#7 ...in the bag.

[chattanoogamocs]

Nothing but the "ceremonial ride" up the Champs Elysees tomorrow for Lance to pick up his 7th Tour De France title!

Lance rode "ball out" in the time trial today...riding it like it was his last (of course, it was). What a great Tour for the Discos...

2nd best team overall (well, at least T-Mobile won something)

Team Time Trial winners,

3 Individual Stage wins by 3 different riders (Salvadelli, Hincapie, and Armstrong),

White Jersey (best rider under 26 years, Yaroslav "Popo" Popovych)

...and of course, the Yellow Jersey! (Lance finished 1st overall, 3rd in the King of Mountain competition, and 7th in the Green Jersey)

If you have OLN, watch the replay of the Individual Time Trial today...it was awesome seeing literally thousands of people wearing yellow shirts out on the course today...a fitting tribute to the last tour of the only 7 time winner.

[chattanoogamocs]

1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance DSC USA
2 021 BASSO Ivan CSC ITA 04' 40"
3 011 ULLRICH Jan TMO GER 06' 21"
4 031 MANCEBO Francisco IBA ESP 09' 59"
5 164 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 11' 25"
6 019 VINOKOUROV Alexandre TMO KAZ 11' 27"
7 057 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 11' 33"
8 044 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 11' 55"
9 066 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 12' 44"
10 068 PEREIRO SIO Oscar PHO ESP 16' 04"
11 101 MOREAU Christophe C.A FRA 16' 26"
12 007 POPOVYCH Yaroslav DSC UKR 19' 02"
13 151 MAZZOLENI Eddy LAM ITA 21' 06"
14 004 HINCAPIE George DSC USA 23' 40"
15 199 ZUBELDIA Haimar EUS ESP 23' 43"
16 096 JAKSCHE Jorg LSW GER 24' 07"
17 023 JULICH Bobby CSC USA 24' 08"
18 017 SEVILLA Oscar TMO ESP 27' 45"
19 108 KASHECHKIN Andrey C.A KAZ 28' 04"
20 012 GUERINI Giuseppe TMO ITA 33' 02"

FIVE AMERICAN IN THE TOP 20 OVERALL!

...and special congrats to Iker Flores for "winning" the unofficial "Lantern Rouge" award for the last place finisher of the race. The Flores family should be particularly proud because Iker's older brother Igor finished last a couple of years ago. (someone joked in that dictionary, slow and slower should have pictures of Igor and Iker :))

155 194 FLORES Iker EUS ESP 4h 20' 24"

"On the road"...4 hours, 20 minutes equates to finishing about 110 miles behind Lance.

[blur2005]

I knew he'd gun it for a win in the time trial...and I knew he'd win. :)

[ISUMatt]

Man, Rasmussen just collapsed today!!! 2 crashes and 3 bike changes

[chattanoogamocs]

Nice write-up on the official TdF site...

A Beautiful Conclusion To A Dominant Career
There’s nothing left for Lance Armstrong to do at the Tour de France. He’s done it all but this year’s race would have seemed a little incomplete had he not won a stage on his own. Tomorrow will be the American’s last day as a professional cyclist and he’ll stand on the podium at the Champs Elysees as the only man to have won the race seven times. But today he had some business to attend to. In the race of truth he had to prove exactly why he’s The Boss of the Bunch. That’s exactly what he did.
Favorites have been known to fail but since 1999 Armstrong has collected at least one stage victory per year. Today there was no option for him to offer any gifts. He needed to get from point-A to point-B as fast as possible to capture a victory which, until now had eluded him all year. Okay, he teamed up with his Discovery Channel posse in stage four to win the team time trial. That was a collective celebration for the well-drilled unit which has controlled the racing for three weeks this July.
After 55.5km Lance got to stand on the podium alone to celebrate what is likely to be the last stage win of his life. But favorites have also been known to want more; and maybe – just maybe – he’ll conclude his career with an attack on the streets of Paris in the final stage. That would be a dream scenario but it’s not necessary.
“Bernard Hinault won on the Champs Elysees in 1979,” said the Tour’s historian Jacques Augendre on the eve of today’s time trial. “Of course it would be a beautiful way for Armstrong to end his racing days. He’s a complete rider and I’m sure he would be tempted but the final day is one for the sprinters. Armstrong doesn’t need to take a risk and get involved in the quest for line honors.”
Lance didn’t “need” to win today either. But it was right that he did. Jan Ullrich wanted the victory perhaps even more than his nemesis who has won six of the final time trials during his seven-year reign (only losing to a dubious David Millar in the year of the Tour’s centenary). The German was superb again today, but he could not get close to the American. At every check but the last, Lance increased his advantage on the rider who elevated himself from fourth overall to third.
Unless he contradicts Augendre and wins the stage in Paris, Armstrong will end his riding days with 25 stage victories in the Tour. Today’s was not the most beautiful but it was still stunning to watch. He’s a picture of perfection in the time trial. He takes risks but not too many. He spins his legs at a rapid pace but always has more power in reserve. He allows his rivals to get near him, but never ahead. And poor Jan will no longer get the opportunity to say that he beat Armstrong in the race of truth. For the second successive year, the 1997 champion will not even get the chance to be the second-best rider in the race. That honor goes to Ivan Basso who was the only rider capable of eclipsing Armstrong’s time at any of the four intermediate checks.
The Italian slowed towards the end of the time trial and finished the stage in fifth, but he is one minute and 41 seconds ahead of Ullrich in the general classification with one day to go.
The race is never over until the final line is crossed. But today was when the final positions in the top 10 were going to be settled. Mickael Rasmussen was expected to lose a lot but several severe faux-pas saw him drop from third overall to seventh.
The Dane has prize he came to the Tour to win. The King of the Mountains crown is his but he also had a place on the podium until the time trial around Saint-Etienne. His lead was always within reach of Ullrich, the rider who won the time trial on the same course as today’s back in the year of his overall victory. But Rasmussen failed to minimize his losses. And he did so in dramatic fashion.
He was already losing time to his main rivals before a crash on a roundabout slowed him down. Mechanical failures then haunted him over the undulating route. Rasmussen was forced to change his bike on several occasions and the wind was truly knocked out of his sails. He needed a touch of luck to save him from slipping out of the top five, but it didn’t come his way. Instead of rolling safely through to the finish, Rasmussen crashed again and eventually limped home in 77th place almost eight minutes behind Armstrong.
Rasmussen nor any of the other riders in the peloton were able to make a dent on Armstrong’s domination. That’s why the Texan will arrive in Paris with the option of winning a 26th stage… and his second race in 2005. Of course, the hordes of Americans who flock to the French capital would love to see two victories in the one day – the stage and the overall title – but as Augendre reminds us, there’s no need for the risk of ruining a beautiful conclusion to a dominant career

...and a pic from Graham Watson (fyi, the "hump" in Lance's back is his communications pack)

http://grahamwatson.com/gw/imagedocs.nsf/images/05tdfSt20/$file/10.jpg

[ngineer]

One of the most amazing athletes of all modern times. Absolutely astounding for one person to dominate such a demanding sport for so long.

[Grizo406]

There might be something to "eating Crow".

[Cocky]

That was a close one with Popo and Hincapie going down. Sounds like the circuits not counting in the final time means Lance is be the 7 time winner.

[ISUMatt]

Final times were the times posted when they arrived in Paris, thats when the clocks stopped. They are still racing the 8 laps for stage winner...even the Sprint points in Paris have been thrown out!!

[ngineer]

There might be something to "eating Crow".

Certainly gives him a 'leg up'...

[chattanoogamocs]

http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/CYCLING_TOUR_DE_FRANCE.sff_TDF140_20050724122759.j pg

[TexasTerror]

The question is...

Where do the Discos go from here? Who's captain in 2006? Hincapie? A free agent?

[Cocky]

vinny

[chattanoogamocs]

I agree....Vino!

Georgie is a great lieutenant (one of my all time faves) and one of the best classics riders, but I don't think he could win the Tour (and he is nearing the end of his career).

Apparently after the stage, Vinokourov went up to Lance...made a motion across his chest like he was pulling off his T-Mobile logo...and then touched the Discovery logo on Lance's chest.

...though I also wouldn't mind seeing Levi of Floyd coming back...it is afterall an American team.

I just hope OLN continues the great coverage now that Lance is retired.

[TexasTerror]

I dunno about Vini...I thought he had a tough relationship with Johan. If that's the case, do you think Vini would work? I think Vini would fit right in though with DSC as he'd have a great support team, but I think it's a somewhat 50/50 shot instead of a sure thing...

[chattanoogamocs]

actually, now that I have gone an looked (this is from this week on Eurosport)...

Discovery's Johan Bruyneel threw cold water on the possibility that Discovery will sign Vinokourov:

"He is definitely one of the most talented and intelligent riders of the peloton," the Belgian technician admitted. "But I don't think he'll ever be capable of winning the Tour de France."

Would love to see Basso, but he already has a very good thing in CSC.

They were also talking about one of the next best cyclists coming up in the U.S. is Tom Danielson (a Disco rider), but they also said he is a couple years away from TdF status.

They might just stick with youth and build up...after all, they did have the white jersey winner this year. Go Popo!