Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Celebration Over Armstrong's Latest Win in France
Aired July 28, 2003 - 11:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To lighten things up for just a moment, let's go back to talking about a very inspirational story, and that is Lance Armstrong winning his fifth straight Tour de France. And to do that Steve Madden from "Cycling" magazine.
Anyhow, Steve, before we broke away, we were talking about just how interesting Lance Armstrong made it this time. It wasn't that easy for him, was it?
STEVE MADDEN, "CYCLING" MAGAZINE: No, it wasn't. The fifth Tour de France victory for all five riders who have won five times has always been the most difficult.
KAGAN: And what made it so difficult for Lance Armstrong this time? He's 31-years-old, which to a lot of us sounds like a spring chicken. And yet in the world of cycling his body has been through quite a bit.
MADDEN: That's right. Lance at age 31 -- he'll be 32 in September -- in fact, he's the oldest guy to win the Tour. And his coach, Chris Carmichael, said that over the winter they started to notice in Lance's training that he was showing the signs of aging.
Now, 31 might not sound that old. But when you consider everything that Lance has been through, it's a lot of taxation on his body.
KAGAN: And what does that mean for going for number 6?
MADDEN: He said that he's going to try to win the sixth one. All the riders who have won five times have tried to win six, and obviously no one ever has. But I think that if anyone can do it it's Lance. No one's ever got rich betting against Lance Armstrong.
KAGAN: And besides age, what will he have to overcome for next year?
MADDEN: Well, we don't know what exactly -- which route the Tour will take. But he'll have to deal with the climbing, he'll have to deal with heat and rain.
And in order to stay in top shape he's going to need to train all winter, probably in a way that he hasn't trained over the winter before. He needs to stay within, say, 10 percent to 15 percent of top condition. And that takes quite a bit of work because as he ages it gets harder to do hard workouts back to back. That's part of what happened during this Tour. KAGAN: What does this mean to the cycling world, to the cycling business, to have a superstar like this bringing attention to the sport?
MADDEN: Well, it's just -- it's great in America to have an American winning because a lot of times what happens when there's no American who's very competitive, the sport tends to sort of fall out of the national consciousness. With Lance winning, bicycling is big business and we get big crowds that turn out to watch races, not just compete.
KAGAN: And any other stars on the horizon? It was fun to watch Tyler Hamilton. He's the American who broke his collarbone.
MADDEN: I'll tell you, if Tyler had not fallen in the first stage and broken his collarbone, there might very well have been another American on the podium. That guy is just tough as nails, and he's someone to watch for next year.
KAGAN: Well, you'll be watching him. We'll have to have you back.
Steve Madden, thanks so much. And congratulations to Lance Armstrong on his fifth straight Tour de France victory. Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 28, 2003 - 11:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To lighten things up for just a moment, let's go back to talking about a very inspirational story, and that is Lance Armstrong winning his fifth straight Tour de France. And to do that Steve Madden from "Cycling" magazine.
Anyhow, Steve, before we broke away, we were talking about just how interesting Lance Armstrong made it this time. It wasn't that easy for him, was it?
STEVE MADDEN, "CYCLING" MAGAZINE: No, it wasn't. The fifth Tour de France victory for all five riders who have won five times has always been the most difficult.
KAGAN: And what made it so difficult for Lance Armstrong this time? He's 31-years-old, which to a lot of us sounds like a spring chicken. And yet in the world of cycling his body has been through quite a bit.
MADDEN: That's right. Lance at age 31 -- he'll be 32 in September -- in fact, he's the oldest guy to win the Tour. And his coach, Chris Carmichael, said that over the winter they started to notice in Lance's training that he was showing the signs of aging.
Now, 31 might not sound that old. But when you consider everything that Lance has been through, it's a lot of taxation on his body.
KAGAN: And what does that mean for going for number 6?
MADDEN: He said that he's going to try to win the sixth one. All the riders who have won five times have tried to win six, and obviously no one ever has. But I think that if anyone can do it it's Lance. No one's ever got rich betting against Lance Armstrong.
KAGAN: And besides age, what will he have to overcome for next year?
MADDEN: Well, we don't know what exactly -- which route the Tour will take. But he'll have to deal with the climbing, he'll have to deal with heat and rain.
And in order to stay in top shape he's going to need to train all winter, probably in a way that he hasn't trained over the winter before. He needs to stay within, say, 10 percent to 15 percent of top condition. And that takes quite a bit of work because as he ages it gets harder to do hard workouts back to back. That's part of what happened during this Tour. KAGAN: What does this mean to the cycling world, to the cycling business, to have a superstar like this bringing attention to the sport?
MADDEN: Well, it's just -- it's great in America to have an American winning because a lot of times what happens when there's no American who's very competitive, the sport tends to sort of fall out of the national consciousness. With Lance winning, bicycling is big business and we get big crowds that turn out to watch races, not just compete.
KAGAN: And any other stars on the horizon? It was fun to watch Tyler Hamilton. He's the American who broke his collarbone.
MADDEN: I'll tell you, if Tyler had not fallen in the first stage and broken his collarbone, there might very well have been another American on the podium. That guy is just tough as nails, and he's someone to watch for next year.
KAGAN: Well, you'll be watching him. We'll have to have you back.
Steve Madden, thanks so much. And congratulations to Lance Armstrong on his fifth straight Tour de France victory. Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
