RANT: "colorado connection"

Was he ever a teammate of six-time Tour de France winner Lance
Armstrong?

No.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/teamprofi...0/usps00.shtml

"Five riders left the team, to be replaced by a mix of young Americans
and seasoned Europeans, who were lured to the Postal team by the
opportunity to ride for themselves. Replacing Hampsten as team leader
was former Tour DuPont winner Viatcheslav Ekimov, a professional's
professional who was a threat in virtually any race, as he was to
prove over the next several months. While other new recruits, such as
Adriano Baffi and George Hincapie, picked up stage wins in events such
as Paris-Nice and Setmana Catalane, it was Ekimov who was the team's
all-star through the first half of the season.

Among his numerous top-ten finishes we fourth overall in
Paris-Nice, where he whomped former Giro winner Evgeny Berzin to win
the final time trial; third place and a stage win in the Setmana
Catalane; and tenth in the Tour of Flanders. Ekimov clinched the
team's wild-card entry in the '97 Tour with a bravura performance in
the Dauphine Libere. Despite never having been known as an outstanding
climber in the high mountains, 'Eki' led the Dauphine from Stage 2 to
Stage Six, ultimately placing eighth overall, and winning two stages
for good measure. Unfortunately, his efforts in the early season left
him at less than 100% for the Tour, which proved to be a learning
experience for the Postal squad.

In the Tour, their top GC rider was fifteenth-placed Jean-Cyril Robin,
but perhaps their best performer was the veteran Baffi, who had three
top-ten finishes and was part of a courageous three-man break during
Stage 7 that lasted 178 km before being caught near the finish. What
they learned from their experience was, among other things, that Robin
was a good climber, but was more of a follower, and was not the
potential Tour challenger that they needed. As the team finished out
the season, they found the answer to their greatest need, even if they
didn't realize it at the time, when they signed a rider from their
past: Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong, whose successful battle with cancer has been deservedly so,
well-documented, was a rider without a team in late '97. After missing
the entire season, he was unceremoniously dumped by his French
sponsor, Cofidis, and was basically 'persona non grata' among the
world's teams. He finally signed with the Postal team for a fraction
of his previous salary, and went into the 1998 season with absolutely
no idea of what to expect. As it turned out, Armstrong wasn't the only
one who didn't know what would come next. "

DeDe has lived in Boulder for a while and attended Colorado College. Give
you 3 guesses on what state Colorado College is in.

Not everybody has 50K/yr for college?

Ask Andy?


John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
On 20 Aug 2004 13:22:18 -0700, (CowPunk) wrote:


Who is Andy? - Andy Hampsten was born April 7, 1962 in Columbus, Ohio,
and spent his formative years in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He started
bike racing as an Intermediate (ages 12-14) in 1974, and turned pro in
1985. Most of his first year as a pro was spent racing for Michael
Fatka's American-based Levis/Raleigh team, followed by one year with
the La Vie Claire über team , then several years at Team 7-Eleven,
which later became Team Motorola. His final two years were spent at
Banesto and US Postal Service.


Was he ever a teammate of six-time Tour de France winner Lance
Armstrong?

JT

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On 08/20/2004 04:16 PM, in article
, "John Forrest Tomlinson"
wrote:

On 20 Aug 2004 13:22:18 -0700, (CowPunk) wrote:

Who is Andy? - Andy Hampsten was born April 7, 1962 in Columbus, Ohio,
and spent his formative years in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He started
bike racing as an Intermediate (ages 12-14) in 1974, and turned pro in
1985. Most of his first year as a pro was spent racing for Michael
Fatka's American-based Levis/Raleigh team, followed by one year with
the La Vie Claire über team , then several years at Team 7-Eleven,
which later became Team Motorola. His final two years were spent at
Banesto and US Postal Service.

Was he ever a teammate of six-time Tour de France winner Lance
Armstrong?



1992 (post-Olympics) - 1994, both riders were at Motorola.



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Steven L. Sheffield
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