Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my Tour de France 2005 list.
At some point the final totals for Lances miles, calories, etc. will be tallied, and if it's posted here we can see the incredible accomplishment of a scrappy kid from Texas who took some time off on his way to winning 7 TdF to fight cancer.
As Reagan would say, "Not bad. Not bad at all."
Cheers to Basso and Vino for trying and Jeers to CSC for ditching the yellow jersey twice. Cheers to Ras for having more guts than the peloton and Jeers to T-Mobile for making guys like Kloden haul Jan's fat ass up the hills.
I may have been a little disappointed in the tour this year but it wasn't because Lance didn't represent it was because despite his taking on the entire peloton (twice) not one rider ever took a shot at him. They knew the best they could do was ride his wheel and wait for him to quit. And they'll never know what he had left because he never cracked.
Three great names sit on the masthead of cycling's greatest event and at the top is an American. The French may have created the race but Lance dominated it and showed that all you have to do is train and work as a team and you can beat anyone, anytime, anywhere. Again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.
It's not au revoir Lance, it's see ya' later. Well done.
bttt