Lance Armstrong Greatest Cyclist Ever?
I know this question gets asked a lot. I’m not big into these sort of debates either - still they’re fun.
With the potential of Lance Armstrong returning to professional racing, the debate will probably reignite.
Enter the smooth J.A. Adande who asserted on PTI (is it me or does he seem to mesh very well on Around the Horn and PTI?) that Armstrong is “the greatest cyclist ever.”
I’m not a cycling expert - though I’m a casual fan and used to do quite a bit of riding - but I would have to disagree with Adande. I think most cycling experts would too. Clearly, Armstrong is the greatest Tour de France rider but there have been many riders who participated and won all the races that make up the Grand Tours: Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a Espana and of course Tour de France. Not only that, riders have also won the UCI rankings for road racing.
Here are just some of the riders that rival Armstrong on the all-time list: Eddie Merckx (generally regarded as the greatest, if not most aggressive rider of all time. 11 all-time GT wins), Felice Grimondi, Bernard Hineault (10 all-time GT wins), Jacques Anquetil, Fausto Coppi (only WWII stopped this guy or he could have possibly won more than seven GT wins), Gino Bartali, Miguel Indurain, Alberto Contador, Alfredo Binda, Sean Kelley - but to name a few.
Armstrong deserves to be mentioned among them but he’s not the greatest of this bunch.
At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter if Armstrong is tagged the “greatest ever” given what he has overcome.
Whether he comes back or not, the power of the human spirit to rise above grave illnesses is the greatest gift he could have bestowed among people.
Now that’s real greatness.
3 Responses to “Lance Armstrong Greatest Cyclist Ever?”
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Winning the Tour de France required Lance Armstrong to train diligently. He did not wake up one morning and realised that he was capable of winning the Tour. Before a race, Armstrong trained in Spain for months ahead and he made many trips to France to fully understand the perils of the race course that lay ahead of him. Lance enjoyed the support of a team of co-riders and sponsors and he could not have completed a race without them.
There is a lesson for all of us in the story of Lance Armstrong. Just like Lance prepared for the Tour de France, we also need to prepare for the task ahead of us. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. We need to sharpen our skills as part of our God-given ability to reach out to those who need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Lance’s goal was to win the Tour de France.
Our goal is nothing less than being part of extending God’s Kingdom! Remember that whatever we do, whether in word or deed, we do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Any reactions to this?
To the Lance part or God part?