Photographs trigger memories and emotions within the human psyche that last a very long time, and remind us of where we were, what we were doing, and how we felt at any given moment of our lives. The above image, although still fresh in the time/space continuum, nonetheless brings back happy times for myself.
It reminds me of Australia, of my friends, as we watched the late-night telecast of Stage 8. It reminds me of the banter between us, with one member of the viewing audience vehemently trying to defend the merits of Armstrong’s challenge for an eighth win. He was systematically taken apart with vigour, backed up by the performance unfolding on the road before us.
Astana was on the front of the peloton, with Tiralongo driving a frantic pace as they hit the base of the climb to Avoriaz. There was a dark figure sitting on his wheel, with a look on his face that said he was already well into the red, but knew that soon his time would come to up the intensity a notch further and put the other teams a little bit deeper into the box of hurt. I wasn’t sure who he was, but he was soon to be a new hero when he buried himself for kilometre after kilometre in service of his team leader. Daniel Navarro was a stud that day, and for the days to follow.
The heat of the day was intense, and I commented on how the riders must just be about cooking themselves, with whatever enhancements were flowing through their veins adding to the risk of their blood boiling and their hearts exploding out of their chest cavities. I was excited beyond belief; it was top-fueled racing, almost like the old days. But this time, it was Armstrong who was feeling the brunt of a dominant team working against him. I was almost screaming at the tv as he struggled to keep the furious pace being dished out at the front. “Go on, bend him over and fuck him, like he’d do to you!” is a pretty close approximation of the words I used. Did I mention I was excited?
When Pharmy crashed the first time, he was done. He chased back on with all his old vigour, but you could see that the effort had taken its toll on his aging legs, and when Astana turned up the heat again, his Tour glory days were fading rapidly in the rear-view mirror. By the time the above scene took place, he was a well-broken man, a shadow of his former self, an empty shell going through the motions, taking his team mates down with him as he threw in the towel like he’d never even contemplated before.
I wonder if, as he stood there in the middle of the road, without any urgency or desire to get back on the bike, that his famous words were swilling inside his head; “Pain is temporary, quitting is forever”.
Adios, Huevo.
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It's a day for rule 5 here for the Melbourne to warrnambool. Used to be the longest one day race in the world but has now been shortened to "only 260kms - head cross winds all day. And it is hailing now with weather forecast to get worse.
He was looking pretty rough during Stage 8, to say the least.
@Dave Harding
I rembemer during the race, that's exactly what I thought.
@ZachOlson
Awesome picture. I think we can all agree the fact that his seatpost says "unity" is one of the most fantastic bits of satire ever gifted this world.
I always thought it was interesting that all the doping allegations before Landis just bounced off him; he issued a press statement or two, scowled a bit, rode a few guys into the ditch, and that was it. But this time around with Landis, every single time - from California to the Tour - every single time someone published something about the investigation, he crashed that day. He might have crashed more than that, but for certain, every single time it came up, he crashed.
Really makes me wonder; was he so distracted by the implications that he was getting involved in crashes he wouldn't otherwise? Seems like this investigation, for reasons only he knows, has struck closer to home than previous ones.
Back to the picture, it was a landmark moment, and one that we wrote about before - as Brett puts it, he quit at that moment, and he'll remember that FOREVER.
The question is, what caused the crash? I'm guessing it was that fucking anime graphiti in the bottom right that others have already pointed out. You know, as in, "What the fuck is that goddamned thing? I think I'll crash now." And then Huevos said, "Oh, I think I'll run into you because I don't feel like steering anymore. Someone else should really be doing that for me."
@frank
Lifted the pic from VeloDramatic.
I think the hands on the hips were more a gesture of "Really, again, you've got to be f**king kidding me." than "How very Dare you knock me off my bike?"
On a related thought, I've also found it interesting that before his 'comeback', whilst he of course split people pretty firmly into hero-worshippers and those who thought him a COTHO, the former outnumbered the latter by a sufficient number to ensure the allegations slipped off him, like oil off a Teflon-coated frying pan.
After the comeback, especially this year as people have tired of him, rather like a frying pan that has been through the dishwasher too many times, that Teflon coating has become pretty flaky.
Which I find interesting, because I've always thought that his comeback was a big mistake for him personally. Had he stayed retired, the allegations would have mostly subsided, former rivals like Landis would have stayed silent and he could have ridden off into the sunset, become the Governer of Texas or whatever ... and his reputation would have largely remained intact, with his detractors reduced to a small minority and even some of them would become misty-eyed in future years remembering epic battles with Ullrich and Pantani.
Yet instead, driven by a desire to reduce global cancer suffering*/blinded by his arrogance* he risked all that for publicity for Livestrong*/personal glory*. It was always going to end like this. A simpleton could see that surely. But perhaps a COTHO couldn't ...
* Delete as appropriate, depending on your perspective.
I can't help but throw out a dissenting opinion here after reading some of your comments.
Whilst I'm no Phamstrong fan, I do have sympathy for his predicament in this last tour. Lets face it, after stage 3 his chance for victory was over. Bad luck, poor positioning, or whatever, his best and only chance to take time out of Clenbutador and AS was over. A possible 3rd place finish was not even in the picture after that. You are kidding yourself if you think otherwise. To say he quit after the fall pictured here is unfair. Whether it was bad luck, self induced, or the lack of an effective doping program this time around, it was simply ridiculous to witness the progression of events that led to that moment. While it was of no particularly special merit, he continued on and even put in a pretty determined effort to win a stage. Lets face it, he is no Jens.
And as for the comeback in general, who here wouldn't want to give it another try? What wouldn't you do to dig into the pain well one more time and attempt to compete at your highest level once more? I can't blame him for that at all, it was now or never. Sure is easy to criticize him from the side of the road, or better yet from your couch. In hindsight I'm sure he wished he stayed in Texas, but he put in the miles so I give him credit regardless of my opinion of his past tactics or the fact that he remains a COTHO.
@ Michael
You may have a point , however any stance with a hand on hip is Teapot and therefore camp lol ;-) .... (For non-uk readers the Teapot stance may get lost in translation, ha)
Guys,
This is the first time I have posted as I think it is time someone stood up for pharmstrong! Pantani was a great rider who doped, which everyone is aware of, so why is it that everyone hates Lance? come on, the guy won the greatest race in the world 7 times in a row, with chemical aid or no chemical aid this has to be the greatest achievment ever in the history of cycling. Ullrich,pantani and all of his peers who have admittedly doped came nowhere near the guy for years but we celebrate their achievments as losers?! come on guys, doper or not he deserves a little more than the title COTHO.
@cwself
Welcome to the mix. Yes, by and large, the community here feels the same, or similar, on the subject of LA. Although there are a few who are in the pro LA camp. To that, we say Allez! No pun intended (is that even a pun, I don't know?)
Typically, the argument goes like this. Yes, Lance won the big race seven times (a great feat but certainly not the greatest in cycling) and in so doing, did it with such mechanization, predictability, and bully-tactics it got old. However, an incredible achievement. But it's not his palmares that are really at issue. Assholes do incredible things sometimes, that still makes them assholes. The problem with Lance is that he takes the entire world to be idiots, believe me, I used to be one of them, a skeptical one, but one none the less.
I don't think there's a member of this community who didn't respect his effort on Stage 3 this year. He rode hard and demonstrated the grinta he's shown in the past, especially when he was a young brash man in one day races. But assholes still do incredible things.
There is plenty of room around here for everyone, as long as they follow The Rules, so state your views. Just expect to get ribbed and borderline disrespected when it comes to COTHO.