For cycling fanatics only...

haha! They published my letter to the Editor in VeloNews online today:

Editor
I'm sure that Armstrong will get a bunch of criticism for chasing down Filippo Simeoni when he attacked, but I'll bet you won't hear any from Bernard Hinault.

Sure Armstrong's actions were a bit petty, but Hinault was known to be that way in his day as well and it didn't earn him derision, it earned him the nickname "the Badger." Armstrong was just showing that when it comes to the Tour, he's The Boss. If he doesn't want you to win a stage, you're not going to win a stage.

I think that the big question now is not whether Armstrong will come back and win a seventh tour, the question is what kind of "hole" is he going to leave in the Tour when he does leave. It won't be as big as when Eddy Merckx left the peloton, but I'm sure that the Tour won't feel the same for awhile.

Mike Chavez
Buenos Aires, Argentina

If you're not a cycling nut it's a little hard to understand what the big tiff was about in the Tour de France today. Basically Lance personally shut down an attack by a rider that is no threat to Armstrong in the Tour—a very unusual move in the Tour, especially when Lance usually relies on his team to control all attacks. He did this because this guy is suing Lance for defamation of character or something like that because Lance called him a liar.

It all stems to a case of legal case in Italy about illegal doping. This guy that is suing Lance, Fillipo Simeoni, is testifyinig in that case. All a bunch of soap opera shit, but personally I thought Lance's actions today were pretty funny and not at all out of character for a true "patron" of the peloton as Lance has certainly become.

In case you don't know, Lance is about to become the first person ever in the hundred year history of the Tour de France to win six times. Three other riders have won 5 tours, one of them being the guy I mentioned in my letter, Bernard Hinault. Hinault was also the last French rider to win the Tour—way back in 1985.