mark@gatech.CSNET (Mark Johnson) (08/01/85)
I want to make a few comments about the Tour de France and the RAAM.
1. Greg Lemond could have won the TdF but I don't think we should feel
too sorry for him. He is a big boy and he knew what he was getting into
when he signed with La Vie Claire. He did finish second in his second
Tour after all.
2. There is no way Hinault will ride for Lemond next year. He has
no reason to do so. I don't even think he will ride the tour at
all. If he does ride the tour I believe it will be because he wants
to be the only man to win six TdFs. Lemond's career will definitely
benefit from this tour. Hinault will gain nothing by helping Lemond.
He has won five already. Why should he lower himself to work for anyone?
I predict that Hinault will break the 1 hour record before he retires
and that he will retire within two years.
3. Hinault did NOT "give" the last time trial stage to Lemond. He might
be able to give away a road stage but NOT a time trial. Backing off
could have very easily given the whole Tour to Roche who has generally
been a better time trial rider than Lemond.
RAAM
I don't believe that Jonathon Boyer's win proves the superiority of
"real" racers over the ultramarathon specialists at all. He only won by
70 miles which is about 3-3.5 hours in a race that lasts 218. That's
a 1.6% margin. All Boyer did was prove that he can go without sleep as
well as the others.
The women impressed me more. I haven't seen final results, but if they
maintained their earlier pace the winner should have been well under 10 days.
--
Mark Johnson
(404) 894-2746 (404) 894-3152
CSNet: Mark @ GATech
ARPA: Mark%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-sally}!gatech!mark