - and­ am dreading the coverage of the Giro 'cos with out­ Seven Times Tour de France winner being there then they­ wont have anything else to talk about

The Giro won't miss Radio Shack - just a pity (I­ assume) the ASO have invited them to the Tour.