The Lexicon: A Retraction
The recent headlines being made in the cycling world have honestly not garnered a whole lot of attention at V-HQ, at least where a certain COTHO is concerned. Yes, The Keepers have added to the usual discussions on the topic here, read the news, and given it some thought. But we really don’t feel the need to take any sort of official position, recap the whole sordid mess, or offer up any ideas on how to move forward. Just as you all contribute positively to this place in ways we couldn’t possibly have envisioned when we started, the cycling community as a whole will contribute positively to our sport as we grow through this. COTHOS, governing bodies, PED’s, and corruption be damned. We’re here to live La Vie Velominatus.
That being said, we feel the need to retract LeMelvis from the Lexicon as a result of this whole mess. Perhaps the COTHO’s reach into public opinion went far enough to cloud our judgement of the greatest American cyclist and only American winner of the Tour. It went far enough that we thought it was okay, if not funny, to besmirch his more recent public image. We were wrong and for that we are sorry. Where has LeMond been in the recent tumult? Quiet, letting things speak for themselves. That’s class. The same class he showed when he turned up in Europe as a neo-pro to race with the best as a virtually solitary American. The same class he showed winning three Tours. The same class he showed in the above picture. Vive La Vie, Greg. You’re the man.
As point of clarification, Greg LeMan has maintained its honorary place in the Lexi. We might even put it in bold now.
@Chris
Must say I needed to Google Mr Mills – sounds like he was just another daft Pommie TT rider. I would say Our Hubert Opperman would have him covered.
My cheeky post (designed to stir our American friends who in their cute way just feel the need to be positive about something when so much negative shit is flying around) did hold a grain or two of truth. Anderson led the charge of the English speakers in the modern era and pushed with things like SIS gearing, cycling glasses (specifically the company beginning with O and formerly associated with COTHO) and improved pay – all of which LeMond also advanced just as much if not more.
@frank
LeMondrian — Greg LeMond battles Bernard Hinault under LOOK Cycle Team
LOOK proposes the first carbon frame (with TVT tubes), the KG 86. It is completely handmade and combines Kevlar with carbon for increased rigidity. The frame brought luck to Greg Lemond, winner of the 1986 Tour de France.
@Marcus
That chip on your shoulder is showing. You really think he “paved” the road for LeMond given he started exactly ONE year before him and then got round to the business of always being a worse cyclist?
@mxlmax
Class.
Pieter Cornelis “Piet” Mondriaan, 1872 – 1944, was a Dutch painter
@frank That’s a photo — a keeper.
@Marcus
You Aussies are so cute. I think your height is proving a disadvantage for you; there must be too much atmosphere there near the ground where you live and breathe.
Phil lead the charge?
Then what was Tommy Simpson doing? Barry Hoban? Paul Sherwin? Sean Kelly? Jonathan Boyer?
Phil was early and an innovator for sure (thanks for the STI, mate) but far from being the first. And I don’t think he lead LeMond on the Oakleys – seems they were in that one together.
I’m shocked you didn’t cite the first English Speakers as being your two country mates who competed in the 1914 Tour. Those guys were pioneers.
@frank arent you Dutch?
There were more than two Australians touring France(and Belgium) in 1914. We fucking led the way there for you too..
@Marcus Oh I say, Top hole that one sir!
@Marcus Hahaha! Awesome ownage!
@Oli except we didnt really get to France until about 1916 or so (shhh). Fucking British put us on the wrong fucking beach in Turkey in 1915.
Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story, Frank wouldn’t!
@Marcus
What, did it really take that long to restore the convict ships?
@freddy
Ha, I did a wee search for the cycling texts I could get via the VMH’s uni library card. This is one of the few that came up. It’s kind of a beginner’s guide to cycling, but the intro and a lot of his tips are totally awesome.
I kind of like(d) to eat late and go to be feeling full. He pointed out that eating late makes the body work overtime when sleeping to digest. I liked that. And, it cured me of eating late!
LeMAN!
@Nate Google Gallipoli – and it is about the only thing you can’t joke about in Australia & NZ. Not Winston Churchill’s greatest moment.
As for convicts, one of my ancestors was one, so yep, I am in the club!
@Marcus
I know (something) about Gallopoli, ANZAC day etc. — either way you were in that fight long before us Yanks.
Um, Canuckia was bailing out the French and Dutchies in 1914. Our bad beaches came at Dieppe in WWII.
@Marcus
And it took you until 2011 to win it? Congrats, it only took you 97 years to figure out how to close the deal!
For the record, it took the Americans 5 years between first participation (Boyer) and winning it. So that’s nearly two orders of magnitude faster.
Unfortunately, that debut was with a child mollester, so there’s that.
@frank regardless of our mutual stupidity, I think I shall honor your new love by buying a LeMond Revolution in the very near future.
Does this mean you have ceased your Dirty Schleck Love?
It seems we are back to referencing war with the Gallipoli and 1913-1916 time references. It’s all good bike-race wise. As a Soldier, I can say that those were some dark days indeed. We yanks weren’t directly involved, but god damned those were some bloody periods in that timeframe.
So Indurain comes out and says Lance did nuffin wrong
“Even now I believe in his innocence. He has always respected all the regulations … He has won all the cases he’s had,” said Indurain, who won the Tour de France five times consecutively in 1991-1995.
And Valverde
“The Tours were won with his legs, his body and let no one believe that he did not suffer for his success,” Valverde told Marca.
What the fuck is going on in Spain? Too much wine?
Must say David Millar is impressing the hell out of me, should he be struck from the COTHO list? And Indurain in.
Here’s the link
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/more-sport/cycling-great-miguel-indurain-believes-lance-armstrong-is-innocent-as-another-ex-teammate-admits-doping/story-e6frfglf-1226501929587
And
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/valverde-voices-support-for-lance-armstrong
@Daccordi Rider
RE: Indurain is Old Corps. It’s the old Corps talking brother. Valverede? Hmmm. Not sure. Is he that old? Good point though. Spanish riders coming out for Armstong? Smells bad.
@niksch Even Aunty Phil has bagged him. Smells worse than my knicks after an 8hr ride and too many protein bars.
@Daccordi Rider @niksch no real surprise, the Spanish don’t exactly have an amazing track record when it comes to being against doping in sport. Wasn’t it something like only a quarter of the athletes on Funtes’ lists were actually cyclists?
Brings in to question the ability of certain Spanish football teams that seem to be able to play a much more pressing, energy intensive style of football for much longer periods of time than any other team on the planet…
@Mikael Liddy \
I don’t follow European Football closely enough, but I do understand your position.
@ Daccordi Rider
Well, at one person agrees with me tonight. Maybe I can claw my way out of the doghouse after Saturday.
@Marcus
That’s a classic case of Aussie revisionist history. Your Oppy wasn’t even a born when Mills won the first Bordeaux Paris. The Brits took the first four spots. He also sounds like a classic case of Aussies not asking too many questions at passport control of anyone with sporting talent.
As for stirring the Americans, carry on.
@Daccordi Rider
+1 for that. We all have our flaws, Millar included. It’s the human condition. And I enjoy the irreverence of this site as much as the reverence. But given what the guy has done, facing up to his past, working actively to clean up the sport and continuing to race and win clean including a truly great breakaway stage win in this year’s Tour, to include Millar in the same breath as Pharmstrong as a COTHO is asinine. Or in plain English, fucking ridiculous.
Hear, hear!
@Daccordi Rider, @ken, @Oli +1. He might not have had the greatest year on the bike, his stage win apart, but he’s got to be a contender for an off the bike V-Award for being the voice of reason when a lot of others are either getting it horribly wrong or staying silent when something needs to be said.
I hear that USADA has just banned Spain. From everything. The EU is worried about jurisdiction and has consulted the UCI. But they won’t do anything because Angela Merkel now has an excuse for not bailing it out (you can’t give money to someone who’s been banned). It is a bit of a shame, as I was quite partial to paella and find buy seco. But at least now there’s a way to avoid a clash between ATOC and the Giro …
@G’phant Er, “fino muy seco”…
@G’phant So if Spain has been removed from the records, who takes over or will it just be left blank? More importantly will all the EU money that’s been pumped into it be paid back?
Just finished my first crit. Wish I was Spanish, some EPO would have come in handy. That really hurt.
@Daccordi Rider Don’t forget Sammy Sanchez who is leading the Spanish charge to support the COTHO. Strange shit in Spain, no doubt.
I never noticed this before but with 21st century eyes I can see he totally slammed that quill stem on the TVT Lemond (main pic). Cool.
@scaler911
Ah yes – Tom Ritchey. Thanks for clearing that up, @Scaler911 – and many thanks for posting this classic image – couldn’t resist ‘quoting’ it. There is so much sheer f”’ing class on display in that image it almost makes my eyes water. Great pic – epic ride and riders.
@Chris read up on Oppy. Born and bred in Victoria – and seriously respected by the Frenchies. A household name in Australia
@Marcus Misread your previous post as trying to put him a similar/earlier time frame to Mills.
Sounds like hardman, dying on an exercise bike 91. Anyone mastering the rollers on a rolling ship gets my vote.
Mills would have given the Tour a pretty good showing had he not pre-dated it. He put six hours on the first non Brit in the Bordeaux Paris.
LeMan is my hero. Ever since I got to meet him last year at a charity ride (and spend about half an hour to 45 minutes just chattin’ it up with him), he’s stuck in my mind as the ultimate class act. Not a bad word to say about anybody, and – as we were both talking about weight issues (mostly how I’d lost 80 lbs at that point) – a lot of encouragement for me. He will always get a plus in my book.
Dammit. Looks like those images didn’t post. Let’s try this way:
@ErikdR
Yes, that pic is so perfect. I believe that Graham Watson called it his favorite pic that he ever took (could be wrong here but I think he said that).
@ErikdR
I think Graham Watson has said that’s his favorite-ever photo.
@Daccordi Rider
I don’t think Indurain goes in just because he has an opinion we disagree with, but the list certainly needed culling; I’d forgotten some of those names were in there. Basso also doesn’t deserve to be in there; he’s been pretty harmless overall and vocal about doping, despite his failure to provide a realistic confession when he had the chance.
Ricco and Bruyneel definitely needed a place in there. Bruyneel for sure, and Ricco not so much for his positive test, but for attempting a HOME BLOOD TRANSFUSION. Anybody home?
COTHO list updated.
@frank Ha! Great minds think alike ( or at least remember shit the same).
Well done Frank. I was going to suggest Verbruggen be added. Ricco definitely wins the Stupid C*** prize…
@G’phant
Who is serving the Kool-Aid to these Spanish guys anyways because they sure are drinking it:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-says-there-is-no-new-proof-against-armstrong
@frank
Ricco also for sneaking into an Italian cyclosportif – truly a COTHO.
@Buck Rogers
Of course the Spanish are drinking it – its most likely being served by Fuentes/Ferrari and is laced with EPO and Clenbuterol
@frank
WIN! I’m glad you got McQuaid in there. He really deserves to be in that list.
The picture at the top of this article is so casually deliberate- it looks like he could quickly dispatch anybody who did try challenge the Z Vetements equipe.
I feel like I owe Greg a personal apology, as he was the guy who originally sparked my interest in cycling as young Yank, as he battled the Europeans. But over the years I lost certain respect of LeMan amid the glow of LIVEWRONG and thought Greg was a bit bitter jealous old man….and now I feel like I was duped by a punter roped into a cheap street shell game. And Brett has it nailed with his silence the last few weeks speaking volumes about who is classy.
Chapeau to the Keepers for the Retraction and the elevation of the LeMan.