Tour de France: Stage 17 Live Thread (Thursday, July 20, 2006) Col de Joux-Plane

VeloNews.com ^ | July 20, 2006 | VeloNews.com

[Eurotwit]

Amazing stuff.

Can the miracle last the final climb?

[Ready4Freddy]

I get the impression that there's been a LOT of back-and-forth in the peloton as to who's supposed to do what/when - your turn, guys, get your team up here & set the pace, damnit! There's no real patron left, no one to control things.

What the hell are they Thinking????

[BaBaStooey]

The lead is now 8:19

Virtual GC update (including Floyd's 4 bonus seconds):

Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA
2 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP 15"
3 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 02' 05"
4 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 02' 44"
5 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 02' 58"
6 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 03' 11"

[green iguana]

They're thinking that Floyd can't possibly keep this up. Making Pereiro do all the work so that he blows on the last climb and Sastre or Kloden, et al can move up

[kevkrom]

The rest of the leaders got caught completely by surprise today --by the time they even got remotely organized, Landis was long gone.

They're clearly focusing on breaking Pereiro Sio, but are the other leaders just hoping that Landis can't keep up the pace, or are they going to attack up the final climb?

[BaBaStooey]

The lead is 8:49. Go ahead and add 0:30 to everyone's time from my last update.

[commish]

Good analysis. And just as you said, Floyd is absolutely flying down the descent. Has upped the lead to 8:45.

[BaBaStooey]

They're clearly focusing on breaking Pereiro Sio, but are the other leaders just hoping that Landis can't keep up the pace, or are they going to attack up the final climb?

I think both.

[gopwinsin04]

Landis once had his lung capacity tested as equal to Big Mig, he is bidding for the SI Sportsman of the Year Award here!

[kevkrom]

No matter whether Landis can keep (or grow) this gap or not, this should go down as an effort for the ages.

[commish]

OK, 3 Discovery Riders are now at the front of the Peleton. ??leading the chase?? They have no dog in this fight, and Floyd is a former teammate. HMMMMMMM.

[kevkrom]

9'04"

[gopwinsin04]

3:36 PM European Time Guess who is now the virtual leader of the Tour? lol

[leilani]

I told you not to worryWell, you must be a psychic! LOL! How did you know that Floyd took some training in kamikaze flying over in Japan this year? Man, I sure hope no manic-depressives are out there watching this.This is gonna set their therapy back for months!

[Eurotwit]

Looks like CSC has started to up the tempo...

Will be interesting to watch the gap now.

[commish]

9 MINUTES!!!! and growing. Un-friggin-believable. Can he make it stick?

[gopwinsin04]

Lance doesn't want someone to steal a share of his glory? This may be greater than Lance's comeback from his fall in 2003 on Alpe D'Huez.

[Vision]

lol, I wasn't ready to give up on the man.

[gopwinsin04]

We are watching sports history unfold before our eyes.

[BaBaStooey]

The situation is ripe for Sastre or Kloden to take the maillot jaune out from under Floyd's nose.

If either of them gain enough time on Pereiro and can close the gap Landis has, either can walk away from this thing in yellow. Then it comes down to the final time trial, which would be just plain nuts.