Tour de France: Stage 20 ITT Live Thread (7-23-05)

CyclingNews.com ^ | 7/23/05 | CyclingNews.com

[nutmeg]

Stage 20 - Saturday, July 23: Saint-Etienne - Saint-Etienne ITT, 55 km

The showdown! All things being equal (and even with a few inequalitites) the individual time trial should provide a great spectacle at the end of a gruelling three weeks - Armstrong thrives in this race against the clock, and his dominance is well documented. But if we have a situation like 2003, this could be the clincher for the leader going into the stage, or it could provide the challenger with a whisker of hope. Here's hoping the weather stays fine and we get Ullrich out firing and witness Basso's improvement in time trialling, which has also been well-documented. The distance suits Armstrong, but the undulating terrain suits Ullrich's ability to push the big gears and power along. A surprise may be in the works, but chances are it'll come down to these two, regardless of where they are on GC - but it's also likely they'll both be at the pointy end of the field.

[connectthedots]

LOL, see post #212.

[green iguana]

It looks like something straight out of 'Star Wars.'

Nah...

He almost looks like he's riding a bike...

[steveegg]

They're cool for brain-buckets.

[Vision]

I get the feeling Lance is a liberal.

with a VERY conservative work ethic. Interesting


He's a liberal Texan /stupid grin

[gopwinsin04]

That's why the other riders call Lance 'The Piranha,' or Alien.

[gopwinsin04]

At 250k, that ITT bike costs more than most cars on planet earth.

[gopwinsin04]

I love this pic, no pressure today for Lance!

[luv2ski]

Thank you so much, nutmeg! It's been an awesome 3 weeks! I told my kids that tomorrow they can have their mother back! ;-D

[luv2ski]

Not to be too catty, but didya notice Linda (LA's Mom) looks younger than Lance's current old lady, whatsername

Meeeeeoooooow! LOL!

[texasbluebell]

Not to be too catty, but didya notice Linda (LA's Mom) looks younger than Lance's current old lady, whatsername?

Ha! Lance's mom is only 6 or 7 years older than the girlfriend, you know! Linda was only 16 or 17 when Lance was born.

What a great race this was. I was really glad that Ullrich managed to get a place on the podium this year, he wanted to be up there on Lance's last day.

Nutmeg, thanks again for maintaining these threads.

[texasbluebell]

Jean Francois Kerry got to ride shotgun in the car behind Lance. I hated to have to see his horse face there every time the camera was looking back on Lance with the car behind him.

[dd5339]

Thanks for running the ping list!

7 TDF championships, thats a record thats going to last!

Semper Fi

[ironman]

I just finished watching my DVR which only recored the first 3 hrs. Stopped right near the end. I was out doing an hour swim and 5.5 hour monster ride (BTW I'm in excellent form, ready to crush again at some up coming races). So I had to come on line and read the result. Way to go Lance! I'll have to go back through the thread and see what people have to say about riding front and rear tri-spokes. I never ride a disk on a hilly course. I'm built like a climber. I go with the light stuff, usually a Zipp 404 front and rear, except in Hawaii when the crosswinds are too strong and I ride a Mavic Cyrium front.

[irishtenor]

Alright, how do they get down from that?

[Noumenon]

At this stage in my life, the only time I feel the wind in my hair is when I raise my arms.

[ironman]

"I think Lance made the right decision going with a regular wheel instead of solid today. Basso looked pretty shaky on that last decent."

I finally got through this thread. I was hoping somebody commented on wheel selection. He was riding a Hed3 rear tri-spot and I think his usual Bontrager front tri-spoke. Good choice. I never race on solid rear disks on hilly courses.

[green iguana]

I never race on solid rear disks on hilly courses.

Why not?