TDF Lance Leads!

[Annie]

http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/cy/tdf/

 

[MtnBiker]

Alright, Go Lance Go!

 

[dilloduck]

KICK BUTT LANCE----(secretly I'm glad the race is over there, Lance has a way of jamming up traffic in Austin)

 

[insein]

If he leads going into the mountains, its all over for everyone else. He'll gain the most ground there.

 

[Annie]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc

links embedded

Lance Armstrong reclaimed his familiar Tour de France leader's yellow jersey when U.S. Postal won a team time trial in Arras on Wednesday – and his teammates now round out the top five. U.S. Postal clocked the third-fastest speed ever in a Tour team time trial despite dreadful conditions, with rain falling steadily on a windswept course.

 

[insein]

Look at the top 3 right now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/tour_results_and_standings/3839717.stm

Overall results
Pos Rider Nat Team Time Deficit
1. Lance Armstrong USA US Postal 14:54:53 14:54:53
2. George Hincapie USA US Postal 14:55:03 +00:10
3. Floyd Landis USA US Postal 14:55:09 +00:16
4. José Azevedo POR US Postal 14:55:15 +00:22
5. José Luis Rubiera ESP US Postal 14:55:17 +00:24
6. José Enrique Gutiérrez ESP Phonak 14:55:20 +00:27
7. Viatcheslav Ekimov RUS US Postal 14:55:23 +00:30
8. Tyler Hamilton USA Phonak 14:55:29 +00:36
9. Santos González ESP Phonak 14:55:30 +00:37
10. Bert Grabsch GER Phonak 14:55:34 +00:41

Its early but USA is kicking Ass. In fact they say Lance's biggest opponent this year is another American by the name of Tyler Hamilton. If someone is going to beat Lance, i'd rather it be another American. Fuck the French. We own their little bike race.

 

[MtnBiker]

Armstrong Poised to Deal Knockout Blow

July 17, 2004 08:52 AM EDT


LANNEMEZAN, France - Already in commanding position, Lance Armstrong led the Tour de France into possibly its hardest stage Saturday - a seven-climb monster in which he could all but wrap up his sixth straight crown in cycling's showcase event.

Several of Armstrong's leading threats pulled out of the race, including fellow American Tyler Hamilton. He withdrew because of a back injury that had been troubling him since a crash more than a week ago.

Armstrong was the winner the last time the Tour went through the punishing Plateau de Beille in the Pyrenees in 2002. Having struck a blow to rivals Friday, Armstrong had a chance for a knockout in the 127.7-mile ride from Lannemezan.

The five-time champion, in the first Pyrenees stage on Friday, stunned his rivals by leaving them trailing on the day's last climb.

Link

Alright Lance!!

 

[Annie]

Crazies!

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=sportsNews&storyID=551318&section=news

 

[Annie]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_yl...N0bQ--?slug=ap-tourdefrance&prov=ap&type=lgns

Excerpt:

LE GRAND-BORNAND, France (AP) -- Overpowering in the mountains, now unbeatable in a sprint. Seems there's nothing Lance Armstrong can't do as he rides inexorably into Tour de France history, utterly outclassing his rivals.

With a stunning final dash of speed, Armstrong snatched victory from German Andreas Kloden at the end of the Tour's hardest Alpine stage, pedaling so furiously that his bicycle swung wildly beneath him.

The win Thursday was Armstrong's fourth this Tour -- matching his best in previous years when he also dominated -- and his third in three consecutive days, allowing him to all but lock up a record sixth-straight crown.

It also was perhaps the most incredible. Even Armstrong seemed to find his sprint finish hard to believe. A beaming smile on his face, he jubilantly pumped his fists in the air as he zoomed past Kloden, who seemed destined to win until Armstrong edged him at the line.

``No gifts this year,'' the five-time champion said. ``I want to win.''

 

[Annie]

http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110005386

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Going L'Postal
Lance Armstrong delivers better performance than your mailman.

Friday, July 23, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

Lance Armstrong's breathtaking performance in this year's Tour de France puts us in a pickle. On the one hand, the prospect of an American cycling a victory lap on the Champs-Elysées this Sunday appeals to the patriot in us. It almost makes up for Sheryl Crow, Mr. Armstrong's rock-singer girlfriend, who will be waiting for him at the finish line and whose antiwar stance surely qualifies her for honorary Frenchwoman status.

On the other hand, there are consolations for our beloved ally. Chief among them is the Gallic pleasure that the French ought to take in the statist sponsor of Mr. Armstrong's team: the U.S. Postal Service. Like its French counterpart, it spends with the abandon of Louis XIV and guards a monopoly that claims absolute divine right over the private mailboxes of every single American.

Of course, the 32-year-old Mr. Armstrong hasn't actually won the race yet, though that's being treated as a formality at this point. If he does win, it will be his sixth Tour de Force victory in a row, a feat all the more impressive considering that Mr. Armstrong had been written off after being struck by cancer back in 1996. Four other cyclists, including two Frenchmen, have won the Tour de France five times. But all fell short of the elusive sixth, and none won the race past the age of 31.





Naturally, the likelihood of another Yankee triumph is arousing strong emotions on French soil. Mr. Armstrong himself has complained of unruly Basques lining the road during an early stretch. He has been spat upon. And some European papers have likened the cycle champ to another "aggressive" Texan . . .
Yet the more interesting consequences of an Armstrong victory seem to be occurring on the home front. Earlier this year, the Postal Service announced that it would not be renewing its professional cycle team sponsorship. No doubt this decision was helped along by a recent audit from the mail carrier's own inspector general. Notwithstanding the expenditures on the cycling team--$40 million from 1996 to 2002--auditors reported that they "verified only $698,000 of the $18 million claimed by the Postal Service over a four-year period as revenue generated as a result of the Pro-Cycling team sponsorship." No doubt the other impetus for the Postal Service's dropping a winner has to do with an unwillingness to provoke Congress while it considers a sensitive postal reform bill.

Had the USPS backed an also-ran, the spending complaints registered by groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste might have produced a ho-hum, given the fraction of total Postal Service spending that the sponsorship represents. But Mr. Armstrong's dramatic feats have drawn inevitable comparisons between his performance and that of his sponsor.

If Paris is indeed well worth a Mass, sharpening this contrast may yet prove money well spent. For if it provokes harder questions on Capitol Hill about how our national mail carrier does its business, it will be we who owe the French--to paraphrase President Chirac at Normandy--our "eternal gratitude."

 

[Annie]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_yl...N0bQ--?slug=ap-tourdefrance&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

[Annie]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_yl...--?slug=reu-tourwinner&prov=reuters&type=lgns