2001 was also the year of "The Look," when Lance looked Ullrich squah in the eye and took off up l'Alpe D'Huez, winning the stage and putting something like a minute and a half into Ullrich.
As a rule of thumb, the tour goes clockwise around France in odd years and counter clockwise in the evens.
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?