Posted on 07/10/2006 8:49:41 PM PDT by nutmeg
Yeah, but months of baseball left for me. ;-)
GO RED SOX!
I dunno, iguana, I remember the massive escape in 2001, and how Lance got back into it, but I've just got it in my brain that the event I was speaking of was in the Pyrenees... it may have been in 2000 (counter-clockwise year), I do seem to recall that Lance's chances were still considered 'iffy' at that point, and the stage showed that he was there to take it all. Think I'll do a little research on 2000 now!
Oh, iguana - many thanks for the details of Tour 2000, Stage 8. What article in Wiki was that from?
Welcome back, nutmeg!! ;>)
Lance has also said that stage on l'Alpe D'Huez in 2001 was his best ever day on a bike.
Looking forward to the mountain stages! :o)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Tour_de_France
Go to the Prologue to Stage 10 link for the stage 8 write-up.
2001 has lots of info, 2000 doesn't seem to. You can link to any other year at the bottom of the page.
What I remember from the Pyrenees in 2000 was the first mountain top finish - I think it was day 1 in the Pyrenees. People weren't sure if 1999 was a fluke or if Lance was for real. It was a nasty cold, rainy day and someone inconsequential (to the GC) had built up a big lead heading into the final climb. Lance took off and rocketed past everyone. Didn't catch the man out front, but put many minutes into everyone else.
That's what I remember anyway - reality may vary. Guess I'll have to look it up too...
Stage 10 to Hautacam finish. First day in the Pyrenees.
http://espn.go.com/moresports/tdf00/s/stagetenrecap.html
Lance put 3 minutes on Ullrich and more than 5 on Pantani when they were all together at the base of the climb.
Robbie MC Ewen, love him or hate his guts... the guy can handle his bike. Just don't expect courtesy from this WWF style sprinter if you are anywhere near his elbows. LOL!
Hmmm, speaking of the WWF, did they kick the spanish rider David de la Fuente who whacked Walter Beneteau in the face the other day off of the tour? I read about it the other day on cyclingnews but couldn't find follow-up. And speaking of M. Beneteau, Ready4Freddy, I think I figured out how he can still cash in on his nom de famille:
I see Leipheimer lost even more time today - a bad sign on a flat stage.
He was in the group that finished 26 seconds back. There were some breaks in the peloton today at the finish.
Is Zabriskie expected to fade badly in the mountains? He'
s basically a TT guy, right?
Zabriskie abandoned before the mountains last year because of his crash in the team time trial.
Fade yes. Badly? Probably. He won two of the TTs in this year's Dauphine (one being the prologue) but finished around 30th overall largely due to his poor showing in the mountains.
Looks like Armstrong may have been right when he stopped trying to win the Dauphine. Said it was too close to the Tour for an all-out effort. That effort seems to be taking its toll on Leipheimer's Tour so far.
While a trip like that would be fun, can you even imagine the time it would take? Lessee, at an average of 7.5kn, it would take over a week just to get to salt water, and that would be motoring almost all the way - I've sailed the St Lawrence River, Atlantic to Montreal, one time, never again!
Then, about 3-4 more days to get down south to pick y'all up, unless we wanted to embark at Newfoundland. Then... ~18-21 days across the pond, maybe 2-3 more up the Channel & Thames. I've seen it done in a lot less, but that was with 25 of us driving an 85-footer hard 24/7, every other off-watch spent on the rail!
She'll sleep 10/12 in exteme comfort, tho. Best to bring a lot of laptops, to avoid fighting over the 2 PCs for FReeping, LOL!!
But then, there's getting her back... how many of y'all are willing to go for the trip back? Hmmm, that's what I thought.... ;>)
We're gonna need you to crew when Ready4freddy captain's us on his Sou'wester 61 trans-at & up the Thames for next years' TdF start in London!
LOL on your tagline Galley Slave at Your Service! , leilani!
Sorry, I was offline most of the day yesterday. I will be happy to see if I can dig up form info, though. I don't specifically remember those 2 stages. It all runs together after a while! Remember the year that Phi and Paul were having a cow b/c Lance looked sick and then all of a sudden he took off like a shot? That was amazing! No wonder he drove the rest of the field crazy!
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