That's funny, I was just thinking the same thing but about baseball players. Note how he mentions Kerry Wood's curveball one time and then sort of shuts up about it.
"Don't you think if Armstrong put his mind to sitting around on his ass for half of three hours and standing around scratching his crotch for another hour and fifteen minutes that he could do it?" 

posted by natedogg at 02:46PM CST on July 27

That's not what a recent poll of sports fans found: Armstrong in a landslide, over Bonds, Vick, Pappas (decathlete), Tim De Boom (triathlete) and others. Wasn't even close. The real question: who had the more dominating summer, Lance or Ken Jeopardy? 

posted by mrflip at 03:00PM CST on July 27

I think Lance would beat almost any baseball player for all around athleticism. Like Nate said above, if he wanted to sit around for a few hours at a time, scratching himself and chewing tobacco. But lets just get things out in the open, in a world where golfers are considered athletes I think we can say with ease that Lance Armstrong is definately one of the world's greatest athletes. I think the guy writing the article just doesn't like bike riding, it would be the same if I were to write an article about baseball. I just don't find anything enjoyable about it and probably wouldn't have nice things to say no matter what.  

posted by Snake at 03:04PM CST on July 27

One sports magazine even saw fit to make him Sportsman of the Year a ways back (thanks toddt for the article). 

posted by mrflip at 03:04PM CST on July 27

I would love to see any major football player attempt to ride up
l'Alpe d'Huez. even at 5 mph, much less 15 mph. 

posted by pablo at 03:37PM CST on July 27

and really, how seriously can you take the opinion of someone who mistakes "peddle" for "pedal". now let's see here: which goes with cycling? peddle, of course. now that i have demonstrated my cycling knowledge prowess, i shall write an absurd argument for why footballers are more athletic than cyclists.

ALSO NOTE: at my division I school, merely 4 years after winning the national championship, the football players were so athletic that they rode a bus 200 yards just so they did not have to walk up the Hemphill hill. 

posted by reid at 03:48PM CST on July 27

On the subject of Le Tour, I have found that Alasdair Fotheringham's articles in the Guardian and Independent are both very well written and, being British, a little more balanced than either US or other European coverage. 

posted by mrflip at 05:33PM CST on July 27