Some Bad News for the Discos

[chattanoogamocs]

Manuel "Triki" Baltran crash on the first climb of the day and was forced to abandon the race...could make the going a little tougher in the Pyrennes this weekend.

One of the things that has helped Lance win so much is a team that normally finishes the entire race with little or no abandons.

But, with injuries, and 5 smaller climbs today, it would probably be impossible for Triki to ride alone that far (he would have probably been eliminated...no reason risking making the injuries worse).

Speaking of which, after being in yellow just two days earlier, Jens Voight struggled so much yesterday that he was eliminated for being too far behind on the stage (over 40 minutes). Just goes to show how tough the climbing really is.

...and Green Jersey leader Tom Boonen did not start this morning due to injuries sustained in a crash yesterday.

Tour is down to 164...35 have retired the race so far.

[chattanoogamocs]

Aaaah, it is always great to see a Frenchman win on Bastille Day

...David Moncoutie takes off on a 35k solo flyer from a breakway group to become the 15th Frenchman to win on Bastille Day since 1947,

the others...

Emile Idée in 1949 in Nîmes
Jean Robic in 1953 in Luchon
Jacques Vivier in 1954 in Vannes
Jean Bourles in 1957 in Ax-les-Thermes
Jacques Anquetil in 1961 in Périgueux and in a time trial in Paris in 1964
Roger Pingeon in 1968 in Albi
Raymond Delisle in 1969 in Luchon
Bernard Thévenet in 1970 in La Mongie and again in 1975 in Serre-Chevalier
Bernard Labourdette in 1971 in Gourette
Mariano Martinez in 1980 in Morzine
Vincent Barteau in 1989 in Marseille
Laurent Jalabert in 1995 in Mende and again in 2001 in Colmar
Laurent Brochard in 1997 in Loudenvielle
Richard Virenque in 2004 in Saint-Flour

[DuckDuckGriz]

Aaaah, it is always great to see a Frenchman win

This is where I stopped reading ;)

Thanks for the updates -- how is Levi Leipheimer of the US doing?

[MR. CHICKEN]

NOW AIN'T DAT JES' DUCKIE!...........................BAWK!

[MR. CHICKEN]

HEY DAFFY...NOW AIN'T DAT...JES' DUCKIE!.................BAWK!

[chattanoogamocs]

This is where I stopped reading ;)

Thanks for the updates -- how is Levi Leipheimer of the US doing?

Come on now...you gotta throw a dog a bone every once and a while...think about it, they haven't even won their own race since since 1985 (Hinualt). You know how embarassing that must be :D

Escpecially since Americans have won 9 of the last 19! (soon to be 10 of 20????)

Levi is doing great (actually...the Americans in general are all having fine Tours). Currently 7th...actually, now 6th with Valverde having to quit due to injuries...3'58" behind Armstrong.

...and with the previously mentioned Valverde withdrawal, Floyd Landis is now 10th at 4'16" back.

What would that say about American cycling to have 3 top 10 riders in Paris???

(and Bobby Julich is also top 20 at 17th, 6'18" back)

[DuckDuckGriz]

Come on now...you gotta throw a dog a bone every once and a while...think about it, they haven't even won their own race since since 1985 (Hinualt). You know how embarassing that must be :D

Escpecially since Americans have won 9 of the last 19! (soon to be 10 of 20????)

Levi is doing great (actually...the Americans in general are all having fine Tours). Currently 7th...actually, now 6th with Valverde having to quit due to injuries...3'58" behind Armstrong.

...and with the previously mentioned Valverde withdrawal, Floyd Landis is now 10th at 4'16" back.

What would that say about American cycling to have 3 top 10 riders in Paris???

(and Bobby Julich is also top 20 at 17th, 6'18" back)

That's great to hear. I knew Levi was in 7th but hadn't realized he moved up a spot. There is a great interest for him here since he's homegrown. The Americans are doing far better than I thought they would be -- who's the Spaniard that Lance calls the next big thing in racing and is he as heralded in the racing world as Lance proclaims?

[TexasTerror]

Lance likes Valverde, who dropped out...

[TexasTerror]

No help at all today when he needed it. Luckily, Lance was able to do some good. Gained valuable time on Rasmussen, Landis and Leipheimer. Also on Vinokourov and Klobden. All of this, thus far. He may not really gain time on any of them at the end of the day, 5k TO GO...

[chattanoogamocs]

...and in the end, Lance takes more time on all the rivals (most importantly, the surprising Mickael Rasmussen). The contenders are quickly running out of chances...after tomorrow the road begins to turns North towards Paris.

Great stage today, most action and attacking the whole Tour (I expect even more tomorrow).

New Top Ten (How about those Americans!!!!)

1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance DSC USA
2 057 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 01' 41"
3 021 BASSO Ivan CSC ITA 02' 46"
4 011 ULLRICH Jan TMO GER 04' 34"
5 164 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 04' 45"
6 066 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 05' 03"
7 031 MANCEBO Francisco IBA ESP 05' 03"
8 014 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 05' 38"
9 019 VINOKOUROV Alexandre TMO KAZ 07' 09"
10 101 MOREAU Christophe C.A FRA 08' 37"

Unless Lance falls apart tomorrow or has a nasty crash in the last days, I am not sure who can challenge...

Lance can take about 3 minutes out of Ras in the final time trial...and a minute or two out of Basso...and I think Ullrich will ultimately be more happy just trying to get back into third and on the podium in Paris...everyone else is too far back.

[ISUMatt]

What was T-Mobile thinking today... They gang up on Lance and everytimg Vinokourov breaks free, Klodin or Ullrich paced Lance right back to him. Overall it was a great day for Lance, made time on his rivals with no help, you can easily see you can not push Lance around, I figure after tomorrow these guys will finally give up on trying to beat Lance for #7!!

[Cocky]

What was T-Mobile thinking today... They gang up on Lance and everytimg Vinokourov breaks free, Klodin or Ullrich paced Lance right back to him. Overall it was a great day for Lance, made time on his rivals with no help, you can easily see you can not push Lance around, I figure after tomorrow these guys will finally give up on trying to beat Lance for #7!!


I agree T-mobile is in a terrible situation. This team has no leader everyone is working for in this tour. I also think if Landis had more help from his team (Levi also) he could be on the podium.