The return of Armstrong

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

The latest big sports news during these days is the return of cycling legend Lance Armstrong in competitive bicycle racing, and first and foremost in his mind is the Tour de France.

Armstrong from Austin, Texas, who won the Tour de France from 1999 to 2005, surprised all his cycling fans — including this writer and former Gov. Oscar Orbos – when he confirmed his ‘comeback’ and aims to bag his eighth Tour de France title next year after a layoff of three years.

In his formal statement, Armstrong, now 36 years of age who miraculously survived a testicular cancer in 1996, said his second principal reason for returning is to raise global awareness in his fight against cancer. Off the bike, the Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer awareness and survivorship program.

Its yellow rubber “Livestrong” wristbands that started selling in 2004 are seen everywhere. I have one myself and I’ve been wearing it on my right arm since 2004 because I’m a strong supporter of his foundation.

Moments after the news circulated on TV and radio last Tuesday, ex-Gov. Orbos, whose number one sport is cycling, immediately texted me to ask if Armstrong can still win the Tour de France at his age of 37 next year.

I said it’s still possible that’s if he did not gain a lot of weight and is still the disciplined rider that he used to be.

I also told him that in the history of the Tour de France, there was a cyclist who won the crown at age 36 and that was Joop Zoetemelk of Holland.

And again, a French rider named Raymond Poulidor almost won the Tour de France in 1974 and eventually bagged the first runner-up plum at age 38.

But Armstrong is not Zoetemelk or Poulidor.

I might end up eating my words but I’m confident that the seven-time champion Armstrong could still pull an upset against the young ones today and still win one more time before he finally retires.

But let’s wait and see.

* * * * *

WITH three months to go before the Dagupan fiesta celebration, the city’s alderman Alfie Fernandez is now on a blitz finalizing plans for the fiesta events.

Councilor Alfie, the hermano mayor of this year’s fiesta, is planning it the American way, especially the bicycle road race which is one of the highlights of the month-long celebration.

I admire his management style, really laudable and I doff my hat to him. His mindset is something one rarely finds now in sports organizers and especially among our political leaders.

Many times I have met sports organizers and sponsors and always encountered numerous vexations and exasperations due to late and haphazard preparations for the event.

That’s the Filipino way I should say, but it’s not for Coun. Alfie.

Keep up the good work, Sir Alfie.

* * * * *

It’s sad to know that the proposed six-day Tour of Mindanao bicycle marathon which was supposed to be held on the last week of August or first week of September was postponed indefinitely due to the armed hostilities in that southern part of our archipelago between our government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.

I can’t blame the organizers of the tour headed by my friend Joe Deresas for not risking the lives of the whole entourage, especially those of the participating cyclists and the police escorts.

He fears untoward incidents during the bikefest similar to what happened in Cotabato and Maguindanao recently.

Yes, our cyclists were frustrated because they prepared hard for this race. But we always have to remember that we have only one very precious life and that matters most.

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