If you read the reactions of European riders and journalists to Lance's ret urn, you will see it is mostly negative, and the biggest complaint from the journalists is that when Lance was on top he and Bruynell tightly controll ed access to Armstrong and the team and punished any journalist who dared write anything negative. My own observation of Armstrong over the yea rs was that he was alway categorical and always totally assured that he was right in every way. It is also clear that all the other interests of th e team were subordinated to Lance's victory in the Tour de France and it se emed to me that he expected this as some sort of divine right rather than showing a whole lot of gratitude for it. That is what I mean by In Your Face, i.e. "I'm right and if you don't agree you're a fool". Now gra nted, Merckx and Hinault could be accused of much the same attitude, but th ey are Europeans and therefore the homeboys. They are both also much mor e accomplished riders than a Lance will ever be. This kind of confidence to the point of arrogance seems to be accepted and even admired in Ameri ca - just look at the NBA and NFL, or NASCAR. But in Europe it is often considered rude and antisocial and connected with the most unfavorable ster eotypes of Americans. I personally disliked Armstrong pre-cancer, who IMHO was arrogant, self-important, and harboring a grudge towards society. I think his ordeal made him a better person as well as a better rider, and I cannot help but admire his comeback. But as to the approach to the sport and the way they represented America in Europe, I'd much rather be represented by Greg Lemond or Andy Hamptsen, or even Bob Roll.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
From: Mitch Harris <mitch.harris@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [CR]Lance's In Your Face attitude To: jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, "Nor Meyer" <norbikes@gmail.com> Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 5:38 PM
On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 3:54 PM, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos
<jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Well, Indurain manged it after 5 TdF, and Lemond was at least not arrogan
t
> after 3. Hinault and Anquetil had pretty big egos, but as they were Fren
> ch, the French public was more inclined to tolerate them, and in the case
o
> f Anquetil, he really wasn't that popular, most of the public hoping
for Po
> ulidor to beat him. Merckx has as big an ego as Lance, but was/is more t
> actful in handling the press. Plus, Merckx can more easily be forgiven h
> is pride because his record is at least 10 times as impressive as
Lance's.
> Eddy won 5 Tours and 5 Giros, a Vuelta or two, and every classic worth
> mention, some of them 5 times. Lance's only major victories other
than t
> he TdF were one World Championship and one San Sebastian. Combined wit
> h 7 TdF, that is certainly an enviable record, but I think Lance's
overall
> record wouldn't rank him in the top 10 all time, and probably not even
in t
> he top 20. The American public may believe that the Tour de France is th
> e
> only bike race in the world, but the European fans know better. Lance w
> as perfectly logical and ruthlessly efficient in exploiting America's
fixat
> ion on the TdF to become rich and influential in America. I don't
blame
> him for it, but if he expects to be loved in Europe for his approach, he
ex
> pects too much.
>
Jerry, I still can't figure out what is your criticism is of Lance. Haven't noticed an in-your-face attitude from him myself, either there or here. But maybe you know something I don't, or are more aware of attitude somehow. Haven't ever heard him rank himself among the greats of cycling (outside of the numerical fact of 7 tdf wins) and certainly not in the top ten of all time. Perhaps I missed his claim to Coppiness. And haven't heard him complain of not being loved by Europeans. Maybe he was premature in fretting about getting knocked off by fans, but that's not exactly asking to be loved. It sounds from your description of his ruthlessness in seeking riches and influence, that you in fact do hold it against him, but perhaps I'm misunderstanding you. But I defer to you if it's just a Texas thing, where one Texan has the right to knock down any other Texan who gets too big for his boots, or something like that. That's the case in lots of places.
Mitch Harris (In Ireland they have a saying that which ever head sticks up above the crowd gets cut off) Little Rock Canyon, Utah, USA