VIDEO: "I was actually looking for my teammate" - Lance Armstrong explains famous 'The Look' from Tour de France 2001
CyclingSaturday, 23 March 2024 at 09:50
One of the most iconic moments of early 2000's cycling, if not ever, has to be 'The Look' from Lance Armstrong. Back in 2001, the Tour de France was still completely open after nine days of racing with two main pre-race favourites, Armstrong and Jan Ullrich, sitting within 30 seconds of each other.
A fierce battle was awaited on the 21 hairpins of Alpe d'Huez. Armstrong, who so far wasn't look very well suddenly pops up to the front of the group. He looks behind as if to say: 'Here I am. I bluffed.' Before he takes off and destroys his competition by two minutes, effectively deciding the 2001 Tour de France on the spot.
"The story may not go the way you think," Armstrong revisited the moment in TheMove podcast where Ullrich was his guest. "It's funny, because it does indeed seem like 'a look', as if I'm looking at you. At least that is what the photo that went around the world suggests. But I was actually looking for teammate Jose Luis 'Chechu' Rubiera."
"With great acceleration he had brought me to the front earlier. But before I would attack myself, I first wanted to be sure where Rubiera was. If I got into trouble and was blown back, I knew there was at least someone still in the group - Rubiera - to save me. So basically I looked at my teammate. But because of the angle at which the images were taken, it seemed as if I was looking straight into Jan's eyes. It is important to clarify this."
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- For Pogi's first win against Jonas, he had a very subpar team relative to Jumbo. I don't think Jonas would have stood a chance if he had Pogi's team that year.Veganpotter05-05-2025
- He descended very well at the TdF last year after the first couple stages with technical descents.Veganpotter05-05-2025
- The funny thing about all of this is that Pogi can(that doesn't mean he definitely will) win the TdF while it's only one of many goals. Jonas is fully focused on the TdF. Yes, he does other races but they're solely in preparation for the TdF. Jonas is great, but much of the reason he has a fighters chance is that Pogi isn't a rider that's fully focused on stage races.Veganpotter05-05-2025
- Yates- when he is on - is pretty awesome to watch.
ScottG05-05-2025 - Jonas is afraid of crashing. That's not easy to shake. I think that fear has only gotten worse over the years.ScottG05-05-2025
- Healy will also be a contender in the hilly classics. That's it though.ScottG05-05-2025
- It remains a team sport, and either teams or injuries have determined the outcomes since 2022. In '22, UAE lost many team members due to covid, earlier than Jumbo Visma did, and that left Pogacar unprotected. In '23, Pogacar was injured at Liege, and that affected his training. In '24, Vingegaard was injured, Kuss and van Aert were a shadow of their '22 selves, and Roglic was gone from the team. So the question is, can Yates, Almeida, Novak, and the rest protect Pogacar, and will Kuss and the rest show up as they need to? Sure, it's the last climb that pits the two superstars against each other, and Pogacar (as we've seen with van der Poel) doesn't always win when he's got a challenger there. This year, if Vingegaard's concussion hasn't affected things too much, I think it will come down to the teams they bring.RidesHills05-05-2025
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We where on the Alpe that day. My two lads where big fans of Ullrich. I just happened to look over to the road below just as Armstrong Attacked - when he rounded the bend and came up to us the booing from the French people around us was deafening. My wife who was on the other side of the road said some folk had thrown pish on to him.
LA is the GOAT homey! 7 TDFs! In a Row!
Ready for his comeback at the Enhanced games? I’m surprised they didn’t come to an agreement for him to do the promotion :-)
LA is the GOAT homey! 7 TDFs ! In a row!
Strange reactions on Armstrong topics, according to me. CU posts articles from many pundits who made serious mistakes in the past, and that seems to be fine.
Like for example: Contador, Merkcx, Indurain, Boogerd, Sidekick Bruyneel, Quintana, Ullrich, Zabel, Matt White, Stephen de Jong, Rasmussen, Thomas Dekker, Riis, Ulissi etc etc
I must admit that Lance and also Contador are very prominent around.😂
I like their opinions, they follow the sport, so it is interesting. Their past is for me not so interesting. If we start ignoring all people who did something wrong in the past, or lied (politicians for example), we did not have anything to add in the papers anymore 😁
Why is a contest between dopers even worth remembering
I bet he was looking for a syringe ! Come on Mr Doper...tell the truth !
washed up zero times TdF winner. Why do we even care?
Can we stop paying attention to Voldemort, please? I don't want to remember anything about his cycling career!