"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Stage 19 *Spoiler*

Didn't put SPOILER in title and don't know if I can edit it. So if you don't want to know anymore stop reading.

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I can hardly stand it!!!!! I'm stuck at work and have to settle for internet updates of the stage. We have dish network at work but no OLN. I have three sites open with instant updates and I'm wearing out the refresh button. Lance and Jan are constanly back and forth by only a few seconds.

Yeah it will definitely come down to Stage 20 on this year's race. They're within something like 62 sec.... That's not much at all. I'm a big Lance fan for his, hopefully, 5th consecutive win. Jan! Get out of here!

As for Hamiliton, I give him the best of luck to get back up in the top 5. He is one of the strongest guys I know.... riding with a broken collar bone! That's nuts! Do anyone know how he's doing, healing-wise??

-Dan the Man-

Jan went down. He's up but lost a good bit to LA. Tyler stands to move into fourth overall.

1-MILLAR (GBR, COF) 00:54:05.140
2-HAMILTON (USA, CSC) 00:54:14.270 at 09"
3-ARMSTRONG (USA, USP) 00:54:19.660 at 14"
4-ULLRICH (GER, TBI) 00:54:30.450 at 25"
5-BODROGI (HUN, QSD) 00:54:31.730 at 26"

Lance wins the tour.

I can't remember ever seeing a look of such unalloyed joy on Armstrong's face as he crossed a finish line. A real indication of how much pressure he was actually feeling.

This has been truly memorable.

RichC

Yes, Congrats to Lance, great Tour !!

I'm a little sad, it would have been Jans ITT and he would have deserved a second stage win...

But overall a fascinating Tour :beer:

Cheers, i'm getting some beer now :)

You need to post SPOILER on your title. The none OLNers will get you. :D


I hated to see Jan go down. I would have rather seen a battle to the line.

The ride of truth.

GC

1. Lance Armstrong (USA) USP
2. Jan Ullrich (Germany) TBI at 1'16"
3. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) TEL at 4'29"
4. Tyler Hamilton (USA) CSC at 6'32"
5. Haimar Zubeldia (Spain) EUS at 7'06"
6. Iban Mayo (Spain) EUS at 7'21"
7. Ivan Basso (Italy) FAS at 10'12"
8. Christophe Moreau (France) C.A at 12'43"
9. Carlos Sastre (Spain) CSC) at 18'49"
10. Francisco Mancebo (Spain) BAN at 19'30"

I cant wait to see the stage. I listened on OLN, and thought I was going to soil myself. :D Congratulations to both LA and Jan. What a great tour.

Great race today in the TT. Too bad that Jan had to fall but it did not look like it was going to make any difference anyway. That was one nasty looking course and to still keep those speeds up is truly amazing. These guys are sooooo goood!:D

you dont have to give away the overall result in the thread title ;)

Oops, sorry about that!!! Yeah I hated to see Ullrich go down too. I want Lance to win, but a close race sure is exciting. How about that Tyler Hamilton, up to 4th place overall. You Go Boy!!!!

woohoo hopefully there will be 10 more threads about the same stage, all in different forums!

Oops! Sorry about that and thanks for the delete of the title.

Don't blame people for getting excited. This was a big day and people are letting everyone know about it.

It was a great stage,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, again!! It has been the most entertaining Tour I can remember. I just sent Jan an email, to congratulate him for his fine effort this year. I look for him to put a streak of wins together soon. His address is jan@janullrich.de .

Originally posted by brent_dube
woohoo hopefully there will be 10 more threads about the same stage, all in different forums!


Here is a link for you.

www.angrybitterpeople.com :D

im not angry
I don't know why you thought I was
Its just confusing with all the unorganization
Its like on the speedtv.com forums... there will be 20 threads about the same race. It completely messes up the discussion.

Too bad it was rainy!
A great TT though.

I think that if it was dry, Lance would have won the TT and it would have been a record average speed :D

I know what you mean. It's like the "Im new to riding, what bike do you recommend" thing. People need to run a search for their topic first. This is understandable though,,,,,,, this is huge. :D

Jan sure looked nervous in the starting gate. It almost looked as though he was shivering. Maybe he was cold from the rain but the look on his face was not very comfortable. Lance on the other hand looked very comfortable today and was waving to someone in the crown before he left the gate. A sure sign that he was relaxed.

I thought that when I originally posted the "Five is Alive" thread that I was the first one to post anyting about the stage today so did not have another post to sign to. Sorry if I ruined for anyone but they were going to see the result 2 seconds later when they opened up any of the other posts anyway. Not a big deal but glad to see that there are this many people even interested in cycling and the tour. Let's keep it alive!

I think the stress was really effecting Jan. I read that he didnt even get out of bed this morning. He reviewed the course by video tape, and used the call backs from his team for updates on the course conditions. He must have been trying to call himself down this morning.

It was obvious after the time checks of todays race Jan and Lance were virtually the same stregnth. Lance has the better power to weight ratio so he was more dominant in the mountains when he felt good.

What a dramatic tour indeed. As much as I like the 6-8 minute spreads it is not very thrilling to watch when the gap is so wide. This year is a real treat.

Lance, and Tyler has once again shown that a pair of americans can dominate the Europeans. Good show!
I'm just as impressed with Tyler as Lance.

im not angry
I don't know why you thought I was
Its just confusing with all the unorganization
Its like on the speedtv.com forums... there will be 20 threads about the same race. It completely messes up the discussion.

Ummm... no there won't. I've already merged 2 threads into one... We'll be merging all threads about stage 19 into this one just so that we don't end up with the confusion and disorganization, so don't worry.

Since I didn't have OLN, I settled for a 70 mile ride instead this morning, knowing when I got in, I'd go straight to eursport.com to see the results. Sad to see about Jan, but super happy to see that Lance is most likely going to win the Tour this year. I'd love to see him, Beloki, Jan, Hamilton, and Cipo battle it out in '04...

Go Lance!

Koffee

Originally posted by Koffee Brown


Since I didn't have OLN, I settled for a 70 mile ride instead this morning, knowing when I got in, I'd go straight to eursport.com to see the results. Sad to see about Jan, but super happy to see that Lance is most likely going to win the Tour this year. I'd love to see him, Beloki, Jan, Hamilton, and Cipo battle it out in '04...

Go Lance!

Koffee


Good for you Koff. hope the ride went well.

I hope to see that same lineup next year also. It will be a very good tour. At the same time I think that Lance may be wise to focus on his family a bit more now too.

LA talks again about difficulties that are both known and unknown to the public. Will he let us know all the details of what he went through on the way to number 5? I really want to know!!! His talking about them are driving me crazy and making me even more curious. COME ON LANCE, TELL US!!!

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
I'd love to see him, Beloki, Jan, Hamilton, and Cipo battle it out in '04...


Because he's a quitter, Cipo will never battle it out for a tour win.

Here's Lance talking about some of the issues he had this tour that weren't widely reported:

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=reu-tourarmstrongquotes&prov=reuters&type=lgns

p.s.: MKRG do you ever ride with the cincinnati cycling club?

Originally posted by Argonne
Here's Lance talking about some of the issues he had this tour that weren't widely reported:

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=reu-tourarmstrongquotes&prov=reuters&type=lgns

p.s.: MKRG do you ever ride with the cincinnati cycling club?

Thanks for the link.

Ullrich did look really nervous. Lance said too though that it was the most nervous he had ever been in a bike race... but he didn't really appear that way.

Unbelieveable competition this year, I think. Great coverage, and a great tour (and its not even over yet!).
Look at the time gaps for todays stage, for example. 17th place was only 2 minutes behind the stage winner. Usually in a TT, it seems that 2ND place is 2 minutes behind!


Originally posted by Koffee Brown
Ummm... no there won't. I've already merged 2 threads into one... We'll be merging all threads about stage 19 into this one just so that we don't end up with the confusion and disorganization, so don't worry.


Thank you.
I think that people should keep that in mind, so you don't have to do all that work in the first place, ya know? Less of a hassle for the viewers and the moderators. :)


In any case, Armstrong will return hoping to achieve what no other rider has done.

"I'll be back next year and I'm not coming back to be second but hopefully to come back to the level I was in the first four Tours. Because this was not acceptable," he said.


Hehe, 'this was not acceptable'. He says that as if he had a horrible tour.
'back next year'... :D

p.s.: MKRG do you ever ride with the cincinnati cycling club?
Umm...No. They are WAY too slow for me. :D


Just kidding. In truth I'm probably way too slow for them. Is there any information on this club? I'd like to learn a little more about them. I'm interested in riding with other people for the social benefits as well as improving my own performance but the opportunity really hasn't presented itself as of yet. So any info would be appreciated.


"Before the team presentation, the top of our bus was open and a bird **** on my sleeve, and (team mate) Pavel (Padrnos) swore it was the start of a cursed Tour," Armstrong said. (http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=reu-tourarmstrongquotes&prov=reuters&type=lgns)
:confused: :roflmao: :roflmao:

What a bummer that Jan fell. Why oh why did the weather have to be so crappy! I always figured LA would win again but I really was rooting for Jan. Were it not for LA he could have won four tours by now! But OTOH, no one even thought he'd ever come back to cycling, let alone get 2nd at the tour. I think it was more of a victory for him than for LA, in a way. He probably wouldn't have won the tour even without the crash, but I was just hoping against hope he'd pull it off this time.

Here is the saddest of all.

Here is the tough guy.

Here is LA bringing it home.

It might be a TAD bit early but, can Lance make it 6...??

If anyone ever could, he'd be the guy.

It's incredible...the level of competition and training and to be able to ride those distances in those times.
To think, I felt excited this morning to ride 25 miles with a 17 mph avg. Sheeeeiittt.

So, what are some of the possibilities for tomorrow? Are they going to flat out race?

It's the usual final stage. An attempted break that gets chased down and a crazy sprint at the end. The intermediate sprints will be interesting.

It sounds like they are already pressuring Ullrich into backing off. They were saying it was the sportsman like thing to do, so Lance could enjoy the ride in. If I were Jan, it'd be war to the line. You just never know what could happen.

Wow. That was amazing, what a perfect setting for such a show down. Could this stage be going down as one of the tour's best moments during it's 100 year history.

what did i misss!!??? :cry:

i was going to run over to the bike shop as soon as i was finished with my run this morning... it was not to be.

Originally posted by ~LongRider~
It sounds like they are already pressuring Ullrich into backing off. They were saying it was the sportsman like thing to do, so Lance could enjoy the ride in. If I were Jan, it'd be war to the line. You just never know what could happen.

That would be silly.
Watching him try to break off the front and be chased down immediately would be funny. It would be nothing close to war.

Maybe he could have a teamate create an 'accidental' crash right next to lance, about 5k from the finish. Maybe Jan could win then.

Silly or not, it'd be war. There's always the crazy chance that he could break Lance. Not likely, but it is still a chance.

How many time bonuses are available tomorrow? I think that there are three hot spots that award 6" plus 20" for the win. That comes out to a total of 38 possible seconds. Not enough for Jan.

I hope to see that same lineup next year also. It will be a very good tour. At the same time I think that Lance may be wise to focus on his family a bit more now too.

I certainly hope so... I keep my fingers crossed for them on a regular basis!

I got this article Kristin did for USA today on Lance (July 25, 2003):

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/2003-07-25-kristin-armstrong-on-lance_x.htm

It's sounding like things are calming down for them, thank goodness!

Koffee

Not enough time in bonuses and no chance to ride USPS off his wheel on a flat, short stage. Also with the Green jersey still to be won the sprinters will be going for the stage win. They don't need the time bonus but they'll take it t along with the points they are after.. Looking at LA and Jan I'd imagine Jan could outsprint LA but he'd have to outsprint all of the other dedicated sprinters to, to get the bonus. It's just not a possibility.The only way they fight it out on the Champs is if Ullrich was within 20 seconds. Since he's not the GC guys ride in together and pull off to the side while the sprint sets up.

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
I got this article Kristin did for USA today on Lance (July 25, 2003):

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/2003-07-25-kristin-armstrong-on-lance_x.htm


That's a terrific article. She writes well, and her perspective is worth the notice of hard core fans and casual ones alike.

Thanks for the link.

RichC

I like this bit
"Have you ever seen a dolphin swimming in the waves, graceful, strong, leaping and playing and showing off to no one's delight but its own?

That is the sight of one of God's creatures doing and enjoying what they have been placed on earth to do, and that is what it is like to watch Lance ride his bike."