Tour de France

Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins was online Monday, July 25, at Noon ET to discuss the outcome of this year's Tour de France.

Jenkins books include "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life" and "Every Second Counts" with cyclist Lance Armstrong.

From The Post:

Farewell Tour (Post, July 25)

Related Link:

Official Web Site: Le Tour de France

The transcript follows.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Hi Sally! Thanks for doing this chat. I always read your cycling coverage, and really enjoyed the books you and Lance wrote.

I was wondering, given the obvious depth and strength of Team Discovery Channel, how much of Lance's victory is owed to the team? When someone else steps up as leader of TDC next year, do you think he'll have a good shot to win? 7 in a row for Lance was phenomenal. 8 in a row for Team Discovery Channel would be that much better!

On a related note--I've always been a fan of Hincapie, and was thrilled to see him finally get a stage win this year. Theoretically, do you think Hincapie could win the tour if he had the same support TDC supplied to Lance? Is there any chance Hincapie will be chosen to lead TDC? If not, do you have any guesses about who will? Vinokourov? Popovych?

Thanks!

Sally Jenkins: Hi all, sorry to be late, believe it or not I was on my bike.

Good question. The answer is, Lance believes he owes everything to the team. He likes to say that of the yellow jersey, he may deserve the zipper. His teammates win the rest for him, the sleeves and front and back. The Tour is actually not a solo event, despite appearances. His teammates protect him crashes and wind, pace him, help pull him up the mountainside, and set the tempo that ruins the legs of the rest of the peleton.

In answer to who will be team leader next year, that will probably get sorted out in training and in the preparation races. Hincapie has proved to be a more versatile rider than anyone knew. Even three years ago he didn't think he was a climber. It was Lance who taught him to climb -- he said to George, just try to pull at the front for ten minutes. Then they started lengthening the distances George would ride tempo uphill. And pretty soon he was an accomplished climber.

Whoever is the strongest rider at this time next year will be the leader. That could be George, or, it could be Vinokourov, who Lance is interested in signing.

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Washington, D.C.: Jenks-

I'm just curious whether or not the final victory meant more to Lance due to the fact that Ulrich managed to grab the final podium spot. CBS certainly seemed to be pointing in this direction while a lot of OLN coverage sort of left the T-Mobile folks as an after thought.

Sally Jenkins: I think it meant a great deal to have Ulrich on the podium, and in fact I think he helped push Ulrich to the finish line. And he also dispensed some very free public advice to Ulrich, suggesting some training that could help him win the race next year. I think he's very fond of Ulrich and would love to see him in yellow next season.

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Washington, D.C.: Other than being a seven-time Tour de France winner and cancer-survivor, is there anything else that you think will be part of Lance Armstrong's legacy?

Sally Jenkins: Well it's the combination of those two things in the same sentence that I think is Lance's real legacy: cancer survivor and seven time Tour winner. The two go hand in hand. What Lance proved is that you can not only survive illness, you can thrive afterwards. It can actually be improving. That's a very profound thing that's overlooked about Lance. We dwell on the seven titles and we dwell on the fact that he "beat" cancer, but we don't dwell on the extraordinary fact that Lance used the cancer to be BETTER than he ever was before. Most people view serious illness, especially cancer, as debilitating. If you do survive it, we suppose that you're damaged in some way, and the best that can be hoped for is get back to what you were before the illness. In Lance's case, it was the making of him. Make him a better racer, made him a better man. And I don't think anyone had ever suggested such a thing before about cancer, that it could chisel out a better human being.

It's interesting: people want Lance to profess some organized religious truth about his illness, they want him to credit God. And they miss his central message, which is in fact very deeply spiritual, but in an abstract way: suffering is good for us.

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Arlington, Va.: Does Lance have plans to write another book?

Sally Jenkins: Sorry about all the typos so far, I'm typing too fast. I'll try to slow down.

No, Lance has no plans at the moment to write another book, at least not that I know of. I think he's looking forward to some privacy, and to the opportunity to keep his life and his thoughts to himself for a little while. I do think at some point down the road he may have more to say. Personally, I'd like to go back someday and put the two manuscripts together in one edition, correct the errors made in haste, and make one comprehensive memoir. But that's just a daydream for the time being.

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Normal, Ill.: Hi Sally!

Do you think Lance has viewed this tour as more successful than in years past for the team? This year, the Discovery Channel won both the Yellow Jersey, the White Jersey for the youngest rider, and won 4 stages (2 significantly not by Lance--I can't remember that happening during Lance's other victories). I remember reading comments in years pasts that the US Postal team had tried several times to achieve things in the tour besides Lance's victory, but fell short due to concentrating on protecting Lance. Do you think they are happier with the results this year?

Sally Jenkins: Going into the race, I think the team felt this was their strongest squad yet, and I think they specifically set out to win as many stages and jerseys as they did. Team director Johan Bruyneel and Lance are very methodical in their planning, they study the route exhaustively and target certain stages where they believe they can break the race open.

One thing people might be interested to learn about Lance is the extent to which he functions, along with Johan, as a kind of general manager or executive of the team. He's involved in every decision, from what wheels to use to which riders to sign, for how much money, to which stages to go for. I can promise he took as much satisfaction from the team time trial as from his own individual stage win. It's all a personal victory him because he's so engaged in every element of the team. And I think that's going to continue next year, even when he isn't riding.

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Washington, D.C.: Could you comment on the degree to which L.A. is a manager-organizer-planner etc. of the team as well as its star athlete? It seems to me that these attributes contribute to making him truly unique in the world of athletics, but they are not brought forward, at least in the general press.

Sally Jenkins: I sort of addressed that in the previous question but it's worth expanding on. I agree, Lance is unique. Imagine Tom Brady of the New England Patriots involving himself in every team decision, from the uniforms, to the game plans, to player contracts, and that's sort of what Lance does. I once watched him spend an hour on the phone dealing with discussions about wheels with a different kind of experimental spoke. Lance had found a guy who handmade these new wheels, and he spent money out of his own pocket to get a hold of them and try them. Also, he frequently hands out bonuses to riders from his own pocket.

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Washington, D.C.: Lance is obviously an extraordinarily competitive individual. Where do you see his competitive nature or need taking him over the coming years?

Sally Jenkins: You know, that's going to be interesting. Most of the great athletes I've known have struggled with retirement, no matter how determined they are to go out on top. The trouble is that they are not suited for ease, and comfort, and idleness. Lance is the sort of racer who gives every last bit of effort on the bike. And now he's supposed to walk away knowing that he might have a little something left in him? That's a big contradiction, and a tough one to reconcile. He may very well be able to pull it off, because he has tremendous discipline and perspective -- and he's got three kids to go towards, which is crucial. Chris Evert had a fairly smooth transition to retirement for the same reason, because she was so eager to become a mother. That's my hope for Lance, as his friend. But I've seen plenty of other athletes struggle with retirement because their instincts, and every bone in their body, tells them to keep playing until their talent is ashes. They just can't live with the idea that they might have wasted an ounce of their abilities.

Personally, I admire the ones who play until they are past it as much as I admire the ones who walk away cleanly. Jimmy Connors. Michael Jordan. Martina Navratilova. Just think about how many great things we'd never have seen if those people walked away when they were supposed to, as opposed to when they actually did?

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Maryland: Sally,

I think Lance said that being close to death brought him focus that was missing in his life -- helped him to develop goals.

I also recall somewhere/sometime hearing/reading that his physiology permits him to recover from the physical demands of the Tour. (more efficient oxygen exchange, and less lactic acid build-up) Is that true?

Sally Jenkins: This is a fascinating topic. When I first met Lance, I asked him if he had an extraordinary physiology and if so, did it help him survive cancer. His reply was yes, he has "a big engine," but he didn't want to dwell on that because he didn't want people to think that was the only reason he survived. He was afraid people would get the wrong message, the message he wanted to send was, ANYONE has an equal chance of beating this disease, if they fight and if they hope.

That said, yeah, his body is extraordinary. He's been tested a bunch over his career, and his numbers are always off the charts.

His heart pumps nine gallons of blood a minute -- the average person only pumps five gallon. He only produces about half as much lactic acid, the substance that makes your muscles burn when they are tired, as you or me. He has the lungs of a 6-foot-6 man. Basically, he's got the capacity of a 7-foot person crammed into the body of a 5-foot-11 cyclist.

He can ride a bike for three hours with his heart rate pegged at 140. If you asked an NBA player to ride a bike at that heart rate, he might last 20 minutes.

By the way, the size of Lance's heart is not a matter of pure genetics. You can strengthen the heart with exercise, which is why they put heart attack patients on treadmills. Lance started doing heavy exercise at a very young age -- he was an elite junior swimmer who rode his bike 5 miles to practice every morning. He was a junior triathlete prodigy by the age of 14. So some of his capacities are the result of 25 years of extreme amounts of exercise.

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Falls Church, Va.: There have been allegations that, in the past, Lance has injected performance-enhancing drugs. What's the latest on those allegations? In your opinion, do any merit any weight?

Sally Jenkins: No, I don't believe the doping allegations against Lance have any merit. I've never seen or read any that I found persuasive. For instance, a masseuse was quoted a couple of years ago as saying that she saw syringes, but every rider in the Tour de France uses syringes and IVS. The riders need all sorts of legal substances to recover medically from their extreme efforts, and to get through the race. Saline, B-12, and other vitamins, all that stuff. A syringe by itself in the Tour isn't evidence of doping. The only allegation I've heard of recently came from a disgruntled former employee seeking a financial settlement from Lance, who tried to claim he saw a bottle of something in Lance's medicine cabinet at home in Spain. I found what he had to say totally unpersuasive, because the details sounded fishy. His description of Lance's home and life and routines didn't match up with what I had seen. Lance counter-sued the guy, I believe.

The most serious allegations against Lance were made in a book by a British journalist that came out last year, which was not published over here. Lance has sued the author and the case will be heard in London sometime in the near future. I do know Lance expects to win the case. He's gotten very litigious in his old age, and increasingly angry about the whole thing.

My own opinion of Lance is that we're watching an evolutionary leap. They come along every once in awhile. I've already mentioned Navratilova and Jordan, and Tiger Woods would be another. I believe Lance is in that physical category, and the marriage of his extraordinary physical ability with that mindset of his has created the perfect storm. I find his performances totally plausible.

The last thing I'll say about it, is that from a personal standpoint, I've seen Lance shudder at the way cancer and chemo poisoned him. Two years out from the illness, he said to me, "You know, I'm just now starting to feel clean again." I just find it hard to believe the man who said that to me, and with such feeling, is a serial doper.

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Paris, France: Sorry for asking a personal question and not a sporting question, but where was Kristin yesterday? As a mother of three young children (two of whom are 3-year-old twins), it pulled at my heart to see their children being taken care of by Sheryl. I thought that Kristin and Lance were still friends. I had assumed that she would be there with the kids, but I didn't see her.

Sally Jenkins: Kristin is a lovely person. Yes, she and Lance are very friendly. I'm not sure I see what's wrong with Sheryl Crow holding one of the children, and I'm not sure Kristin would either. After all they spend a fair amount of time with her. I also saw the children's wonderful godfather and the Lance's dear friend, Jim Ochowicz, was on hand. As for how people work out their co-parenting arrangements, that's between them.

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Alexandria, Va.: I fully admit that I was more excited about David Zabriskie having the yellow jersey for three days and George's victory of the Queen Stage MUCH more exciting then Lance winning. Again. Please don't misunderstand - I get why this is historic and certainly feel Lance is an amazing rider. But he wins the Tour. But how cool was it for David, who had two serious falls to be the first american to win a stage in wll three Grand Tours then see a known "sprinter" and dedicated teammate win such an incredibly hard stage that would kill most cars! AND we get to see them try it again!

Sally Jenkins: That's the marvelous thing about the Tour: every day is a new drama, a new champion is created, or sometimes one collapses. Twenty one stages, a couple thousand miles, wind rain, cold, crashes, mountains, valleys. It teaches the strong about weakness, and the weak about strength. Lance would be the first to agree with you there, and that's why he was as excited as George to see him win that stage. And that's why he made the speech he made yesterday about how much he believes in the race.

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St Cloud, Minn.: Over the past few months I have witnessed Armstrong lauded as the greatest athlete living to others who say "It's a bike -- anyone can ride a bike" --What is your take?

Sally Jenkins: Anyone who thinks they can ride a bike should go to gym, get on the stationary, and start pedaling. When your heart rate gets to 140, hold it there, and see how long you can go. Or better yet, get it up to 160, and then 180, which is where Lance's heart rate is during a time trial. And see how long you can last. My guess is that you'd last about two minutes. Lance can ride at that pace for three to five HOURS.

Next, as a test of your hand eye, try descending an Alp at 70 miles an hour on two wheels that are only an inch thick.

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Denver, Colo.: Lance and TDC do so well at the Tour because they focus solely on that race. Other riders have mentioned that their sponsors demand strong finishes in the spring classics and the other grand tours thereby limiting their effectiveness in the TDF. With Lance gone will TDC become more well rounded or will it continue to focus on just the TDF?

Thanks

Sally Jenkins: It's certainly true Discovery has focused on the Tour, and Lance himself has focused on it fanatically. That said, the team doesn't completely ignore the classics -- many of their riders have had terrific results. The trouble is, Discovery is an American sponsor, and the Tour is the only race Americans really pay attention to. So I would imagine the team will continue to put a pretty big emphasis on it. That said, it will be interesting to see which rider emerges as the new team leader, and if he has the same fanatically attachment to winning the Tour that Lance does.

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Arlington, Va.: Lance said something like he now wants some privacy for at least a few years. Is that possible? Can he really travel the world as Sheryl Crow's guitar tech and stay out of the public eye? What's your sense about all of this talk of him going into politics eventually?

Sally Jenkins: I asked him the politics question right before the Tour and he said, laughingly, that while it's intriguing, he's pretty sure it would entail kissing too much ...you know what. Something he has never been good at. Also, athletes are results-oriented. He's too impatient for politics.

On the other hand, he's extremely bright and engaged in issues, and it's possible he'd be good at it. For instance, I'd imagine the stem cell thing drives him crazy -- he believes to his core in free scientific and intellectual inquiry, because it's what saved his life. If Larry Einhorn hadn't pioneered the use of platinum in treating cancer, he wouldn't be here.

I don't think Lance will totally disappear from the public eye, and I don't think he meant he'll become a recluse, or a roadie. He'll continue to work on behalf of his foundation, and make appearances for sponsors, and he'll do some broadcasting for Discovery, all of which he was doing before, in addition to his training. Mainly I think he's referring to spending some time at home with his children. He's sick to death of leaving them for weeks at a time and returning to find that they've grown, or changed. That part has been killing him, I think. Also, I get the sense he wants to spend some leisure time with the other people closest to him that he's missed while training, his girlfriend, his mother, his friends. I think that's what he means by private.

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Berkeley, Calif.: Hi:

I was wondering if you read "Lance Armstrong's War"? Does the Lance in that book gel with the man you know?

Sally Jenkins: Haven't read it, but I intend to, and what I've heard of it sounds like an interesting and fairly accurate portrait, though I've always found Lance more easy going than others apparently do. Then again, I don't see Lance that often, either.

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Herndon, Va.: Ms. Jenkins,

You have kept a very low profile during this Tour. How closely have you been following the race? Have you had any contact with Lance along the way, and if so, did you learn anything from him that might have been missed from other channels?

It's Not About the Bike is, by the way, one of the best sports biographies of all time.

Sally Jenkins: I followed the Tour every day. Every single day. I was actually very moved yesterday. I kept the low profile because I'm sort of tired of interpreting Lance. I'm actually happy he's retiring -- much as I'll miss watching him scale those Alps -- because it will be nice to just be pals, instead of co-authors, or journalist and subject.

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Vienna, Va.: Lance is certainly on the list of top ten greatest cyclists, but he's not number one, and may not even be in the top five. He's dominated one event -- but just one. I'm not belittling this -- it is a daunting achievement, and the Tour is sort of considered the unofficial championship of the sport, but it's only one of several big races. If someone won the Masters or Wimbledon or the Daytona 500 or even the America's Cup many times in a row, but did not win in the other major events, we wouldn't consider them the greatest ever. The ones who go down as the greatest are the ones who win consistently in all of the big events -- people like Nicklaus, Woods, Sorenstam, Sampras, Graf, etc.

Sally Jenkins: I think most cyclists would disagree with you. Including the great ones. The Tour de France is the most difficult race, bar none, containing all of the elements of other races: sprints, mountain stages and time trials, inclement weather. It's a complete test, and the ultimate one. It's not like grass court tennis.

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Arlington, Va.: Sally, this is a very difficult question to frame correctly and I'm afraid the medium of "typed chat" will make me seem angry and petulant, which is not my goal, but here goes. I sometimes get the sense that the "Survive" idea makes it seem like those who have survived cancer "defeated" it, which would leave those who didn't being defined as having "lost" to it. There seems to be an implicit implication that if you fight hard enough you can survive, but that just is not true. My father died of cancer, a very aggressive form which decimated his internal organs. He could not have fought any harder to "survive," it was never a question of the amount of his fight, the cancer did too much damage too quickly. I hope that I'm just interpreting this incorrectly, I admit that I have not researched Lance's foundation's aims or goals. Finding cures is what needs to be done.

One thing that is not open to question is the size of Lance's athletic achievement, just off the scale.

Thanks.

Sally Jenkins: Your remarks are not petulant at all. Lance would wholeheartedly agree with you. He states very clearly, in both books, that sometimes the people who fight the hardest are the ones who die, and sometimes the people who don't fight at all and do none of the things their doctors tell them are the ones who survive. It's not a fair disease. It doesn't discriminate. Lance does not believe he "beat" cancer. He believes he survived it. He believes he was LUCKY to live, and therefore he had a greater obligation to make the most of himself once he was healed.

I think his point about fighting is this: it may not work, but your chances of surviving ARE better if you do. The statistics are clear that cancer patients who educate themselves about the disease have a slightly better survival rate. What he means by fight is: learn about the illness, get second, third and fourth opinions, and have hope. I think, too, he believes that a fighting attitude and a sense of optimism can help your quality of life no matter what the eventual outcome.

Thanks for your comment. It's hugely important to Lance that people understand he didn't "beat" cancer, he simply endured it. It doesn't work that way.

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Washington, D.C.: You mentioned that Lance wants to sign Vino to TDC. Is that true? I thought Vino was headed to a French team. If he is unavailable, who else might Lance be interested in signing to Discovery?

Sally Jenkins: OLN mentioned that Discovery might have some interest in signing Vinokourov, which was the first I'd heard of it.

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Alexandria, Va.: Sally,

This is only my second year following the tour coverage and I wished I had started much sooner so I apologize for such a naive question.

Is there validity to the criticisms that say Lance is only after the Yellow jersey and couldn't care less about The Green or Polka dot? Is it looked down upon in the cycling world that all he needs to do is keep up with a handful of riders instead of winning stages?

Sally Jenkins: To win the Tour, you have to ration your efforts. If you go for the sprint or climbing bonuses, you would wear yourself out. Lance cares very much about winning stages, but he doesn't necessarily care about winning the intermediate points bonuses unless they can help him put some time into his rivals. Lance has always told me that those efforts are very costly. "You only have so many of them in you," he says. So it's not a question of caring, it's a question of race strategy, and stamina. You'll note that Lance still finished third in the King of the Mountains category. So it's not like he was loafing.

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Philadelphia, Pa.: I think everyone has to acknowledge Lance's skills on the bike; however, it seems that Lance has problems with former friends and teammates. A long list, to which Floyd Landis' name was added this past year, suggests that Lance's attitude is "if you are not with me you are against me." Is this true? Now that he isn't competing, do you think his attitude will change?

Sally Jenkins: Lance is an alpha competitor. That's very basic, all the great ones have it as part of their standard operating equipment, and they thrive on perceived slights. But he's also a generous competitor, as his friendships with Ulrich and Basso suggest. There are plenty of former teammates turned opponents that Lance has remained on good terms with. I'm not sure who is on the long list you're referring to. Livingstone? Hamilton? Heras? He maintained nice relationships with all of them. The Landis thing may have been complicated because Lance invested a lot in Floyd personally. He spent a lot of time tutoring him and bringing him alone, because he believed in him. So Floyd's departure may have hurt more than some, that's all.

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Richmond, Va.: Going into retirement, Lance doesn't seem like the type that would simply stop competing altogether. Do you get any sense that he will channel some of his energy into something that might allow him to spend time with his family and still quench some of his competitive thirst? I think it would pretty cool to see Lance competing as an age group triathlete ... just for fun.

Sally Jenkins: There is no way Lance Armstrong is going to keep still. He's congenitally incapable of sitting down. He will do something. Be interesting to see what.

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Washington, D.C.: What's up with Lance just killing the rest of the other riders for seven years now? These guys are olympians, he makes them look like average weekend warriors, especially in the mountains.

Sally Jenkins: Lance's methods have been superior, I think. Training, technology, all of it. No other rider goes into the Alps and rehearses the big climbs with a heart monitor and a computer readout, analyzes the output, and then rides it again and again until he hits the number he wants. That's what Lance does. He knows the percentage of every grade, and what his heart rate and cadence should be, and for how long, if he wants to win the stage. No one else weighs their food, either. His preparation is what has killed them. He's always said, he wins the Tour in December, not July.

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Washington, D.C.: Regarding Discovery and Lance being one trick ponies: nothing could be further from the truth. Lance won a world championship over Indurain in '93, and several major classics before cancer. Salvodelli won the Giro this year, and Heras won the Vuelta when he was with Postal.

The only real knock is that Armstrong never did either of the other grand tours.

Sally Jenkins: Yes. That's all very true.

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Ellicott City, Md.: What is your opinion of Greg LeMond's comments in his interview with the French Newspaper Lemond last year, in which he asserted that Lance Armstrong is lying and that he and all the top riders are using performance enhancing drugs?

Sally Jenkins: My opinion is that Lemond's comments were graceless, and sounded like a former great who was sour at being surpassed. I remember when Margaret Court slammed Navratilova right after she won her ninth Wimbledon, and it sounded sort of like that. But that's just my view, and I've never met Lemond. Maybe he's better than he sounded in that interview. I certainly admire what he did on the bike.

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Washington, D.C.: Lance has joked about running for Governor of Texas after retiring from cycling. What are his politics? Based on your books, I'd peg him as a Republican, but would also peg Sheryl Crow as a Democrat. What do you think?

Sally Jenkins: Lance's politics are about as easy to define as his religious views. He's friendly with the President, as well as a number of influential Texas Republicans. And he's definitely a fiscal conservative. But for all that, I'm not so sure he's a Republican. He firmly believes life begins at birth and ends at death, and he's a fierce defender of open scientific inquiry, since it not only helped saved his life but helped create his children, who were conceived in vitro. So I don't know how electable he'd be in Texas at the moment.

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Atlanta, Ga.: I cycle for transportation as much as I can and generally try to use the highest gear possible to maximize the exercise. It was upsetting to me that the coverage of the Tour never speaks about gear ratios, what gear riders use on inclines, etc. Nor do they talk much about the bikes themselves (I ride a $300 hybrid not a $3000 touring bike), what makes them so special in comparison? What can you tell me about these things? Thanks.

Sally Jenkins: I'm not a gearhead, but what makes the bikes special are the components. Lance's frame you can buy off the rack.

If you're riding for exercise, don't worry about it. Lance says those bikes are so efficient, you can ride miles and only burn a few hundred calories, so you have to be careful to get enough work in. Sounds like you're doing fine.

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Vienna, Va.: Do you think Lance can really just give up on his competitive nature? It would be great if he revived his triathlon prowess and blew away the competition in some of the IronMan or XTerra tri's, much like Ned Overend did after his mountain biking days ended.

Sally Jenkins: Lance is actually not that competitive off the bike. He is definitely going to need an outlet for his energy, which he has a lot of. But he likes beer, and surfing, and music, and hanging with his friends. He liked golf for awhile, but he's not very good at it, so he said, "I've decided to drink a beer for every hole of golf I WOULD have played." He's a much more larkish, lighthearted person than you would suppose. I think he will definitely need something to do to burn off this fumes, physically, but I'm not sure it has to be competitive anymore. We'll see.

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washingtonpost.com: This concludes today's discussion with Sally Jenkins. Thank you for participating.

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