In the end, France is in love with Lance【阿姆斯特朗吧】

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In the end, France is in love with Lance

Lance Armstrong has not worn the yellow leader’s
jersey for a single day in the Tour de France this year, but spectators
have not seemed to care.
On the roads of the course, words of encouragement written in chalk or
paint said, “I love Lance!” or “Armstrong is the Best Rider!” A
farmer posted a sign near his cornfield declaring, “Armstrong: Why
not?”
How things have changed for Armstrong since the last time he competed
here, in 2005, when he completed the last of his seven consecutive Tour
victories and was seemingly entrenched as the antagonist.

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1楼2009-07-29 23:38回复

Back then, French fans yelled the word “Doped” as Armstrong rode by.
Spectators held fake syringes with his name written on them. Some
people spat on him, showing their disgust for the man who has been
dogged by doping allegations at this race.

2楼2009-07-29 23:39

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In the past three weeks, he has become an underdog, a rider to be
respected — even a friend — to some people in this country who
applaud his willingness to come back at his age and put his winning
streak on the line.

4楼2009-07-29 23:42

One French television station on Friday showed him joking with a boy at
the race, sticking his tongue out at him. Commentators called him,
“Armstrong the kind.”

5楼2009-07-29 23:43

他在电视和报纸上谈论他的对手，而不是像过去一样回避他们。
He has been the kind of guy who let the actor Ben Stiller try
out his time trial bike, only for Stiller to mount it as if he were
mounting a horse. Stiller caused slight damage to the fine-tuned
machine, but Armstrong laughed it off.

6楼2009-07-29 23:47

Surely nobody, including the Tour’s director, Christian Prudhomme,
expected Armstrong’s return to turn out this way.
“At first, I was worried and scared because 50 percent of the e-mails
I received were against Armstrong coming back and 50 percent of the e-
mails were for it,” Prudhomme said Friday at the start of Stage 19 of
this 21-stage race. “I didn’t know what would happen.”

7楼2009-07-29 23:48

Prudhomme said he was instantly calmed when he heard the resounding
roar for Armstrong when Armstrong was introduced to the crowd in Monaco
before Stage 1.
“Right away, I knew it was the beginning of something different,”
Prudhomme said. “He seems to have completely changed from the picture
that we knew of him before.”

8楼2009-07-29 23:49

t this Tour, unlike the others, Armstrong has shown that he is not
invincible, and people can relate to that, Prudhomme said.
Armstrong is in third place, 5 minutes 21 seconds behind the leader,
his Astana teammate Alberto Contador. He is 50 seconds back from the
second-place rider, Andy Schleck of the Saxo Bank team.

9楼2009-07-29 23:49

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And for all to see, Armstrong even fell short of securing the role of
team leader. Contador, the 2007 Tour champion, earned that status by
besting Armstrong in the mountain stages.

11楼2009-07-29 23:51

“He has lived with suspicion since 1999, and he knows that, I know
that, everybody knows that,” Prudhomme said of the doping allegations
against Armstrong, who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug
once, in 1999, but backed up use of that with a doctor’s note for a
saddle sore.
He added: “But now this is the first time we see him suffering. It
gives us a sense that he is a human being.”

12楼2009-07-29 23:51