Road Cycling - Stage 20 (SPOILER)

Lance is amazing! He has been recovering for testicular cancer and came back into the race!! He has won every TdF since 1999. All of his wins were 6-7 mins ahead of his competition. This year.... it was only 73 secs! Does he have what it takes to be the only guy to win 6 consecutive TdF..... or will it go to Jan Ullrich...??

-Dan the Man-

I've wondered about that. Since there are so many written rules in cycling, I wonder if one of them is "Don't go for six". I know this sounds odd, but it's kind of like respect to those who've gone before. Lance is starting to get older (as far as pro cycling goes) and I imagine he may start wanting to spend more time with his family. I mean, it;d be awesome if he went for 6, but I'd also understand if he hung up his helmet after this one.

When would we know officially if he was going for #6?

Well, everything in my last post just became moot when I saw the post further down that confirmed the drive for six...

We had "Drive for Five" this year. What would #6 be? "Slicks for six"? Personally, I like "Tour de Lance". It's the whole "x" that makes it hard...

Lance will try for 6 and the Olympics next year since his contract ends in 2004.

Lance after Stage 19: "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."

Someone changed the title of this thread?!? Why? Who?

-Dan the Man-

Well Dan the Man....I don't know but I think it was by some "larger force" than ourselves.

Originally posted by ockey53
Someone changed the title of this thread?!? Why? Who?

-Dan the Man-

Probably one of the moderators, to avoid the wrath of the spoiler patrol.

There is no unwritten rule about going for 6. Indurain went for it. Riis cracked him. It was kind of sad to see. Big Mig didn't try again.

Lance says he will try for 6 and that is an exciting prospect. He had to work hard for number 5. A sixth win could come harder still.

Ullrich is not Lance's only competition. It's a shame Beloki crashed out. I don't know if he'll be back for next year or not. Hamilton put in a tremendous tour despite injuries. Vinokourov can't be discounted. The hounds are baying at Lance's aging heels. Who will unthrone the king? Will there be a palace coup or will Lance wear the golden fleece once more and retire on top?

I love the Tour for its drama.

Originally posted by RegularGuy
Probably one of the moderators, to avoid the wrath of the spoiler patrol.

What was wrogn with my title?! "Lance won 5, can he win 6?" That's all it was.... no swaers or anything...

-Dan the Man-

OVERALL STANDINGS:
1. Lance Armstrong (US Postal) 83:41:12
2. Jan Ullrich (Bianchi); at 1:01
3. Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom) at 4:14
4. Tyler Hamilton (Team CSC) at 6:17
5. Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel) at 6:51
6. Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) at 7:06

Originally posted by ockey53
What was wrogn with my title?! "Lance won 5, can he win 6?" That's all it was.... no swaers or anything...

-Dan the Man-

It's not about swearing. It's about revealing the results of the stage before some folks may have had the chance to see it on TV. Granted, Lance's win was all but given after Stage 19, but, it ain't really over 'til it's over. Ya know?

For people who haven't followed the Tour closely:
Just to clarify (in case Koffee's post might confuse some people) Hamilton and Zubeldia did not tie (as the ranking in the post might suggest (just look at the time)). Zub should be five.

But it was over when I posted it.... I went to www.sportsline.com and he won.

-Dan the Man-

Originally posted by ockey53
But it was over when I posted it.... I went to www.sportsline.com and he won.

-Dan the Man-

Still, it won't air on OLN until tonight. Some folks don't like to read the results before they can watch the stage for themselves. Putting "Spoiler" in the title is a kindness to those folks.

Dan,
It doesn't sound like you've done anything wrong. Some people just tend to be a bit fanatical about not knowing even the obvious conclusions. If Jan miraculously gains back over a minute on the Champs-Elysees or Lance crashes, they want to see it before they hear about it. Actually, what they do is make life difficult for those without this silly compulsion to see it "live". They probably won't read the paper today, will walk out of any sportsbar or cover their ears if they hear SportsCenter come on. It's really silly (in my opinion) and good guys like you get "in trouble" for it. Just take it that the moderators had to pamper some spoiled poser cyclist and you were caught in the crossfire. Personally, I didn't even think you were talking about Stage 20. I just took it for granted after yesterday... :)

:beer:

PS Changing the post title was probably better than wading through some idiots flames... :thumbup:

PS You're also paying for our silly insistence that you can't air anything important in Sunday morning while some people are in church. I say air it at 8 and 10 and let those who go to church catch the 8pm broadcast. Not very Christian to make us disguise our posts so they can go to church, eh? ;) :fight:

Yeah, don't sweat it too much. You didn't do anything wrong. The mods were just doing their job. Your thread is a good one.

Originally posted by CarlJStoneham
PS You're also paying for our silly insistence that you can't air anything important in Sunday morning while some people are in church. I say air it at 8 and 10 and let those who go to church catch the 8pm broadcast. Not very Christian to make us disguise our posts so they can go to church, eh? ;) :fight:

Hey! Speak for yourself! I went to church before I posted that!!! What's with everyone hitting on me.... It's public, there's no reason why it should have been changed.

and hey, if this forum is more important to check first then the results of the TdF on the last day..... then, I think that's your fault.

-Dan the Man-

Before this turns into a Christians vs, the Lions debater... I don't think any of you guys predicting next years outcome should forget about Tyler. If he managesa to stay healthy, he could be a dominant force.

Originally posted by ockey53
Hey! Speak for yourself! I went to church before I posted that!!! What's with everyone hitting on me.... It's public, there's no reason why it should have been changed.

and hey, if this forum is more important to check first then the results of the TdF on the last day..... then, I think that's your fault.

-Dan the Man-

Nobody's hittin' on you. I think we were just trying to explain that the policy around here has been to put the word "spoiler" in any thread that reveals TdF stage results. That means that people can decide for themselves if they want to read it.

Like you, I went to church this morning and read results before I logged on here. I've been watching the network coverage of the Tour while surfing the forums. (The networks suck, btw). Tonight I will watch OLN's coverage.

I don't mind spoilers of the TdF, much. This year I have usually read the results at letour.com and then watched the stage on tape later in the day. That means I've been up to date as soon as the stage ended, or at least before I logged on to BikeForums. Not everyone feels this way though. Some folks like to find out for themselves that "Rosebud" was the sled.

Sometimes getting along requires that we give way to others' desires. I don't think changing the title in any way hurt your thread. It does give people who may not want to read results in advance the opportunity to avoid it.

Remember that its all good. :beer:

Now maybe we can get back to our discussion of Le Tour.

Originally posted by ljbike
Before this turns into a Christians vs, the Lions debater... I don't think any of you guys predicting next years outcome should forget about Tyler. If he managesa to stay healthy, he could be a dominant force.

I didn't forget him. :D

(The networks suck, btw).

You got that right! They make it all sappy and melodramatic and scripted and short. Give me Phil, Paul and Bob with 2 hours of live coverage and I'm happy. Granted CBS is better than nothing, barely. I watched the entire tour on OLN up until the stage before the 2nd ITT and then had to rely on the web and CBS. Oh! The humanity! Give me back my OLN!

I agree that the networks suck, I hate that they couldn't broadcast OLN live today..... or on any Sunday that CBS was broadcasting..

Originally posted by k2bikerider
I agree that the networks suck, I hate that they couldn't broadcast OLN live today..... or on any Sunday that CBS was broadcasting..
I know, I REEEEEEEALLY wanted to watch Stage 20 today... but OLN had this stupid dog training show on!

-Dan the Man-

Originally posted by k2bikerider
I agree that the networks suck, I hate that they couldn't broadcast OLN live today..... or on any Sunday that CBS was broadcasting..

In order to obtain US rights to the TdF, OLN had to guarantee a minimum of an hour of weekly national network broadcast coverage. It's possible that CBS wouldn't bother at all without OLN providing the infrastructure and sponsorship. And CBS, of course, wouldn't agree without the guarantee of "exclusivity" to the day's stage, in order to protect whatever meager ratings the hour would get.

I wonder therefore if the "villains" here are neither OLN nor CBS, but rather whoever on the TdF side of the negotiations was responsible for this silly requirement. It's possible that Europeans may not understand just how unimportant the broadcast networks are rapidly becoming in the US.

RichC

Don't worry Da, we're not hitting on you. If you'll reread most of the posts, they're supporting you while understanding the mod's jobs...

As for Stage 20 on OLN, 8pm baby...

someone should probably add the SPOILER thing to the FAQ. so that we don't have to spend an entire thread off-topic explaining why it was done.

Originally posted by shrimpx
someone should probably add the SPOILER thing to the FAQ. so that we don't have to spend an entire thread off-topic explaining why it was done.

Agreed!

-Dan the Man-