Posted on 07/03/2005 8:31:47 AM PDT by RKV
Stage 2 Results 1. Tom Boonen (B), Quickstep, 3:51:31 2. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:00 3. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 00:00 4. O'grady Stuart (Aus), Cofidis, 00:00 5. Luciano Pagliarini (BRA), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:00 6. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sp), Fassa Bortolo, 00:00 7. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner, 00:00 8. Pineau Jérôme (F), Bouygues Telecom, 00:00 9. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux, 00:00 10. Allan Davis (Aus), Liberty Seguros, 00:00
Can someone put this in perspective. Is it normal for Lance to be near the lead early? Does he lay back until hitting the mountains? How is this year different at this stage, if at all?
nice to know that Elmer Fudd is covering the event.
Lance's big strength is in the mountains. As in most distance racing, you don't always want to lead from start to finish. Lance is doing exactly what he and his team want to do. Get out early, demoralize Ulrich and the others who are threats, then get into the hills and crush the opposition.
Tour organizers made a major change by starting with a significant individual time trial instead of a relatively meaningless 5 or 6K prologue dash. No doubt they were hoping to put Armstrong in trouble right away but instead they seem to have handed the Tour to him.
That's the French for you. When they try to put the fix in they wind up looking like inspector Clouseau.
thanx
thanx
And I thought it was Barbara Wawa....
Be vewy, vewy quwiet... I'm hunting fwench wabbits.
My minions aw evwywheh. Heh, heh, heh, heh!
It ain't the Tour de Fwance or the Tour de Franse or even the Tour de France! It's the Tour de Lance. Come on, get with the program!
Actually, the OLN coverage is quite good, and does make the race exciting to watch. The Tour went through my town (I was a student in Angers, France long ago) and it was great to see up close - but the tv coverage actually is better since you get to see the whole course. With respect to Live8, well they don't get my respect. "The poor will be with you always." Being thankful for what we have is the proper response IMHO.
He starts strong every year. He won the first stage a couple of times, and has come in second and third I believe. The only close Tour win he had (1 minute plus win overall) was when he placed 7th at the first stage. Having said that, this race was a brillimt one for him---he raced it at record pace and blew away most of his top rivals, which is unusual at this early stage. He picked up a minute on most of them, which puts them in deep do-do early on.
Jeez, don't hold back, tell us what your feeling.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.