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Official Tour de France thread.

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Yeah, even at over two minutes back of Rasmussen, Ullrich has a strong shot at the podium. Basso may not be a good time trial rider, but Rasmussen is worse. Rasmussen finished 174th on the prologue/time trial stage, 2:06 back of Ullrich's 12th place finish. Saturday's time trial is 55K, while the prologue was only 19K, so Rasmussen's time trial disadvantage will be magnified.
 
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jlb1705 said:
Yeah, even at over two minutes back of Rasmussen, Ullrich has a strong shot at the podium. Basso may not be a good time trial rider, but Rasmussen is worse. Rasmussen finished 174th on the prologue/time trial stage, 2:06 back of Ullrich's 12th place finish. Saturday's time trial is 55K, while the prologue was only 19K, so Rasumussen's time trial disadvantage will be magnified.
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Wow... yeah.. he sucks then.

Anyway... If I were Rasmussen and I rode as well as he has this year in the mountains... I might work on my time trialing a bit for next year.... but.... even at that... King of the Mountains is a hell of an accomplishment... speaking of which... I miss Il Pirata
 
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I'm sure Lance will do all he can in the time trial to avoid becoming one of the rare overall winners who didn't win a stage that race. Greg LeMond managed to do that in 1990.

It was interesting the last 2 days to see Discovery allow T-Mobile to outnumber them in the breakaways, and regain the team lead. Maybe Discovery wants to have Olaf Ludwig keep that job - I sure would have been ready to fire him a couple days ago if I owned T-Mobile. Catherine Zeta-Jones could do a better job of running that team. :wink2:
 
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Well, no surprise, Lance is the man. He beat Ullrich by 23 seconds to win the time trial and get his 22nd stage win, half of which have come in time trials.

Rasmussen had a nightmare of a day. Fell twice, and changed his bike at least 4 times! He got passed by Lance on the course, and he had started 6 minutes earlier. Ullrich gets another podium finish.

Champagne for Lance tomorrow, a nice way to retire.

Next year's race should be more competitive, but a lot less Americans will care now that Lance will be gone.
 
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Yes, he was very impressive and you could see in his face that he put it all on the line today.

Rasmussen was simply unbelievable to watch. Sliding the first time around a simple turn, then after changing bikes a couple of times, going over the handlebars in another surprising context. He should have put the time trial bikes back on the rack and run with a normal bike, the inflexible back tire on a demanding course like that, coupled with his early knock, left him unable to control his bike and ultimately in 7thplace.

But all I care about is Lance, and he looks set to win tomorrow.


BB73 said:
Well, no surprise, Lance is the man. He beat Ullrich by 23 seconds to win the time trial and get his 22nd stage win, half of which have come in time trials.

Rasmussen had a nightmare of a day. Fell twice, and changed his bike at least 4 times! He got passed by Lance on the course, and he had started 6 minutes earlier. Ullrich gets another podium finish.

Champagne for Lance tomorrow, a nice way to retire.

Next year's race should be more competitive, but a lot less Americans will care now that Lance will be gone.
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Farewell Lance... I'm sure we'll see you around soon.



The hero of hope

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
July 24, 2005




Do you remember when there was no coming back? When there was so little hope, so few survivors, so rare a success story?

You remember when a cancer diagnosis meant you might as well schedule the wake because fighting a killer that took millions seemed hopeless. Oh, the disease still kills. Cancer is still as ugly a word as there is. But you remember when it was worse?

Lance Armstrong did not find a cure for cancer. He didn't discover treatments. He didn't perfect medicines. Nameless, faceless heroes in lab coats and medical schools did that. Those are the true heroes in a war we are still fighting.

But every fight needs a face, needs a leader, needs someone who lifts spirits, cheers hearts and makes what once seemed impossible, now oh-so possible.

Lance Armstrong, clad in yellow again, coasted into Paris on Sunday, winning his record seventh consecutive Tour de France, an accomplishment requiring more will, more focus and more unrelenting energy than any other in sports.





But battling the Alps, the time trials and the snippy French press was really nothing compared to being the hero of hope to all of those chemotherapy patients.

Lance Armstrong is the most important athlete of our generation for all of that.

"I want you all to know that I intend to beat this disease," said Armstrong on Oct. 8, 1996, back when such talk was not likely to be taken seriously.

Armstrong was the ninth-ranked cyclist in the world at the time, a fringe player in a fringe sport in America, all of which makes his impact today seem so unlikely. He had testicular cancer, which had spread to his abdomen and lungs, which meant his boasts of beating it seemed based primarily on false hope.

"Further," he said, "I intend to ride again as a professional cyclist."

What has transpired since is so incredible, so moving, so miraculous, so important that it doesn't seem possible.

Armstrong didn't just beat cancer, he showed thousands of others how to do it, raised millions to ensure more would, and changed the entire way the disease is viewed.

Ten years ago, who didn't know someone lost to cancer? Today who doesn't know someone who has beaten it? Today when the diagnosis comes in, as gut-wrenching and horrifically frightening as it is, it isn't what it once was. It isn't a death sentence. Today, there is a chance.

Armstrong, with his Texas tenacity, with his American drive, hammered the disease and then returned to cycling and crushed all comers, winning the Tour just 18 months after a press conference many people figured would signal his death.

He did both in the same way, with a powerful purpose of winning every single little battle along the way.

Cycling is a most punishing of sports, a thankless, relentless driving of the legs up steep mountains, around tight bends, through race track style speed trials. Just the training requires a discipline that sends all but the most mentally and physically strong to some other pursuit.

And among all of those cyclists, Armstrong is the greatest, toughest, most ferocious of all of time.

The paradox is perfect, of course. Cancer is still so deadly, so dangerous, and so awful, that the only way to be one of the fortunate survivors is to face it head-on like a climb through the Pyrenees. One pedal in front of the other, one treatment at a time, one unbending will that no matter how painfully bad things get, at the end victory is possible and life is sustainable.

"Cancer," Armstrong has said, "is the best thing that ever happened to me."

The heavens work in mysterious ways but when you consider all the prayers that have been sent up against this disease it is easy to think maybe this one got answered.

Cancer is, indeed, the best thing to ever happen to Lance Armstrong because his focus and impact went beyond the bike. His Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised tens of million and even if Lance is retiring, it isn't. His yellow Livestrong bracelets are worn by millions. His ability to bring focus to the push for a final cure is unparalleled.

But more than anything he is a living embodiment of how to win to the 10 million Americans fighting for their lives.

None of them will wind up winning the Tour de France seven times. But many of them will beat cancer. Many of them will be aided by the simple idea that if Lance Armstrong can do it, so can I.

Sunday, Armstrong cemented his place as the greatest cyclist of all time with yet another title in Paris. It will be his last. But the most important athlete of this generation, thankfully, isn't even close to retiring from his most important battle.
 
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BB73 said:
Well, no surprise, Lance is the man. He beat Ullrich by 23 seconds to win the time trial and get his 22nd stage win, half of which have come in time trials.

Rasmussen had a nightmare of a day. Fell twice, and changed his bike at least 4 times! He got passed by Lance on the course, and he had started 6 minutes earlier. Ullrich gets another podium finish.

Champagne for Lance tomorrow, a nice way to retire.

Next year's race should be more competitive, but a lot less Americans will care now that Lance will be gone.
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He had the champagne: <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
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Great Lance article & photo on FOX:


Lance's legacy is hope
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=440 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD>Andrew John Ignatius Vontz / Special to FOXSports.com


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<TABLE class=bdy cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=10></TD><TD width=440><!-- search:</noindex> -->




As Lance Armstrong stood atop the podium on the Champs-Elysee for the seventh time Sunday, he apologized for speaking English and then paused to acknowledge the other two men on the podium before saying goodbye to his profession and fans.



Armstrong thanked the second-place finisher, Ivan Basso, and the third-place finisher, Jan Ullrich, for being his good friends and his greatest competitors.

It was a gracious gesture and a classy touch from a man better known for his Terminator death stare than for his sentimentality. When Armstrong stepped off the podium and into retirement it was the end of a chapter in a life story so dramatic, sensational and unbelievable that it almost seems torn from the pages of a fairy tale. But Armstrong's story won't stop with his retirement.

Armstrong's victories as a professional cyclist will always be remembered. Physiological testing shows that Armstrong was born with genetics that made his body nearly perfectly suited to becoming a Tour de France-winning engine. But that engine would be nothing without Armstrong's seemingly limitless ambition and drive. These are the qualities that catapulted Armstrong to athletic superstardom.

There have been more complete cyclists than Armstrong like Eddy Merckx, who was dominant in both grand Tours and the classics. But Armstrong's greatest achievement as an athlete and as a human being has been to give the world the gift of hope.

When Armstrong was stricken with testicular cancer, he battled the disease the same way he raced bikes. He survived, returned to cycling, and embraced his survival of the killer disease as a source of personal and professional empowerment.

His fight with cancer and his return to cycling to win the Tour de France in 1999 resonated far beyond the boundaries of his sport. If Armstrong had faced death and conquered such great odds to survive and come back to win the Tour de France, then who were we to give up in the face of life's challenges?

Armstrong made a point of reaching out to cancer survivors and drawing attention to the disease with his philanthropic efforts, but his message of hope transcended age, gender, class, race and the disease that had almost killed him. It spoke to everyone.

The yellow Livestrong bracelet Armstrong introduced last year to raise awareness for his cancer foundation has become synonymous with this message of hope. More than 50 million people around the world now wear Livestrong bracelets. The popularity of Armstrong and the omnipresence of the Livestrong bracelets may fade once he steps out of the sporting spotlight. His achievements may one day be surpassed. But whatever happens, Armstrong's story will continue to inspire people to fight harder to live life to the fullest and to never give up in the face of adversity. Hope will be his legacy.
http://msn.foxsports.com/cycling/story/3826288


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First Ronnie Sholz broke out, but he was caught. Then Bradley McGee from Australia broke out from the peloton shortly before the crash involving the Discovery team.
 
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