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The margin of victory is slipping.....Anybody think he can pull it off six years in a row?
Anyway, congrats to Lance, what an amazing athlete and comeback from cancer.
Anybody think he can pull it off six years in a row?
Well, if he can ride again like he did on Luz Ardiden and avoid the fates that felled Beloki, Leipheimer, and Hamilton, I'd say he has a pretty good chance. But assuming all of the above riders - along with Vinokourov and Ullrich - return healthy next year, it may be one of the most competitive fields the tour has ever seen.
It will be fun to watch, that's for sure.
I'm a big Armstrong fan, but I don't see how things get any easier next year.
It is very AB normal for one rider to dominate the field as he has done. Americans don't get this. They believe that one rider SHOULD dominate. But it is not that way. The Tour is a team sport and you can win it just by winning a few time trials and being one of the pack the rest of the time.
Some teams go with the goal to win only one leg of the race just to make a lot of money for their sponsors. They actually plan to drop out of it after they reach that goal.
Americans don't get this
American cycling fans do :)
"you can win it just by winning a few time trials and being one of the pack the rest of the time,"
well, I guess all those other 148 riders who finished the race did not know that.
My two cents, WFN :) And yes, I'm a Texan, so I gotta say sumpin', right! Howdy, folks!
I stil think next year can only get tougher - the depth of talent in next year's tour figures to be tremendous. But as I said earlier, it will be fun to watch :)
Americans don't get this
European here.
Ullrich blew Armstrong away in one time trial and was dead even with him in the second before crashing.
Dead even on that time trial, but Armstrong still had more than 1 minute advantage from previous days, i.e. from the day where he decided it was time to go and just made the other look like they were glued to the road.
being one of the pack the rest of the time.
Lance is phenominal. But in the entire history of the Tour, it is not the norm to have one person so completely dominate. Even with all his troubles, he still dominated. He is an athlete unlike most: not only does he have the sheer will power to do it, but his body genetically 'ripe' for this sport. He naturally uses more of his lungs than most people can be trained to do.
Bicycling Magazine has an interesting article here with different factoids about the Tour [bicycling.com] including "How to Win":
This one seems simple: The rider with the lowest accumulated time over three weeks of racing wears the yellow jersey--and wins. But to the uninitated, the idea of cumulative time overriding each day's stage wins can be as mind bending as, say, trying to keep track of the score in a cricket match day after day.A guy like Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini can win four stages, but not even figure in the final standings.
And, in theory, a Tour winner doesn't even have to win a stage--although any Tour winner worth his weight in the mythic golden fleece usually comes away with at least one stage win.
The whole concept is completely different than most sports.
And, just so you know, I'm not just a damn American, I'm worse: I'm a Texan. *LOL!*
Dead even on that time trial, but Armstrong still had more than 1 minute advantage from previous days, i.e. from the day where he decided it was time to go and just made the other look like they were glued to the road.
Didn't most of Lance's lead (43 seconds?) come from the team time trial? It would have been a shame if Ullrich had lost the Tour just because his team hadn't got the depth of U.S. Postal.
Any opinions on how Beloki would have done if his tyre hadn't melted?
It would have been a shame if Ullrich had lost the Tour just because his team hadn't got the depth of U.S. Postal
Not really - team support is a huge part of winning the tour. It is at the same time a team and individual sport.
As to Beloki, I think he, along with several other riders who went down, could have been a real threat. That's not so say he would have won - once Lance recovered from whatever was bothering him, he was back to near unbeatable status. Even in the time trial where Ullrich beat him, LAnce was still far ahead of everyone else - I don't recall the exact margin, but it was over 30 seconds. And that was on a bad day!
Next year he will win hands down.
p.s. did I mention I am an Ulrich fan ;)
Not really - team support is a huge part of winning the tour. It is at the same time a team and individual sport.
On the normal stages, fine, but the team time trial seems different. A great rider on a weak team can lose several minutes to a rival. On a normal stage, no matter what his rival's team does, if he can follow his rival's wheel then he won't lose any time at all.
As to Beloki, I think he, along with several other riders who went down, could have been a real threat.
It was a great Tour, but could have been even better. Beloki looked to me to be on for a podium finish at least. Would have loved to see him attacking in the Pyrenees. Let's just hope he recovers his form for next year...
So what do we do for the next 11 months :)
There are several good cyclists in that team. One former world champion as well as one who has won the Vuelta and has been #2 at the Tour.
And the Swiss have won more Tour de France than several bigger countries. The oldest still living Tour de France winner is a Swiss guy!
Didn't most of Lance's lead (43 seconds?) come from the team time trial?
Sure, as it happened. But as in most team sports, strategy as the event progresses depends on where things currently stand. If not for that win in the TTT, the US Postal team would have had to be more aggressive in the later stages. As it was, and as stage races often work out, the leader or the leading team(s) at times are able only to mark each other and bide time. But if that time trial hadn't built the cushion, there's no way of knowing what would have happened in later stages.
Coming down to the last individual time trial as this year's course was laid out, Lance's win was almost secured -- it was a flat course, with little chance of any one strong rider (like Ullrich) soundly beating another (like Armstrong). The rain really helped seal it, making an exceptionally strong ride even less likely -- and, as it happened, forcing Ullrich to ride more aggressively and risk what happened, his fall, while Armstrong could approach it more cautiously. That is, there was much less likelihood that Lance would crash and so have a "bad" time than that Ullrich would.
Of course the more recent development of quick communication made that even easier, since Armstrong to the word via radio that Ullrich had gone down almost as soon as it happened.
By the way, while it's certainly true, and has happened, that the winner doesn't have to win a stage, don't forget the value of the time bonuses awarded for doing so. One of those helped Ullrich get closer in the late stages.
Ullrich was certainly impressive this year, as were Beloki and Vinokourov, among others. And Tyler Hamilton... that was something!
So what do we do for the next 11 months :)
Hey, it's only about the middle of the season! Unfortunately in the US it's hard to follow any other cycling event, let alone see television coverage of it.
So I'll pass some time at local NYC-area races. Personally, I'm "retired," but I still drop in as a spectator from time to time (when I can get up that early; it's a lot harder without the motivation of having to be warmed up and at the starting line on time).
by the way, my local cable company moved the channel position of OLN to their digital tier the day of the team time trial..
Needless to say, there were a lot of confused and angry cycling fans in New Orleans on July 9...We all missed the first team time trial win by a US team in tour history :(
