Tour de France 2003

[Derek Ortt]

Tremendous ride yesterday by postal.

The big loser on the day has to have been Simoni, who lost more than 3 minutes to Armstrong/Heras, and the rest of Postal

[M2]

Hi Derek, how's life in Florida? [not to get off-topic but
please send us a couple troppies up through the GOM into Tex/Mex for
us ok? We're wilting here & I'd personally like a nice huge outflow boundary
the next few days. You have some 'pull' don't you?/thanks ]

OK - Stage 5: Troyes to Nevers. Relatively flat with a couple bumps.
Regarding Gilberto Simoni (Team Saeco) - is that one of your favs?
Haven't been following him sorry. I liked Cippolini when he rode - all decked
out in banana yellow and had to pay the fines for being out of official
'uniform' - he was individualistic and I liked that. Don't be boring. He wore
yellow shoes, yellow socklets, yellow shorts, and his yellow jersey when he
was leading the Tour a couple years back - what a showman.. Great cyclist
and sprinter of course too - he was Italian, what do you expect. Little like
Alberto Tomba the downhill Olympic skiier...

Winner Stage 5: Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo)
GC: Victor Pena, US Postal / 2nd place: Lance Armstrong &
the Postal Boys. Nice job guys, keep him up front. Oh, oh - Tyler Hamilton
slipped to 39th overall. Jan Ulrich is 12th.

[Derek Ortt]

I'm not really a Simoni fan, though I was very impressed with his climbing in the Giro, finishing 1st 3 times and 2nd on the two other mountain top finishes.

[M2]

Another climber? I'll have to watch him in the mountains although I'm sure
he's not another Pantani...

[coriolis]

There's a guy named Hinault. Is that Bernard's son? That would be a real human interest story, but I haven't seen anything about that.

[M2]

Yepper, he's Bernard's son. Axl Merxx's son is also riding again. The
second-generations are already in there. Who won today; should be over
by now...


Stage 6: Nevers to Lyon. Petacchi won the stage again. Overall Pena from
US Postal is still leading in yellow; Armstrong is second with all the Posties
in the top 8. Ah, they're good!

[coriolis]

Allesandro Petacchi won stage 6 on Friday, but Armstrong, Hamilton, and everyone else had the same time, all the way down past 100th place. No change in the GC standings.

[Derek Ortt]

Yesterdays stage was not all that exciting. Now, if we could only wring the necks of OLN for selling the rights to sundays to CBS so they could show a highlights show

[coriolis]

Is that all we're getting, a ^#$#HIGHLIGHTS show?

[M2]

Richard Virenque, the French rider who has been around for
eons won this first mountain stage. He looked pretty estatic up on the
winner’s pedestal. Armstrong & the Boys were hanging back & just letting
Virenque go until he had an astronomical lead, then they picked up the pace.
Let him go; although he won the stage, he came in 35th in overall GC. Lance
was 15th in the stage but look where he is now overall… – Doesn’t look like
Jan Ullrich is going to be that much of a threat this year, so they need to
keep the race interesting as you say. Just wait til the mountains – it will all
get interesting fast.

Winner Stage 7: Richard Virenque (Team Quickstep). Overall
GC Tour Leader: Lance Armstrong

[M2]

Since 1952, L’Alpe D’Huez has been the most popular mountain stage in the Tour
and many a racer has been made or has cracked on this col (peak)
…including Lance who looked back at the pack one year (to Ullrich in
particular), stood up on his pedals and Adios Amigos – he was gone for the
remainder of racing days. Today, Spanish racer Iban Mayo (Team
Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the stage but Lance is now leading the Tour GC in
Yellow! Yah! Hamilton is in 6th place overall even with a fracture and you
have to respect him for keeping on. He’s actually ahead of Jan Ullrich.

The race should be on OLN later tonight – it’s one of the best & most
discussed stages – they have to broadcast it for an hour or everyone will foam over.

Winner Stage 8: Iban Mayo. Overall GC Tour Leader: Lance Armstrong

[M2]

Now this is the question of the day - is Lance going to crack in the
mountains or is he 'saving' his strength for the Friday time trial??
He may just blow everyone away tomorrow since his lead is only 21 seconds
...but his team mates are suggesting that he's going to put the pedal down
manana. Alot of his former contenders are out of the race altogether, but
there are newer younger guys who could come out of nowhere basically.
That's what Indurain did back in the 90s. Now here's Lance - he's getting
somewhat 'old' for bike racing at 32 years old - an old-timer by racing
standards. I know Miguel was near there when he finally cracked and retired
too. The crutial stage of the race is Friday's time trial. If he does not win it
and does badly, he won't win the Tour. If he stands up and blows all the
closest guys away, really pours it on....then his attackers will be less likely
to actually attack in the mountains which they plan to do now. He knows
his threats, he knows the competition and the other riders - -could be
a surprising stage no matter what happens!

[M2]

Oh-ooh - what happend to Lance Armstrong today? He didn't win the
Individual Time Trial and now is in danger of losing the yellow jersey and
the whole Tour. Other racers have said they'd watch his performace today,
and if they saw cracks in the shell, they'd attack him in the mountains.
This could be the end of his reign.

...Ed - - Derek - - what do you think? Can he still pull it off or is that it?

Individual Time Trial Winner: Jan Ullrich (Germany/Team Bianchi)
Second Place: Lance Armstrong

Overall GC is still Lance for maybe one more day???

[coriolis]

Boy, after today, I don't know. Ulrich seems fired up. Lance seems to be clinging on by his fingernails. He didn't respond to Ulrich's attack at the end of today's stage, and after the time bonus, his lead dwindled to 15 seconds. I never saw anything like this, this late in the race. Maybe Lance should let Jan pull ahead, just to take the monkey off his back. On the other hand, it wouldn't because this is supposed to be his 5th victory. The posties didn't seem to be a factor at all today, except at the very beginning when there were all the little attacks. Stay tuned, this is going down to the wire!

[M2]

Ullrich has been the main threat since day 1 but he was just biding his time.
The guy is not only younger but he's in top shape, cleaned up his acts.
You probably have read that he turned into a party boy for awhile and even
got a DUI. But look at him now...! Yep, those bonuses are enough to make
the race open to anyone now. Look at Tyler Hamilton - he's only 4 minutes
back and that's not too bad right now - if someone gets hung up or they slow
down, Hamilton could just sprint past. BTW, he's a youngster too and every
year does make a difference with VO2Max, conditioning and endurance.
(That's why the 32-year-olds retire for pete's sake!) It's not like football or
BB where guys can play til they're grey. Which brings up another thought:
I wonder what they do when they retire... What does Indurain do now? Or
any of the past big names? They've been on a bike for most their younger
years and don't exactly have 'career skills' to get a job....plus they're
probably not multi-millionaires either are they. To be riding for as long
and far each day then one day - it's over - they retire - - - - got to be hard.

[coriolis]

http://www.letour.fr/2003/us/index.html

Paste the above address into your browser and click on Chris Carmichael's article. It says a lot. Seems that Lance became extremely dehydrated during yesterday's TT. He reportedly lost 6 kg of fluids. That would explain a lot. Considering that, his performance today was remarkable. Hopefully he'll be recovered even more tomorrow. I wonder what happened that he became dehydrated during the TT?

After they retire? Get a bike named after yourself. Probably wouldn't get rich though. You don't see THAT many Lemond or Merckx bikes. Probably more Basso's. That was a rider, wasn't it? You could go into broadcasting, or commentary, or sportswriting. I wonder what Lemond is doing these days? Has anyone heard?

[M2]

Actually (really here, no joke), I met LeMond in person in Phoenix at
a bike shop where he gave a talk. I have photos of him with his eye
patched. Seemed he had another 'accident' and got hit in the eye with
something - I can't recall exactly. Anyway, he gained a few pounds (haha)
but is still riding. He looks good. He has a line of bikes and raceware out now;
I got a couple of his jerseys - he signed them all for me (unbelievable!) and
I gave them away as gifts to my riding buddies a couple years ago. His
stories were incredible about the Tour and Liege-Baston-Liege. All in all,
he's a nice guy and is still involved with cycling in his own ways. I have to
say, compared to another very famous American rider who wasn't that nice
to people when he was here in AZ...who left the race before he finished, who
didn't hang out to sign autographs or talk, who just split without a word to
anyone - - and HE was the Guest of Honor, the person who the race was
Dedicated for - the person everyone was supposed to emulate and look up
to - - - No, he's no Greg LeMond - sorry. I don't care how many overseas
multi-week endurance races he's won - he wasn't a sportsman or very nice
at the time.... Greg LeMond is still the ultimate American Comeback Kid
and perverbial good guy. Plus he showed up - IRL.

[coriolis]

Gosh. Those stories from first hand experience tell more than all the press releases in the world. Could that be why you are not all rah rah on the bandwagon. Greg L. with another injury? Sheesh, he's accident prone! He always did seem to be very much down-to-earth, gee whiz, aw shucks, as a champeen. That's a good story. I'm going away today, so I'll miss the up-to-the-minute newsflash coverage on the official TDF site. Not sure whether to peek to the end when I get back, or try to read it through in order, as if it was actually happening!
Have you looked at the newsflashes? You can actually follow the race as it develops.

[M2]

Well it looks like the bandwagon stood up on the pedals and took off...!
Lance will probably tie Indurain's record and win the Tour this year...but
I have to say the Ride of the Tour was today - with Tyler Hamilton winning
the stage...with a fractured collarbone nonetheless. He could have bailed
at the beginning of the Tour when he crashed but he didn't. And did you know
that IMAX is filming a movie about him...which may be one reason he'd like
to stay in and finish. It should be cool when it comes out - the Tour de France
on the MegaBigScreen. BTW, Bjornie Riis is the Team Director for Hamilton's
raceteam....and he knows Lance. I missed the Tourmalet race - how was it?

[coriolis]

That was tuesday's stage - the one lance won?
There was a breakaway group for most of the stage, so the peleton didn't get nuts over the intermediate sprints, etc. It came down to the last climb. Lance was feeling frisky and started a break, but he got tangled with a spectator and went down. Ulrich waited for him - in a show of sportsmanship. Lance recovered and took off. Ulrich didn't respond and lance flew like he was posessed. He ended up winning by about 30 seconds, and then got a time bonus to boot.