Tour de France: Stage 18 Live Thread (Friday, July 21, 2006) Morzine-Avoriaz to Mâcon

Tour de France website ^ | 7/21/06

[Aeronaut]

Daily coverage of the Tour de France.

[luv2ski]

Theoretically, Landis would never have been allowed to escape for the same reason yesterday (he was still considered a threat) - so who knows? If I were the Director sportif of CSC (Riis!) or Caisse D'Epargne, I would definitely try to sneak a few extra seconds at the end of the stage. They know Landis is the better TTr so it's the best chance they have to beat him.

[commish]

A sprint down the Champs Elysees would be fun. Much better than a series of parade laps with everyone holding hands and singing Kumbaya.

[Vision]

Here we go

[commish]

For those who care, here are the stage results for the 15 breakaways.

1. Matteo Tosatto (I), Quick Step-Innergetic
2. Cristian Moreni (I), Cofidis, 00:00
3. Ronny Scholz (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:02
4. Manuel Quinziato (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:47
5. Sébastien Hinault (F), Credit Agricole, 01:03
6. Jérôme Pineau (F), Bouygues Telecom, 01:03
7. Sylvain Calzati (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, 01:03
8. Vaugrenard Benoít (F), Francaise des Jeux, 01:03
9. Inaki Isasi (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 01:03
10. Egoi Martinez (Sp), Discovery Channel, 01:03
11. Mario Aerts (B), Davitamon-Lotto, 01:03
12. Patrik Sinkewitz (G), T-Mobile, 01:03
13. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sp), Rabobank, 01:03
14. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, 01:06
15. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 02:25

[Ready4Freddy]

True, but he was able to do it at the start of a climb, and take advantage of another post-Lance aspect - there's no patron to control & instruct the peloton. I doubt that any of the GC contenders can sprint any better than Landis, in any case.

Theoretically, Landis would never have been allowed to escape for the same reason yesterday (he was still considered a threat) - so who knows?

[Vision]

Jeez that was anti climatic.

[green iguana]

Totally uneventful ending - no one seemed to care.

[Ready4Freddy]

Thanks, they do tend to be a bit irreverent, don't they? Aren't they the ones with the 'WTF moments', too?

[Ready4Freddy]

I cared. Just not very much... ;>)

[commish]

Velonews has the WTF moments.

[BaBaStooey]

I'm seeing a timegap?

Kloden, Menchov, Evans, Dessel, and Moreau were caught napping and lost 0:03 to the other guys (Landis, Pereiro, Sastre)..

Not saying it will make a difference...but in a TT, who knows.

[commish]

I shall see all you good people tomorrow morning. Hopefully we will get to see the Floyd Landis show.

They go off in reverse GC order correct?

[BaBaStooey]

25 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP 08' 00"
27 081 CUNEGO Damiano LAM ITA 08' 00"
29 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 08' 00"
31 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 08' 00"

32 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 08' 03"
34 129 ZUBELDIA Haimar EUS ESP 08' 03"
35 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 08' 03"
37 042 FOTHEN Marcus GST GER 08' 03"
38 051 MENCHOV Denis RAB RUS 08' 03"
46 031 MOREAU Christophe A2R FRA 08' 03"
51 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 08' 03"
52 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 08' 03"

[commish]

Good catch. In reality that 3 seconds could be big if Kloden or Menchov explodes in tomorrows TT.

[Vision]

Yep

[Ready4Freddy]

Note to self:

We need to assign people to each of the major sites, especially to look for & post reviews / diary entries / articles.

[BaBaStooey]

Top 10 on GC:

Pos. N° Nom Prénom Équipe Nat. Écart
1 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP
2 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 00' 12"
3 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 00' 30"
4 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 02' 32"
5 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 03' 11"
6 051 MENCHOV Denis RAB RUS 04' 17"
7 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 04' 27"
8 031 MOREAU Christophe A2R FRA 05' 48"
9 129 ZUBELDIA Haimar EUS ESP 08' 19"
10 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 12' 16"

[green iguana]

How far does the gap have to be in order to count as a gap? I don't even know if it's a time gap or a distance one...

[gopwinsin04]

Im already ready for tomorrow!

[Ready4Freddy]

For next year, I mean. There are just so many things posted on the various sites, and it's tough (for me, anyway :) to remember where I saw something,after thinking, I'll just post that later...