This just in...Lance Armstrong is good.
Well, if you win 4 out of 5 stages at the Tour de France, I'll tell everyone on the web that you're good too. Armstrong has set up all his TdF victories by winning on mountains and in time trials. It's easy to forget that the pre-cancer Lance was a good sprinter who specialized on the flats.
I keep comparing Lance's dominance to that of Miguel Indurain. I wonder if Armstrong is winning so much that he's making it as boring as Indurain did. But I can't make that conclusion. Lance wins by attacking, and it different ways. He could have been boring and just followed his rivals to the finish, like Indurain did so much. He even tried to set up the win for Floyd Landis. But when that didn't pan out, he decided to take the win for himself rather than see Andreas Kloden win. On www.letour.com they compared him to Eddy Merckx, the cannibal. Lance would back away from such a comparison, but the truth is, he's the closest thing to the cannibal that we've seen since Merckx retired.
OK, what has gotten into Floyd Landis? When did he become such a stud climber? Prior to this year, when did you ever see him set tempo on the big climbs? In the Alps he's been Lance's right-hand-man. Today he set such a strong pace that none of the contenders could attack. And when Sastre attacked, he reeled him in. Landis rode everyone except the top 4 off the back--even Azevedo. Landis has had more highlights in the last week than in his entire career.
Today Richard Virenque clinched the King of the Mountains competition. Hooray! We gave him credit for stepping up to the rule changes by riding hard for more days than he usually would. He's earned it (provided he doesn't fail another drug test), but let's be honest--he has no competition. Name another rider that tries to win the KoM. You can't, because there isn't one. A couple riders flirted with the idea, but not seriously. Axel Merckx, Christophe Moreau, and Francisco Mancebo all picked up points on a stage, but no one aimed to pick up points day after day. Lance Armstrong is second in the KoM, not because he gives a hoot, but because he likes to beat his rivals in the mountains, and it's pretty tough to do that without picking up points. No, Richard Virenque is the only rider trying to win the KoM. Congratulations! You beat no one, again.
There was a lot of action at the end of stage 17, but CSC lost out. Basso lost a few seconds to Kloden and Ullrich because of time bonuses. Not big stuff, but believe me, Basso would rather have the extra few seconds in his pocket for the final time trial. Kloden's going to jump him, and Ullrich stands a good chance of doing it too. And CSC lost plenty of time in the team competition. In fact, they fell to third behind USPS, thanks to the great rides of Lance, Landis, and Azevedo. Telekom has a 5 minute lead on USPS and 10 minutes on CSC, so if CSC has any chance, they've got to send a man up in a breakaway tomorrow, hope it survives, and hope Telekom doesn't have a man in it. So, it's up to you, Jens Voigt.
Thomas Voeckler fought hard to maintain his white jersey, but his lead is just 45 seconds over Vladimir Karpets, and he's going to give Voeckler a serious beat down in the time trial.
Well, if you win 4 out of 5 stages at the Tour de France, I'll tell everyone on the web that you're good too. Armstrong has set up all his TdF victories by winning on mountains and in time trials. It's easy to forget that the pre-cancer Lance was a good sprinter who specialized on the flats.
I keep comparing Lance's dominance to that of Miguel Indurain. I wonder if Armstrong is winning so much that he's making it as boring as Indurain did. But I can't make that conclusion. Lance wins by attacking, and it different ways. He could have been boring and just followed his rivals to the finish, like Indurain did so much. He even tried to set up the win for Floyd Landis. But when that didn't pan out, he decided to take the win for himself rather than see Andreas Kloden win. On www.letour.com they compared him to Eddy Merckx, the cannibal. Lance would back away from such a comparison, but the truth is, he's the closest thing to the cannibal that we've seen since Merckx retired.
OK, what has gotten into Floyd Landis? When did he become such a stud climber? Prior to this year, when did you ever see him set tempo on the big climbs? In the Alps he's been Lance's right-hand-man. Today he set such a strong pace that none of the contenders could attack. And when Sastre attacked, he reeled him in. Landis rode everyone except the top 4 off the back--even Azevedo. Landis has had more highlights in the last week than in his entire career.
Today Richard Virenque clinched the King of the Mountains competition. Hooray! We gave him credit for stepping up to the rule changes by riding hard for more days than he usually would. He's earned it (provided he doesn't fail another drug test), but let's be honest--he has no competition. Name another rider that tries to win the KoM. You can't, because there isn't one. A couple riders flirted with the idea, but not seriously. Axel Merckx, Christophe Moreau, and Francisco Mancebo all picked up points on a stage, but no one aimed to pick up points day after day. Lance Armstrong is second in the KoM, not because he gives a hoot, but because he likes to beat his rivals in the mountains, and it's pretty tough to do that without picking up points. No, Richard Virenque is the only rider trying to win the KoM. Congratulations! You beat no one, again.
There was a lot of action at the end of stage 17, but CSC lost out. Basso lost a few seconds to Kloden and Ullrich because of time bonuses. Not big stuff, but believe me, Basso would rather have the extra few seconds in his pocket for the final time trial. Kloden's going to jump him, and Ullrich stands a good chance of doing it too. And CSC lost plenty of time in the team competition. In fact, they fell to third behind USPS, thanks to the great rides of Lance, Landis, and Azevedo. Telekom has a 5 minute lead on USPS and 10 minutes on CSC, so if CSC has any chance, they've got to send a man up in a breakaway tomorrow, hope it survives, and hope Telekom doesn't have a man in it. So, it's up to you, Jens Voigt.
Thomas Voeckler fought hard to maintain his white jersey, but his lead is just 45 seconds over Vladimir Karpets, and he's going to give Voeckler a serious beat down in the time trial.
posted by uberschuck at 11:17 PM
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