Stage 15
It was everything it was supposed to be. Stage 15 was simply epic. There's a lot of stuff to go over, but let's get to the most important sutff first. Armstrong won his first stage of this year's Tour. And he did it going away, showing that he's still got some power in those legs. He now has a 1:07 lead over Ullrich, which should be enough to win the Tour. He still has to ride a strong time trial, but as long as Armstrong keeps Ullrich within his sights, he's going to win his fifth straight. Vionkourov did not have that great of a day. finishing two minutes out, he's now 2:45 out. No one else is within 5 minutes of Lance, though Zubelia and Mayo are knocking on the door. And only six riders are within 10 minutes. The race is now, finally, blown apart.
Ullrich gambled huge on Col de Tourmalet. He tried to break away a good 30 km from the finish and with two climbs to go. It was the best chance he had for winning. The break forced Lance to drop all of his US Postal domestiques and the increased pace actually cracked Vino. But even if Vino had kept up, he would have found himself without any Telekom support. Ullrich's strategy was predicated on the simple fact he has a weaker team. Ullrich tried to negate the advantage his closest competitors have by simply forcing Armstrong and Vino to drop their teams. Make it a mano-et-mano showdown. For a while, I thought it was going to work. The Euskatel duo kept up, but the rest of the lead peleton slowly drifted behind. It made it a four-man race. The break failed because the Basque riders refused to support the two leaders. And on the descent, the lead peleton caught up, and Vino caught up to everyone who had dropped him. And he got a little bit of rest on the descent.
So the riders hit the base of Luz-Ardiden in one group again. This time, it was the Basque's turn to attack, and Mayo tried to break. This wasn't suprising since the Euskatel duo is close enough to be a threat but far enough back that they had to win this stage by a large margin in order to win the yellow. Only Armstrong could follow. and with what looked like a growing ten seconds lead, disaster struck. It's not entirely clear what happened, but Armstrong went down, taking Mayo with him. ullrich just avoided the crash. And then came the most remarkable moment of this Tour full of remarkable moments...
The lead riders refused to press their advantage with Armstrong and Mayo on the ground. The unwritten rule of cycling is you do not press the advantage when your rival crashes. But that rule gets violated all of the time. Beloki attacked last year when Armstrong was back at the team car. It happens. And Ullrich could see this was a chance to erase the 15 second deficit. But he didn't attack. If he was going to win the Tour, he was going to do it the right way. He was going to beat Armstrong face-to-face, not when he was on the ground. It was a terrific moment of sportsmanship, obeyed by every rider no matter how much they wanted to win the greatest race in the world.
And Lance came back and blew them off the road. When he made contact again with the lead group, there was yet another attack and Armstrong took that as his singla to just keep going. He would open up a one minute lead and conquer the mountatin. He would reel in the long-time stage leader, Chavanel, with ease. and in another sporting gesture, he patted the Frenchman on the back to tell him he did a good job. But it was now time for the Armstrong Express.
There was no silly celebration at the end. No mock bow and arrow, no binkie, not even a fist pump. Armstrong practically collapsed upon finishing. This was the most important stage of the 2003 Tour de France. and Armstrong won it. And it looks like he's going to win the Tour again.
It was everything it was supposed to be. Stage 15 was simply epic. There's a lot of stuff to go over, but let's get to the most important sutff first. Armstrong won his first stage of this year's Tour. And he did it going away, showing that he's still got some power in those legs. He now has a 1:07 lead over Ullrich, which should be enough to win the Tour. He still has to ride a strong time trial, but as long as Armstrong keeps Ullrich within his sights, he's going to win his fifth straight. Vionkourov did not have that great of a day. finishing two minutes out, he's now 2:45 out. No one else is within 5 minutes of Lance, though Zubelia and Mayo are knocking on the door. And only six riders are within 10 minutes. The race is now, finally, blown apart.
Ullrich gambled huge on Col de Tourmalet. He tried to break away a good 30 km from the finish and with two climbs to go. It was the best chance he had for winning. The break forced Lance to drop all of his US Postal domestiques and the increased pace actually cracked Vino. But even if Vino had kept up, he would have found himself without any Telekom support. Ullrich's strategy was predicated on the simple fact he has a weaker team. Ullrich tried to negate the advantage his closest competitors have by simply forcing Armstrong and Vino to drop their teams. Make it a mano-et-mano showdown. For a while, I thought it was going to work. The Euskatel duo kept up, but the rest of the lead peleton slowly drifted behind. It made it a four-man race. The break failed because the Basque riders refused to support the two leaders. And on the descent, the lead peleton caught up, and Vino caught up to everyone who had dropped him. And he got a little bit of rest on the descent.
So the riders hit the base of Luz-Ardiden in one group again. This time, it was the Basque's turn to attack, and Mayo tried to break. This wasn't suprising since the Euskatel duo is close enough to be a threat but far enough back that they had to win this stage by a large margin in order to win the yellow. Only Armstrong could follow. and with what looked like a growing ten seconds lead, disaster struck. It's not entirely clear what happened, but Armstrong went down, taking Mayo with him. ullrich just avoided the crash. And then came the most remarkable moment of this Tour full of remarkable moments...
The lead riders refused to press their advantage with Armstrong and Mayo on the ground. The unwritten rule of cycling is you do not press the advantage when your rival crashes. But that rule gets violated all of the time. Beloki attacked last year when Armstrong was back at the team car. It happens. And Ullrich could see this was a chance to erase the 15 second deficit. But he didn't attack. If he was going to win the Tour, he was going to do it the right way. He was going to beat Armstrong face-to-face, not when he was on the ground. It was a terrific moment of sportsmanship, obeyed by every rider no matter how much they wanted to win the greatest race in the world.
And Lance came back and blew them off the road. When he made contact again with the lead group, there was yet another attack and Armstrong took that as his singla to just keep going. He would open up a one minute lead and conquer the mountatin. He would reel in the long-time stage leader, Chavanel, with ease. and in another sporting gesture, he patted the Frenchman on the back to tell him he did a good job. But it was now time for the Armstrong Express.
There was no silly celebration at the end. No mock bow and arrow, no binkie, not even a fist pump. Armstrong practically collapsed upon finishing. This was the most important stage of the 2003 Tour de France. and Armstrong won it. And it looks like he's going to win the Tour again.
posted by Poseur at 10:42 AM
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