The primary day of the 2008 Interbike Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada ended with a males’s and girls’s cyclo-cross race positioned in a park a couple of miles off the Vegas Strip.
Once I first confirmed up on the occasion, the ladies’s race was already underway. The riders have been pedaling on grass, flying over concrete sidewalks, leaping over hurdles, twisting round sharp corners and climbing up steep angled slopes. I’ve by no means attended a cyclo-cross race earlier than, so all of this was fairly a sight!
When the ladies’s race was over, it was introduced that Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France, could be becoming a member of the lads’s race – competing in opposition to a few of the greatest cyclo-cross racers on this planet.
An enormous crowd fashioned as Lance appeared close to the beginning gate and the announcer referred to as him to the road. Lights flashed and the group roared. If it weren’t for his yellow and black LAF (Lance Armstrong Basis) jersey, he’d appear like any of the opposite riders on the course – an extremely match athlete wearing lycra getting ready for 10 laps of cyclo-cross hell.
In the beginning of the race, Lance held his place properly. After a lap or two he was main the second massive group of riders. He wasn’t on the head of the pack, however was nonetheless close to the entrance of the race.
Then, a sudden crash round a pointy and slippery nook induced Armstrong to go down. The crash was documented by a spectator right here:
Ultimately, Armstrong completed minutes behind the lead riders. In addition to his crash halfway by means of the race, there wasn’t a lot to jot down residence about. Even ultimately, because the riders sprinted to the end line, Armstrong allowed his opponents to go. Armstrong completed twenty second. You possibly can see the race outcomes right here.
Whereas the race was removed from a victory for Armstrong, it was certainly an thrilling occasion. Not many individuals get an opportunity to see somebody of Armstrong’s caliber ever race. And, for me, to see him in a cyclo-cross race of all issues, is much more particular.
Beneath you’ll be able to see each my footage and the footage of others who have been in attendance as Lance Armstrong challenged a few of the greatest cyclo-cross races on this planet on the 2008 Cross Vegas cyclo-cross bicycle race.
Save