Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Nick Charles

Aired July 05, 2003 - 14:41   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.


SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a ride, how about a 22-day bike ride around France? It is the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France, the world's premiere cycling advance. American's Lance Armstrong is the defending champion and he is going for his fifth title in a row. Amazing. Twenty-two teams are competing this year. The U.S. Postal Service sponsors the American team. The race starts Sunday morning, and a route will follow the original 1903 tour of nearly 2,100 miles. Wow! Amazing.
OK, Showtime Sports' Nick Charles now joins us here in Atlanta. I have trouble saying that. Everybody watching CNN knows you from a long way back, but you have your fingers in everything right now. You have been following cycling for years. Let's talk about the 100th anniversary. And this year it is a little different. It started from Paris for the first time in what almost 40 years.

NICK CHARLES, SHOWTIME SPORTS: Right, well, it's a little bit different in that I thought it was more brutal at the beginning. Of course, they had no gears. If a guy went down and had a problem with his bike, he had to walk into some town and fix it himself. You couldn't take any drink or food from anybody, any spectators.

CALLEBS: Now how could you get by racing without having something in your system?

CHARLES: And it was 3,500 miles, so this is a lot easier, I think with the new technology, although I wouldn't want to try it, and as you said, Lance Armstrong, at this stage, well if you haven't mentioned him, we should again. He is just -- he is an aerobic machine, but mentally and physically, he just crushes people.

CALLEBS: You know there are always his competitors, some who question his training, things of that nature, but this guy comes clean all the time. And he is just amazing, his work ethic, and to start the race pretty much in flat area, but once they get to the mountains, I mean if he is within shouting distance, it's look out.

CHARLES: Yes, he's just invigorated by all of it. Here's a guy who beat cancer, of course, we should say. Since he's come back, four straight Tour de Frances, so intimidating. He's invigorated by the obstacles. You know, a lot of people talk about pressures, Sean, and the ability to repeat, and everybody is out to get you and they are all gunning for you. He just thrives on that. And once again, when he hits the mountains, his aerobic capacity -- he has a standing heart rate of 36 beats a minute. So, already physiologically he is phenomenal. But he starts training for the next tour weeks after he wins the last one. So this is a step by step process, and where you really establish distance. You lose the sprint, it doesn't matter. It's like a 72-hole golf tournament. You don't have to win every hole. But he's going to eagle every mountain climb. And there are seven mountain climbs where some of the other guys, the closest competitors maybe will get a birdie, but most of them will shoot par in the mountains.

CALLEBS: What drives Lance Armstrong? There are so many cycling events throughout the year, but really he focuses on this, and I presume he is the person to beat again.

CHARLES: Absolutely. Again, there is a German, Jan Ulrich (ph), who is back, who's very tough, Gilberto Simone (ph), the Italian, tough climber, very strong in the mountains, and then some Spaniards. Ebo Mayo (ph), a young guy, 25. Armstrong is 31. His coach says aerobically and physiologically, strength-wise he's still the whole package. He's 16 percent stronger than he was 10 years ago.

So what's going to stop him, you know, talk is cheap. There's a German team that's going to try to tagteam him in the time trials, wear him out. There's a lot of strategy involved, and I mean the mental stuff that is involved every day to focus on this thing. And really to get graphic, these guys, literally these long runs, you eat, you drink, and you urinate in the saddle. You keep going. I mean, there is no bad day. You can't have, hey, I'm sick one day, I can't get out of bed, or I'm going to really finish well back in the pack. You've got to be on. And that's where Armstrong excels. His focus is just matchless.

CALLEBS: Well, it is the best publicity that the U.S. Postal Service gets every year.

CHARLES: It is.

CALLEBS: Let's talk about the teams, because people who follow say NASCAR, they know how important drafting things of that nature. How important is it for him to have a strong team, because he really does it?

CHARLES: Well, in the time trial, it's really important because there's nine members to a team, Sean, and they take the middle time, so if you go out and blow away your teammates, you are going to really exert a lot of unnecessary -- you are going to put a lot of unnecessary pressure on your team, because the fifth place finisher among your team on these time trials is the time they take. So you don't want to -- you want to break away, in some ways, but again, you don't want to burn out. So that's the strategy.

CALLEBS: Nick Charles, Showtime Sports, always a pleasure.

CHARLES: It's a pleasure. And you know, I don't want to give it to Lance Armstrong already, but he can only beat himself. Once again, he's the dude to watch.

CALLEBS: We'll watch it unfold. OK. Thanks very much.

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 5, 2003 - 14:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a ride, how about a 22-day bike ride around France? It is the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France, the world's premiere cycling advance. American's Lance Armstrong is the defending champion and he is going for his fifth title in a row. Amazing. Twenty-two teams are competing this year. The U.S. Postal Service sponsors the American team. The race starts Sunday morning, and a route will follow the original 1903 tour of nearly 2,100 miles. Wow! Amazing.
OK, Showtime Sports' Nick Charles now joins us here in Atlanta. I have trouble saying that. Everybody watching CNN knows you from a long way back, but you have your fingers in everything right now. You have been following cycling for years. Let's talk about the 100th anniversary. And this year it is a little different. It started from Paris for the first time in what almost 40 years.

NICK CHARLES, SHOWTIME SPORTS: Right, well, it's a little bit different in that I thought it was more brutal at the beginning. Of course, they had no gears. If a guy went down and had a problem with his bike, he had to walk into some town and fix it himself. You couldn't take any drink or food from anybody, any spectators.

CALLEBS: Now how could you get by racing without having something in your system?

CHARLES: And it was 3,500 miles, so this is a lot easier, I think with the new technology, although I wouldn't want to try it, and as you said, Lance Armstrong, at this stage, well if you haven't mentioned him, we should again. He is just -- he is an aerobic machine, but mentally and physically, he just crushes people.

CALLEBS: You know there are always his competitors, some who question his training, things of that nature, but this guy comes clean all the time. And he is just amazing, his work ethic, and to start the race pretty much in flat area, but once they get to the mountains, I mean if he is within shouting distance, it's look out.

CHARLES: Yes, he's just invigorated by all of it. Here's a guy who beat cancer, of course, we should say. Since he's come back, four straight Tour de Frances, so intimidating. He's invigorated by the obstacles. You know, a lot of people talk about pressures, Sean, and the ability to repeat, and everybody is out to get you and they are all gunning for you. He just thrives on that. And once again, when he hits the mountains, his aerobic capacity -- he has a standing heart rate of 36 beats a minute. So, already physiologically he is phenomenal. But he starts training for the next tour weeks after he wins the last one. So this is a step by step process, and where you really establish distance. You lose the sprint, it doesn't matter. It's like a 72-hole golf tournament. You don't have to win every hole. But he's going to eagle every mountain climb. And there are seven mountain climbs where some of the other guys, the closest competitors maybe will get a birdie, but most of them will shoot par in the mountains.

CALLEBS: What drives Lance Armstrong? There are so many cycling events throughout the year, but really he focuses on this, and I presume he is the person to beat again.

CHARLES: Absolutely. Again, there is a German, Jan Ulrich (ph), who is back, who's very tough, Gilberto Simone (ph), the Italian, tough climber, very strong in the mountains, and then some Spaniards. Ebo Mayo (ph), a young guy, 25. Armstrong is 31. His coach says aerobically and physiologically, strength-wise he's still the whole package. He's 16 percent stronger than he was 10 years ago.

So what's going to stop him, you know, talk is cheap. There's a German team that's going to try to tagteam him in the time trials, wear him out. There's a lot of strategy involved, and I mean the mental stuff that is involved every day to focus on this thing. And really to get graphic, these guys, literally these long runs, you eat, you drink, and you urinate in the saddle. You keep going. I mean, there is no bad day. You can't have, hey, I'm sick one day, I can't get out of bed, or I'm going to really finish well back in the pack. You've got to be on. And that's where Armstrong excels. His focus is just matchless.

CALLEBS: Well, it is the best publicity that the U.S. Postal Service gets every year.

CHARLES: It is.

CALLEBS: Let's talk about the teams, because people who follow say NASCAR, they know how important drafting things of that nature. How important is it for him to have a strong team, because he really does it?

CHARLES: Well, in the time trial, it's really important because there's nine members to a team, Sean, and they take the middle time, so if you go out and blow away your teammates, you are going to really exert a lot of unnecessary -- you are going to put a lot of unnecessary pressure on your team, because the fifth place finisher among your team on these time trials is the time they take. So you don't want to -- you want to break away, in some ways, but again, you don't want to burn out. So that's the strategy.

CALLEBS: Nick Charles, Showtime Sports, always a pleasure.

CHARLES: It's a pleasure. And you know, I don't want to give it to Lance Armstrong already, but he can only beat himself. Once again, he's the dude to watch.

CALLEBS: We'll watch it unfold. OK. Thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com