Tour de France 2003

[hunter84]

After Fridays stage he still has a 65 second lead on Ullrich with a individual time trial Saturday and a final stage on Sunday. He should be ok now he doesn't seem as dehydrated as he was in the first time trial and should do better tomorrow.

[M2]

Well a 65 second lead is hardly anything to sneeze at and all Lance has to
do is hiccup and he'll lose the Tour. Hope not; like to see him win it for 5 of
course. But Ullrich is a master at Time Trials too - and he's younger. It could
be very, very close. The Tour will be won tomorrow, not on Sunday. Sunday
is just the cruise around Paris and normally a sprinter wins Paris the last day.
It's been a really interesting Tour all in all - (although I'm sorry I missed
the Tourmalet climb the other day) - I caught the end and stuck around to
watch the Bulls in Pamplona which happens to be on immediately following
Tour coverage out here... :o I've seen alot of guys get gored this year
and tossed around like ragdolls. Sheesh - that's supposed to be a vacation -
drinking iced Sangria from a Bota bag and eating Pallella.

So who do you guys think will win - ya gotta post now though before the race
starts, which begins in Spain in the middle of the night for us North American's....

[M2]

LANCE IS LIVE FOR 5!

The rain on the course for the final Time Trial in the Tour was bad enough
to cause Jan Ullrich to crash around a slight turn when his wheels just
hydroplaned - slick as ice. He went down and slid across the road into the
hay bales - and finished the race in 2nd Place. Lance got the word from
Hincapie that the last 10k were treacherous and he flew on the first part
of the course then didn't ride reckless on the final section - although it
looked so wet that 'normal' riders would have used ice skates, not two thin
bike wheels. And look who came back to win the stage - David Miller. He's
been great in the Tour for years (and is a cutie too) but got sick this year.
He finally recovered for the last stage and won it - yah David. You'll see him
again in future Tours hopefully. So the final stage really came down to
Armstrong and Ullrich - as we figured back during the first week. It's been
a close race, an exciting race and it all pays off tomorrow.

Congrats to Lance, the US Postal Team and all those supporters who
wanted him to get 5. The First American to have that distinction - ever.

[coriolis]

Do you think that anyone will get crazy tomorrow and attack? Or is the tradition too strong?

[M2]

No attacks tomorrow; that's not the usual fare for Paris and even Phil
Liggett pegged it as basically over with Lance winning. But hay - one never
knows what the Germans have up their sleeves...remember that Bjornie
Riis is CSC's manager and Lance & even Indurain did not share great
feelings of comraderie with 'him'. Sure, Ullrich could attack but I'm sure
the Posties will be protecting Lance and won't let Ullrich get by him.
It's a festive race with champagne flowing on the bikes...