Tour de France - 2005

[Argyle]

http://www.letour.fr/2005/TDF/LIVE/u...antcourse.html

Official link to the tour site.

Armstrong: Mountains will be key to win

The Canadian Press

6/28/2005 9:00:26 AM

With his usual dedication, the American has reconnoitered all the crucial mountain climbs for the upcoming Tour de France - and now feels ready to make a prediction.

"This year, the Tour will be won in the mountains," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Armstrong is aiming for his seventh straight crown in the gruelling three-week trek around France. As in previous years when he left rivals behind on mountain climbs, Armstrong is looking to victory in the Alps, which this year come in Week 2, and in the Pyrenees a few days later.

The 33-year-old Texan spoke to the AP by telephone Monday night after what he called the last long training ride of his career - six hours on roads around Nice in the south of France. He was joined by Axel Merckx, son of Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx.

The elder Merckx and three other riders won five Tours - a record Armstrong matched in 2003 and then surpassed with his sixth victory last year.


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"I feel strong on the bike," said Armstrong, adding that he has shed 3.3 pounds since placing fourth in the Dauphine Libere race in France two weeks ago.

"I feel a lot better than I did in the Dauphine. I'm recovering well."

Armstrong said he travelled to the Alps after the Dauphine to ride the climbs there and found them to be "much harder than I expected" - as difficult as the Pyrenean stages that will follow.

The last of the three Alpine stages, from Briancon to Digne-les-Bains, could be particularly tricky, he said.

"There are no big climbs but it's going to be a hard day. There will be some surprises for a lot of people, especially if it is very hot," he said.

A heat wave has baked France in recent days. Armstrong said he is already taking care not to dehydrate.

"You've got to think about one word: water, water, water," he said.

He also downplayed slight injuries suffered when he crashed at low speed during a training ride last week. He expects his black eye will have gone before his scheduled pre-Tour news conference Thursday.

"Everything is OK," he said.

The race starts Saturday, with a time trial in the west of France where riders go out individually against the clock for 19 kilometres. There is a second individual time trial, over 55.5 kilometres, the day before the Tour finishes on July 24 with a traditional ride into Paris.

Armstrong, a time-trial expert, was checking out the longer course, in Saint-Etienne in central France, on Tuesday.

He said it was "very tough and technical" but doesn't expect the final time trial to determine the Tour outcome because the eventual winner should, by then, have left rivals trailing in the mountains.

Spanish rider Joseba Beloki, a former runner-up to Armstrong who is making his Tour comeback after a horrifying crash in the 2003 race, says that only if the Texan shows uncharacteristic weakness will rivals get a chance to finally unseat the defending champion.

"To have any possibility of winning against Armstrong, Armstrong himself has to have a bad day," he told the AP in a phone interview from Spain.

"If Armstrong weakens one day with a minimal loss of time, I don't think it'll be enough," added Beloki, who was second in 2002 and third in 2000 and '01. "Armstrong would have to have real difficulties on at least one day, and would have to lose lots of time."

How will this tour look? Any insight from the riders here?

Will anyone challenge Lance in his quest for another title??

[Dude]

I've been looking forward to this one for a couple of reasons:

1. The 19 KM Prologue TT.
2. The emphasis on mountains.

Having an opening TT that is 19 KM is huge. Guys like LA and Jan Ulrich- overall favorites- will be able to put a minute- maybe two- on guys like Beloki, who is strong in the mountains but weak in the "race of truth". That gap is huge to start a race, which means we'll see more surprise attacks in the flat stages by teams looking to put one of their climbers into contention.

The fact is, even if LA has a tough day in the hills, he's a strong enough athlete, mentally, to recover. He will never lose gobs and gobs of time to anyone. He proved that in 2003 when he arrived to the Tour not quite as prepared as in previous years, and suffered through a flu in the first week. He still won, even a key mountain stage.

I look to LA And Ulrich to be within a few seconds of each other after the Prologue, with perhaps a smattering of TT specialists in the same time frame. Their nearest rival will be about 30' to a minute back. Once in the Pyrenees and Alps, Armstrong will look to putting the biggest stamp he's ever placed on this race by not only winning, but devastating his challengers.

Can't wait; should be good.

[Argyle]

Date

Time (ET)

Repeat (ET)

Preview Show

Saturday, July 2

8:30 am

Stage 1

Saturday, July 2

11:30 am

8 pm and Midnight

Stage 2

Sunday, July 3

8:30 am

8 pm and Midnight

Stage 3

Monday, July 4

8:30 am

7 pm and Midnight

Stage 4

Tuesday, July 5

8:30 am

7:00 pm and Midnight

Stage 5

Wednesday, July 6

8:30 am

7:00 pm and Midnight

Stage 6

Thursday, July 7

8:30 am

7:00 pm and Midnight

Stage 7

Friday, July 8

8:30 am

7:00 pm and 3:00 am

Stage 8

Saturday, July 9

8:30 am

7:00 pm and 3:00 am

Stage 9

Sunday, July 10

6:30 am

7:00 pm and 3:00 am

REST DAY

Monday, July 11

8:30 am

7:00 pm and 3:00 am

Stage 10

Tuesday, July 12

8:30 am

7:00 pm and 3:00 am

Stage 11

Wednesday, July 13

6:30 am

7:00 pm and 3:00 am

Stage 12

Thursday, July 14

7:30 am

6:00 pm and 3:00 am

Stage 13

Friday, July 15

8:30 am

7:00 pm and 3:00 am

Stage 14

Saturday, July 16

8:30 am

7:00 pm and 3:00 am

Stage 15

Sunday, July 17

7:30 am

6:00 pm

REST DAY

Monday, July 18

8:30 am

7:00 pm and Midnight

Stage 16

Tuesday, July 19

8:30 am

7:00 pm and Midnight

Stage 17

Wednesday, July 20

8:00 am

7:00 pm and Midnight

Stage 18

Thursday, July 21

8:30 am

7:00 pm and Midnight

Stage 19

Friday, July 22

8:30 am

8:00 pm and Midnight

Stage 20

Saturday, July 23

8:30 am

8:00 pm and Midnight

Stage 21

Sunday, July 24

7:30 am

6:30 pm

Should be an interesting race for sure!!! Hey Dude...any news if Dave Watson will be making and apperance again this year???

[Dude]

I don't think Dave will be trying to pull that off again. That's so 2003.

If you know Dave (and you might, being a Coquitlam boy), you know he's pretty humble about some of his accomplishments. Chatting with him over breakfast at Whistler not long after the huck, and he was sort of "Yeah, a bit freaky...you don't want to tap any of those guys on the head, you know?"

[coolhead]

A couple friends just got back from France where they completed the Tour course (at a leisurely pace). On one of the mountain stages, they passed a rider travelling in the opposite direction on a mountain bike and wearing a backpack who they said looked exactly like Lance Armstrong.

I wonder what he rides when he is scouting the course?

[jaco]

With only a 19km TT to start I think we'll see most riders within 45 seconds of the lead. 19km is not far and the top guys will go just under 22 minutes and the not so fast guys will com in around 23:30.

There'll be a bunch within 30 secs of each other I predict.

Lance, George, Levi, Floyd, Jan

Forget Beloki - he's done.

Gonna be a great Tour this year!!

[Dude]

Usually it's a 5-10 KM TT though. Guys will be out for the kill, not just putting on a show. Remember Greg LeMond vs. Laurent Fignon, '89? That final stage was about the same I recall. Maybe less...I remember is as 16 KM. The difference in that gap may have been technology alone, but it does show what can happen with 4x the road as a typical TT.

We'll see...but it is a different twist to the prologue.

Armstrong rides Trek, spends early spring before training camp in France.

A top 3 Yank Prologue? Balsy...

[Sandman]

Stage 11 will separate the men amongst the boys....Two climbs in the Alps where the tour hits its highest peak (Col du Galibier). A climb that is too tough to be categorized. Col du Galibier is last years Alp D'Huez.................makesfor great TV!

Looking forward to the tour......big time!

Sandman

[Dapotayto]

Dude, for a guy that would rather do hard time in a prison dressed as Michael Jackson than ride a bike uphill you have a perverse interest in this tour, name dropper.

[Dude]

Steve,

I used to go up, now I go down.


Let me rephrase that...

[Dude]

What a great first stage, full of surprises.

Guys like LA and Jan Ulrich- overall favorites- will be able to put a minute- maybe two- on guys like Beloki, who is strong in the mountains but weak in the "race of truth".

I'm surprised by Ulrich; he should have challenged for this stage, as LA did. Essentially, Armstrong was a bumbled pedal clip away from taking this one, but when he passed Ulrich on the road, I was shocked. They say he may have still been suffering from a training ride spill a day or two earlier...I guess we'll see how he performs in the hills. He may not even be the leader of his team when the race hits the halfway point. Alexandre Vinokourov picked up where he left off last year with a strong opening stage, and was one of 4 riders to actually keep the damage to less than one minute.

George Hincapie was very impressive...I'd like to see if he can challenge for a top 5 GC this year.

How about Zabriskie? The kid is an animal. As the day went on, it became pretty clear that he had ridden fast, because nobody was even coming close to his splits. He's a rookie, so I'll be impressed if he stays in the race after the mountains hit, but who knows.

Joseba Beloki finished right about where I thought he would, in terms of deficit: 2' 05" back of the leader, 2' 03" back of The Boss.

[Dapotayto]

Originally Posted by Dude

Joseba Beloki finished right about where I thought he would, in terms of deficit: 2' 05" back of the leader, 2' 03" back of The Boss.

Holy fcuk! Bruce Springsteen is near the front of the Tour de France?! How's Bono doing so far? Probably not so good, I reckon its pretty hard to pedal fast when you have the TheRob attached to your buttocks by the lips.

[Argyle]

After the team time trial...Lance Armstrong has taken over the Yellow Jersey. He now has a 55 second lead over teamate George Hincapie. The previous holder of the Yellow Jersey, Daivd Zabriskie crashed after touching wheels with a teamate 1200M from the finish line and is now 9th overall, 1min 26sec back.

Is this the start of Lance's domination? Will Lance let the anyone else take the shirt off his back?

[BlazeArmy]

Originally Posted by Argyle

Will Lance let the anyone else take the shirt off his back?

Sheryl Crow perhaps.

[Dude]

The Discovery Channel team has set the fastest average speed for a team time trial in the Tour de France. The nine riders finished the 67.5km course in one hour, 10 minutes and 39 seconds. The average speed is 57.31km/h - eclipsing the previous best (that of Gewiss-Ballan from 1995 - 54.930km/h).

Dave Zabriskie has lost his yellow jersey in dramatic fashion. It’s hard to say what caused his crash but he has lost a lot of skin because of the accident.
Lance Armstrong will wear the yellow jersey in stage five. He leads George Hincapie by 55" and Jens Voigt by 1’04".

LA getting the yellow today was expected, as Team Postal / Discovery Channel has always been very strong in the Team TT event. Even with losing Ekimov, a TT and pursuit specialist, they still have an extremely strong TT tandem in LA and George Hincapie to pace the train. These guys probably did the lions share of the pulling in front today.

As for Dave Zabriskie & team CSC, that's just bad luck, and you have to feel for the kid. Obviously, a rookie mistake, and perhaps a lack of focus, touching wheels with only 1.2 KM to go. It'll be interesting to watch the highlights tonight.

Because Zabriskie was the last rider to pull in on his team, his time didn't affect the overall team time (I believe they count the first 6 riders for the team time, then the stragglers keep their deficits...by memory). His team pulled in only 2 seconds of Discovery's pace, so had Zabriskie not done his best imitation of a human crayon, he and LA would have been sharing Mellow Johnny (easy Dap, those are metaphors), if they didn't go to split seconds.

Although I still stand by the notion that Zabriskie would have eventually fallen off the pace in the hills, he did have a strong enough team to get him to the mountains wearing yellow.

Discovery will now likely control and maintain a high pace of the next few stages to discourage any surprise attacks (certainly possible in stages 8 & 9, with several 2 & 1 category climbs), and position Lance for an assault on stage 11, the toughest with TWO HC (out of category) climbs. This is where we will find out if there are any snakes in the grass that can pull off the unexpected and unimaginable: put time into Armstrong.

[Dapotayto]

Tour de France update: Today Robin Hood and his men in tights as well as a bunch of other men in tights rode bikes for a really long time, a really long way. Lance Armstrong placed 425th but recorded the same time as the guy in first so the overall standings haven't changed. In an effort to win his seventh consecutive Tour de France Lance Armstrong has switched to shaving his body with the Mach 3 Turbo and has sent his personal assistant to steal the razor blades from the local supermarkets. Hell, when you're shaving your entire body those blades can get a little pricey. Everyone is excitedly waiting the part of the race where all the French people line the course ringing cowbells and shouting French stuff at the riders.

[Regs]

Good laugh to start the day

[Argyle]

Lance has taken over the overall lead again with a 38 second lead over Rasmussen and 2:40 over Ivan Basso.

[Sandman]

The return of Mellow Johnny. Wow! Amazing stage and the mountains have just began. The look on the faces of Ulrich, Basso, Herras, and Vinokurov as Armstrong non-chalantly picked away at the field........Priceless

The key was the pace set by Team Discovery in the flats.....by the time the final climb of Courcheval came the whole field was spent.....except for Lance of course....Can he keep it up? Along with stage 15, tomorrow's stage is arguably the toughest stage of the tour.

Sandman

[Dude]

Suprising to see Basso so far back, in fact, surprising to see so many key riders so far back. Where are Ulrich, Vinokourov, even Beloki? This was a tough stage, yeah, but not compared to tomorrow. Two HC climbs. Today had two 1st category, but they just don't compare to the pain of HC.

Again, we'll have to watch the coverage later to get a clear understanding of what actually happened. Perhaps Lance was the only rider with enough strength to chase down a late attack by Alejandro Valverde? Normally, you'd think most of the big players would prefer to keep each other in check, all the while conserving for the next day...

Lance to win the stage alone tomorrow.