The tour heats up ... again
Georg Totschnig was a deserving winner of today's stage. It was not only a great day for Georg -- his first Tour de France stage win -- but also for his Gerolsteiner team. They'll be celebrating in Austria tonight as its the first time an Austrian has won a Tour stage since 1947. In an emotional interview following the stage he was asked if this was the greatest moment of his life. Stumbling a bit for the translation from French, his look changed. In a matter of fact way he acknowledged it was the greatest moment in his sporting career.
After spending a few days tackling Le Geant de Rovence and Mont Ventoux, we spent the day driving to Lourdes. Following the race by radio we scrambled to find a TV to watch the closing kiometers. While listening to all the excitement and attacking going on -- and then coupling that with images of the race -- it seems Lance always benefits from the difficulty. His look was of focus and control. In a post race interview they asked what he thought about the T-Mobile riders and their accelerations. He said he felt great at this moment and knew the pace could only last a few kilometers. It's great to see all the attacks, but how do his rivals put the pressure on Lance when their efforts seem to hurt themselves more? Although Lance commented several times that the race was hard and very hot, he shrugged when the reporter said 37C(100F).
Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis definitely showed today why they are GC contenders. Even though they couldn't match the trio of Armstrong, Basso and Ullrich, they were not too far off the pace. There's no question the American riders are putting on a terrific performance this year. It was also nice to see that when Leipheimer found himself with no support and water, in the break under scorching hot conditions, it was Lance who handed him a water bottle. For all that's been said about rivalries between the top Americans, this gesture was a terrific show of American unity.
Tomorrow's stage is intense, with 4 category 1 climbs, a category 2 and the finish on the hors (out of) category Pla d'Adet. Third from the last climb will be our viewing point tomorrow, the Peyresourde. Memories for me of this climb are the heat and pavement. It is a chip and seal surface and your tires crackle over the bubbling tar. Did I mention the heat?
Who will attack tomorrow? A podium, top 5, or top ten overall is a great finish in Paris. Do you risk it, considering Lance and team Discovery's track record? Will Lance go for it and look to seal up his 7th victory? Also keep in mind, tomorrow will be one day shy of the 10th anniversary of Fabio Casartelli's death in the 1995 Tour de France. For those that don't recall, Fabio was a Motorola teammate of Lance's and Lance won a stage that year pointing to the sky in Fabio's honor. Since tomorrow's race will pass the the monument to Casartelli, and it's Lance's last mountain top finish ever, I would look for a special effort from Lance tomorrow.
Let's see how Ullrich responds, especially after the hard efforts of today. I'm sure Ullrich is now eyeing a podium spot and it's got to make Rasmussen a little nervous to have time trialers like Ullrich, Landis and Leipheimer breathing down his neck.
Buckle up for tomorrow. It'll be a good one.
After spending a few days tackling Le Geant de Rovence and Mont Ventoux, we spent the day driving to Lourdes. Following the race by radio we scrambled to find a TV to watch the closing kiometers. While listening to all the excitement and attacking going on -- and then coupling that with images of the race -- it seems Lance always benefits from the difficulty. His look was of focus and control. In a post race interview they asked what he thought about the T-Mobile riders and their accelerations. He said he felt great at this moment and knew the pace could only last a few kilometers. It's great to see all the attacks, but how do his rivals put the pressure on Lance when their efforts seem to hurt themselves more? Although Lance commented several times that the race was hard and very hot, he shrugged when the reporter said 37C(100F).
Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis definitely showed today why they are GC contenders. Even though they couldn't match the trio of Armstrong, Basso and Ullrich, they were not too far off the pace. There's no question the American riders are putting on a terrific performance this year. It was also nice to see that when Leipheimer found himself with no support and water, in the break under scorching hot conditions, it was Lance who handed him a water bottle. For all that's been said about rivalries between the top Americans, this gesture was a terrific show of American unity.
Tomorrow's stage is intense, with 4 category 1 climbs, a category 2 and the finish on the hors (out of) category Pla d'Adet. Third from the last climb will be our viewing point tomorrow, the Peyresourde. Memories for me of this climb are the heat and pavement. It is a chip and seal surface and your tires crackle over the bubbling tar. Did I mention the heat?
Who will attack tomorrow? A podium, top 5, or top ten overall is a great finish in Paris. Do you risk it, considering Lance and team Discovery's track record? Will Lance go for it and look to seal up his 7th victory? Also keep in mind, tomorrow will be one day shy of the 10th anniversary of Fabio Casartelli's death in the 1995 Tour de France. For those that don't recall, Fabio was a Motorola teammate of Lance's and Lance won a stage that year pointing to the sky in Fabio's honor. Since tomorrow's race will pass the the monument to Casartelli, and it's Lance's last mountain top finish ever, I would look for a special effort from Lance tomorrow.
Let's see how Ullrich responds, especially after the hard efforts of today. I'm sure Ullrich is now eyeing a podium spot and it's got to make Rasmussen a little nervous to have time trialers like Ullrich, Landis and Leipheimer breathing down his neck.
Buckle up for tomorrow. It'll be a good one.
6 Comments:
Kevin, what do you make of T Mobile chasing down Vino twice, first on the Pailheres and then again on the last climb? Richard Virenque, now working as a commentator for French TV, called it `bizarre`, and said that he thought Vino would not be riding for T Mobile next year. What`s your take? Thanks!
I agree with the last comment. Chasing Vino down was bizarre at best.
Kevin: perhaps this has already been discussed previously and elsewhere, but exactly HOW is the degree of difficulty (e.g. HC, or Cat. 1, etc.) determined for mountain stage climbs. Is there some sort of set formula, length in kilometers times percent grade, for instance?!
There's a good explanation for how climbs are rated in the comments section of Alex Trautwig's blog titled "Climb Categories" from July 14.
Chasing down Vinokourov "the Flying Forehead" didn't make any sense. They were helping Lance pull up with Vino.
I'd like to be a fly on the wall in tonight's TMobile team meeting.
With regards to T-Mobile tactics. I haven't seen all of the coverage but have read your observations and heard some comments. It's one thing to send a rider up the road and bridge the gap without Lance or other favorites and try to make time. It's another to chase down a teammate. This is up to the director of the team to straighten things out or these guys need to part ways.
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