I'm with you Oma, why can a large group move quicker? I am surprised that Hamilton is so close to the top with his injury. I haven't heard much about him since he broke his collar bone.

No change after yesterdays stage. Lance still leading by 1 min 7 secs.
After coming off the Pyrenees, and on to the flatlands, it was expected to be a sprinters day. The big strong boys who hide in the bunch and come out in the final 200 metres and power to the line in a mass, high speed, finish. Not my scene.
However we had another lone rider making a long lone ride to Tour glory. Not quite in the Hamilton league (95 miles out on his own). This guy spent about 12 miles out front and crossed the line some 17 seconds ahead of a group of ten chasers. The main bunch with Lance aboard came in some 8 minutes back.
The winner was Servais Knaven. To put it into context, in the overall classification, Knaven is over 3 hours 29 minutes behind Armstrong. Which is why the big boys do not worry when a group of lesser rides make a run for glory.

As to why a large buch of riders can move faster than a lone rider is quite simply that a lone rider has push the air in front of him on his own. Whereas in a bunch there will be one on the front for about 200/300 metres, then another guy will take over, then another and so on. Even with just 2 riders the guy behind, although riding as fast as the guy on the front, will use 30% less energy than the front man. This is why 'drafting', as you guys call it, is not allowed in time trials and triathlons.
To see a large bunch of over 100 riders moving at speed, with one guy on the front with the others forming an arrowhead behind him spread across the road, from the air, is quite a sight. They really can move.
Hopefully that answers the question http://www.corfid.com/ubb/smile.gif

Thanks, that makes sense.

Thank you Oma & Brink for reading and responding to these posts. I have to say I am a great admirer of Lance Armstrong. Not simply because of his athletic ability, but because he was diagnosed with testicular cancer sometime ago. He has overcome that trauma, and become one of the greatest athletes to emerge from the USA.

As I pound this out, the result of the Tour de France is being decided right now on the road from Pornic to Nantes, a small distance of 29 miles.

Yesterdays stage was pretty uneventful apart from Jan Ullrich grabing 2 seconds off Lance Armstrong by coming in 2nd on an intermediate sprint, gaining 4 seconds, Lance chased him for 3rd, and gained 2 seconds.
So Ullrich goes into todays TT 1 min 5 secs behind Armstrong.

I have just picked up the results. The winner of the stage was a Brit David Miller in 54 mins 5 secs. A great ride. Tyler Hamilton was second 9 seconds slower. Lance Armstrong was 5 seconds behind Hamilton in 3rd. Ullrich was 4th, 11 seconds behind Armstrong. This gives Armstrong the lead in the race by 1 min 15 Seconds.

Tomorrow is the final stage into Paris, this is normally won by a sprinter, nobody will be allowed to ride away on a lone escape. The whole bunch will arrive on the Champs-Elysees en masse. Then race up and down the great boulevard before a frantic final sprint finish. This final stage is the one stage the sprinters want to win. Armstrong will stay clear of this scramble for first place on the stage. He will now win his 5th Tour de France. I will watch the highlights on TV tonight and post my take on todays ride later.
PS Miller's average speed was slightly over 32 mph. Wow!

Is today the last day? I am being fairly nervous (I can imagine what Armstrong is like) but I feel pretty confident that he will prevail!!

[This message has been edited by brink (edited July 27, 2003).]

Today, (Sunday 27th) is the 20th and last stage of this great race. And as usual it is a run into Paris, to The Champs-Elysees. Then 10 circuits around the Boulevard, culminating in a big sprint finish. Quiet a sight. The result of the Tour is now known, barring accidents Lance Armstrong has won it. He has to cross the line, of course, he has to make sure he stays with Jan Ullrich to make sure he does not sneak away and take away the 1 min 15 second advantage he has over Ullrich. That will never happen.

Yesterdays time trial was the crucial stage. This was Jan Ullrich's last chance to unseat Armstrong. Ullrich had to beat Armstrong by over 1 min 5 seconds to take the Yellow Jersey. As Ullrich beat Armstrong by over a minute and a half on the last TT this was possible.

The weather conditions were atrocious, constant rain turned the course into an ice rink. The final 15 kms were the worse as they were in the town of Nantes with a lot of bends and those awful European roundabouts. Be grateful you do not have these in America.

Ullrich was the second to last man off with Armstrong starting 3 minutes later. The TV concentrated on these 2 riders. The split times showed that there was very little time between them. Several riders had fallen on the slippery roads, both riders were aware of this and knew they had to be wary. However faint heart never won a time trial! Both riders were going for it.

At about 10 kms from the finish Ullrich lost it, his rear wheel slid out from under him on a right hander, down he went, sliding across the road into the barriers. He was straight up and quickly on his way. But his nerve was gone. He was constantly waving his team car back, as he felt it was following too close and were he to fall again it may hit him.

In this day and age the riders are in constant radio contact with their team and this information was relayed to Armstrong, at that point he knew he had to just take it easy, not fall off and he would win the tour. He has always won the final time trial in his past 4 tour wins. However the stage win was not so important as maintaining his overall position as race leader. This he did by coming in 3rd fastest behind David Miller (or Millar) and Tyler Hamilton, who did a great ride, Ullrich was 4th. Millers time gave him the 2nd fastest time trial in the tours 100 years. This is the centenary year. A good one for Lance to win. He is 1 min 16 seconds ahead of Ullrich.

He has done it! 5 Tour de France wins. Only the 5th to achieve that and the second to do it consecutively.
The others, for the record.

Jaques Anquetil 1957-1961-1962-1963 and 1964.
Sadly, Jacques died in 1987 aged 54.

Eddy Merckx 1969-1970-1971-1972 and 1974.
Eddy is, arguably, the greatest cyclist ever.

Bernard Hinault 1978-1979-1981-1982 and 1985.

[B]Miguel Indurain[/i]1991-1992-1993-1994 and 1995.

A very elite club.

Lance will be back next year to try for 6 wins, it will be tough. Jan Ullrich has a point to prove, he will have to wait a year. But he will be 'up for it' to use the modern parlance.

It took Lance 83 hours 41 minutes 12 seconds to cover 2142.19 miles. He beat Ullrich by 1 minute and 1 second. At the start of today's stage he was 1m 16s ahead, where the 15 seconds went I don't know. We only got the final 10 laps of the Champs-Elysees on the TV. There was not 15 seconds between them at the line. An enigma.

The one thing I like about Armstrong above all is his graciousness in victory, unlike other 'champions' I could mention who disply arrogance and disdain for their rivals.

I can recommend Armstrongs book, It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back To Life
An inspiration to anybody who feels life has dealt them a bum hand.

I have enjoyed posting these posts. Thank you to all who took the time to read them.
Back to the obscurity of reading and not commenting.

Well done Lance Armstrong, a truly great American champion.

Hooray for Lance!!! Thank you for the updates Ben Dover, I am not around a t.v. much when I am working and haven't been able to keep up. What an exhausting race! I heard that he is going home and spend sometime with his wife and three children, a well deserved rest I am sure.

Well,I watched the last hour of the race due mainly to the messages here and I also had a feeling that Mr. Armstrong was going to win,even though I had not been watching. Nice! I never paid much attention to this race before but then I don't recall seeing it on TV before. I may just watch next year. Later!!

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Borderstone (An,"Avid Listner" of G.L.)

Thank you very much Oma. I did enjoy writing up the action.
Borderstone, if you catch the 'Tour' next year, try to watch the mountain stages rather than the flat stages. This race is won and lost on the BIG climbs, it is good TV and can be quite exciting.
Bye Y'all http://www.corfid.com/ubb/smile.gif

Cranked this one back to the top. The 2004 version finishes in Paris tomorrow (Sunday) once again Lance has triumphed. It will be an unprecedented 6th T de F win. Is there no stopping this brilliant American?

To top it all he is dating Sheryl Crow.

quote:I have my suspicions, but what guy doesn't have suspicions of elite cyclists dating hot, female rock stars?

Of course he's guilty. He's dating Sheryl Crow!

quote:Originally posted by Ben Dover:
Cranked this one back to the top. The 2004 version finishes in Paris tomorrow (Sunday) once again Lance has triumphed. It will be an unprecedented 6th T de F win. Is there no stopping this brilliant American?

To top it all he is dating Sheryl Crow.


Just as long as he doesn't tell her that "your ears are like petals...Bicycle petals"!!! I guess that after all this is over he'll just wanna have fun even if the first cut is the deepest eh??
Hay Ben if you are in the UK have you contacted Bruna Zanelli/silverheels about the proposed gordfestuk 2005???
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfo...dfestlogo9.jpg
where in the UK are you anyway??

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My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

[This message has been edited by johnfowles (edited July 24, 2004).]

Congratulations Lance!
http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung...smiley-023.gif

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"The station is for travelers even you must ride someday"

quote:Originally posted by johnfowles:

Hay Ben if you are in the UK have you contacted Bruna Zanelli/silverheels about the proposed gordfestuk 2005???
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfo...dfestlogo9.jpg
where in the UK are you anyway??

[/B]

Yes John I have contacted 'Silverheels' I live in the deep south.

With regard to the Brit Lighthead gathering, I doubt it will happen. I hope it will, but I have my doubts.

Ben Dover here again aka Jim Nasium.

Lance Armstrong has done it again. A 7th Tour de France win. Now retired. What next? Govenor of Texas? With his left of centre views could be tough.

This guy is one of America's greatest athletes.

Well done Lance Armstrong.

Yes Lance did better in the overall time this time - even though he is older. I think it is great he is retiring at the top of his game. Wish though they would focus more on Lance than this "Rock Star Girlfriend Sheryl Crow". Sheryl has her own venue to shine in, let Lance get the kudo's for his efforts.

Girlfriend? I thought they were married?
Anyway,it's good he is retiring while still able-bodied. I get soooo tired of athletes who wont admit to themselves when it's over.

(See:Mike Tyson for "finally got the hint!" :D )
Glad he's done! He should've left after he started biting ears! (..and I don't mean corn! :D )

I always liked him best when he did St. James Infirmary, and that great cornet solo, with The Hot Five (& later The Hot Seven.)

The Rez

PS:

Sorry about that gag. I, too, admire the man greatly. I figure his first wife, w/ him thru the worst, and he had their reasons for the breakup. Not mine to judge (having two ex's myself.)

The Rez

. . . are you sure he's not a Brother.

Thought I'd haul this back to the top, as another American has won this great cycle race. In some style, or so I thought. Who am I talking about? Floyd Landis. Sadly he has failed a drugs test. If you cannot win by cheating, why bother?

They're still checking the "B" sample in case there's an error in the original test results from sample "A." Highly trained athletes always have elevated hormone levels, sometimes up to 4x higher than average. Until they've reviewed the original lab results and tested the backup sample, everything's on hold, probably for about 2 weeks.

Cycling analyst John Eustice thinks Floyd Landis' testosterone test could be a false positive. Landis' testosterone levels were low; just the ratio was off. Landis' cortisone shots [for a degenerated hip he's scheduled to have surgery on shortly] or beer drinking could affect that, Eustice said on The Dan Patrick Show.