Stage 9

This is the most important moment of the 2003 Tour:



All this time, we've been saying the only thing that will stop Armstrong is sickness or a crash. And he came within a few feet of crashing out of the Tour. Beloki's crash forced Armstrong off the road to avoid total disaster. Beloki was not so lucky. Armstrong's chief rival didn't finish the stage, and will spend the evening in the hospital. It's over for Beloki, in what was shaping up to his best chance to win.

For all of the talk about l'Alpe d'Huez, today's climb proved to be just as important. The top riders once again went on the attack in the last kilometers of the stage and just absolutely tore apart the peleton. For about two hours, Jaksche thought he might be in yellow, opening up a nice 6 minute lead. The Posties slowly chipped away at the lead and once they reached Cote la Rochette, they just went nuts. Who would have thought a Category 3 climb would be so brutal?

Once again, Vinokourov launched a successful alte attack. This time, it gave him a stage win. He has to be considered a real threat now. Today, the leaders put ditance between themselves and the peleton. And the numbers from yesterday are slimming: now there are 4 riders within 2 minutes, 13 within 5, and 24 within 10. Riders are dropping off. Armstrong is imposing his will on the race, now he just needs to get rid of Vino and Mayo.

Now, to deal with Mr. Gioia...