The Tour thread!!!!!!!!

[nigel]

Aight it begins Saturday! Lets see who starts it off with the Prologue win! Anyone taping it? I dont have a way to watch any of it :(

[ice ice baby]

Aight it begins Saturday! Lets see who starts it off with the Prologue win! Anyone taping it? I dont have a way to watch any of it :(Alright Gents....does Lance have it in him this year again or is Sheryl Crow getting in his way???

[martini]

Have you got a high speed internet connection? Then you can watch it! Crap, I can't find the site now, but suffice to say its a euro channel(Ch4 from england i think) the streams video online. Do some searching and I bet you find it. Roadbike review would be your best bet to finding it.

I'm reading updates as I type this in too. Bartoli is on the course about to finish.

[tmac]

Have you got a high speed internet connection? Then you can watch it! Crap, I can't find the site now, but suffice to say its a euro channel(Ch4 from england i think) the streams video online. Do some searching and I bet you find it. Roadbike review would be your best bet to finding it.

I'm reading updates as I type this in too. Bartoli is on the course about to finish.
I have not found a site to watch streaming video - but I am listening to Phil as I type. I like the radio effect - it makes me feel like I am living in a long-gone era. Ironic eh?

Here is the link to the live feed:
http://www.olntv.com/tdf04/

enjoy.

-T

[igor]

Got in just in time to see the big men go at it. Lance looked good and might I add so did the podium girls!

[nigel]

Hrmmm Jan let me down, only 16th! At least he beat Hamiltoes!

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo 6.50
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.02
3 José I.Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 0.08
4 Bradley McGee (Aus) Fdjeux.com 0.09
5 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 0.10
6 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.11
7 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC
8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.12
9 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC
10 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor
11 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.14
12 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.15
13 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank
14 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC
15 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 0.16
16 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.17
17 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.18
18 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems
19 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.19
20 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team CSC
21 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner
22 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank
23 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
24 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team
25 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears - Banesto 0.20
26 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0.21
27 Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) Liberty Seguros
28 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon
29 Benjamin Noval (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.22
30 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears - Banesto
31 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.23
32 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone
33 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
34 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
35 Mario Cipollini (Ita) Domina Vacanze

[Crash]

At least he beat Hamiltoes!

by a second :etard:

Lance did look strong.

[nigel]

The GC after Stage 1...not much going on yet .......

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo 4.47.11
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 0.04
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.10
4 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 0.15
5 José I.Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 0.16
6 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.19
7 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.20
8 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC
9 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor
10 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.22
11 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.23
12 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank
13 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC
14 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 0.24
15 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.25
16 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team
17 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.26
18 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems
19 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Fdjeux.com
20 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.27
21 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team CSC
22 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner
23 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank
24 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
25 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team
26 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon
27 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears - Banesto 0.28
28 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 0.29
29 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
30 Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) Liberty Seguros
31 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo
32 Benjamin Noval (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.30
33 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears - Banesto
34 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.31
35 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Fassa Bortolo

[Hathor]

Wow did you guys see that guy that tipped the guys tire in front of him while talking to his driver? Tried to put his left foot down to save himself then went tumbling down onto his elbow then knee then shoulder then head then back. Ouch!!!

[nigel]

Wow did you guys see that guy that tipped the guys tire in front of him while talking to his driver? Tried to put his left foot down to save himself then went tumbling down onto his elbow then knee then shoulder then head then back. Ouch!!!
Oh no you didnt just taunt me with visuals! Curse you! *cant watch the tour* Argggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

[nigel]

General classification after stage 2

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 9.05.42
2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo 0.08
3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 0.17
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.18
5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 0.23
6 José I.Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 0.24
7 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.27
8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.28
9 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC
10 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor
11 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.30
12 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.31
13 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank
14 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC
15 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 0.32
16 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.33
17 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team
18 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.34
19 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems
20 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Fdjeux.com
21 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.35
22 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team CSC
23 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner
24 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank
25 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems

[gopherhockey]

Oh no you didnt just taunt me with visuals! Curse you! *cant watch the tour* Argggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
Nothing better than the Tour on Tivo! ;) Skip commercials and that crazy guy who does all the commentating flailing his hands all over the place saying "tour de FrAnce" ;)

[nigel]

Nothing better than the Tour on Tivo! ;) Skip commercials and that crazy guy who does all the commentating flailing his hands all over the place saying "tour de FrAnce" ;)
if your taping it i want copies!! Will pay!!

[gopherhockey]

if your taping it i want copies!! Will pay!!
Tape... whats that? ;)

[fasterfoster]

I thought Shad might find this interesting. It's taken from OLN's Tour de France page. Robbie McEwen won today's stage.

"Robbie began his cycling career as a BMX rider. And while that was many years ago, the skills acquired have never been lost. His phenomenal bike handling ability is one of his strengths, but his successes are the result of a variety of elements: pure speed, dogged determination, good preparation and an eye for the finer details in the mad rush of the bunch kicks he often wins."

[tmac]

Nothing better than the Tour on Tivo! ;) Skip commercials and that crazy guy who does all the commentating flailing his hands all over the place saying "tour de FrAnce" ;)
That's Tour DAY FrAnce

[gopherhockey]

That's Tour DAY FrAnce
hehe.. exactly how he says it. Too funny.

[manual63]

I thought Shad might find this interesting. It's taken from OLN's Tour de France page. Robbie McEwen won today's stage.

"Robbie began his cycling career as a BMX rider. And while that was many years ago, the skills acquired have never been lost. His phenomenal bike handling ability is one of his strengths, but his successes are the result of a variety of elements: pure speed, dogged determination, good preparation and an eye for the finer details in the mad rush of the bunch kicks he often wins."
That's cool!

I always try to tell riders how much more their cycling can improve just with some bike handling skills. A lot of riders don't think it's that important and just being in good condition is all they need. If you ask me, I would suggest all of you own a BMX bike 20" or 24" and learn to jump and ride it. It's just that extra bike control that will give you huge confidence that you never know your missing.....until you have it....:).

I actually wished I was into cross training when I raced BMX. I wish I had a road bike and I trained on it. I know I would have been a much faster rider and would have won a lot more races near the end because of the extra endurance. Cross training in other sports can do a lot for you.......I guess Robbie McEwen has proven that to be true.

[TrailPatrol]

Aren't there any more racers out there who started their careers as bike cops? (or became police cyclists from being racers?) There used to be a couple guys from Seattle, Sean Hollingworth from L.A. Sheriff's Dept. (Guess what team he was on?) and one of the founders of IPMBA from Cinncinatti on the pro racing circuit.
BMX??? What happened to the original "Guys With Thighs?" :crazy2:

Ride safe,
:banana:
Hans

[manual63]

I try to follow this thing on the OLN site, but I guess I don't understand road racing enough. What is the peloton? How do you find out where Lance is? Some of you tights wearing dudes can clue me in......right?

[noise_is_life]

I try to follow this thing on the OLN site, but I guess I don't understand road racing enough. What is the peloton? How do you find out where Lance is? Some of you tights wearing dudes can clue me in......right? The peloton is the main group of racers (vs. the break or the chase group).

On the flat stages lance will float around the peloton, but will always be near the front for safety reasons. His jersey number is 1, so you can always find him by that. On the time trials and mountain stages you shouldn't have any problem finding him, the cameras will be glued.

With any luck he will be in yellow after the team time trial, so that will make it easier to find him.

[manual63]

40" Lead For Voigt & De Groot
What is " here?

This isn't inches is it?

[noise_is_life]

40" Lead For Voigt & De Groot
What is " here?

This isn't inches is it?
It's seconds.

[berrywise]

Anyone find any streaming video sites? I found this one: http://tour.tv2.dk/ but I can't get it to get past the point where it asks me for a license to run media player. Probably something to do with our ancient win98se machines we have.

Over the weekend I was able to catch each race but there was still 50 miles to go when I left for work this morning.

-scott

[manual63]

So I take it that they take the whole group in a Peloton and give them the same time.

I saw to groups with the same time and some riders looked like they were out on their own with their own times. How many riders do you need in a group to have a Peloton?

[noise_is_life]

So I take it that they take the whole group in a Peloton and give them the same time.
Yep. In fact I'm pretty sure any group riding together get the same time, not just the peloton.


I saw to groups with the same time and some riders looked like they were out on their own with their own times. How many riders do you need in a group to have a Peloton?There's not really a minimum number, just the majority of riders. On mountain days there may end up not being much of a peloton since the riders can get strung out pretty badly.

[berrywise]

14 H 25 - Marichal Greets His Family...
Thierry Marichal of the Lotto team has been allowed to ride off the front of the peloton to greet his family. The 31-year-old is from this region of Belgium.



How cool would that be to ride lead the peloton into your home region and to have your family there to see you leading as you come in?

[manual63]

14 H 25 - Marichal Greets His Family...
Thierry Marichal of the Lotto team has been allowed to ride off the front of the peloton to greet his family. The 31-year-old is from this region of Belgium.



How cool would that be to ride lead the peloton into your home region and to have your family there to see you leading as you come in?
It's amazing how much respect for eachother these riders have. In BMX, we respected eachother off the track.....sometimes.....but during a race......NO WAY!!!

I guess there isn't much time to respect one another in a 45 second time span......:laugh:.

[jeffgude]

[QUOTE=berrywise]14 H 25 - Marichal Greets His Family...
Thierry Marichal of the Lotto team has been allowed to ride off the front of the peloton to greet his family. The 31-year-old is from this region of Belgium.


From what I've read, these guys must more or less ask permission to do this sort of thing (jump out in front to wave to family).
They have to clear it with the unofficial race leaders (Lance, Ullrich, etc.) Once it's ok with them, the peloton allows the breakaway.

It's the same sort of unwritten rules that applied last year when Lance hit the spectator and went down -- Tyler Hamilton told the rest of the peloton to back off and wait for him to catch up.

Obviously if you intend to compete at that level you need to stay in the good graces of the other riders, someone who was ostracized could be in big trouble.

[fasterfoster]

That's cool!

I always try to tell riders how much more their cycling can improve just with some bike handling skills. ... It's just that extra bike control that will give you huge confidence that you never know your missing.....until you have it....:).

I actually wished I was into cross training when I raced BMX. I wish I had a road bike and I trained on it. I know I would have been a much faster rider and would have won a lot more races near the end because of the extra endurance. Cross training in other sports can do a lot for you.......I guess Robbie McEwen has proven that to be true.
I understand that at least one of the Olympic Track (cycling) team is from BMX. The USA Olympic committee tested several BMXers because of their sprinting ablities.

[GearDaddy]

The question of how times are awarded always comes up, and it's a good question because it can be complicated. Here's an edumacation ...

During the middle of a stage, race officials don't really care about time gaps between groups, but the media people do, so they come up with their own defintions of the "peloton" (i.e. the main group of riders, not necessary in the lead), "tete de la course" (i.e. the leading rider or group of riders), and the "chasing groups" (i.e. group in between peloton and leaders - don't know the french term). They are constantly measuring the time gaps and reporting them.

At a stage finish, race officials subjectively determine which riders are in a group, where they all are awarded the same time as the lead rider in the group. A time difference will be awarded for as little as a 2 second gap between riders crossing the finish line. But, there are lots of situation where gaps will not be counted. For instance, on many stages there is a sprint finish amongst the peloton. Often the sprinters get away from the rest of the peloton a handful of seconds, but in this case any gap is ignored and the whole peloton will get the same time. Also, there are often stragglers that have fallen away from the peloton in the last kilometer. These rider's time gap is also often ignored and they are give the same time as the peloton too.

However, if there are riders that have been chasing from behind, and they are catching up, the race officials will give them a different time as a group even if they are only a few seconds behind the rider/group in front of them. Finally, there is a rule about crashes within the last kilometer where riders who are involved in a crash in that last kilometer are awarded the same time as the group they were with crosses the finish line, even if the crashers actually don't cross the line for minutes afterwards.

So, generally speaking on the flatter, sprint oriented stages actual time gaps are often ignored as things sort of spread out at the very end of a stage. On the hilly stages time differences are more strictly counted when riders typically come accross the finish line in a more spread out fashion.

[noise_is_life]

[QUOTE=berrywise]14 H 25 - Marichal Greets His Family...
Thierry Marichal of the Lotto team has been allowed to ride off the front of the peloton to greet his family. The 31-year-old is from this region of Belgium.


From what I've read, these guys must more or less ask permission to do this sort of thing (jump out in front to wave to family).
They have to clear it with the unofficial race leaders (Lance, Ullrich, etc.) Once it's ok with them, the peloton allows the breakaway.

It's the same sort of unwritten rules that applied last year when Lance hit the spectator and went down -- Tyler Hamilton told the rest of the peloton to back off and wait for him to catch up.

Obviously if you intend to compete at that level you need to stay in the good graces of the other riders, someone who was ostracized could be in big trouble.
There was a comment in the Cycling News live commentary today (my stupid Tivo is down) about whether the leaders should have waited for Mayo and Hushovd. It seems like there's a different dynamic on a flat stage when the peloton is still mostly intact.

[noise_is_life]

The question of how times are awarded always comes up, and it's a good question because it can be complicated. Here's an edumacation ...
I think some of the gap flexibility is built in on the sprint stages just to cut down on some of the risks of the bunch sprint. It is bad enough when you have all of the sprinters charging at the line, much less the entire peloton.

[berrywise]

There was a comment in the Cycling News live commentary today (my stupid Tivo is down) about whether the leaders should have waited for Mayo and Hushovd. It seems like there's a different dynamic on a flat stage when the peloton is still mostly intact.
I was amazed at how much time he lost from that. I think what really hurt him was getting stuck in the second peloton that formed. I think it would be hard to let a break away win a stage becaues the peloton waited for someone to catch up. Especially so early in the overall race with all the sprinters wanting to get their stage victories while they still can.

Also noted that it was a spectator that caused Lance to crash and not sure if that plays into anything or not.

[manual63]

How come when Jeff Gordon crashes Dale Jr. just keeps on driving.......it is a race isn't it???

:laugh: :laugh:

[Magic]

Because in NASCAR "bumpin is racin". In road racin bumpin will get you DQ'd or a time penalty. Plus Jr. is driving so fast he don't know what has happened.:)

[nigel]

General classification after stage 3

1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 13.42.34
2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo 0.01
3 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 0.09
4 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 0.12
5 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.16
6 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.22
7 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.23
8 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 0.24
10 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.25
11 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 0.26
12 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor
13 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 0.28
14 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.29
15 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC
16 Bram de Groot (Ned) Rabobank 0.30
17 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC
18 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.31
19 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.32
20 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems
21 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) AG2R Prévoyance 0.33
22 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
23 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team
24 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze
25 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 0.35

[manual63]

Poor Ullrich....

He has to wear tights and pink at the same time.....:scream:

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040706/capt.tdf13907061657.cycling_tour_de_france_tdf139. jpg

Nice riding surface too.......:confused:.

[nigel]

Poor Ullrich....

He has to wear tights and pink at the same time.....:scream:


Nice riding surface too.......:confused:.Ummm i'd wear pink if i could ride like that! Also if i got to ride that fancy new carbon tcr elite ride he's got!

[manual63]

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040705/capt.tdf15107051828.cycling_tour_de_france_tdf151. jpg


Think Road biking isn't a rough sport???

Think again. I will take a BMX crash over this anyday!

[manual63]

Just when you thought a freerider wasn't going to jump the Pelo.......oh wait....that's not a freerider??

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040705/capt.yl10107051642.cycling_tour_de_france_yl101.jp g

[gopherhockey]

Don't forget the one of me jumpin' the pelo from last year... ;)

http://www.morcmtb.org/images/temp/1081-2.jpg

[Hathor]

Don't forget the one of me jumpin' the pelo from last year... ;)

OMG dude. This is how you spend your freetime when I am on a trip? I sure hope the dishes are done. hahahahaha

[igor]

There was a comment in the Cycling News live commentary today (my stupid Tivo is down) about whether the leaders should have waited for Mayo and Hushovd. It seems like there's a different dynamic on a flat stage when the peloton is still mostly intact.
I was wondering this too. What did they come up with? I guess I thought they should of waited too.

[nigel]

I was wondering this too. What did they come up with? I guess I thought they should of waited too.
*shrugs* race should be a race! Leave em and ride! Same for the "same time" deal. They make all the riders have the chip deal on their bikes to record times and ascents/descents so why cant they just record it "to the second" Just because you got stuck in the middle of a pack, well then maybe ya should have gotten further up to get a better time perhaps? One of them fierce endless debate deals i guess tho.

D

[TrailPatrol]

Don't forget the one of me jumpin' the pelo from last year... ;)
...and in your NMBP jersey, too, I see. What a guy! :crazy2:

Ride invisible!
:banana:
Hans

[manual63]

OMG dude. This is how you spend your freetime when I am on a trip? I sure hope the dishes are done. hahahahaha
You see, I am smart.....I don't let my wife read morcmtb.com.....:laugh:.

[Crash]

I was wondering this too. What did they come up with? I guess I thought they should of waited too.
If Mayo had a decent team this would be a non-issue. If it would have been postal, Phonak or Telekom they would have had their leader back in fold in no time.

Since there was a break and there was two sections of pave ahead I'm not sure why they would have waited. Whether they were charging to get to the cobbles first or trying to put time on Mayo can be debated....

[gopherhockey]

You see, I am smart.....I don't let my wife read morcmtb.com.....:laugh:.
;)

Speaking of which, some dude nabbed .com of morcmtb - we were lazy and just never registered it. Bummer.

But I digress...

[berrywise]

*shrugs* race should be a race! Leave em and ride! Same for the "same time" deal. They make all the riders have the chip deal on their bikes to record times and ascents/descents so why cant they just record it "to the second" Just because you got stuck in the middle of a pack, well then maybe ya should have gotten further up to get a better time perhaps? One of them fierce endless debate deals i guess tho.

D
It's called tradition. Now I know technology has influenced the tour in many ways and it is really just a pick and choose situation when it comes to what technology they want to use and what they don't but back in the day they didn't have chips and there wasn't a great way of determining exact times so they gave everyone same times results. I think it is pretty neat that they still let some of the old school ways continue on.

[manual63]

;)

Speaking of which, some dude nabbed .com of morcmtb - we were lazy and just never registered it. Bummer.

But I digress...
Oh yeah.... .org

Habit I guess.

[berrywise]

GO TEAM POSTAL!


16 H 42 - US Postal At 2nd Time Check</B>
At the 41.8km mark, the US Postal team posted a time of 46'30" - that's the best by 28"! Lance and his crew did this section of the course at an average speed of 54.19km/h (33.5 mph)
I hear the train a comin'

[manual63]

U.S. Postal is currently kicking some @ss today!

I hope they continue.

[tmac]

Hey anybody named Ty must be a great rider, right? :eyeroll:

Awesome performance to finish second (prediction) while only finishing with 5 riders. Sounds like he did much of the work himself.

[noise_is_life]

Postal finished more than a minute ahead of Phonak, awesome ride!

That should put Lance in yellow.

[manual63]

Lance is in Yellow!

Have I become a Tour nerd or what???

[gopherhockey]

What web site(s) are you guys watching this unfold from?

I have been checking live.cyclingnews.com

[manual63]

OLN had some serious server issues so I found this one....

http://www.tourdefrancenews.com/tourdefrance/0,3479,s1,00.html

It's pretty good.

[Kingbozo]

The gap was 1 minute 7 seconds! That is huge!!!!

[Kingbozo]

What web site(s) are you guys watching this unfold from?

I have been checking live.cyclingnews.com
http://www.velonews.com/ has "live updates" as well.

[noise_is_life]

The gap was 1 minute 7 seconds! That is huge!!!! Seems a little lame that the really took the teeth out of the TTT this year, so that Tyler ended up only loosing 20 seconds, not the full 67 seconds. I guess it will keep it exciting though.

Here are the rules for this year, pretty confusing...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/?id=stages/stage4

[berrywise]

I think its a pretty lame rule. The argument for the rule is that the big budget teams have an unfair advantage so to keep things close they built in these rules to keep one team from getting to far ahead. If you ask me T-Mobile's budget is just as big if not bigger than any other team budget out there inlcuding Postal.

USPS rode better than everyone else. Period. Not because of their helmets or bikes but because they rode as a team, a well oiled, super fast blue rocket train.

Anyone else feel giddy inside when you heard about how big a margin they had going?

OLN and the net has turned me into a tour nerd. Before it was a little tiny race results bit in the paper but now I get real time, real video, decent commentary, its sweet.


Seems a little lame that the really took the teeth out of the TTT this year, so that Tyler ended up only loosing 20 seconds, not the full 67 seconds. I guess it will keep it exciting though.

Here are the rules for this year, pretty confusing...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/?id=stages/stage4

[TML]

For the first time, I was able to watch the start and the first few days of the tour while at my inlaws. Now I'm home, addicted, and without cable or sat. tv, I'm very thankful for the internet coverage.

It's my first time really paying much attention to the tour other than glancing at the occasional results. It's keeping me quite intrigued and I'm learning a ton about the intracacies of road racing as it goes along. I think I even got my father in law glued to OLN now.

[Daddy X]

The ESPN website has a pretty nice Tour section, lots of cool interactive graphics. As far as budgets go correct, T Mobile is the biggest by far, here are some of the 2004 budgets.

1. T Mobile: 14.4 M
2. Rabobank: 10.8 M
3. Quick Step, Cofidis, Phonak, Gerolsteiner: 9.6 M
4. USPS: 9.0

19. AG2R: 4.8 M
20. RAGT: 3.8 M
21. Alessio: 3.6 M

[nigel]

General classification after stage 4

1 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 14.54.53
2 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.10
3 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.16
4 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.22
5 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.24
6 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.27
7 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.30
8 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.36
9 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.37
10 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.41
11 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 0.43
12 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.44
13 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.47
14 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team
15 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 0.55
16 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team
17 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.57
18 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 1.00
19 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 1.01
20 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 1.04
21 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 1.08
22 Daniele Nardello (Ita) T-Mobile Team 1.11
23 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 1.14
24 Bram de Groot (Ned) Rabobank
25 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Team CSC 1.17

[Crash]

I think it is pretty neat that they still let some of the old school ways continue on.
And some argue riders and directors shouldn't be allowed to communicate via radio - but do it the old fashioned way - pay attention to who goes up the road and going back to the team car.

[berrywise]

And as much as I enjoy the video shots that they get from the helicopter I've always found that to be such a negative aspect when it comes to someone going on a breakaway. All the riders in the peloton just have to look up to see where the helicopter is hovering over the break away to determine how far ahead they have gotten.


And some argue riders and directors shouldn't be allowed to communicate via radio - but do it the old fashioned way - pay attention to who goes up the road and going back to the team car.

[Crash]

And as much as I enjoy the video shots that they get from the helicopter I've always found that to be such a negative aspect when it comes to someone going on a breakaway. All the riders in the peloton just have to look up to see where the helicopter is hovering over the break away to determine how far ahead they have gotten.
I'm not sure the riders even do that now. They just ride along and wait for the little voice to come over the headset stuck in their ear and tell them what to do - go to the front and pull, sit in, etc.....

The riders don't have to think anymore. All the tactics are directed from the team car. And now the director can monitor exactly how each rider is feeling - and you can too: http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/tech/articles/6461.0.html

[Kingbozo]

Like last year in the final time trial. Lance got word that Ulrich had crashed and was able to back off and play it safe.

[ryno lite]

All I have to say is I don't know how I lived without OLN for as long as I did! The past two tours have been so much better having OLN!

[noise_is_life]

All I have to say is I don't know how I lived without OLN for as long as I did! The past two tours have been so much better having OLN!
My satallite has been on the fritz since the beginning of the Tour (a tree branch grew in the way), I'm starting to get the shakes...:crazy:

I'm getting it fixed today though.

[nigel]

General classification after stage 5

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 20.03.49
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 3.13
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.06
4 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 6.06
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 6.58
6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.35
7 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.45
8 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.51
9 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.57
10 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.59
11 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.02
12 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.05
13 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.11
14 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.12
15 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.16
16 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 10.18
17 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.19
18 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.22
19 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team
20 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 10.30
21 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team
22 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.32
23 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 10.35
24 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 10.36
25 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 10.39

[PWAXON]

I'm glad O'Grady won the stage today. Not much of a chance but I'd love to see him get the green jersey. McEwen has got to be pretty upset that the peloton made no real effort to chase down the break today. I hate McEwen so I was happy:D

[Daddy X]

Super Mario and Petacchi are out of the race. Mario's was not much of a surprise but I was really looking forward to seing Alessandro doing well this year.

[PWAXON]

Super Mario and Petacchi are out of the race. Mario's was not much of a surprise but I was really looking forward to seing Alessandro doing well this year.
That’s too bad, I really wanted to see Mario get one last stage win.

[Crash]

Bummer about Petacchi. He never really got it going which is a shame.

If McEwen is upset with the peloton then he should have drug his team to the front and had them pull the breaks back instead of letting postal give the break 7 minutes. IMO he's a whinny brat and I'd hate to see him win the green.

[gopherhockey]

Bummer about Petacchi. He never really got it going which is a shame.

If McEwen is upset with the peloton then he should have drug his team to the front and had them pull the breaks back instead of letting postal give the break 7 minutes. IMO he's a whinny brat and I'd hate to see him win the green.
Is it true that the team of the yellow jersey wearer is supposed to set the pace for the peloton? I assume this isn't a requirement and that anyone can make a run to be up front. ?

[berrywise]

No, but if they want to keep their person in the yellow jersey then that is one of the best ways to do so. Team Postal wasn't concerned about keeping Lance in yellow because they would have wasted to much time trying to track down all the break aways. The time that Lance is back on the leader will be easily erased in the mountain stages but to be safe if you control the peloton you make sure you don't lose to much time. Also by being up front you don't get caught up in as many crashes that may occur behind you in the peloton.



Is it true that the team of the yellow jersey wearer is supposed to set the pace for the peloton? I assume this isn't a requirement and that anyone can make a run to be up front. ?

[PWAXON]

O'Grady takes Green!!!!:banana:

[berrywise]

Sounds like Lance had a tough day. Crashed early on and then lost ten second to Jan in the end?



O'Grady takes Green!!!!:banana:

[noise_is_life]

Sounds like Lance had a tough day. Crashed early on and then lost ten second to Jan in the end? The pack finished together, there was a big crash in the last K actually, so everybody got the same time.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/?id=results/stage6

My sat. is fixed, yay!

[Crash]

My sat. is fixed, yay!
Congrats!!!
I take my tivo and OLN for granted. Glad to hear your back online.

[noise_is_life]

Congrats!!!
I take my tivo and OLN for granted. Glad to hear your back online.
I'm so happy to have it back, it was starting to look like I would miss the entire tour, many of the tree people are booked with the latest Dutch Elm outbreak.

[nigel]

General classification after stage 6

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 24.37.30
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 3.01
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.06
4 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 6.06
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 6.58
6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.35
7 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.45
8 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.51
9 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.57
10 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.59
11 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.02
12 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.05
13 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.11
14 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.12
15 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.14
16 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.16
17 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 10.18
18 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.19
19 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.22
20 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 10.30
21 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team
22 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.32
23 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 10.33
24 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 10.35
25 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 10.36

[nigel]

General classification afer stage 7

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 29.09.14
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 3.01
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.06
4 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 6.06
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 6.58
6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.35
7 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.45
8 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.51
9 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.57
10 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.59
11 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.02
12 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.05
13 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.11
14 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.12
15 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.14
16 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.16
17 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 10.18
18 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto
19 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.19
20 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.22
21 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 10.30
22 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team
23 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.32
24 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 10.33
25 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 10.35

[Hathor]

According to the Stage 7 preview, they pretty much decided that Flecha caused the 99 man pile-up at the end of Stage 6. He busts his butt the whole race to stay in the breakaway, then gets swallowed up, and is going so slow that everyone has to slam on their breaks as he falls back in to the pelaton. Crazy. Why do they ever bother with a breakaway? Seems like 9 times out of 10, it fails.

On other subjects...You know how Bob Roll usually gives half serious/half joking answers to "Ask Bob?" Was he 100% serious about the whole catheter, evaporization discussion?!? :shocked:

[Crash]

On other subjects...You know how Bob Roll usually gives half serious/half joking answers to "Ask Bob?" Was he 100% serious about the whole catheter, evaporization discussion?!? :shocked:
Yes he was ;)

[Hathor]

Yes he was ;)Well then, I don't get it. I'm not sure I wanna get it. It is just somehow vented out of the clothing and evaporates?

[berrywise]

On other subjects...You know how Bob Roll usually gives half serious/half joking answers to "Ask Bob?" Was he 100% serious about the whole catheter, evaporization discussion?!? :shocked:I don't think he was serious about the catheter but I have heard of people just peeing while they ride and living with the wetness (kinda like sweat I guess) there also has been times where groups of riders will stop on flatter slower spots to answer mother's call and then be allowed to get back into the peloton.

Then there are the the guys who's teammates steady them so they can pee while coasting (try that while your pedaling and you piss all over your leg). That's gotta be a sight to see. Must take some skill.


oh and to answer your other question...nine out of ten times means that that tenth time is the charm and that's what they are all hoping for.

[noise_is_life]

oh and to answer your other question...nine out of ten times means that that tenth time is the charm and that's what they are all hoping for. For pro cyclists it sometimes seems like it is all about getting on the camera, the break was the focus of attention especially when Flecha made his final attempt at the end (and came close to making it). It's not easy to win a stage, may people in the peloton never do, they have to take any chance they can get. Flecha won a stage last year with a similar move.

[Hathor]

For pro cyclists it sometimes seems like it is all about getting on the camera, the break was the focus of attention especially when Flecha mad is final attempt at the end (and came close to making it). It's not easy to win a stage, may people in the peloton never do, they have to take any chance they can get. Flecha won a stage last year with a similar move.Hmmm interesting. Stages 7's final breakaway made more sense to me since they did it closer to the end. That's gotta suck when they kill themselves the whole race and it doesn't work out. Oh well. It adds to the drama. Now, about this other thing...I think I am going to need a definative answer or I will have to write Bob myself!

[bradpartyka]

I have missed every crash this year. Does anyone have them ripped from their TIVO or anything??? Or where can I find them. I had a site last year with video highlights, but can't remember what it was.

[nigel]

General classification after stage 8

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 33.03.36
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 3.01
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.06
4 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 6.27
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 7.09
6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.35
7 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.45
8 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.57
9 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.02
10 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.06
11 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.11
12 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.12
13 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
14 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.16
15 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 10.18
16 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.19
17 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.20
18 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.22
19 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.26
20 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.30
21 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.32
22 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 10.35
23 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 10.37
24 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 10.43
25 Daniele Nardello (Ita) T-Mobile Team 10.46

[nigel]

I kinda hope Zabel stays up in the GC!!! Simoni better get back up there too! I cant wait for the mtn stages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Crash]

Now, about this other thing...I think I am going to need a definative answer or I will have to write Bob myself!
He was definatively BSing. It is just as Berrywise explained. Either a pretty large group pulls off into the woods or you coast while your teamates push you.

[noise_is_life]

I hate rest days...

[PWAXON]

I hate rest days...
I'll 2nd that. I've actuly got some work done this morning.:D

[tmac]

On other subjects...You know how Bob Roll usually gives half serious/half joking answers to "Ask Bob?" Was he 100% serious about the whole catheter, evaporization discussion?!? :shocked:
Where does one find "Ask Bob?"

[Hathor]

Where does one find "Ask Bob?"Why, you gotta question (like "What is your deal?")? He answers the questions on the OLN pre-show, and they mumble something about aol broadband members and aol keyword "tour" so maybe you have to have aol to ask him one.

[stoneage]

If you have a Mac here (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20219) is a cool app to view the tour on your desktop at work. Instant auto updates and it hides itself if nothing is happening.

[nigel]

General classification after stage 9

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 36.36.31
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 2.53
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.06
4 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 6.27
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 7.09
6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.35
7 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.45
8 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.57
9 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.02
10 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.06
11 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.11
12 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.12
13 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
14 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.16
15 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 10.18
16 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.19
17 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.20
18 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.22
19 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.26
20 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.30
21 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.32
22 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 10.35
23 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 10.43
24 Daniele Nardello (Ita) T-Mobile Team 10.46
25 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.49

[LightWeight]

While I was listening to the coverage this morning, the commentators mentioned something about one rider pushing another. What's up with that? Anyone have any more info?

[Hathor]

While I was listening to the coverage this morning, the commentators mentioned something about one rider pushing another. What's up with that? Anyone have any more info?Are you talking about a physical push or was it when the pelaton started to get close to the breakaway group? A teamate of one of the leaders started to kind of edge people out/push them around in the pelaton so they wouldn't catch up. Doesn't seem very sportsmanlike but apparently is a legitimate tactic. (BTW: Once again I got an ulcer hoping the breakaway would succeed and what do you know...)

[nigel]

Im guessing physical push. I cant see why it would be a big deal those guys are touching all the time. Hell even in mtn racing ive been pushed and been the pusher, its not a race until you can pass someone on tight singletrack and hip check em.

[berrywise]

That was the best to watch break away yet. To see the team Euakstal (sp?) in the orange jersey giving every bit of energy he had left at the end only to lose to the big mean sprinters was heart breaking. The look on his face when he looked up as they finally got by him in the final yards. Ahh great stuff!

Its to bad the two of them couldn't have worked together for another 200 meters or so before starting to jockey for position leading to the finish. One of them would surely have taken the stage.

[LightWeight]

Are you talking about a physical push or was it when the pelaton started to get close to the breakaway group?
Yes, physical push. The commentators mentioned that there was some rule where your hands must be on the handlebars. Seemed kind of odd to me, but I can see where a small push in the middle of the peloton could cause a pretty major crash if the pushee went down.

[Crash]

Yes, physical push. The commentators mentioned that there was some rule where your hands must be on the handlebars. Seemed kind of odd to me, but I can see where a small push in the middle of the peloton could cause a pretty major crash if the pushee went down.
From the Giro: "McEwen, of the Lotto team, finished second ahead of Lithuanian Tomas Vaitkus who held off Germany's Olaf Pollack to claim a place on the stage podium.But the Australian was later relegated to last place in the field (117th place)after officials ruled that he had been given a push from a teammate as he prepared to launch his final sprint. "

http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/6085.0.html

[Crash]

That was the best to watch break away yet. To see the team Euakstal (sp?) in the orange jersey giving every bit of energy he had left at the end only to lose to the big mean sprinters was heart breaking. The look on his face when he looked up as they finally got by him in the final yards. Ahh great stuff!
What made it worse was that McEwen won.:mad:

[noise_is_life]

Nice win for Virenque today.

On a related issue, I always wonder what the holidays are like in the Merckx household. Is Dad proud of Axel for being a pro cyclist, or dissappointed because he just isn't the rider that his old man was (few people are).

[nigel]

General classification after stage 10

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 42.42.14
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 3.00
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.13
4 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 6.52
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 7.31
6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.35
7 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 9.58
8 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.04
9 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.09
10 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 10.18
11 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems
12 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.19
13 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.20
14 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.26
15 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor
16 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.27
17 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.30
18 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 10.42
19 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 10.50
20 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 10.52
21 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.53
22 Daniele Nardello (Ita) T-Mobile Team
23 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Team CSC 10.59
24 Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) Liberty Seguros 11.11
25 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 11.17

[nigel]

I want one of these!!!!!!! http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/tech/?id=ullrich-bike

and if youve never rode a compact road frame dont knock em! hehe

D

[noise_is_life]

I want one of these!!!!!!! http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/tech/?id=ullrich-bike

and if youve never rode a compact road frame dont knock em! hehe

D
Look at the saddle to bar drop on that thing, ouch.

[PWAXON]

What made it worse was that McEwen won.:mad:
I 2nd that:mad: :mad:

[PWAXON]

Look at the saddle to bar drop on that thing, ouch.
Its hard to tell but is the rear wheel up on a curb? Cuz man thats a drastic drop.

[nigel]

Its hard to tell but is the rear wheel up on a curb? Cuz man thats a drastic drop.

Nope thats just his position. They got it set to them, just looks wicked tho huh!

[noise_is_life]

General classification after stage 10
To the somewhat less experienced fans out there who think that Lance (and Tyler and Jan) isn't doing that great because he is 6+ minutes back, notice that in one day Magnus Backstedt went from 4th place to disappearing from the top 25. The time gaps get pretty hugh in the mountains, and today wasn't all that hard (relatively speaking), all the climbs where cat. 1 and below, there weren't any uncategorized climbs.

[SickBoy]

The idea behind the long (aka suicide) breakaway is that if you get the right combination of riders (several big teams represented and all riders are 10 to 12+ minutes down on GC) that the break won't get chased. AKA the one that Voeckler, O'Grady, Backstedt, Casar, and Piil were on the day after the TTT. You're taking the risk that the pack will give you too much leeway and won't be able to pull you back at the end.

The typical way a flat or rolling stage happens is that there are a series of attacks at the beginning. Most of which are pulled back until finally the "right" people (like I mentioned before) go up the road, because the peloton basically allows them to go. This is the "snapping of the elastic" as Phil and Paul would say.

The break then usually gets several minutes on the field. Before or about the halfway point, the teams of the GC leader (or teams who have people high on GC who they want to defend) will usually start the chase. They will ride a semi-high tempo to keep the time gap under (however many minutes it is to keep their GC people up there). Usually when there's about 2 or 3 minutes left, they pull off and the sprinters' teams take over. The GC defenders are interested in doing only enough work to keep their guys at the top of the GC, not necessarily bringing the whole race back together.

The suicide break rarely works - but it's much, much, much harder to break away in the final 30-50 KM of a flat or rolling stage when the sprinters' teams are riding high tempo on the front. Paolo Bettini is one of the few guys who can do this, and that's why he's won the World Cup overall twice and also turned the tables at Milan-San Remo in 2003.

This is the traditional way of defending the leader's jersey. There's another (rather interesting) way as well. Every day, send your second or third best (On GC) rider with the break. Credit Agricole did this a couple of years ago. This takes the burden off your team to contribute to the chase to defend the GC lead. The leader's jersey stays on the team but switches riders. That year, the jersey went from Stuart O Grady to Jens Voight back to O Grady again.

Everything about the TdF is expending your (and your team's) energy at the right time, and as little energy as possible the rest of the time.

[Crash]

Nope thats just his position. They got it set to them, just looks wicked tho huh!
It must take a lot of flexibility, massages, and miles in the saddle to be able to ride that kinda drop. My back hurts just looking at it :cryin:

BTW - Go Tyler!!!

[berrywise]

It does look like the rear end is sitting on a curb but even still that is a long way to stretch down into the drops. And I thought riding my fully suspended mountain bike was painful on my lower back :)



It must take a lot of flexibility, massages, and miles in the saddle to be able to ride that kinda drop. My back hurts just looking at it :cryin:

BTW - Go Tyler!!!

[GearDaddy]

It must take a lot of flexibility, massages, and miles in the saddle to be able to ride that kinda drop. My back hurts just looking at it :cryin:

BTW - Go Tyler!!!
Don't get fooled into changing your bike setup to be like a pro, with this huge drop. It could really do a number on back, and it's not going to give the perceived speed advantage by being more aero on the bike that you might think.

There's an adage about how flexible you are and what saddle-to-bar drop you can handle. Basically it goes something like this - If you can touch your fingertips to the ground, you can do only 2 or 3 cms. If you can touch your knuckles to the ground, you can do 5 or more cms. If you can touch your palms to the ground, then you can do the more extreme drops of like 8 cms or more.

You can use Lance as an example, where he has a fairly pedestrian saddle-to-bar drop of only 3 or 4 cms (at least on his standard road bike). It's important to be in a position that allows you to still generate maximum power over extended time as well as being aero. I think Lance has already accepted the effects of age and his saddle-to-bar drop has progressively shrunk over the last few years.

[GearDaddy]

The idea behind the long (aka suicide) breakaway is that if you get the right combination of riders (several big teams represented and all riders are 10 to 12+ minutes down on GC) that the break won't get chased. AKA the one that Voeckler, O'Grady, Backstedt, Casar, and Piil were on the day after the TTT. You're taking the risk that the pack will give you too much leeway and won't be able to pull you back at the end.

The typical way a flat or rolling stage happens is that there are a series of attacks at the beginning. Most of which are pulled back until finally the "right" people (like I mentioned before) go up the road, because the peloton basically allows them to go. This is the "snapping of the elastic" as Phil and Paul would say.

The break then usually gets several minutes on the field. Before or about the halfway point, the teams of the GC leader (or teams who have people high on GC who they want to defend) will usually start the chase. They will ride a semi-high tempo to keep the time gap under (however many minutes it is to keep their GC people up there). Usually when there's about 2 or 3 minutes left, they pull off and the sprinters' teams take over. The GC defenders are interested in doing only enough work to keep their guys at the top of the GC, not necessarily bringing the whole race back together.

The suicide break rarely works - but it's much, much, much harder to break away in the final 30-50 KM of a flat or rolling stage when the sprinters' teams are riding high tempo on the front. Paolo Bettini is one of the few guys who can do this, and that's why he's won the World Cup overall twice and also turned the tables at Milan-San Remo in 2003.

This is the traditional way of defending the leader's jersey. There's another (rather interesting) way as well. Every day, send your second or third best (On GC) rider with the break. Credit Agricole did this a couple of years ago. This takes the burden off your team to contribute to the chase to defend the GC lead. The leader's jersey stays on the team but switches riders. That year, the jersey went from Stuart O Grady to Jens Voight back to O Grady again.

Everything about the TdF is expending your (and your team's) energy at the right time, and as little energy as possible the rest of the time.
This could be interesting, especially given Voeckler has a 9 minute advantage. Apparently, Voeckler is no slouch in the mountains. Phil and Paul mentioned that Voeckler gained 2 minutes on a mountainous stage of the Route du Sud this year. He's young and a bit of an unknown quantity. Could he be a surprise like Cunego was in the Giro d'Italia?

It's not quite the same as a few years ago where a group of riders got more like 20+ minutes on Armstrong in one of the early stages. It took Armstrong until something like the 16th or 17th stage to finally put the last guy behind him (Simon I believe?). But all of those guys were definitely domestique material.

Lance will be marking Ulrich and Hamilton and vice versa. Mayo will be marking Lance. And you better bet that Voeckler is going to be marking Lance too. Lance has a definite advantage in the strong US Postal team though, especially Rubiera, Beltran, and Azevedo.

[Crash]

Mayo will be marking Lance.
Actually I think Mayo will be attacking and I think Lance and Postal will let him go so the other GC contenders teams have to chase and do the work. Mayo has a definately possibility to be on the podium if he can gain back some of his time on the "lesser" GC contenders.

[SickBoy]

Yeah, Dan, now that you say it... Voeckler could wind up being more of a threat than Ullrich or Hamilton.

His team has spent a lot of energy defending the jersey thus far - and I doubt by the stage into Le Grand Bornand (day after Alpe D Huez TT) that Sylvain Chavanel, Frank Renier and Didier Rous will still be around to sheperd him through.

What he really needed was another dark horse GC contender from another team in that stage 5 breakaway with him. That way Brioches would have help defending a GC lead.

It's definitely a possible scenario though.

[SickBoy]

Actually I think Mayo will be attacking and I think Lance and Postal will let him go so the other GC contenders teams have to chase and do the work. Mayo has a definately possibility to be on the podium if he can gain back some of his time on the "lesser" GC contenders.
You better believe Mayo will be throwing himself at every uphill pitch in the Pyrenees - however, there aren't many summit finishes other than La Mongie and Plateau de Beille ( and l'Alpe). He needs a summit finish to be able to attack really hard and put time into Armstrong and the other GC contenders.

He's gonna need the help of some stage chasers to be effective on the other climbing stages.

But he'll do it anyway since it's his only shot.

[grizzly adam]

I can't believe I missed out on all this until now! Oh wait - I was in the MINI for 9 days- :)

Doug - I've got some tapes of the first 4 days if you're interested.

I think this was said already, but congrats to Virenque! Two years in a row he has won the longest stage in the tour. Today he nabbed himself 68 points and the polka-dot jersey - sweet!

[Crash]

I think this was said already, but congrats to Virenque! Two years in a row he has won the longest stage in the tour. Today he nabbed himself 68 points and the polka-dot jersey - sweet!
and with only a little controversy.......

http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/details/articles/6559.0.html

not sure if this is crying over spilled milk or not. Thoughts?

[PWAXON]

and with only a little controversy.......

http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/details/articles/6559.0.html

not sure if this is crying over spilled milk or not. Thoughts?
I'm waiting to hear Eddys comments. I wonder if he will slam Virenque like he did Armstrong last year for having the audacity to drop his son:laugh:

[Crash]

I'm waiting to hear Eddys comments. I wonder if he will slam Virenque like he did Armstrong last year for having the audacity to drop his son:laugh:
good point. I had forgot about that. Seems to be a pattern here.....

[SickBoy]

Virenque could have kept Merckx on his wheel, and not forced him to pull through... but it would have slowed him quite a bit and it'd be a risk.

I don't blame Quickstep's DS for telling Virenque to keep going, especially if Merckx did just "fall off" his wheel.

[grizzly adam]

I say screw him! Sure they broke away, they rode together, they made an agreement. BUT - you would think that if you agree to something like that, you expect both parties to be able to finish AHEAD of the peloton. Well Merckz certainly wasn't feeling too well, seeing as he fell off the back of the peloton after they caught him. I would feel different if he were caught by the peloton and then finished within the peloton.
Like sickboy sayed, Axel was slowing him down. What if he would have waited? Most likely they would have been caught.
Go Richard!

Did you guys see those two crashes in last nights coverage?! One dude was in the ditch for a long time and another guy went wide on a decent, went down and then hit a wood fence post on his side and got spun around! Then he got up and continued to ride. yowza!

[Kingbozo]

The guy who hit the fence post broke a rib. He finished the stage but dropped out of the tour. The guy in the ditch fractured a vertabrae according to Velo News last night.

[Daddy X]

Oh man, when that one guy went off and hit that fence, ouch! I sure hope it wasn't barbed wire. He seemed to be in a fair bit of pain when he got back on his bike, rubbing his back.

[grizzly adam]

speaking of technology....you'd thing someone would have seen them coming!

15 H 29 - Peloton Held Up By Six Cows...</B>
The peloton had to ease off the pace of its chase because six cows were in the middle of the road.

[PWAXON]

Just reading velonews and Tyler had to put down his dog Tugboat:cryin: . Being a dog owner myself I hope he wins a stage for Tugboat!

Go Tyler!

[Kingbozo]

Just reading velonews and Tyler had to put down his dog Tugboat:cryin: . Being a dog owner myself I hope he wins a stage for Tugboat!

Go Tyler!
Yeah. Quite simply, that blows. I am with you on that one. But I still want Lance to win. :cool:

[TML]

15 H 29 - Peloton Held Up By Six Cows...</B>
The peloton had to ease off the pace of its chase because six cows were in the middle of the road.
Oh, that's pretty funny. Cars and people are held off with a vengeance but the cows got free reign. :)

[PWAXON]

5 Americans in the to 20 thats not bad!!:)

Overall After Stage 11
1. Thomas Voeckler (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 46:43:10
2. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 03:00
3. Sandy Casar (F), FDJeux.com, 04:13
4. Richard Virenque (F), Quick Step-Davitamon, 06:52
5. Jakob Piil (Dk), CSC, 07:43
6. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 09:35
7. Erik Zabel (G), T-Mobile, 09:58
8. Azevedo José (P), U.S. Postal Service, 10:04
9. Gutierrez José Enrique (Sp), Phonak, 10:09
10. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 10:18
11. Tyler Hamilton (USA), Phonak, 10:18
12. Santos Gonzalez (Sp), Phonak, 10:19
13. KlÖden Andréas (G), T-Mobile, 10:20
14. Oscar Sevilla (Sp), Phonak, 10:26
15. George Hincapie (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 10:26
16. Rubiera José Luis (Sp), U.S. Postal Service, 10:27
17. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 10:30
18. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, 10:42
19. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Rabobank, 10:50
20. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 10:52

[grizzly adam]

Lemond accuses Armstrong
July 15, 2004

PARIS (AFP) - Triple winner Greg LeMond has queried whether five-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong is as clean as he claims.

LeMond, the first American to win the Tour, says just because Armstrong has never tested positive for banned substances does not necessarily prove he is not using drugs.

"Everybody says that. But neither had David Millar tested positive and he now admits he took EPO," LeMond told Le Monde daily.

World time-trial champion Millar admitted to a French judge two weeks ago he had used the banned blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO).

As world time-trial champion and a three-time stage winner in the Tour de France, Millar is cycling's most high-profile casualty of a police drugs investigation since the Festina scandal of 1998.

The 27-year-old was the ninth Cofidis team member to be placed under investigation in a police inquiry, which began in January after the arrest of a young Polish professional, Marek Rutkiewicz, at Charles de Gaulle airport.

"The problem with Lance is that you're either a liar or you're out to destroy cycling," said LeMond who won in 1986, 1989 and 1990.

"Lance is ready to do anything to keep his secret but I don't know how long he can convince everybody of his innocence."

Last week Armstrong lost an appeal against a ruling denying him the right to insert a denial against accusations of doping published in a book released last month.

The book "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" by award-winning Sunday Times journalist David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, a cycling specialist formerly with French sports daily L'Equipe, alleges he used banned drugs. The book focuses on statements attributed to Emma O'Reilly, a physiotherapist who worked with Armstrong from 1998-2000. O'Reilly claims Armstrong used the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO). Armstrong has never tested positive for banned substances and has always strenuously denied taking any such products.


Where's the love!!! It sounds like Lemond just plain doesn't like Lance. He's giving him no credit what-so-ever for any of his Tour wins.

[PWAXON]

Wow, That seems kinda out of left field. I wonder what the "behind the scenes" history these two have. In 01 I think it was LeMond had a comment on one of Lance's drug allegations but nothing like that.

[berrywise]

How is Cadel Evans doing this year? Our once former wonderboy of the cannondale mountain bike team turned roadie.

[PWAXON]

How is Cadel Evans doing this year? Our once former wonderboy of the cannondale mountain bike team turned roadie.
He did not make the tour team this year.

[Crash]

Thats pretty disapointing to see Lamond make those statements unless he has actual proof. There has got to be some kinda history between them for Lemond to go off like that. I remember the comment PWAXON is reffering to - it was in related to Lance's relationship with Dr. Ferari (sp?).

It will be interesting to see if Lance responds.

[grizzly adam]

I bet he'll respond with a WIN!!

[SickBoy]

Ya gotta admit that if Lance admits to or tests definitively positive for drugs, that it'll completely crush cycling in America.

I don't believe with my full being that he's clean.... but I hope with my full being that if he's not, he doesn't get caught.

[SickBoy]

If any of you guys have ever heard of Matt Decanio... this is an interesting read on doping in the peloton:

http://www.racelistings.com/rzone/articles/article.asp?recid=329

He was a former pro with several teams including the US National team, Mercury (I think), and Prime Alliance.

[grizzly adam]

That's a good read..

[grizzly adam]

16 H 46 - Hamilton Drops From Lead Group</B>
Hamilton has been dropped by Armmstrong's group which has just been attacked by a CSC rider, Carlos Sastre.

5km to go!

[grizzly adam]

16 H 48 - Ullrich In Trouble</B>
Ullrich has been dropped by Lance's group which has just caught Sastre.

This is great! I can't wait to watch this tonight. Nicely done.

[PWAXON]

16 H 48 - Ullrich In Trouble</B>
Ullrich has been dropped by Lance's group which has just caught Sastre.

This is great! I can't wait to watch this tonight. Nicely done.
I'm with you, Its nice to finally see (or in my case read) some action in this Tour!

[grizzly adam]

OH YEAH!! Everyone fealt the pain of Lance's Dance today boys.... Ulrich lost about 2 minutes I think...Hamilton even more.....

THIS is racing.

[grizzly adam]

17 H 15 - The Top 10 In Stage 12..</B>
The top 10 in the 12th stage are:
1. Ivan Basso (CSC) 197.5km in 5h03'58" (38.984km/h)
2. Lance Armstrong (USP) at st
3. Andreas Kloden (TMO) at 20"
4. Francisco Mancebo (IBB) at 24"
5. Carlos Sastre (CSC) at 33"
6. Oscar Periero Sio (PHO) at 50"
7. Denis Menchov (IBB) at 59"
8. Michele Scarponi (DVE) at 1'02"
9. Iban Mayo (EUS) at 1'03"
10. Santos Gonzalez (PHO) at 1'03"

[PWAXON]

I'm upset about Hamilton but Lance is my 2nd choice. It looks like we may have another race for 2nd place again. I can't wait to actuly see todays stage. tomorrow will be even better because I can watch live:)

[PWAXON]

Ullrich comes in at 2:30 down
Hamilton 3:32 :mad:

[grizzly adam]

Also of note, Heras was almost 3' back, at 2'57.

[PWAXON]

I thought more of the big names would hang on today. Postal must have really set a killer pace.

[grizzly adam]

Yeah - no kidding. Maybe someone should hurt Hamilton so he'll ride better. ;)

Either that or they're saving something special for tomorrow.

[manual63]

I certainly hope Lance is drug free. That would be a real bummer to find out the king is doped......especially after reading that article a few posts back.

[grizzly adam]

I certainly hope Lance is drug free. That would be a real bummer to find out the king is doped......especially after reading that article a few posts back.
No kidding. You KNOW they'll be all over him since they're into the mountains.

But why is it so hard for us to believe that he IS drug-free? Why do we not take his word and let his actions do the talking? I mean, this is the only race that matters to him. He trains for this. He calculates out his season so that he peaks for the Tour. Why would he not then be so capable of what he's doing without drugs?

[transplant]

Maybe LeMond is all bunched up because he was never able to attain the status Lance has. Greg's mug was never on TV hawking cars or bikes, he never had "The Greg Chronicles" and he never dated Cheryl Crow. I kinda wish I had all that too, but I'm not going to begrudge that to Lance. I'm going to root for him because he's an American. You would think Greg would be more supportive of a fellow American, considering how road racing is a Euro sport and has been dominated by them for years. ESPECIALLY since the Euros took an American sport (mountain biking) and began to dominate that, until the Canucks came along.

[PWAXON]

I was just home for lunch and caught the end of the stage on OLN. Basso looked real comfortable with Lance up there. I wonder if we all have our eyes on the wrong GC threat.


Paul and Phil where already making comments about Andreas Kloden taking over as T-Mobile's leader:D

[Kingbozo]

I was just home for lunch and caught the end of the stage on OLN. Basso looked real comfortable with Lance up there. I wonder if we all have our eyes on the wrong GC threat.


Paul and Phil where already making comments about Andreas Kloden taking over as T-Mobile's leader:D

Well this sure is interesting:

As for Armstrong, who won here in 2002, the 32-year-old American said he had allowed Basso to win the stage because he is trying to help the Italian's mother in her fight against cancer.

"He's a hell of a good guy," Armstrong said. "We've been friends for a long time, and off the bike we're trying to work a little bit on his mom's situation, to try and see if she can win the fight against cancer.
"It's pretty special for me to have been out there with him, and the past week we haven't spoken about the race, we've spoken about his mom. It was a pleasure for me to let him (Basso) win, and he deserved to win. He was super strong."

http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/details/articles/6581.0.html

[grizzly adam]

Interesting indeed.
Lance looks pretty beat in the photo that accompanies the article. Hope he has lots in reserve for tomorrow!

[nigel]

General classification after stage 12

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 51.51.07
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 5.24
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 5.50
4 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 6.20
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 6.33
6 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC
7 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 6.43
8 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 6.53
9 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 7.23
10 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 8.11
11 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 8.35
12 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 8.50
13 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 8.51
14 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 8.57
15 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 8.58
16 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 9.01
17 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 9.11
18 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze 9.25
19 Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) Liberty Seguros 9.42
20 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 9.46
21 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio-Bianchi 9.50
22 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 9.53
23 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 10.20
24 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 10.21
25 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.26

[jeffgude]

Lance is not interested in stage wins, just the overall.

It shows how strong of a team Postal has, that Armstron'g supporting riders were able to put major hurt on Ullrich, etc before Armstrong really had to get serious. I bet he has plenty left for tomorrow.

[nigel]

General classification after stage 13

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 58.00.27
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.22
3 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 1.39
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 3.18
5 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 3.28
6 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 6.08
7 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 6.43
8 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 7.01
9 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio-Bianchi 7.59
10 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 8.29
11 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco 9.50
12 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 10.03
13 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.13
14 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 10.47
15 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.54
16 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 11.49
17 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 12.44
18 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 13.03
19 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 13.06
20 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 13.57
21 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears - Banesto 14.05
22 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze 14.22
23 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 14.29
24 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 14.48
25 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 15.09

[nigel]

Looks like things are settling in for the final GC!!!!

Too bad for Hamilton too, im not a big fan but it just sucks for him, his team and for the Tour as a whole i think.

13:05 CEST 81km/124.5km to go
Te peloton goes through the feed zone and there is a bit of a traffic jam. Eki grabs his musette right at the front of the peloton.

Hamilton has stopped. He rides backwards through the caravan, waving to all the directors, and climbs into the team van at the feed. That's a terrible blow for Phonak, but after Hamilton's loss yesterday he was no longer a GC threat. The pain from his fall in Stage 6 and quite possibly the mental anguish of losing his dog Tugboat can't have helped.
13:09 CEST 87km/118.5km to go
Hamilton's abandon will probably leave Santos Gonzalez as the Phonak leader at the moment, as he is the best placed on GC. José Enrique Gutierrez and Oscar Sevilla are also in the top 15.

5'23 after 87 km to Voigt, Chavanel and Rasmussen. Just 2 km to go to the foot of the Col de Core.

13:20 CEST
The reason for Tyler Hamilton's abandon is, as suspected, his bad back. For Hamilton it's not the same as having a broken collarbone, pain wise.

[jeffgude]

Lance is obviously incredibly fit this year, I don't think we've even seen him give a 100% effort on these climbs. Basso looks like the only real threat - can he ride a time trial as well as he can climb? Mayo and Ulllrich have been total disappointments this year.

[nigel]

General classification after stage 14

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 62.33.11
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.22
3 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 1.39
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 3.18
5 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 3.28
6 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 6.08
7 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 6.43
8 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 7.01
9 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio-Bianchi 7.59
10 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 8.29
11 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco 9.50
12 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 10.03
13 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.13
14 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 10.47
15 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.54
16 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 11.49
17 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 12.44
18 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 13.03
19 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 13.57
20 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears - Banesto 14.05
21 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 14.16
22 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze 14.22
23 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 14.29
24 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 14.48
25 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 15.09

[noise_is_life]

I was in Door County for a long weekend, but fortunately my hotel room had OLN...:D

What a crazy couple of days, pretty much everyone folded on the first couple of hilly days, LAME!

I was really hoping there would be some challenge this year with Lance getting older and all, but he seems even stronger this year than last year, he's inhuman.

At least Basso is hanging with him on the climbs and it is great seeing Voeckler step up to the demands of the yellow jersey as best as he can.

...and what's with Heras, you would think he is a flatlander...

[Don Youngdahl]

For all you roadis out there - do you ride better and stronger during the Tour? Most of my roadie work is solitary riding with nobody making me struggle and feel slow, and it seems that during the Tour when Lance is doing well, I blast along fantasizing that I can ride like him, and the miles go by pretty fast.

Don Youngdahl

[grizzly adam]

I like to think that I ride better, kinda like the "Ride like Lance" commercial with the guys wearing the Nashbar jerseys from 1982!
Yesterday during the Bluff Riders Charge, I looked at my Lance bracelet for inspiration during the climbs. It might have helped a little...

[grizzly adam]

Maybe you guys saw this over at Velonews....

http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/diaries/articles/6609.0.html

[TomT]

Lance bracelet!!???

Mine is a wrist band!

[Kingbozo]

Maybe you guys saw this over at Velonews....

http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/diaries/articles/6609.0.html
Ouch! Back injuries suck!

[grizzly adam]

That's why mine is better! ;)


bracelet, wrist band....okay, wrist band, NOT bracelet.

[homebrewbiker]

I was in Door County for a long weekend, but fortunately my hotel room had OLN...:D

What a crazy couple of days, pretty much everyone folded on the first couple of hilly days, LAME!

I was really hoping there would be some challenge this year with Lance getting older and all, but he seems even stronger this year than last year, he's inhuman.

At least Basso is hanging with him on the climbs and it is great seeing Voeckler step up to the demands of the yellow jersey as best as he can.

...and what's with Heras, you would think he is a flatlander...
The biggest challenge may be avoiding the whack jobs in the crowd that don't want to see Lance win. Could become an issue if it becomes apparent that Lance will win his 6th. I hope it does not come true, but with the crowd so close to the racers seems like a real possibility. Apparently something like happened to Mercks as he was trying to close in on his 6th.

[grizzly adam]

This is a sad but true situation. But this is the Tour and there have ALWAYS been fans on the route. Call it silly, call it dangerous - this how the Tour has always been and I don't see it going away.
The instance with Merckx - some guy came running out and punched him in the gut I guess. He fell down, got back up and finished. Ended up with kidney problems(??) I think...Ask Sam Posey on OLN. Fortunately there was a camera on him when it happened and Merckx was able to ID the guy and he did some time for assault.

[Crash]

Maybe you guys saw this over at Velonews....

http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/diaries/articles/6609.0.html
Total bummer about Tyler. I really wanted him to see him on the podium this year. He and crashes do not get along.


did you guys order yours here or get them locally? http://www.nike.com/wearyellow/index_f.html

[grizzly adam]

I got mine from Tyson. He brought some to a stage party.

[berrywise]

I bought mine from www.laf.org (http://www.laf.org) 10 for 10 bucks. I know Penn Cycle is also selling that for a dollar and you get one with every bike purchase this month.

[TomT]

Penn has them (adult and youth sizes), along with other tour paraphernalia.

[gopherhockey]

I bought mine from www.laf.org (http://www.laf.org/) 10 for 10 bucks. I know Penn Cycle is also selling that for a dollar and you get one with every bike purchase this month.
I bought 10, only need 1... other 9 are going into trail treasure sometime this week or next, so if you don't have one and want one watch the MORC membership forum for posts about trail treasure and get your yellow for free!

[noise_is_life]

The biggest challenge may be avoiding the whack jobs in the crowd that don't want to see Lance win. Could become an issue if it becomes apparent that Lance will win his 6th. I hope it does not come true, but with the crowd so close to the racers seems like a real possibility. Apparently something like happened to Mercks as he was trying to close in on his 6th.
I don't know how they can ride at all in those crowds, it is just insane.

[Kingbozo]

I don't know how they can ride at all in those crowds, it is just insane.
"We looked at each other and said, 'Man, it's unbelievable that we went through that without being killed.'" -Lance Armstrong, commenting to Reuters on the ferocity of the Basque fans who confronted he and Ivan Basso on the 13th stage.

[SPR]

I bought mine from www.laf.org (http://www.laf.org/) 10 for 10 bucks. I know Penn Cycle is also selling that for a dollar and you get one with every bike purchase this month.Here's a stupid question :crazy: . Have you had your wrist band break? I was taking mine off the other day and snap!:shocked: Oh well, I have a couple in reserve.

[manual63]

I saw a tights clad roadie the other day and he looked like he was doing the tour. I had to be sure he was not a poser, so I looked really hard and saw the yellow band on his wrist........so I guess he was not a poser.....:laugh:

I have one and I bought one for my wife.......go Lance and the fight against cancer!!

[igor]

Here's a stupid question :crazy: . Have you had your wrist band break? I was taking mine off the other day and snap!:shocked: Oh well, I have a couple in reserve.
Ya my first one bit the dust too. Lucky I had a few in reserve.

[smeulebroe]

I got mine from Tyson. He brought some to a stage party.
Hey me too :banana: :banana: :banana:

[grizzly adam]

You guys take them off?

Speaking of posers...

14 H 59 - Heras Dropped By Peloton</B>
The pace set by Guerini at the front of the main peloton is causing many riders to be dropped. The latest victim of the T-Mobile rider's pace is Roberto Heras (LST).

[grizzly adam]

15 H 26 - The Elastic Has Snapped!</B>