Armstrong beats Kivilev by 6 minutes!! Two wins in a row. Looks like he might have the jersey after the next stage.
Another great win by Lance, pulling back more time than I could've thought he realistically could get on Kivilev and Simon. He may take until the 2nd Pyrennean stage on Friday to get the jersey, but he's well on the way to a three-peat. And I'm really digging watching it live on TV every morning on OLN, too bad it's moving to digital cable after the Tour and I'm going off to college. ------------------
Lance is pretty impressive. Ullrich is good, but unfortunately, he´s better. Let´s hope Simon can keep the yellow jersey for a few more days. ------------------ What do you expect from someone who beats up his fiancee?
At least here in Orlando it is. I don't know about Houston, though. Ticks me off, I actually liked watching everything live for once. Ullrich has more pure talent than Lance, yes. But, he has two things against him - he's lazy and he's a bit big to climb as well as someone like Lance. If he had more motivation, the 2nd problem would probably take care of itself, but the reason why he can't get over the hump is this lack of motivation. He's 2 years younger than Lance, and his day will probably come once again like it did in 97. But that's still down the road. I think Simon's got the jersey for Stages 12 and 13, he'll probably lose it on the 2nd Pyrennean stage. Kivilev's a non-factor now. ------------------
Jovi, I heard they had to surgically remove Ullrich from the saddle at the end of the time trial today. He didn't stand up once for the whole thing.
Wow - another stage win for Lance, this time in the Pyrenees in the hardest stage of the Tour. Simon hasn't finished yet, and Lance is now in Yellow. Ullrich finished another minute down and the rest were 1:45+ back. The strength of Lance's team really showed today - and it wasn't Telekom this time! Allez Lance! ------------------
I love this update on the "letour" sight. HAHAHA!! 14H43 - Ullrich Out of Saddle! Ullrich was so determined to drop Armstrong that he even stood out of his saddle in his latest surge. He continues to dance on his pedals but he is matched by Armstrong all the way! Go LANCE go!!!!!! ------------------ This space left intentionally blank... [This message has been edited by mr_oily (edited July 21, 2001).]
Jovi, hopefully this will make you feel better about Lance if he wins the whole thing. I got it from www.thedailypeleton.com . When Ullrich crashed today Lance waited for him, while Beloki took off trying to gain time. Honestly, I would have took off too, but I thought it was a very courageous thing to risk losing time just to do the right thing. ---- On the descent Ullrich then misread a left-hand corner and dramatically left the road, rode into a ditch and finally came off his bike. Armstrong carried on but glanced round at his rival before taking off to chase Beloki who had capitalised on Ullrich's misfortune to speed ahead. Armstrong later said: "I asked him (Ullrich) if he was okay. I got a front row seat on what happened. "It was the professional and honourable thing to do to wait," he added. "But once I got the message on my radio that he was okay I continued racing." ---- They both passed Beloki later!
I don't want to sound like a complete idiot... Congrats to Ullrich for coming back and being so incredibly tough. If Lance is first and Ullrich is second like it seems will happen, no one can say that Ullrich didn't go down trying. I mean, he has attacked at every good opportunity to gain time on Lance. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? I hope the Telekom team doesn't become TOO aggressive.
Ullrich is agressive all the time, he's just matched consistantly by Lance. He (Ullrich) is more prepared than he's ever been and is easily one of the top two riders in the world - but Lance is his nemesis and he's never been able to drop him. This tour's essentually over - there's one more mountain stage tomorrow that is of lesser difficulty than today's massive stage. After that, the only chance of Ullrich taking back time on Lance is the time trial at the end of next week. The way Lance is riding, though, it wouldn't surprise me to see him take both the mountain stage and the time trial, especially the time trial. He has no match when on form. Ullrich is a great bike rider, but not the climber to match Lance. ------------------
One word to describe Lance, STUD. ------------------ T-Pooh and BahDakota went up the hill, to make a bet on a Foreward. When it all came down, they were nowhere to be found. Now they should be drawn and quartered.
If Ullrich keeps fighting, he can still win it. He just needs to be aggressive all the time. Ullrich showed today that he really is a fighter. I don't think he would have lost another minute without the crash. Armstrong just puzzles me, he seems to be able to stand in his saddle such a long time...very strange how he can do these spurts again and again...like a 10,000 meter runner that periodically runs sprints in between.
I have to agree on Armstrong this time. He appears to be a great sportsman but for some reason, he is not accepted and does not get the respect he deserves. Ullrich will finish in the second place for the fourth time. Oh well. There are speculations that this was his last tour´. He´d rather focus on winning the Giro and then quitting. Amstrong might be too good for years to come. ------------------
Is it true that no one cares about Armstrong and the Tour? That would be a shame. The tour is one of the biggest sports events. As I´ve said before, he deserves better and more respect- from everywhere. ------------------
Tour de Lance ------------------ T-Pooh and BahDakota went up the hill, to make a bet on a Forward. When it all came down, they were nowhere to be found. Now they should be drawn and quartered.
no doubt. Simply unbelievable how he can pass Ullrich at will. Ullrich will likely finish second and is a great rider, but it seems like Lance can pass him anytime he wants, and convincingly....demoralizingly.
I now also think that Armstrong will win the tour - but I am quite convinced that Ullrich will beat Armstrong in the upcoming time trial. It will just not be enough. Oh well - who is the olympic gold medalist again... ------------------ Rockets' offseason tasks in order of priority: Get rid of Cato under any circumstances - ideally in a trade (with draft picks from us to them) that brings us Raef LaFrentz (dreaming). Re-Sign Hakeem. Re-Sign Mo Taylor. Re-Sign Moochie and AirBullard. Pick up the Langhi option for another year. Sign-and-trade Shandon Anderson for Bo Outlaw.
In the first half of Armstrong's career (before he had cancer) I have read that he was very cocky and arrogant, which didn't go over well with a lot of cycling fans. I wouldn't really know much about that because it was his first Tour de France win that got me interested in following the pros. After reading his autobiography, I would have to say that he is still the same cocky guy that he used to be, but he doesn't really have a reason to strut around any more because his performance speaks for itself nowadays. I hope Ullrich doesn't stop riding in the Tour as long as Lance is in there because from what I have heard, he is more gifted than Armstrong, he just hasn't trained as hard to realize his potential completely.
