killer stage today. both vino and ullrich were out to FSU. didn’t help ullrich but vino caught both landis and evans asleep at the switch and jumped over those guys from 9th to 7th place !! that was hot shit. i doubt jan will have a real chance to drop rasmussen for any time but he might be able to put the hurt on and slow him down on the tt ? speaking of the tt that’s prolly lances only chance for a stage win for the rest of his life. he’s gonna burn the frickn house down ! also for the MV hushovd, o’grady, and mcewen have a good 3 way going …just realized what i just typed… oh well… racing ahead !
[quote]swivel wrote:
killer stage today. both vino and ullrich were out to FSU. didn’t help ullrich but vino caught both landis and evans asleep at the switch and jumped over those guys from 9th to 7th place !! that was hot shit. i doubt jan will have a real chance to drop rasmussen for any time but he might be able to put the hurt on and slow him down on the tt ? speaking of the tt that’s prolly lances only chance for a stage win for the rest of his life. he’s gonna burn the frickn house down ! also for the MV hushovd, o’grady, and mcewen have a good 3 way going …just realized what i just typed… oh well… racing ahead ![/quote]
I’m not reading the news(Tivo is recodring it) but the talk yesterday was, he would probably be looking for the stage win today unless there is a big breakaway of non-contendors.
Winning the TT stage is practically a forgone conclusion unless there is some sort of mechanical disaster or he goes down.
[quote]seanc wrote:
Is he the greatest “also ran” in the history of the Tour?
[/quote]
No. “also ran” to me would imply some who never won the Tour, but always did well.
Ullrich won it in 1997. Therefore I disqualify him. You could also make the argument that Ullrich is perhaps one of the more disappointing riders in the history of the Tour - given his great potential but crappy prep for the Tour.
I would say someone like Claudio Chiappucci could be considered the greatest “also ran” in the History of the Tour - his greatest years unfortunately coincided with the peaks of LeMond and Indurain.
[quote]seanc wrote:
I’m not reading the news(Tivo is recodring it) but the talk yesterday was, he would probably be looking for the stage win today unless there is a big breakaway of non-contendors.
Winning the TT stage is practically a forgone conclusion unless there is some sort of mechanical disaster or he goes down.[/quote]
oh yeah big time !! i mean bigger than last years tt up alp d’huez when he passed basso !! well…maybe not that big but he’s gonna pass basso again. but watch out for ullrich …dude’s gonna be on a tear for the podium -a couple of chips fall his way and he could take the stage.
[quote]swivel wrote:
seanc wrote:
I’m not reading the news(Tivo is recodring it) but the talk yesterday was, he would probably be looking for the stage win today unless there is a big breakaway of non-contendors.
Winning the TT stage is practically a forgone conclusion unless there is some sort of mechanical disaster or he goes down.
oh yeah big time !! i mean bigger than last years tt up alp d’huez when he passed basso !! well…maybe not that big but he’s gonna pass basso again. but watch out for ullrich …dude’s gonna be on a tear for the podium -a couple of chips fall his way and he could take the stage.[/quote]
This is from SI.com. I thought this was cool. Its gonna be a hammerfest. Cant wait til saturday
With two more road stages before Saturday’s time trial in St. Etienne, Armstrong essentially is on cruise control to his seventh and final Tour victory. Think he’s a little bit motivated to win the time trial? Asked last Friday night if he’d be disappointed not to win a stage, he briefly flashed his interrogator The Look.
“I’m going to win a stage,” he said.
I believe him.
Stage 18 Report
3 hours ago
MENDE, France - Lance Armstrong feels so sure of victory, so ready for retirement, that he doesn’t want to get off his bike. Not now, with the end this tantalizingly close.
“Why don’t we just not stop? Let’s just keep riding, get it over with,” Armstrong said when teammate George Hincapie, pedaling alongside during Thursday’s 18th stage, reminded him that only three days and 219.6 miles remained until the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
“That would be better for me,” the six-, nearly seven-time champion said. “The sooner it’s done, the better.”
Armstrong, who is retiring at the end of the race, defended his large lead in Thursday’s stage, won by Marcos Serrano of Spain.
Armstrong finished more than 11 minutes back in a group of four with Ivan Basso of Italy, Jan Ullrich of Germany and Cadel Evans of Australia. They broke away from other riders with bursts of speed up a brutal ascent at the finish in Mende, in south-central France.
Armstrong’s lead over Basso remained unchanged at 2 minutes, 46 seconds. Third-placed Mickael Rasmussen was slower up the last climb and slipped to 3:46 behind Armstrong.
Ullrich is still fourth, 5:58 behind Armstrong, but closed on Rasmussen. The 1997 Tour winner improved his chances of overtaking the Dane in the final time trial on Saturday.
Ullrich, who has three second-place finishes behind Armstrong, said: “We tried everything. But Lance is so strong, just like last year. We tried to attack him, but you have to accept he is the strongest. The way he rides, the way his team rides. He deserves it.”
Armstrong came into this Tour as hungry and as well-prepared as ever, quickly silencing doubters who questioned his will and ability to win again at age 33. He distanced his rivals from the opening time trial and then built on his lead in the mountains.
“It’s been smooth, smoother than I expected,” said Armstrong. “There’s never really been a true panic within the team, within myself.”
Asked how he has managed to stay so focused for seven years, he replied: “A love for the event and a hatred for losing the event.”
“I learned in 1999 that this race is bigger than any, greater than any,” he added. “I also learned what it’s like to win it … and how much happiness and joy it brings to myself and to an entire program and to a country really of non-cycling fans.”
Armstrong says spending time with his children will be his first priority upon retirement.
Mufasa
yesterday’s stage was DYN-O-MITE !! did you see how frickn steep that final climb was ? rasmussen just couldn’t put out the wattage. and ullrich was gapped but as phill ligget said " just turned himself inside out" and got back on. this tour is awesome !
That was an awesome performance today, way to wrap things up for Lance.
I feel pretty sorry for Rasmussen, though. What a shitty day for him.
Lance armstrong is a machine!!!
Screw Rasmussen - that’s what he gets for running his yap.
This may be the greatest Tour ever for the USA.
Not since 1986 when Lemond placed 1st and Hampsten finished 4th (factcheck?) have the US done so well.
3 in the top 10, 5 in the top 20, 2 in the top 5, 4 in the top 15, and of course the freak himself at No1. again…
Hincapie came up large - he usually gets killed in the mountains. Good for him.
Please refer back to my comment that he can win 9 or 10 if he felt like it. He’s bored and wants to do something else with his life.
He made this one look easy.
wow! what a day . did you see the cadence lance was throwing down ? i clocked him around 108-110 even on the climb and he was spinning 120 coming into the finish. most other guys were around 90-100. ullrich though was frickn hammering the finish and he was 115-120 on that stretch and prolly riding like a 117 inch gear! ullrich is so muthafuckin’ strong man. faster than lance throught the flats and i bet lance got those 23 secs from quicker accelerations and the climb. soo happy ullrich’s taking third. he’s dominated everyone else for years -and that makes lance even more of a monster !! vinokourov jumped up to 6th which is killer if ya ask me cause he’s really tough. and then there’s rasmussen who just couldn’t handle his bike. ever been on one of those things ? dude it’s like the first time on ice skates and that’s just what rasmussen looked like - just hasn’t put in the miles on it and woulda been better off on his road bike !!
wow ! i thought this tour was pretty exciting cause there was a lot of diffferent threads going on . tomorrow 'll be pretty ho hum though unless simeoni comes back for another lance bitch slap!!
OLN video clip of Armstrong coming to the line. You’ll need to copy and paste it, or go to http://www.olntv.com/tdf/article/category/87/?tf=articlecat_video.tpl&sm=5&CatLimit=1&cc=1&ArtLimit=100&ac=1&cat=&mt=&CatUserDef=true&ss=video and it’s the first one listed.
mms://dayport.wmod.llnwd.net/fc/a258/e1/v1/0040/08300020050723_030308p3030352p0.wmv
Lance Armstrong is gifted, even with that radical surgery he had. There’s an article in Friday’s (22July05) about what makes some athletes so much better than the rest of us, and the writer says that some tests have been done on him that show that thanks to a special genetic mutation he can pump about 20% more blood to his legs than regular folks can. Alomg with a few other mutations, this makes him, according to one of the scienmtists quoted in the article, “one in a million.” That doesn’t mean those of us who are also rans should dispair; you bring to the game what you bring to the game.
good article on with some specific measurements on lance’s physiological changes (aided by cancer) which took him from a more muscular day racer to tour gc contender/winner.
The guys is a legend. How many would he have won if he didn’t have cancer?
Really does raise the bar for the description of an elite athlete.
[quote]hedo wrote:
How many would he have won if he didn’t have cancer?[/quote]
If you’ve ever read his book It’s Not About the Bike, the answer is most likely NONE.
The cancer (and especially the cancer treatement) changed his attitude, outlook and body. If not for the life changing impact of the cancer, he would likely have won a few more of the one day classics and maybe another World Championship or two before fading from the cycling scene.
[quote]hedo wrote:
Really does raise the bar for the description of an elite athlete.[/quote]
it really does . jan ullrich is a superstar would’ve dominated all other riders in the tour for years. no doubt he could’ve had five tours and been one of five champions in history who accomplished such an amazing achievement. ullrich would’ve been a champion of champions. the fact that lance beat such an elite guy every time really blows the definition of elite off the chart !
“The Science of Lance Armstrong” is on Discovery tonight.
http://dsc.discovery.com/schedule/episode.jsp?episode=0&cpi=113989&gid=14192
“This groundbreaking film joins together the forces of one of the world’s most gifted athletes, and cutting edge computer graphics, to deliver a compelling and informative scientific investigation into why Lance Armstrong is so amazingly successful.”
“Chasing Lance” is on right now, following him through his pre-tour training. Pretty interesting.