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Tour de France update thread...

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I was a whisker from predicting that Armstrong would pass Basso on the stage today.. oh well...

Anyway... Basso may make a move.. but he's got to have something in the tank to do it with.... which I don't think he does. What I think it more likely is that Kloden and Ullrich might try to get a group together to try to get them on the podium... have fun on the Col de la Madeleine fellas.

Actually... Friday will be the best day to try to escape... no big Mountain at the end... but in reality... its over....
 
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USCemper - I saw the interview and thought the same thing during the race. I thought for sure the simple crush of the crowd would push the front row into him. Can't imagine what it must be like to ride for 9k or so with thousands of folks screaming, sticking their hands in your face, patting you on the back, waving their flags, standing in front of you to take pix and only moving at the last possible second. Any one of them via a simple misjudgement - let alone intent - could have ruined it for him.

On a diferent topic - what do you suppose the traffic jam is like getting out of there? A million people on a mountain road? There can't be more than one way in and one way out.
 
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Tour-Fans spat at Armstrong, says Tour director



L'ALPE D'HUEZ, France, July 21 (Reuters) - Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc admitted he had seen fans spit at five-times champion Lance Armstrong during the 15.5-km time trial to L'Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday.

Leblanc also said the swarming crowds on the twisting climb had frightened him as riders, including Armstrong, were forced to weave through excited fans who jumped out on to the road.

"I was scared too and I felt relieved when we reached the section with barriers," Leblanc told Reuters after stage winner Armstrong described the stage as a "bad idea" and hit out at some German fans.

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"Until this morning, everybody thought this time trial was a good idea and now we realised it was not so.

"There were lots of aggressive fans surrounding the riders and I even saw two idiots spit at Lance Armstrong."

"Unfortunately I doubt you can put barriers on the 14 kilometres of the climb," he added.

Armstrong, who stormed to victory nearly a minute ahead of his closest challenger Jan Ullrich and now looks set for a record sixth Tour win, urged organisers to think seriously about holding another time trial at the ski resort.

"I don't know if that's such a good thing for the Tour de France. I don't think it's safe. I think organisers should watch out," said the American.
 
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good predictions Buckem.....4 of the 5 guys you picked to finish in the top five finished in the top 8.....damn good....

for me...5 of the 8 guys i picked to finish in the top 8 did so....Vireneque fooled me and saved his energy to protect his polka dot jersey....
 
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My opinion regarding the selection of this stage as a time trial on the near vertical L'Alpe D'Huez indicates the desire of the organizers to limiting the advantage/time differential that Lance would have gained on a typical grueling 185 Km stage with the 15.5 KM climb at the end. Typically, L'Alpe is the final climb after a 140 to 150 KMs which includes flat, hilly sections as well as difficult yet shorter climbs.

Spectators have historically been very close to the riders on any major European race. However, these fans can get very agitated and dangerous, as the trenches and barb-wires deployed on most European soccer fields should imply. The sports are different, obviously, but the fanaticism and passion of the fans are identical. I know.
 
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USC - I never said or implied that these mountain finishes are safe for the riders or that I think it's good for the fans to do what they do. It happens every year and frankly I am surprised that there are not more incidents than there are because many of these people are as loaded as say us fans at an OSU game. The problem is there really isn't much you can do about it. My take on the stage was simply that I didn't see it as being a stage that was designed to keep Lance from winning the tour like you did, but to the contrary one which would help him win the Tour.

DieHard - Good call on Acevedo. His time was one of the more surprising to me.
 
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I haven't seen the stage yet, but am planning on watching it tonight. I can hardly believe you guys think the fans were being too aggressive. We are only talking about some psychos who have been camping out for two weeks waiting for this stage. Those are not fans, those are fanatics.
 
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I know you didn't imply or say what Lance mentioned in the interview regarding danger, crowd, etc. I simply mentioned that Lance disliked the stage as much as I did.

I said all along that I didn't like the relatively short climb as a time trial for numerous reasons. Logistically, they packed almost a million people on a small mountain, who otherwise would have distributed over a much longer course.

Historically, L'Alpe D'Huez has mostly been included at the end of a much longer stage. And I prefer that alternative.

My cynical impression regarding the organizers' intention is due primarily from reading sport articles in several french magazines and newspapers, where included with great admiration for Lance, I detected a tinge of nationalistic apprehension associated with having an American as the first rider to win the Tour 6 times.

Perhaps, I shouldn't have addressed my initial observation to you personally. I certainly didn't mean any offense by doing so.
 
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My cynical impression regarding the organizers' intention is due primarily from reading sport articles in several french magazines and newspapers, where included with great admiration for Lance, I detected a tinge of nationalistic apprehension associated with having an American as the first rider to win the Tour 6 times.
Click to expand...

Good... Fuck 'em.

Its best that the French think the're next, when we get done with the Iraqi's
 
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USC - No offense taken whatsoever, it's all just good discussion.

If you continue to closely watch the Tour past the Lance era you will likely see that no matter what the stage layout, the weather, the media, the fans, and even to a large extent the strength of the team after all those miles and the climbs and the time trials, the top cyclist will almost always emerge as the winner. Since I've been watching the Tour the only times I have ever questioned whether the best man won was in instances when the two best cyclists in the race happened to be on the same team and the older more experienced at one point or another held back the younger when it was somewhat clear he could have successfully attacked. This happened in 85' with Hinault winning over LeMond when they where both on La Vie Claire and in 96 with Bjarne Riis (now Ivan Basso's director with CSC) won over Jan Ullrich when they where team mates on Deutsch Telekom. Even as powerful as a team as postal has had this year, there is no doubt in my mind that Lance, with the way he has ridden, would be in Yellow right now regardless of which team he was on.
 
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I watched the replay of the time trial on OLN earlier. I think I saw someone spitting on Lance in the first few minutes of his ride. It also sounded like there was some booing in the areas where there were a lot of German flags. Those people are nuts, I'm not sure how he can see where he's supposed to ride at times.

Here's a few of the messages I saw painted on the road.

"EPO- Lance"
"Fuc Lance" (Didn't see a K, it was probably cut off by the screen)
"Rip their balls off Lance"
 
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And a good discussion it has been, indeed.

Lance desplayed a tremendous amount of class, and restrain, by not mentioning these offensive incidences during the post-race interview, other than saying..."the german fans, and what can I say"...

I also saw other graphic signs, in French, painted on the road, like "pig", "yanki" and "doped". I don't know to whom they were intended, but one can guess.

I would love for him to race the Giro d'Italia at least once before the end of his prestigious career, to dispell the constant accusations that he only targets the tour as his main objective each year.
 
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I saw "Rip their balls off, Lance!" in the road too. I about died laughing. As far as the insulting stuff goes, it caught my eye, but it's nothing new. Fat, drunk Europeans have been yelling insults at Lance for years now. It's because A.) he's American, and B.) he's winning. Those people are either the minority or the media - it just so happens that they have the loudest voices.

The reaction has not surprised me at all. An American has stormed in and taken over an event that for so long belonged to Europeans. They see it as a parallel to American foreign relations. In the next 10 years, the same reaction will likely happen in soccer, where the USA reached the Round of 8 in the World Cup finals and is now ranked #7 in FIFA's monthly rankings.

I haven't watched the whole thing yet - I have it TiVoed. Hopefully, I can spot an American with a sign that says "Jan loves Twinkies" or "Ullrich - Disco Biscuits".

PS: Greg Lemond, do us a favor and show the class a rider like you should exhibit. Keep your fucking mouth shut!
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Same goes for Bernard Hinault:

http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/V4/L0/S18/E6083/sport_Lng0_Spo18_Evt6083_Sto615336.shtml

DAMNED YANKEES

Still, let it never be said that Hinault sides with Armstrong, whose astounding achievements continue to raise little but ill-will among the cycling fraternity.

The Texan looks all-but-assured of a record sixth straight Tour de France - surely a greater achievement than the five wins attained by Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Miguel Indurain and, er, Bernard Hinault?

"You cannot compare what's not comparable," shrugged Hinault with a haughty sigh. "If Eddy Merckx had competed only in the Tour de France, he would have won it 15 times.

"The problem with cyclists these days is that they do what they're told to do because the media pressure and the expectations are so huge that the only thing that matters is winning," continued Hinault, for whom winning was clearly just a passing fancy.
"If you don't wear yourself out by running other races during the year and you concentrate on competing only two months a year, then you have a big advantage over everybody else. And that's what Armstrong does."

So that's cracked it: if Jan Ullrich, Iban Mayo and the rest took the Tour de France seriously, Lance would be lucky to hang onto the peloton's coat-tails.

Until then...

At least the author of this piece realized that Hinault if full of shit. One important reason why nobody is beating Lance is because he trains harder than anyone else. I'd bet that Lance is expending more effort in his training than other riders do with their busier race schedule. The Sportsman of the Year article by Rick Reilly from two years ago is all the evidence I need of that. Excerpt:

The other day, in fact, Armstrong was riding along when the cellphone rang. It was the young British bike star David Millar, two-time Tour de France stage winner, calling from London, "drunk on his ass," Armstrong reports.

Armstrong: Hello?

Millar: Please tell me you're not on your bike.

Armstrong: I'm on my bike.

Millar: Nooooo! You mother! It's December bloody first! How long have you been on it?

Armstrong: Three and a half hours.

Millar: Nooooo!
 
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