STAGE TWELVE

We really can't stress enough just how awesome Lance is. US Postal spent the entire final climb slowly quickening the place, dropping rider after rider until it was just nine riders. And with three kilometers to go, Lance attacked the few who survived the pace. Only Basso and Sastre could respond, and Sastre only for about 1k. Then, just to demonstrate his supreme confidence, he let Ivan Basso wi the stage without a fight. Hey, way to keep up, and as a reward, I'll let you win. It's days like this that make you wonder why the other riders even bother to show up.

Watching the Posties at work is one of the most amazing things in sports. The common complaint you hear from non-cycling fans is that they do not understand the team system. I don't know how anyone could watch US Postal ride a stage like this and ever wonder the benefit of a team ever again. As per the norm, the Posties dictated the pace of the peleton all day long. Then with 10km to go, they just put on a clinic. First Landis, then Hincapie, then Rubiera, and finally Azevedo led the peleton, doing the hard work for Lance, guiding him to the front of the stage. And then Lance delivered the knockout blow. Everyone knew it was coming and they couldn't do a damn thing about it.

Some big names felt the hammer. Of the three major contenders of Mayo, Hamilton, and Ullrich; only Mayo survived to the final group of nine. The carnage is huge: Mayo lost just over one minute, Leipheimer lost just short of two, Ullrich lost exactly two and a half, Heras lost three, and Hamilton lost three and a half minutes. On the first major day of climbing, Lance destroyed his competition.

So that makes Thomas Voeckler's performance all the more amazing. Voeckler finished 41st at 3:59 out, but he stuck with the big boys longer than anyone expected. Actually, Voeckler got dropped about the same time Ullrich did, he just cracked a little bit harder. And he didn't have the help of teammates, as Brioches isn't exactly full of stud climbers. But he gamely defended his lead and will get to wear the jersey for another day. That is very impressive and he deserves another day in the spotlight. He even made strides in the white jersey classification, beating Casar by one minute and a half.

Outside of a crash, I don't say any way Armstrong doesn't win this thing. He just looks ten times stronger than everybody else. As Jason said, today we would find out who is strong. The answer, as always, is Lance Armstrong.