Posted on 07/12/2005 5:26:00 AM PDT by green iguana
17:21 CEST
Armstrong goes and only Valverde can go with him
1 km to go...
great race, lance second by a nose
Man.. FR is as slow today, as Jens Vogt up the last hill...
Lance is a machine....
Impressive effort by Valverde though, and Rasmussen.
17:23 - Ullrichs Group Loses 212"
Mazzoleni has led a group of riders include Evans, Ullrich and Kloden over the line 212" behind Valverde.
And Vino is yet to come in...
I guess maybe the Discovery team was sandbagging the other day...
Where is Lance?
Iggy, twit and all others, thanks for fantastic comments. Just as exciting as watching on TV.
The commentators were already discussing Lance's dethroning after the last stage - WOW!
Looking forward to hear the comments from the racers.
Cheers,
Scania
Can't wait to watch tonight. Lance took apart the field. Vino finishes 5'10" behind Lance. Over. Basso 1-01" (2+ minute gap now). Ulrich +2'14". Over. Nobody left and plenty of hard mountain stages and an ITT left. Lance blew it apart today.
where does that leave lance in the overall? is this viewed as a crushing victory by LA?
Love your new avatar. It's perfect for you.
What about the Dane, Rasmussen? He didn't drop that much, and is a strong climber (worse on TT I think). I guess he could still pose a threat.
But barring any accidents, illness or such like it looks like #7.
To quote previous poster: HOLY CRAP!
Methinks predictions of Lance's demise are greatly overstated.
Heh.
Now why do you say that? He was only 9:07 back. And now trails by only 17:00+... Surely he can make that up.
Crushing or not, this was a huge statement. His team stayed with him until the final break...that's all he needed. Gained a huge amount of time over his main rivals and this is only the first mountain stage (arguably his best portions of the race, although he's darn good on the time trials).
He retakes the lead with all of his rivals at least 2'40" behind him. The only guy close to him at the moment is Rasmussen at 38" but apparently he's not a sprinter (Armstrong beat him on the first day's time trial by more than 3') and there's another time trial to come.
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.