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Tour de France update thread...

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jlb1705 said:
I have one question though (Buckem). Is it possible that team politics end up preventing that from happening? This has been alluded to on OLN, but Ullrich's teammate Andreas Kloden seems to be in a better postion to make a run at the podium. he's nearly 4 minutes ahead of Ullrich, and he has looked to be in much better form. How probable is it that team leadership shifts from Ullrich to Kloden?
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"Team" in the form of what you have seen done for Lance is not the same as "Team" for anybody else in the field. This type of commitment only happens for someone of Lance's stature who is a repeated tour winner and considered highly likely to win. I haven't seen a team ride so exclusively for one rider since Indurain. As matter of fact if you watched Lance's first two Tour wins their was a lot less team and a lot more Lance. Furthermore, for a lot of these European sponsored teams getting their name in the headlines is very important (including in races prior and following the Tour) and they feel pressure to make moves that will accomplish that in any way possible. In 89 when Lemond won the Tour he rode for a french team (Z) and actually had to ride to defend the yellow jersey of a Ronan Pensec who had no chance of overall victory at one point during the race. If you noticed on Friday Kloden didn't stay back and pace Ulrich when he was struggling and Saestre (a team mate of Basso) actually attacked before he was caught by both Lance and Iban. You would never see Postal do this to Lance. It's part of the respect someone who has accomplished as much as he has gets. I think the extent that Ulrich would ride for Kloden would be maybe dropping back and pacing him back to the pack if he punctured. Also it's unlikely that Kloden would ever become a Leader over Ulrich because he isn't young enough (like Mayo) to be considered a future star. Every year in the Tour there will be a guy who is a good but not great cyclist, in his prime years (28-30) who just falls upon great form and does more than he ever has before and likely ever will again. If I had to guess that will be the case with Kloden. The reason why Ulrich could still have an impact (minus Lance) is that he often seems to ride himself into shape during the tour and he is really the only other complete rider in the tour. He can time trial with anyone and could easily take back the time that the climbers ahead of him have put on him.
 
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did those fans scare the life out of you?
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Many years ago I had the opportunity to see the Coors Challenge (I think it was called) in Reno - back when Davis Phinney was riding. They set up a 50 lap race in the middle of downtown around a few of the central casinos. What they failed to undrestand is that nobody (I might have been one of the few exceptions) comes to Reno to watch bike races.

All during the race folks were darting across the street to try and change their luck at a different casino. The police were trying to control crossings at designated spots, but a gambler has little inclination to walk half a block to the corner. It was only a matter of time and sure enough some woman misjudged their speed and they had a nasty pile up. She was carted off and two of the bikers got messed up pretty good. For 50 laps those guys were dodging pedistrians and at the same time trying to compete. I shuddered to watch.

The other thing I remember about that event was driving outside Reno the next day to watch a cross country race through the mountains. My rental car struggle to the top of a particulalry steep hill and I pulled over to watch. Unlike what we are seeing in France there were no throngs - just me. What I remember most was the first sound I heard - before I could even see them - was their breathing. Then they came around a turn, pedaled steadily up the hill as a pack - and were gone. Cross country cycling is not a great spectator sport - at least not in person. I am loving the tv coverage.
 
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the only rider i am worried about is basso......he is at the top of his stride.....he is a stud...he is strong and he is hungry....he has lance in his sights....

he only lost two minutes to lance last year in the time trial....and basso has had riis as his personal coach for the past year to learn how to take minutes off his time trial...

right now...if there were a vbet...i would call this a 50/50 right now....

i can really see basso winning the mountain..individual time trial by a nice margin.....if lance wins...its over....

anyways....that stage will determine the tour......if basso does what i think....lance is in trouble...if lance wins that stage...lights out to the rest of the field....
 
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Well my bet with Louis about Fox lost me 100 when the betting system screwed up and I have a few other bets still out...As for Myrtle beach, I prefer the Pink Pony, but that only loses me dollar bills :)
 
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