No, but he has to go up the mountain by himself so he doesn't get to rest by riding someones wheel. The other guys work together by taking turns up in front and blocking the wind. If you have no help then you are put at a disadvantage. Armstrong has had the strongest team in all his wins except for the first. This allows him to rest for most of the stage until the end where he can break away. It also him to chase a breakaway without as much work.
Of course it helps having teammates around, but that is not to say he will be in the wind if he is all alone. Nothing stops him from taking the wheel of a guy from an opposing team. In todays stage for some reason Armstrong did lose all his teammates (strange as it wasnt really that hard of a stage) and a couple attacks came, but as long as he guards the toughest guys he can do fine on his own. And he is not the only one who will want to ride down Vino if he had gotten away. Then he can team up with the CSC guys who ride for Basso. Other way if Basso had gotten away then the T-Mobile guys wouldnt want Basso gaining on them. As it were Vino made a couple attacks and all was on his wheel and wouldnt let him go away. Then came Klöden (finished 2nd in the tour last season) and they were more willing to let him go as he has had a bad tour so far. Klöden got up to the breakaway dude and they rode down the hill about 7 secs ahead of the main pack. Klöden and Weenig rode well together while their teams didnt help catching them/neutralized attacks to catch them so in the end Weening won the stage an inch ahead of Klöden and 27 secs ahead the pack of Armstrong and other overall win candidates. Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps 1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance DSC USA 2 028 VOIGT Jens CSC GER 01' 00" 3 019 VINOKOUROV Alexandre TMO KAZ 01' 02" 4 023 JULICH Bobby CSC USA 01' 07" 5 021 BASSO Ivan CSC ITA 01' 26" 6 011 ULLRICH Jan TMO GER 01' 36" 7 026 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 01' 36" 8 004 HINCAPIE George DSC USA 01' 47" 9 014 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 01' 50" 10 066 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 01' 50"
Lance should take back that jersey this coming stage. Voigt is riding for Basso and will probably lose plenty this stage to save himself for help in future stages. Moreau, although riding his own chances as CA's captain is not good enough to stay ahead with only 28 secs advantage. Moreau will lose around 2 minutes today I think. If someone not named Lance takes the jersey it could spell trouble, although Lance still will make plenty of time on the last time trial. Vinokourov probably the one who has a chance to borrow the jersey if he can make time in the mountains, but will need a lead of 2-3 minutes on Lance on the time trial. As would anybody else. Only real problems in the mountains can keep Lance from winning it again I think. 1 028 VOIGT Jens CSC GER 2 101 MOREAU Christophe C.A FRA 01' 50" 3 001 ARMSTRONG Lance DSC USA 02' 18" 4 057 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 02' 43" 5 019 VINOKOUROV Alexandre TMO KAZ 03' 20" 6 023 JULICH Bobby CSC USA 03' 25" 7 021 BASSO Ivan CSC ITA 03' 44" 8 011 ULLRICH Jan TMO GER 03' 54" 9 026 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 03' 54" 10 004 HINCAPIE George DSC USA 04' 05" 11 014 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 04' 08" 12 066 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 04' 08"
Consulting my crystal ball: Look for Carlos Sastre to do good today. Not that I expect him to win the stage, but I expect something from him. Also have money on him in head to head matchups.
Apparently Lance kicked some major butt today in the first major mountain stage of the tour. He dropped all of his main European rivals and some, like Vinokourov, lost over 5 minutes! Interestingly Vinokourov was talking about how he should be the leader of his T-Mobile team but Jan Ullrich did much better only losing 2:20 to Lance. To see how the stage played out, go here. Go to the bottom of the page if you just want to read what happened on the last climb.
Apparently my crystal ball needs adjusting. I was eyeing Valverde to do a good stage the previous one, then he goes on to win this one. Lance kicked butt, and I was surprised as to which riders hung with him. Valverde looks to be a possible tour winner in the future, although I dont know his time trial skills. Rasmussen also did a nice job staying with Lance, considering how he was in the breakaway last stage. Manchebo also really surprised me. Tour de Lance has officially begun. Only accidents can take away his 7th tour win now. Rasmussen will lose probably like 5 minutes alone on the time trial, and the others are getting far behind already. 1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance DSC USA 2 057 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 00' 38" 3 021 BASSO Ivan CSC ITA 02' 40" 4 101 MOREAU Christophe C.A FRA 02' 42" 5 038 VALVERDE Alejandro IBA ESP 03' 16" 6 164 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 03' 58" 7 031 MANCEBO Francisco IBA ESP 04' 00" 8 011 ULLRICH Jan TMO GER 04' 02" 9 014 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 04' 16" 10 066 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 04' 16"
I doubt he will keep riding. But he said after the finish today that he wanted to win a stage as he hasn't won one all season. Maybe if he doesn't win one he will reconsider retiring?
Here is the thing I don't understand about the race: 1) How come the riders getting chased by the pack cannot hold them off. Is it physics? Is it mental? I mean what the hell. If you have a 5 second lead on the pack why can't they hold them off. Sometimes you just see the leader give up and your like WTF...keep pedaling you dumb ass. I just don't get it. 2) Why does Lance need the team so much. I don't get that either. He is always gonna be faster than they are. Shouldn't he be used to leading a race by now, instead of freaking out when the team does bad. I understand drafting, but if your teammates are that much slower than you, at what point does it just become a hindrance to stay back with them. He's so much faster I don't understand their unquestioned importance to the whole race.
Without a team Lance would still be after his first tour win (and that is not taking into account the team trial). Riding behind on someones tail takes about half the effort as riding in front, and although he could ride on the tail of opponents they are not chasing down riders for him, so his team would have to do it. Otherwise Lance would have to stay with every attack and that is not humanly possible.
http://www.cyclingnews.com has up to date info on the tour standings...the 'live report' info is constantly updated every few minutes during the race. also Here is an article from CNN about Sheryl and Lance.
On paper he and the Disco team look the stongest but they still have to ride the races. While I agree that Armstrong will probably win its not over till its over. If Armstrong has a bad day in the pyrenees or a really bad time trial (it would have to be really bad) he's toast.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3268950 July 16, 2005, 10:45AM Armstrong extends lead as Tour de France enters Pyrenees Lance more than doubles edge over closest competitor Associated Press George Totschnig of Austria won the stage, but Armstrong, riding without his teammates, who couldn't keep up on the day's last two climbs, held off his main rivals to place second ahead of Italy's Ivan Basso, with Jan Ullrich of Germany fourth. He now is 2 minutes and 46 seconds ahead of Basso and 4:34 in front of Ullrich. The six-time champion's overall lead over Mickael Rasmussen of Denmark grew to 1 minute, 41 seconds. Rasmussen, who had been just 38 seconds behind at the start of the day, placed 8th on the stage up to the ski station of Ax-3 Domaines. The brutal 137-mile trek took place under scorching sun. A sheen of sweat glistened on Armstrong's arms. Riders poured water over themselves to try to cool down. Armstrong's teammates fell behind when Ullrich's rival T-Mobile squad piled on speed during the day's hardest ascent, a 9.4-mile climb over the Port de Pailheres. It peaks at 6,565 feet and is so hard that it is classified as ``hors categorie'' - or unrated. But Armstrong was unfazed. He stayed with Ullrich, Basso and others, and then dished out some punishment of his own on the final climb up to Ax-3 Domaines, powering up the ascent. Neither Basso nor Ullrich could get past him - and in the end, he left both behind. ``It was a very tactical day, with the attack from the T-Mobile,'' said Armstrong. ``The heat, the distance, it was hard, it was a very hard day.'' Totschnig, 34, was part of a group of riders that escaped from the main pack shortly after the start in the Mediterranean town of Agde. He managed to shake off the other members of the group on the day's hardest ascent, and rode from there up the final climb alone to win. He finished 56 seconds ahead of Armstrong for his first stage win in the Tour and broke into tears. ``An extraordinary day,'' Totschnig said. ``I didn't think it was possible to win a stage like that.''
Armstrong didn't even really look tired. Amazing...and strange. Ullrich at least gave it a try, I had been wondering when he would finally at least attempt to attack.
