Tour talk: Smacked in the face by the man with the hammer
Lance Armstrong gets treated with great respect by our favorite English-language commentators, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, at the Tour de France. Today’s Stage 16 was a classic example.
After days of riding in the pack, Armstrong attacked today on a climb and was quickly joined by a few other riders. Paul
noted, “This man still has a fine pair of legs when racing in the Pyrenees.” Then Phil added that Armstrong was expected to try to distinguish himself with a major attack or stage win in his last Tour. “We’re watching the death throes of one of the greatest riders in the Tour de France,” he said.
But Phil and Paul are professionals, not cheerleaders. When the younger riders in the breakaway accelerate and it appears that Armstrong is in difficulty and ready to be dropped, Paul said, “I think the man with the hammer smacked Armstrong in the face.”
If only Craig Hummer and Bob Roll treated the Clean Bottle guy with the same level of respect (and a hammer)…how obnoxiously blatant has that been?
I know, I know. I’m getting tired of the product placements. When they did a special plug for SRAM, they apparently forgot to mention Schleck was riding SRAM when his chain fell off.
What I thought very amusing was that I get several daily email blasts from various e-tailers and it was interesting to see just how many of them featured chain catchers that day!