Tour de France

I think ONCE shot their you know what in the team time trial. I can't wait to see how Lance does in the individual time trial. Hopefully USPS will be on top from there on out. They might not be quite as strong as ONCE, but Heras should be able to inflict enough damage in the mountains with Amstrong.

Do you know much about Floyd Landis? Is he a climber?

 

Hehehe. I've been waiting on a TDF thread to start.

 

Landis is a mountain biker in one of his first full seasons on the road, much like Cadel Evans. He won't have to expend as much energy at the front as Cadel did in the Giro, so he shouldn't crack like he did, but he's not a candidate for high in the overall either.

I think ONCE has done exactly what they came out to do thus far - get Galdeano in the jersey in the TTT and keep it until the mountains. I don't think Lance will (or really wants to) pull back all of the time in the ITT in a couple of days, but he does need to ride harder now that he lost :27 today in that pileup. It shouldn't hinder him later on, but we'll see.

I'm just getting bad vibes about this....Lance had been invincible up until this point, but lost two time trials in lead up races to Botero and Gonzalez de Galdeano (though he won each race) and now lost some time in a pile up in the TdF. He says he may not go all out for the win in the ITT, either. Just seems like he's more vulnerable this year, even with a stronger team....kinda like Indurain was in yr 5 of his run.

I still think he'll win it all this year - and I'll definately be rooting for Lance - but I'm not so sure it'll be a landslide like before. ONCE's gotta be liking how things have turned out thus far.

 

I read that Lance was pulled down by someone from behind that lost control.... and that he simply put his foot down to get control. After he checked his bike he hopped right back on. I assume that he was at the back of the peleton to avoid exactly what he walked into, not because he didn't have the gas to stay up front.

Also, the individual time trial should give an idea of what kind of condition he is in this year, since we know that all other races are simply TDF prep for him. I'll reserve judgement until I see how he performs there.

 

I think on Sundays, they defer to a special afternoon show on CBS....they did that last year and I know CBS is supposed to have Sunday highlight shows again this year - much like the old ESPN coverage before OLN came along. Today, it's at 5p ET/4p CT.

Thankfully, though, the 9p ET/8p CT recap show will show the coverage of the entire stage and not just the highlights package that they play on CBS.

The problem with all of that? Next Sunday is the epic race to Mont Ventoux! If they pre-empt it on OLN in favor of the CBS highlights package..... As of now, there will be no live coverage of that stage.

Tomorrow's time trial should be interesting, though....we'll see if ONCE uses a few of their lesser riders in spots 3-7 (since the time trial starting order is in reverse of the GC standings and ONCE rules spots 1-7) to help Beloki and Gonzalez de Galdeano in terms of "drafting," even though it's technically not allowed.

 

Thanks for the Landis link.

Here is some info on the individual time trial from Chris Carmichael's commentary on the TDF web site (always cool stuff to read).

 

I think Chris Carmichael writes something different for about 3 different webpages, lol...

How I see it? Armstrong, Gonzalez de Galdeano, and Santiago Botero in that order. Jalabert and Hamilton will round out the top 5. I'm just not that impressed with Leipheimer's TT abilities and think he may just nip inside the top 10. Look for good rides from Vjachetslav Ekimov, Joseba Beloki, and David Millar as well. As for yellow - I think Gonzalez de Galdeano keeps it by about 5-10 seconds after the stage with Lance in 2nd and Beloki in 3rd.

 

Head for the mountains Lance. Climb young man! Climb!

 

I expect great things from Tyler Hamilton. He finished 2nd in the Giro d' Italia riding all the way with a broken shoulder that kept him from getting a solid grip on the bike.

He is riding on perhaps the strongest team in the tour CSC Tiscali. They led the team time trial all the way until they had an accident on the road, but once they started going again they were faster than ONCE again.

The best riders on the team are Tyler Hamilton, Laurent Jalabert and the GREAT young talent Carlos Sastre. They currently have 5 riders in the top 15 and i expect that they will improve after the time trial with the three top riders.

 

the mountains? i thought that justin timber-blah blah was with janet, not lance.

 

Well, kind of a disappointment today as Lance finished 2nd and didn't take the yellow jersey from Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, who finished 9" back in 4th. I figured Botero would have a good ride - just not that good of one. Lance just didn't have it today, but he had previously said winning this stage and taking back the jersey was not his primary objective. I just hope it's not a sign of weakness.

However, at only 25-26" back overall, Lance is still in prime position to take the yellow on Thursday when the Tour hits the Pyrenees up to La Mongie. ONCE, Kelme, and Euskatel should all launch attacks in force during the stage, as should the likes of Jalabert, Virenque, and other opportunists looking to gain time before the peleton hits the high mountains.

Overall a disappointing day, but Lance is still right where he needs to be.

 

I'm totally not worried about Lance not being in the lead. Once they REALLY hit the mountains, Lance is going to shine!

 

I'm disappointed that Lance didn't win the time trial today, but I'm hoping that he has the advantage in the mountains. Carmichael was saying that he has been emphasizing climbing in his training this year over time trialing, so I hope that it shows later this week.

Keep in mind that if it weren't for the crash, Lance would be in the lead by 1 second right now, and in front of Botero by 2 minutes.

No whammies, no whammies.

 

I'll bet anything Cipollini returns by the beginning of next season, if not later this season. He's got too big of an ego for him to not go after Binda's record of stage victories in the Giro...all it'd take is one strong ride before the mountains and he could then retire.

Acqua e Sapone should've been invited to the TdF, yes, but Leblanc really didn't like it when Cipo pulled out of a race that he made an exception to allow his team in just because of Cipollini's presence. Saeco was dumped because of Simoni & his problem with cocaine from the Grio in favor of a French team; they probably should've been dropped, yes, but in favor of another team such as A e S or Coast and not who, Jean Delatour?

In the end, though, it doesn't matter...Cipo may be able to beat Lance in a sprint by 10 seconds, but Lance could blow him to smitherines on the mountain slopes of a Cat 3 climb. I like the quote from Lance's son Luke...

"Daddy makes 'em suffer. In the Mountains."

Anyway - they need to bring the TdF PS2 game over from Europe to the US, and there's a good USPS TTT wallpaper from Graham Watson here: http://grahamwatson.com/wallpapers/assortedwall/wallpapers/02tdfttt1024x768.html

Allez Lance!