Posted on 07/19/2006 9:15:41 PM PDT by nutmeg
Stage 17: St. Jean de Maurienne to Morzine-Avoriaz -200.5km
Course: This is almost identical to the stage in 2000 when Marco Pantani attacked on the first climb (the 15km, 6.4-percent Saisies) and forced Armstrong's U.S. Postal squad to chase for 100km over the Aravis, Colombière and Châtillon climbs to the foot of the day's main obstacle: the mighty Col de Joux-Plane (11.7km at 8.7 percent). It was partway up the Joux-Plane that Armstrong bonked and could only watch as Ullrich and others rode away from him, and he conceded almost two minutes by the finish in Morzine.
History: Morzine has seen 13 finishes of the Tour, including that one six years ago, which was the last time the ultra-steep Joux-Plane was climbed in the Tour. The only Tour winner to win a stage into Morzine was Pantani, who scored a solo victory here in 1997, the year before he won the Tour. Morzine's mountaintop neighbor, Avoriaz, has seen stage wins by two other Tour champions, Lucien Van Impe and Bernard Hinault.
Favorites: If riders are still battling for podium spots, then the Joux-Plane climb and descent suits Leipheimer and Landis. But it's more likely that a long-distance break will succeed, giving a rider like Michael Rasmussen a chance to win the stage and the King of the Mountains competition.
Graphics by CyclingNews.com
Down to Righi now. Padrnos dropped. THe question now, what is Sinkwitz and O'grady's plans. They are staying with Floyd, but obviously thier teams will be furious if they help him.
Garate has been dropped, so much for that idea. :)
Now Padranos has been dropped.
Well...sounds like he hit the wall to me. But I sure know what he's talking about. I know in my own experience (just fitness riding) that it's the smaller, quick up & down hills that'll get me before the big giant honking hills (don't have mtns near me). It's because there's not enough time for the legs to really recover before you start going up again I guess. And I'm not even doing it with a pair of hips that have turned to mush.I can't imagine, poor Floyd.
The Lampre rider is still in that group, although I think Cunego put him there to help win the maillot blanc.
Landis now four minutes ahead.
I have managed to catch my breath :-)
Landis' group leads the Yellow Jersey group by 4'00".
If Floyd can keep his legs, he could make even more distance on Col du Colombiere.
O'Grady will likely make an attack before too long to get the sprint points at the bottom...
Virtual GC update:
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP
2 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 01' 50"
3 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 02' 29"
4 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 02' 43"
5 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 02' 56"
6 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 04' 08"
Menchov (+3:58 after yesterday) is not in the yellow jersey's group, which has swelled to 44 riders.
Hey - he's got one good hip!
Mountain passes & Hills
Km 82.5 - Col des Saisies - 14.9 km climb to 6.4 % - 1 Category Km 109 - Col des Aravis - 5.9 km climb to 7.1 % - 2 Category Km 134 - Col de la Colombière - 11.8 km climb to 5.8 % - 1 Category
Km 162 - Côte de Châtillon-sur-Cluses - 5.1 km climb to 4.9 % - 3 Category
Km 188.5 - Col de Joux-Plane - 11.7 km climb to 8.5 % - H Category
Yellow Jersey crests at 5:42. Landis has 4:31 lead at the moment.
If he can just keep it over 4:00 until the base of the Col de Joux-Plane I'll be happy, regardless of what happens after...
Lead is now 4:36
Virtual GC update:
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP
2 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 01' 50"
3 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 02' 29"
4 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 02' 43"
5 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 02' 56"
6 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 03' 32"
Velonews saying Pereiro only has one teammate left with him, whereas yesterday he had most of his team with him all day. They are saying he may be in trouble today.
Me too!I don't know if that leftover geitost I just ate had already begun to ferment & it's affecting my judgement, but I'm suddenly feeling a lot better about all this.
At the very least, Sastre or Kloden (who both have great teams) could attack him today and take that 1 or 2 mins they need out of him.
Hey, which one of you guys was posting those profiles in the form of bar graphs for individual climbs? And where are you snagging them from, I forgot to look yesterday...
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