[Joe Pozer]

Lance decided to race and win in the Netherlands.

From SFGate.com

Armstrong wins 62-mile race in Netherlands

Wednesday, July 28, 2004


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(07-28) 10:50 PDT AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) --

Lance Armstrong won a 62-mile race near the Belgium border, two days after claiming his record sixth straight Tour de France title.

Armstrong finished Tuesday's race in 2 hours, 12 minutes, 6 seconds, three seconds ahead of Australia's Robbie McEwen, who took the Tour's green jersey for best sprinter. Dutchman Marc Lotz was third.

Armstrong, who traveled with girlfriend Sheryl Crow, said a decision on whether he tries to win another Tour de France next year depends on his sponsor.

"If the tour's the biggest priority, then I'll be in the tour," he told NOS television in the Netherlands. "I still love the event and I think I still have the skills to win."

Armstrong said he thought his accomplishment was different from that of other great cyclists, such as Belgium's Eddy Merkx or France's Bernard Hinault.

"As we all know, they were much more consistent throughout the year," he said.

"But you know, when I say it out loud, when I say six tours, it's never been done. It's still a little hard to believe."

 

[wooglin]

Par for the course. There's a bunch of little post-Tour races that offer appearance fees to the big guns on top of whatever prize money they might win. Been going on for years. What would be news is if he didn't go to some of these races.

 

[LordOpie]

and how easy is it for a Tour rider... I mean, that's pretty close to Paris and a short race just a few days later. Seems like there's very little reason not to do it.

 

[Serial Midget]

Everyone needs a cool down loop...

Having someone like Lance or another elite cyclist can help smaller raced gain recognition. Without his participation we might never hear about the race at all.

 

[wooglin]

Having someone like Lance or another elite cyclist can help smaller raced gain recognition. Without his participation we might never hear about the race at all.

Plus the fans get to see one of their heros in the flesh.

 

[The Toninator]

Everyone needs a cool down loop...

Having someone like Lance or another elite cyclist can help smaller raced gain recognition. Without his participation we might never hear about the race at all.

well unfortunately for 'the' race we've only heard about 'a' race not 'A' race. to get their moneys worth the article could have at least listed the name of 'the' race.

 

[rockracing]

yeah, just a post tour crit, no UCI ranking, just for the fans (and some cash for the riders), lance would have raced in his yellow jersey !

 

[jaydee]

Those post-Tour crits are the cycling equivalent of WWF. The heroes always win; it's set up that way so the Tour guys will stick around and do the crits and the fans can cheer them on.

 

[Mecannoman]

From www.team-csc.com

Julich and Voigt Wins LuK Challenge
31.07 17:03

On Saturday Team CSC's Bobby Julich and Jens Voigt won the 82-kilometer dual time trial LuK Challenge in Bül, Germany. The American-German duo was almost 1½ minute better than Gerolsteiner's time trial specialists Uwe Peschel and Michael Rich.

”Jens and Bobby were totally psyched on winning today. They both came out of the Tour in absolute top shape, which led to a brilliant result down here. Andrea Peron and Kurt-Asle Arvesen finished fifth, which means, we've got some solid points for our efforts,” summarized a very satisfied sports director Kim Andersen after the race.

Tour winner Lance Armstrong and his US Postal team mate, George Hincapie, had to settle for fourth place.