1999 Tour de France Stage 9 Sestrières
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HavGf-xTS_4[/youtube]
Racing starts @17:05. Prior to that, there are some interviews with Lance and Kristin Armstrong (she was his wife at the time) about cancer. Maybe you hadn’t heard he had cancer?
Also of note in this video, Paul Sherwin drops the oft repeated, but never verified, line about how Armstrong was twenty pounds lighter post-cancer @21:50. The implication being his power output remained constant, and the weight loss is what made him a Tour contender. That implication is wrong.
You cast yourself back to 2005, and I’m very acutely aware of this, there was a wall that came up against me immediately as I was trying to interpret the background data on Armstrong. There virtually was none. Before the Ed Coyle paper no one really knew for sure anything about Armstrong. Not his VO2Max, not his power output, we didn’t even know how much he weighed. All you could rely on was very loose, for example in the article that was published after his first test session in Coyle’s lab when the photographs were taken, they report him as being 77, 78 kilos. You contrast that with the data in Coyle’s paper, and he shows that the lowest body weight was 75 kilos in ’93, but in November after his first Tour victory, it was 79 kilos.
. . . It all comes back to this mystery. It’s power to body weight that determines your performance, particularly in mountain stages. It’s all power to weight ratio. If people know how much you weigh, they can then extrapolate back from your times and your speed, and get a pretty good approximation of what your power output must be. And once you know the power output and the body weight, then you can get a pretty good guess at what the VO2’s were like. And when you start plugging some of those figures back in, you see that during some of his performances at the Tour, his VO2 must’ve been through the roof.
www.nyvelocity.com…michael-ashenden (links shortened hereinafter); accord www.sportsscientists.com/…coyle-and-armstrong-research-errors. The study referenced is Edward F. Coyle, Improved muscular efficiency displayed as Tour de France champion matures, Journal of Applied Physiology, March 2005, 98:2191-96, www.edb.utexas.edu/coyle…pdf.
Short version for those who can’t waste the time at work with a half hour video below. TL;DR – Armstrong lit the race on fire and absolutely stormed up the climb to Sestrière.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiCIJ2JewPE[/youtube]
So, why is this important? Ask Tyler Hamilton. He was there. Ask him what he remembers about the 1999 Tour de France.
Everybody knew the key stages were 8 and 9: a 56-kilometer time trial in Metz, followed by a rest day, then the queen stage – a wicked triple-header of climbs of the Télégraphe, Galibier, and a mountaintop finish in the Italian ski village of Sestrière. As we rolled toward the showdown, the media used the week to whip up the plotlines, most of which revolved around a couple of questions: Was the peloton truly clean? Would Lance, who’d never been great on the long European climbs (his only Tour finish in four attempts was 36th), be able to climb with the rest of the contenders?
A couple of days before, we got prepared. We used the secret phone to calls Philippe, who zipped through the crowds and made his delivery. Since we wanted to keep the EPO out of our hotel, we usually did the shots in the camper. It worked like this: we’d finish a stage, and go straight into the camper for cleanup, get a drink, and change clothes. The syringes would be waiting for us, sometimes tucked inside out sneakers, in our race bags.
The sight of the syringes always made my heart jump. You’d want to inject it right away – get it in you and then get rid of the evidence. Sometimes del Moral would give the shot, sometimes we’d do it ourselves, whatever was fastest. And we were fast – it took thirty seconds at most. You didn’t have to be precise: arm, belly, anywhere would do. We got into the habit of putting out used syringes in an empty Coke can. The syringes fit neatly through the opening – plonk, plonk, plonk – you could hear the needles rattle. And we treated that Coke can with respect. It was the Radioactive Coke Can, the one that could end out Tour, ruin the team, and our careers, maybe land us in a French jail. Once the syringes were inside, we’d crush it, dent it, make it look like trash. Then del Moral would tuck the Coke can at the bottom of his backpack, put on aviator sunglasses, open that flimsy caper door, and walk into the crowd of fans, journalists, Tour officials, even police, who were packed around the bus. They were all watching for Lance. Nobody saw the anonymous guy with the backpack, who walked quietly through them, invisible.
In the stage 8 time trial Lance did well, winning over Zulle by nearly a minute (I didn’t do too badly, finishing fifth). But it was stage 9 that everybody was waiting for – the climb to Sestrière. The first big climb of the Tour is a coming-out party, the moment the race really begins. Everybody’s watching because this is when the Tour contenders finally show their cards.
The morning was cold and rainy. The early part of the race brought lots of attacks; everybody was trying to prove himself. Frankie did a magnificent job as road captain, watching the potential breakaways like a hawk, making sure we didn’t let any contenders get away. We protected Lance as long as we could, then fell back, leaving him with an elite group of contenders. A few long-shot guys broke away; then Escartín and Gotti, who were thought of as the best climbers, took off after them. The script of the race looked clear: Lance had done well, but now it was time for the real climbers to take over. Escartín or Gotti would most likely win.
Then, with about eight kilometers left, something unexpected happened: Lance attacked, rode down Escartín and Gotti, and soloed away to take the stage win. I knew Lance was going well; I could hear the roar ahead of me on the road, and I could hear Johan and Thom Weisel shouting jubilantly over the team radio. But it wasn’t until that night, when I saw the highlights on television, that I realized how strong Lance had been.
“Armstrong has just ridden across like they were standing still!” commentator Paul Sherwin shouted. Lance’s attack on Escartín and Gotti was even more impressive because of the way he did it – not standing, as most attackers do, but sitting down. His cadence barely changed. He just kept riding, churning that gear, and the other riders fell away. I knew how strong Lance was – we’d trained next to each other, day after day. But this got my attention, just like it got everyone else’s. This was a new Lance, one I hadn’t seen before. He was on a different level.
Tyler Hamilton & Daniel Coyle, The Secret Race 91-93 Bantam (2012).
Meet the new Lance – same as the old Lance.
You all will NEVER agree on what the “truth” is.
Lance Armstrong’s head on a pike is no more “true” than him curing testicular cancer single-balledly. The arguments can only be weighed on their rational merits, and both are weak. There is no Truth [sic] here. We live in relative times, friends and neighbors, and it will only get worse.
Shit Mikey,
Seems like a binary concept to me.
There’s nothing ambiguous about the “truth”.
It really happened or it didn’t, I doped or I didn’t dope, shades of grey don’t come into it!
Maybe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM
Yes,
I really want that arrogant, bullying, arsehole’s head on a Pike! I want to see him dragged through the streets & then drawn & quartered in the village square, I want to see the remains thrown out to the ravens to peck over, I want to hear the wailing of his loved ones while I dance on his grave, I want to see the whole myth revealed….
Other than that I don’t really care…
“…the song remains the same…”…
And I like cake.
@T3
Unless it’s Turtle cake & then shame on you!
Awesome vid, Cap’n Tony
…mikey, what i don’t understand about your attitude is that it seemingly shows a total disregard for armstrong’s attacks, threats, belittling & vilification of those who worked closely w/ him & yet felt strong enough to speak against him…
…you admit he doped, well everything i just mentioned is documented, over & over by literally everyone who spoke a word about what they saw in his presence or heard from armstrong himself…or is that simple hearsay ???…
…therein lies my strongest objection to one mr lance armstrong…
…can you simply dismiss that kind of egregious behavior on armstrong’s part with no scrutiny ???…
…lance was the star, he had the money & the lawyers & perhaps most importantly he had the relationship w/ bruyneel…everyone else was simply a paid employee…
…i don’t see how that gives he or anyone the right act underhandedly to ex-employees in order to maintain a saint-like appearance for his foundation or self image…
…keep the wins, lance but pay for your real fraud…
@Hurben
What the fuck is a Turtle cake ???
Cake is cake. It’s all good. Makes your ass fat but it’s all good.
And this conversation is retarded.
Every pro athlete on the planet dopes.
Pull yer heads out of yer asses and get over it and go eat cake.
” The residual effect of Armstrong’s success, augments my paycheck, bitches. quit your crying about the unfair world. It’s unfair because you buy into it.”
So fucking confused, you probably spend your days of at occupy protests, but the first extra dime you make your principles go right out the window.
“Nobody saw the anonymous guy with the backpack, who walked quietly through them, indivisible.”…with Liberty, and Justice for ALL!
“Yes, I really want that arrogant, bullying, arsehole’s head on a Pike!”
@Hurben #52— This is a purely emotional argument. You’re tearing down the sport for no good reason, dude.
“…can you simply dismiss that kind of egregious behavior on armstrong’s part with no scrutiny ???…”
@BGW #55— yet again, a purely emotional argument. You can’t tear down Lance Armstrong while praising other dopers because they aren’t “egregious.” This is a hypocritical position to hold.
…mikey……at this point in time, i don’t give a shit about the doping by any of ’em in the past…got that ???…clear & concise…i do not give a shit about the doping from the past because it is clear that it was endemic of the sport at the time…
…they were all frauds in that regard & yes, the racing was exciting but surreal…
…as a side note, they can all keep their palmares from the era, although the record books should make mention of the fact that it was an era of enhancement…the sport is not torn down…it simply has an addendum, okay ???…
…what bothers me, in the bluntest of terms, is that lance armstrong shits on the lives of anyone, no matter how knowledgeable, who has the temerity to stand up & cast aspersions of fraud on one lance armstrong…
…teammates & colleagues are able to stand up & say “we were frauds & he was one of us…”…
…lance armstrong not only denies the truth but uses his resources to shit on the lives of those people & being the star of his day, he had/has greater resources & he’s been constantly using those resources, ie: lawyers, publicity, etc to shit on people who knew the truth & voiced it…
…so, emotional reaction on my part ???…goddamn right !!!…because i DO love the sport…
…but it’s lance armstrong who’s tearing apart the sport he professes to love, not guys like me…
…lance armstrong’s constant denials are what are holding the sport from moving on, not guys like me…
Mikey, the sport is not being torn down. Lance Armstrong is not the sport, except to Americans trained for a Pavlovian response to the ramblings to Paul and Phil.
Italy is by far a bigger nation for cycling and the Italian cycling world was not “torn down” when Pantani was popped, nor was Spanish cycling brought to its knees when their great champion Contador was fetched up. Even in France people still ride bikes and wear stretchy pants after the Festina affair.
Other guys from that era have gotten busted, why should LA skate free? if it was a super charged era then let him accept his position as a champion of the superchargers, not as a bread and water martyr.
Witness testimony is not hearsay, it is evidence. if you don’t like the people giving testimony then that is fine. but that does not make their testimony hearsay. That either makes either you biased and wrong, or them perjurers, depending on if their testimony is factual. what do you think is more likely, you to be biased or them to commit perjury and risk jail time over bike races in the past?
for the general public it matters little. hell Shaq used to get cortisone shots at half time and the announcers applauded his return in the second half of NBA games. nothing is getting torn down except a few people’s egos.
This planet needs more cake.
@Barry #63— you make several relevant points, brother. To wit:
1) Did you notice how young Mr. Contador rode away from the field and bagged the Vuelta a España just one month after serving out his doping ban? I can’t say I feel all that good about that, can you?
2) LA should “skate free” because HE NEVER FAILED A DOPING CONTROL. That’s how the game is played, and he fucking crushed it. It’s history.
3) Yes, Big Jonny has quite capably pointed out that by corroborating hearsay under oath, a litigation can succeed. This does not necessarily correlate to Truth or Justice [sic], nor is it necessarily the best thing for the sport. My opinion is that it’s a waste of time.
bikesgonewild gets it. he wants his cake to look and taste good.
Interesting thing about Armstrong is that as tough and capable as he is, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to share a foxhole with him. The dude’s self-preservation instinct is off the charts.
@ matt mccluskey: Good catch. Thanks. I am fairly horrible at typing things out, banging out three pages from Hamilton’s book being no exception. Word probably corrected what my sausage fingers were banging away to what the software thought I likely meant. That doesn’t really explain why I can’t proof read to save my life. Go figure.
…“mikey, thanks for the constant support, i’ve always tried so hard to do whats right but people are just so harsh in their rush to judgement…”,
–signed–
lance armstrong…
…(aside)…“fuck me, do you believe this guy, college…he’s priceless…if he was a lawyer, i’d hire him in a fucking new york minute…’against all odds’, right ???…holy shit”…
@Mikey,
Mate, there’s nothing shameful about just saying ‘Fuck it’ & walking away, you’ve been here long enough to be considered to be one of the Elders. (glad that I’m not that old ).
Emotional response? FUCK YEAH! it’s what proves that you are alive.
AJ Hackett, the person who commercialized the Bungy jump said that you should scare yourself everyday for the same reason, (Kiwi by the way).
I really don’t care about doping, I care about arrogant, bullying, lying arseholes who feel nothing about destroying peoples lives to continue their myth.
Can’t wait to get my copy of THs book, sounds juicy (pun intended). I’ve been wanting to hear all these gory and glory details. Don’t ruin it for me BJ – kidding. The last and richest liar is getting spanked and everyone is coming out of the closet; this is just an awesome continuation of some super entertaining racing. What more can we ask for?
@65 Mikey
1. Re Contador- that whole situation was a farce. Suppressed positive until a German reporter got hold of the story, to all the shenanigans that followed. I hope they ding him again so the real punishment kicks in, despite the fact he animates a race like no other these days and it sure is fun to watch.
2. not failing a test is part of it. But, Ullrich never failed a test and was sanctioned. Millar as well, and the list could go on.
3. I agree strongly on point three that the last things most legal processes in the US are set up for is truth and justice. However, no one plays that game with the right hired guns better than LA, so it seems to be fair shakes in this regard.
And most importantly, this is not history. Armstrong was getting horny to compete in triathlons with the big boys and the rest of the needle squad still are active in the sport. Ask Pozzato.
on the flipside it is CX season, so my performance enhancers come in the form of 12 ounce hand-ups!
David Millar is a whiny little bitch. Fuck Lance,even after he pushed Beloki over and rallyed through the off-piste, and #71 AA has got it- this is entertainment!
I don’t really care what happens officially. Lance was an angry supercharger, but he’s no Merckx. Mostly, I don’t like him because he was the usher for the new style road racer and that stole so much pageantry and romance from the sport. Training to win certain “key” stages. Fuck, man- duke it out. Let’s see more heart and less science.
Which leads me back to Millar being a whiny pussy.
…“…another one bites the dust…”…
… http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12858/Tour-of-Turkey-winner-Gabrovski-faces-disqualification-with-B-sample-also-positive-for-EPO.aspx …
…popped back in july but his b-sample has now just been confirmed & his denial to any speculation about enhancement had the usual ring…hard work & training, focus & determination…
…Presidential Tour of Turkey winner , Ivailo Gabrovski denied any suggestions that his dominance of the race was suspect.
…“This (win) is not a surprise. This is a lot of work…not only this year or last year. I’ve been for more than 15 years a professional rider,” he insisted in a video interview, which can be seen here.
…”I started with the road bicycle at eight years of age and all my life, I do the same thing. I ride my bike. I have no life like other guys and girls, I only have the bike. This is all I have.
…”So cycling is my life. What happens here now is a lot of work and a lot of mind that I put in this race. Also, lots of wish, lots of courage to win the race. Luck too. You always need luck…”…
…yep…all that & a little enhancement…
…it’s nearing the end of the 2012 racing season & guys are still getting popped for epo & still denying it…
…if anybody is tearing apart this sport, it’s these guys themselves, not a few of us pointing fingers at improprieties…
…on the other hand, most of the world doesn’t seem to give a fuck any more because the sport lost it’s credibility years ago & yet we still play semantic games about technicalities…
“most of the world doesn’t seem to give a fuck any more because the sport lost [its] credibility years ago & yet we still play semantic games about technicalities…”
Bingo. What’s the point in re-writing history? All it serves to do is further alienate an apathetic audience.
On the plus (?) side, dopers today are way better at it than they were in 1999. Micro-titrating, flushing and masking are where the money’s at. This is probably less harmful to the athletes.
Hm, I wonder… who might we champion as the leader, the innovator, the biggest and most successful ground-breaker in this ethereal art? Maybe some guy who gamed the system and racked up one of the greatest all-time win records? Hm… who would that be…?
…mikey…i’ve been saying don’t rewrite the record books or history but the blanks need to be filled in…
…it’s armstrong’s behavior towards those in the know that i object to & the fact that he lied & cheated his way into the hearts & minds of the cycling & cancer communities to make his point…
…if he stood up, made his admissions, just like other riders, i’d personally have little to object to about the era…
BGW +1. Who gives a f___ about whether he keeps his 7 titles. The point is the guy the guy has no qualms about shitting on his supposed friends and teammates (Andreu, Hamilton, Landis,etc.) to protect his own ass and that is WEAK.
As for the level playing field theory, Armstrong’s results in the TDF early in his career gave zero indication that he might be a contender to win it one day. Take a look at Armstong’s first three tours vs. LeMond’s. Seems like Armstrong could’ve been a helluva a classics guy.
i do hope that despite our distracting passions vis a vis the armstrong problem, we also have managed to mail some donations to the Himalayan Children’s Care Home.
I remember before that infamous stage 17 in 2006, Floyd saying something like “go have a coke”…. so that’s what he was referring too…
May have gone unnoticed, but Leadville let Lance race in Crusty Butt the other day in the Alpine 100K qualifier. And had the nerve to give him the Number 7 number plate.
Time to really step up that “social media” pressure on the organizers. Let’s not let this goon ruin that great race and let’s get Dave his ’09 LT100 Ore cart.
Ken’s a douche now, wasn’t in the past. Thankfully, he’s just a figure head now since Lifetime now owns it.
Race Radio twitter had the guts to call the spade!
…lancey pants gets to race in ANY non-usacycling sanctioned, non-wada (this one is key as regards tri’s & marathons), non-uci race he wants…it up to the promoters if he gets in & let’s face it, he’s basically still a star draw for most races…
…he’s not simply an athlete, he’s a celebutard…
I read T Hamilton’s book over the wkend; lots of juicy stories. No way in hell TH made all that shit up and got a mainstream co-author to play along. Really telling tale of what those boys go through. And yes, Lance sucks poo poo!
…yep…tylers book is a serious read & while it’s fascinating in one sense, it’s also pretty much what i envisioned…
…years ago, right here on dc, i accused our pro cycling heroes of living lives not much beyond being glorified junkies & this book pretty much bears that out…
…needles, pills, subterfuge, paranoia, it’s all there…
…btw – i wonder if lance’ll let me crash at his dump during the u.s. f1 grand prix in austin, tx come november…
…i know we’re not buddies or anything but, hey, we’re both cycling & f1 enthusiasts, so that should count for something, right ???…i’ll buy the beer…
…this came from frankie andreu‘s lips to god’s ear, or anybody who cares to hear the truth from somebody who knows – “Lance fights everything so I’m surprised he chose not to fight the (usada) charges. His press release sounds like a broken record repeating the same lines we have already heard hundreds of times from him. Usada has shown some true grit by not backing down from a popular and wealthy athlete – showing that clean sport is a right for every athlete. If Lance really wants to help his foundation and help people with cancer, he should admit to the past, apologize and move forward with a clear conscience.“…
…ya…that’s what i say…
These people that say they were all doping so it was fair and the best rider won is not true.
two points:
What about the guys like Scott Mercier who chose not to dope and quit.
There were riders who had much better natural hematocrit and and VO2 than the winners, even if they doped or not, so their natural gifts were neutralized by doping.
So without dope things would be much different, maybe Andy Hampsten would have won a Grand Tour instead of retiring.
…actually, toeman, hampsten DID win the ’88 giro d’italia but your point is taken…
…in a non-doping scenario, the very classy andrew hampsten may have had a better list of palmares that could have included a number of grand tour wins…he was exceedingly good but not about to get caught up in the drug life…
…& you’re right about the playing field not being leveled with drugs…numerous scientific types have been pointing out recently that everyone’s body responds differently to drug stimulation due to their personal chemical makeup…
Thanks fot the catch, I should proof read these things I menant another Grand Tour.