Stage 13--Ullrich again!
Is Jan Ullrich the strongest cyclist in the Tour? He cleary has been over the last two days. Carlos Sastre of CSC picked up the stage win in the first of four days in the Pyrenees, but the biggest news was that Jan Ullrich launched a counter attack in the final two kilometers. Although we thought Ullrich would suffer in the mountains, he was awesome. Armstrong looked in great difficulty, falling behind Ullrich, Vino, Basso, and Zubledia, but surged in the final 500 meters to cut Ullrich's lead to 7 seconds. Ullrich did pick up a 12 second time bonus, narrowing the overall margin to 15 seconds. In other words, Lance still has the yellow jersey, but it's all even now.
The good news for Lance is that he put 10 seconds on Vinokourov, leaving him at 61 seconds down. Tyler Hamilton also lost time and is now over 4 minutes back. So, he's not going to win the race, but he can still fight for a podium spot.
What's going on here? We keep saying that Armstrong has things under control. Can he win if he continues to ride defensively? That's unlikely with Vinokourov and Ullrich so close and so able to take time from him. We also keep wondering when Armstrong will go on the offensive. It seems like each day he just doesn't feel well enough to be on top of his game. Now he's saying he was so dehydrated in the time trial that he lost over 10 pounds and he still hasn't fully recovered. Well, that may explain why he's lost his edge, but even the best of excuses isn't going to help him win a bike race. Still, his post-race interview suggests confidence and alacrity for the upcoming stages.
The team support of USPS has been great. Heras did pop today, but they had great tactics in putting Rubiera in the breakaway so he could join Lance from the front once the elite climbers were on the final climb. Manuel Beltran earned his paycheck today, as he set a great pace on the first climb and even caught the group again after being dropped.
How to win? If any one of the top three have a really bad day, that would probably eliminate one. In the mountains we've seen them separate by a few seconds here & there, but that's never going to be decisive. I get the feeling that this race is going to be won when one of them has a great day and beats the field by a couple minutes. There are three more opportunities before the last time trial. Psychological edges: Ullrich has all the momentum now. Armstrong's glass is either half-full or half-empty. Either he's slowly being devoured, or he's bound to finally have a problem-free day in which to assert himself.
Other news...
Despite the stage win, CSC only gained a few seconds over Banesto in the team competition, leaving them separated by 2:16. Both gained on USPS and Euskaltel, so this is definitely a tight two team race now.
The big breakaway meant that most of the sprinters were shut out of the intermediate sprint points, but Thor Hushovd (easily the best name in the race!) was in the breakaway. He grabbed 12 points to move into third place. He now trails Cooke by 24 points.
If anyone is going to challenge Virenque in the King of the Mountains race, tomorrow is the day to do it. There are two category two climbs and 4 category one climbs. While the big finish on Monday's stage seems the perfect place for the contenders to decide the yellow jersey, there will probably be attacks among them Sunday to see if anyone does have a bad day.
Is Jan Ullrich the strongest cyclist in the Tour? He cleary has been over the last two days. Carlos Sastre of CSC picked up the stage win in the first of four days in the Pyrenees, but the biggest news was that Jan Ullrich launched a counter attack in the final two kilometers. Although we thought Ullrich would suffer in the mountains, he was awesome. Armstrong looked in great difficulty, falling behind Ullrich, Vino, Basso, and Zubledia, but surged in the final 500 meters to cut Ullrich's lead to 7 seconds. Ullrich did pick up a 12 second time bonus, narrowing the overall margin to 15 seconds. In other words, Lance still has the yellow jersey, but it's all even now.
The good news for Lance is that he put 10 seconds on Vinokourov, leaving him at 61 seconds down. Tyler Hamilton also lost time and is now over 4 minutes back. So, he's not going to win the race, but he can still fight for a podium spot.
What's going on here? We keep saying that Armstrong has things under control. Can he win if he continues to ride defensively? That's unlikely with Vinokourov and Ullrich so close and so able to take time from him. We also keep wondering when Armstrong will go on the offensive. It seems like each day he just doesn't feel well enough to be on top of his game. Now he's saying he was so dehydrated in the time trial that he lost over 10 pounds and he still hasn't fully recovered. Well, that may explain why he's lost his edge, but even the best of excuses isn't going to help him win a bike race. Still, his post-race interview suggests confidence and alacrity for the upcoming stages.
The team support of USPS has been great. Heras did pop today, but they had great tactics in putting Rubiera in the breakaway so he could join Lance from the front once the elite climbers were on the final climb. Manuel Beltran earned his paycheck today, as he set a great pace on the first climb and even caught the group again after being dropped.
How to win? If any one of the top three have a really bad day, that would probably eliminate one. In the mountains we've seen them separate by a few seconds here & there, but that's never going to be decisive. I get the feeling that this race is going to be won when one of them has a great day and beats the field by a couple minutes. There are three more opportunities before the last time trial. Psychological edges: Ullrich has all the momentum now. Armstrong's glass is either half-full or half-empty. Either he's slowly being devoured, or he's bound to finally have a problem-free day in which to assert himself.
Other news...
Despite the stage win, CSC only gained a few seconds over Banesto in the team competition, leaving them separated by 2:16. Both gained on USPS and Euskaltel, so this is definitely a tight two team race now.
The big breakaway meant that most of the sprinters were shut out of the intermediate sprint points, but Thor Hushovd (easily the best name in the race!) was in the breakaway. He grabbed 12 points to move into third place. He now trails Cooke by 24 points.
If anyone is going to challenge Virenque in the King of the Mountains race, tomorrow is the day to do it. There are two category two climbs and 4 category one climbs. While the big finish on Monday's stage seems the perfect place for the contenders to decide the yellow jersey, there will probably be attacks among them Sunday to see if anyone does have a bad day.
posted by uberschuck at 11:22 AM
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