The Official le Tour de France - Go Lance Thread

[Drbio]

US Postal basically just kicked ass today.

Lance is now wearing the Yellow Jersey and it could be argued that he will for a while. Hell, he may not take it off.


Lance will win again.

[Drbio]

Ullrich lost another 40 seconds after finishing fourth.

Hamilton is 36 seconds behind.

[u2sarajevo]

Top ten after today's team time trial (Stage 4):

1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 14h 54' 53"
2 005 HINCAPIE George USA USP at 00' 10"
3 006 LANDIS Floyd USA USP at 00' 16"
4 002 AZEVEDO José POR USP at 00' 22"
5 009 RUBIERA José Luis ESP USP at 00' 24"
6 025 GUTIERREZ José Enrique ESP PHO at 00' 27"
7 004 EKIMOV Viatceslav RUS USP at 00' 30"
8 021 HAMILTON Tyler USA PHO at 00' 36"
9 023 GONZALEZ Santos ESP PHO at 00' 37"
10 024 GRABSCH Bert GER PHO at 00' 41"

Lance in yellow!!! 6 of the top 10 are US Postal team members, although that won't hold up long.

Tomorrow is Stage 5, Amiens to Chartres. This is a stage for sprinters/breakaway riders.

[Waschdel]

The posties were pretty impressive today. Even if CSC, Phonak and T-Mobile had not to deal with flat tyres and crashes US-Postal would have won the race by a margin of 30-40 seconds. The new rules obviously did not favour Lance and his phantastic team because Jan, Tyler and all the other ones would have lost more time. Everything seems to go the usual way. But I still think that Armstrong is not going to win the tour this year. Even Eddy "the cannibal" Merckx could not win six times. And he was even more dominant than Lance has ever been.

[Drbio]

At the end of this race, Lance Armstrong will be known as the most dominant rider in the history of the Tour.

[u2sarajevo]

Top 10 after todays Stage 5:
1 129 VOECKLER Thomas FRA BLB in 20h 03' 49"
2 091 O'GRADY Stuart AUS COF at 03' 13"
3 162 CASAR Sandy FRA FDJ at 04' 06"
4 131 BACKSTEDT Magnus SWE ALB at 06' 03"
5 066 PIIL Jakob DEN CSC at 06' 58"
6 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP at 09' 35"
7 005 HINCAPIE George USA USP at 09' 45"
8 006 LANDIS Floyd USA USP at 09' 51"
9 002 AZEVEDO José POR USP at 09' 57"
10 009 RUBIERA José Luis ESP USP at 09' 59"

Lance loses the yellow to a breakaway group of 5 who dominated the day. I know it sucks he lost the yellow, but now the pressure will be off of him allowing him to rest-up for the mountain stages.

Up next is Stage 6, Bonneval to Angers. This is a flat stage, 196 kilometers. Sprinters will probably rule the day.

[Waschdel]

"Lance loses the yellow to a breakaway group of 5 who dominated the day. I know it sucks he lost the yellow, but now the pressure will be off of him allowing him to rest-up for the mountain stages."

Losing the yellow jersey to Voeckler was the best thing that could possibily happen to Lance. Allthough Voeckler won the french championchip 10 days ago he is no danger for the real competitors. Like the other four drivers in the breakaway group he will lose hours in the mountains. The wheather conditions have been really ugly today. It was very windy and it was raining cats and dogs. There were many crashes. Beltran - one of Armstrongs strongest locomotives in the mountains also had a crash and visited the doctor´s car several times. I hope he will be fine.
It is a miracle that most of the drivers who crashed or just fall on the slippery road are able to continue the race.
Considering that the wheather forecast says that it won´t be sunny until saturday it is kind of a relief for US-Postal that they don´t have to control the peloton in the next days. It would have sucked if they had to.

[Drbio]

Good call Waschdel. It probably removes a lot of pressure from the team.

[Waschdel]

Originally posted by: Drbio
Good call Waschdel. It probably removes a lot of pressure from the team.

Doc - I just wanted to explain why it doesn´t suck to loose the yellow jersey a week before the tour gets serious.
Lance already put more pressure on his team than any other captain. First he told them to hurry through the prolog because he wanted US-Postal to start as the last in the team trials. Then he told his team to do the work when Mayo had a crash and couldn´t pull up. And finally they worked their ass off to win the team trial. That is a lot of work in the early stages. Lance has won won some seconds against the other competitors but US-Postal had to pay the price. Maybe they´ll run out of coins in the last week.

Go Ulle!!!

[u2sarajevo]

Top 10 after todays stage
1 129 VOECKLER Thomas FRA BLB in 24h 37' 30"
2 091 O'GRADY Stuart AUS COF at 03' 01"
3 162 CASAR Sandy FRA FDJ at 04' 06"
4 131 BACKSTEDT Magnus SWE ALB at 06' 06"
5 066 PIIL Jakob DEN CSC at 06' 58"
6 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP at 09' 35"
7 005 HINCAPIE George USA USP at 09' 45"
8 006 LANDIS Floyd USA USP at 09' 51"
9 002 AZEVEDO José POR USP at 09' 57"
10 009 RUBIERA José Luis ESP USP at 09' 59"

Tom Boonen won the stage after an impressive sprint finish. Up next Stage 7, Chateaubriant to Saint-Brieuc. More of the same in store as this is another flat stage. So like today, Sprinters should fare well.

[Waschdel]

This stage was ugly. Lots of crashes and accidents. Lance was involved in two of those. Bruyneel said that Lance is ok. He only has some surfacly scratches. Rene Haselbacher - an austrian driver - was brought to the hospital with a broken nose and three broken ribs.
The first week of the tour is always very nervous and dangerous. All the sprinters are triing to get into the best positions. And their teammates have to take a high risk to bring the sprinters in those positions. As long as the stages stay flat it´ll probably continue like that. I hope that this tour will be decided in the mountains and not by accidents.

[Drbio]

Waschdel- what do you think of Lance's idea of making a time trial in the early stages? I like it.

[Waschdel]

Originally posted by: Drbio
Waschdel- what do you think of Lance's idea of making a time trial in the early stages? I like it.

Doc - that is a pretty good idea. But obviously Leblanc and his team (who is reponsible for the choice of the stages) wanted to give a chance to mountain-specialists like Mayo, Heras and others. Most of these drivers are small and relatively light (compared to Jan, Lance or Tyler) and therefore can´t really compete in a individual time trial (as long as it is flat). This years Tour is meant to be decided late. There was no tour in the last 20 years with fewer individual time trial kilometers. Guess why... And the time trial in Alpe d´Huez is a special case.
Lance´s idea would minimize the chances of mediocre drivers to drive into the yellow jersey and that might have a calming influence on the first stages. But the sprinters would battle nevertheless. The rain was one of the main factors for all these crashes.
The second week will calm the peloton anyway. Next Wednesday we´ll see the first difficult mountain stage. That might help because the overall ranking will be turned upside down.

[Drbio]

This should be an interesting week to be sure. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

And the time trial in Alpe d´Huez is a special case.

Why are they doing that?

[Waschdel]

Originally posted by: Drbio
This should be an interesting week to be sure. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Why are they doing that?

There is a special pattern for the tour which includes two individual time trials. I am not sure, whether it´s a rule or not. But I am watching the tour since the seventies and there have always been two individual time trials.
This year one of the two time trials is in Alpe d´Huez. Allthough it is a quite a short ride (ca. 15 kilometers) it will be decisive with the steep ramps. They have chosen Alpe d`Huez for a time trial to enlarge the chances of the mountain specialists.
During the Dauphine libere (a one week race before the Tour) Iban Mayo has won an individual time trial at the Mont Ventoux. He was two minutes faster than Lance.

[twelli]

[i]Originally posted by: Waschdel
During the Dauphine libere (a one week race before the Tour) Iban Mayo has won an individual time trial at the Mont Ventoux. He was two minutes faster than Lance.

That's probably one reason why Lance started speeding when Mayo crashed during the first week. I think the top drivers have great respect for the mountain specialists.

[Waschdel]

Originally posted by: twelli

That's probably one reason why Lance started speeding when Mayo crashed during the first week. I think the top drivers have great respect for the mountain specialists.

Exactly twelli. And I think it is too early to say that Mayo has no chance. As soon as the mountain stages begin, Euskatel (Mayos team) will run wild attacks. Mayo has lost more than five minutes by now and he has to attack. That might have an impact on the favorites because there will be a lot of pressure. I am sure that the mountain stages will be very intersting and entertaining.

Go Ulle!!!!

[kingrex]

Is Lance despised by the Euro cycling fan in the same way that a team that always wins is despised by fans in the U.S.? For example, there are alot of Yankee haters just because they always seem to win. Just wondering out loud.

[Waschdel]

Originally posted by: kingrex
Is Lance despised by the Euro cycling fan in the same way that a team that always wins is despised by fans in the U.S.? For example, there are alot of Yankee haters just because they always seem to win. Just wondering out loud.

Kingrex - there hardly is a common Euro sense. But as far as Lance is concerned you might be right to assume that he is despised the way the Yankees are. For most german cycling fans Lance Armstrong is something like the antichrist because he has constantly beaten the german cycling messiah Jan Ullrich. There are a lot of cycling fans here. But for more than 20 years there was no cycling hero, when Jan moved into the public focus. He finished his first Tour at the second place behind Bjarne Rijs from Denmark and most people still think that he could have won easily. But Bjarne was his team captain (now he is the director of the CSC - team) and he had to slow down a bit. Next year Jan has won the tour and all german cycling fans thought that he needs to wear shades because his future was so bright.
But than Lance Armstrong showed up. He was smart, intelligent and a little bit despotic. These two cycling giants couldn´t be more different.
I don´t really know the feelings of cycling fans in France or Spain but I think most people despise Lance as well.
I like Lance and the sizzling rivalry betwenn these two. But I am rooting for Jan.

[twelli]

I think there are a lot of Lance fans in Europe as well, but there would be a lot more if he weren't American (ok, he can't change that) but French, Spanish or Italian. Some people say he is to cold, if not arrogant, but I think most of it is envy. A dominant sports star will always have adoring fans on the one side and rightout haters on the other, but the true fans and the experts will always admire someone who is capable of doing what Lance does -- finishing on top, always.

But I am with Waschdel on this one

Volle Pulle, Ulle!

[Waschdel]

It has been the longest stage of this years tour today (237 kilometers). The french mountain specialist Richard Virenque broke away early with Axel Merckx. Virenque has won the mountain jersey six times and he has a pretty good chance to win it the seventh time this year. While his comrade Merckx was captured by the peloton with all favorites Virenque succeded. The overall ranking after the 10th stage:
1 129 VOECKLER Thomas FRA BLB in 42h 42' 14"
2 091 O'GRADY Stuart AUS COF at 03' 00"
3 162 CASAR Sandy FRA FDJ at 04' 13"
4 101 VIRENQUE Richard FRA QSD at 06' 52"
5 066 PIIL Jakob DEN CSC at 07' 31"
6 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP at 09' 35"
7 019 ZABEL Erik GER TMO at 09' 58"
8 002 AZEVEDO José POR USP at 10' 04"
9 025 GUTIERREZ José Enrique ESP PHO at 10' 09"
10 071 MANCEBO Francisco ESP IBB at 10' 18"
11 021 HAMILTON Tyler USA PHO at 10' 18"
12 023 GONZALEZ Santos ESP PHO at 10' 19"
13 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 10' 20"
14 029 SEVILLA Oscar ESP PHO at 10' 26"
15 005 HINCAPIE George USA USP at 10' 26"
16 009 RUBIERA José Luis ESP USP at 10' 27"
17 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 10' 30"
18 064 JULICH Bobby USA CSC at 10' 42"
19 151 LEIPHEIMER Levi USA RAB at 10' 50"
20 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 10' 52"
Voecklers team BLB did quite a good job and defended the yellow jersey. The first battles of the favorites are expected for friday and saturday.

[Drbio]

I thik it is a neat story that Voeckler is wearing yellow. Obviously he isn't going to win the Tour, but he has to be having fun and it is a fun story.

[Waschdel]

Originally posted by: Drbio
I thik it is a neat story that Voeckler is wearing yellow. Obviously he isn't going to win the Tour, but he has to be having fun and it is a fun story.

Right Doc and it is good for the french cycling fans. Today at the 14th of july the french nation is celebrating their national day. The Tour is a french race and with Voeckler and Virenque the french cycling fans have some good reasons to celebrate. Off course Voeckler is not going to win the Tour but after all the crashes and accidents the mood is changing now and the whole thing will be fun in the next days.

[u2sarajevo]

Top 10 overall after todays Stage 11:
1 129 VOECKLER Thomas FRA BLB in 51h 51' 07"
2 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP at 05' 24"
3 162 CASAR Sandy FRA FDJ at 05' 50"
4 101 VIRENQUE Richard FRA QSD at 06' 20"
5 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 06' 33"
6 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 06' 33"
7 071 MANCEBO Francisco ESP IBB at 06' 43"
8 066 PIIL Jakob DEN CSC at 06' 53"
9 023 GONZALEZ Santos ESP PHO at 07' 23"
10 067 SASTRE Carlos ESP CSC at 08' 11"

A good day for Lance, as he gained over 4 minutes on the current tour leader, Thomas Voeckler. Lance finished 2nd on the race, right behind the stage winner Ivan Basso. Lance mentioned yesterday that today and tomorrows stages he felt like there would be alot of movement in the placements. Looks like he was correct so far.

Tomorrow comes the trek from Lannemezan to Plateau de Beille. This is another Pyrenean mountain stage, including a climb on col d'Agnes which is said to be a difficult ascent. The climb to the Plateau de Beille was conquered by Armstrong in 2002. Let's hope he can do the same tomorrow and take back the yellow jersey.

[Drbio]

How did Ulle and Hamilton do?

[u2sarajevo]

Originally posted by: Drbio
How did Ulle and Hamilton do?

Lance is now 3:31 in front of Ullrich and 4:16 in front of Hamilton.

Jan came in 20th on the stage, 2:30 behind Lance. And Hamilton came in 34th on the stage, 3:27 behind Lance.

[Waschdel]

Originally posted by: Drbio
How did Ulle and Hamilton do?

Doc - it is kinds of frustrating but Lance basically kicked ass today ( to tell it in your words). Ulle and Tyler had a bad day. Both of them lost more than two minutes. Lance did a huge step to win the Tour one more time. If he does not loose any time tomorrow his only opposites might be Klöden and Basso. He´ll probably win again. He´s just hell of an athlete. US - Postal did a brillant job today. Lance deserves all the credits he won´t get.
And I´m pissed. My soccer team sucked the whole season, my basketball-team seems to stagnate during off-season and my cycler is having lousy days. Being a sports fan sometimes has a bad influence on my state of mind until the next morning.

[ames7]

So exciting today! The entire Foundation staff watched the stage, w/a Belgium TV crew filming us. (We were under strict instructions to act "excited but natural.") Normally I don't really like watching cycling, but that was really cool. Couldn't believe how close some of those fans got.

[Drbio]

Thanks for the updates.....hang in there Waschdel.....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]



Go Lance! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[twelli]

I think the tour is over, again. The difference is simple. While Ullrich has the talent and the better physique, Lance, over the years has just been willing to torture himself more and live for the tour.

Now, Ullrich might even become the second best rider in his own team (behind Kloeden). How disappointing.

[dude1394]

It's all in the gut, isn't it. Cycling more than other sports.

[u2sarajevo]

Top 10 finishers in todays stage 13:
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 6h 04' 38"
2 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 00' 00"
3 081 TOTSCHNIG Georg AUT GST at 01' 05"
4 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 01' 27"
5 071 MANCEBO Francisco ESP IBB at 01' 27"
6 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 02' 42"
7 002 AZEVEDO José POR USP at 02' 50"
8 051 MOREAU Christophe FRA C.A at 02' 51"
9 134 CAUCCHIOLI Pietro ITA ALB at 02' 51"
10 171 SIMONI Gilberto ITA SAE at 03' 43"

Lance won the stage! However did not take over the yellow jersey.

Top 10 overall after todays stage:
1 129 VOECKLER Thomas FRA BLB in 58h 00' 27"
2 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP at 00' 22"
3 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 01' 39"
4 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 03' 18"
5 071 MANCEBO Francisco ESP IBB at 03' 28"
6 081 TOTSCHNIG Georg AUT GST at 06' 08"
7 002 AZEVEDO José POR USP at 06' 43"
8 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 07' 01"
9 134 CAUCCHIOLI Pietro ITA ALB at 07' 59"
10 162 CASAR Sandy FRA FDJ at 08' 29"

As you can see, he is now 22 seconds off the lead. Ullrich is now 6:39 seconds behind Lance.

Tomorrow is a pancake flat stage from Carcassonne to Nimes. This will provide opportunities for Sprinters to attempt long breakaways. After that is the last rest day on Monday.

[twelli]

in the Alps Lance will get the yellow jersey and then it will be a parade back to Paris

[Drbio]

22 seconds to Yellow....a yellow which I would seriously doubt he'd relinquish at this point. Man Lance looked great today.

[#41]

I hope Basso doesn't lose too much time in the time trial and can fight Lance for #1 in the alps. Ullrich won't come back from 7 minutes down...

[Drbio]

With Hamilton out and Ulle so far back, I think Lance's main competition comes from Basso and maybe the German Kloden. I don't think either will win, but those two are certainly going to race hard.

It would not surprise me a bit if the top 3 at the end of the Tour were Armstrong, Basso and Kloden.

[u2sarajevo]

I like Basso, he is going to be a force in future tours. Tomorrows stage begins a string of mountain stages from Valreas to Villard-de-Lans. Wednesday is going to be exciting in a time-trial to the top of L'Alpe-de-Huez where Lance had a dramatic win 2 years ago.

What a fun week ahead of racing.

[u2sarajevo]

Lance wins stage 15 and takes the Yellow!!!!

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[u2sarajevo]

Top 10 in todays stage:
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 4h 40' 30"
2 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 00' 00"
3 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 00' 03"
4 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 00' 06"
5 151 LEIPHEIMER Levi USA RAB at 00' 13"
6 101 VIRENQUE Richard FRA QSD at 00' 48"
7 158 RASMUSSEN Mickael DEN RAB at 00' 49"
8 002 AZEVEDO José POR USP at 00' 53"
9 069 VOIGT Jens GER CSC at 01' 04"
10 067 SASTRE Carlos ESP CSC at 01' 24"

Top 10 overall after stage 15:
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 67h 13' 43"
2 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 01' 25"
3 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 03' 22"
4 071 MANCEBO Francisco ESP IBB at 05' 39"
5 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 06' 54"
6 002 AZEVEDO José POR USP at 07' 34"
7 081 TOTSCHNIG Georg AUT GST at 08' 19"
8 129 VOECKLER Thomas FRA BLB at 09' 28"
9 134 CAUCCHIOLI Pietro ITA ALB at 10' 10"
10 151 LEIPHEIMER Levi USA RAB at 10' 58"

Lance takes yellow again and wins the stage. Ullrich had a lead on Armstrong in an attempt to cut into his lead time, however he was unable to sustain the strength of Lance in the Alps. Ivan Basso finished right behind Lance and now has setup an exciting time-trial tomorrow in a race to the top of L'Alpe-d'Huez. This climb is rated beyond climb classification, Lance won the race to the top of this mountain 2 years ago in a dramatic display of strength and prowess, leaving his main competition Jan Ullrich behind in his fumes. Since Lance is in yellow he will start last in the time trial, giving him the advantage of knowing the pace he will need to set to keep his time distance on Basso, if not increase it. If Basso has a weakness, it is in time-trials so the outlook is good that Lance can gain some time.

[Drbio]

With all due respect to the other riders.....Lance is just an amazing athlete. I doubt he surrenders the yellow jersey.