lotek 

July 20 180.5 km

don d.

.....

rygreen

We won't see the same kind of domination on Tuesday by USPS that we saw on Friday and Saturday...will we? Will we? Personally, I hope not. I'd like to see a plethora of attacks by the usual suspects, and a pitched battle over the last two climbs.

hollow

Could be an interesting battle at the front between USPS and CSC. Hopefully, Julich is okay. He could be very valuable to Basso.

lotek 

yah, I'd say we are going to see the same type of high paced ride
that USPS is famous for. I don't think we will see alot of all out attacks
by Lance & Co. unless one of the other current GC contenders is
in trouble.
Predict that Virenque, king of the cat4 climbs will take the first 3 climbers
points and then disappear into the pack for the rest of the ride.

Marty

girochin

I think we will see USP laying low unless they are either forced to respond to a GC threat, or they see Basso having trouble. They *might* try to pull a bit on the long Cat 2 mountin in the end, but only if the events require it.

Julich's injury is quite bad. He couldnt even change gears on the last stage, so I don't think you'll see him helping Basso much. More likely, it will be Sastre. And if CSC want to attack Armstrong it will be through a tandem thing with Sastre going first.

I think we will see Rasmussen (again) having an attempt at breaking away, as well as at least one Euskatel rider (they really need this). I could also see Totschnig or Simoni try something as they are too far from the podium if they don't try something on their own.

Iron Chef

That makes sense to me. It will be the day before the ITT up Alpe D'Huez. Does it make sense to try to conserve for the ITT, then ride hard in the ITT and Stage 17? Stage 17 looks rough. What is the hardest stage in the tour, 17 looks rough too me?

Do we know who wins the tour at the end of Stage 17? I would think so discounting some really extraordinary occurrance.

boze

i have a question:
do lance and USP have to put time into anybody other than Basso at this point? it seems to be a not-so-complicated situation for them if there is only one real threat for GC at this point.

you'd think they could really play it by ear on some level, especially considering the TT is the very next day and LA has nothing to hide from or be scared of on either day.

it seems to my uneducated eyes like lance just has so much more team strength that they can weed out almost all suprise moves by just 'tightening the screw' as phil likes to say. i think girochin has the right strategy.

when Lance was saying about basso, 'i couldn't shake him' after stage 13 - i dunno, it felt more like 'i decided not to put a lot into shaking him'.

honestly, he's such a stone-faced climber that guy - i have no clue how much he had left in the tank or what he could really have put on basso if the chips were down.

next couple of days are gonna be great to watch though, that much is certain. i'd like to see somebody stay organized enough to really bring it to USP and force them to answer.

Euskatel just never ceases to disappoint in this race, huh? they haven't had a shining moment at all, have they?

John M

I agree with Marty on the stage. They have nothing to hide, but will keep a high pace to keep the group in check. Watch for Volkler to work hard agin to stay in yellow. I look for him in the future as he is a good rider. Basso and Klooden are the ones to watch today. On the mountian TT also. Not sure who else will be a force here. That is one killer stage I would not like to try as a TT!

Devil

Mayo didn't start today.

Devil

Jan has attacked!!

hollow

I'm glad to see he's feeling good enough to attack and he hasn't given up.

Devil

It's still early, but I would love to see a stage win for Jan today. And I'm still picking him for a podium finish.

Murrays

I think Lance will try to take the yellow jersey so he is last in the ITT.

USPS will indeed "tighten the screws" up the climbs. I look for maybe a little "acceleration" up what looks like a climb at the end, even though it's not catagorized.

CSC doesn't need to do anything since USPS will take complete control of the race. Basso doesn't need any teammates unless he has some problems or gets the yellow. Basso just needs to sit on LA's wheel and wait for a sign of weakness (which may not come until next week )

-murray

Devil

Jan is now 41" ahead of Lance...

RegularGuy

Ullrich takes a flyer off the front and I have to go to work!

Thank God for the VCR!

Gus Riley

He attacked on the second climb, which is a tough one! Has anyone noticed Jan's pedal cadence?! It is NOT the big gear diesel cadence of a couple of days ago! Wow! Does Jan have an Ace in his jersey pocket?! Was he faking defeat? Yes! I tell you!

USPS needs to sit up and take notice, based on his increased pedal cadence, I don't think this is a last ditch effort by Jan.

...jeff

allez Ullrich!

Devil

allez Ullrich is right! Go Jan!

lotek 

Lance is virtual yellow as Voekler has finally popped. Shame I was getting to
really like the guy, he's got pluck.
Jan is fighting for pride etc. I don't see him taking yellow but I do see him
clawing his way up to a podium spot.
I think one of the big factors in this is the fact that all of the big names
(with the exception of Lance) are out of contention. Jan can still reach
podium so I think he is gonna go for it. Good to see him make a race
of it and not just bail like Mayo did.
Marty

Gus Riley

Jan has been reeled in! I guess I was fooled! That's one reason I wasn't choosen to be on the USPS team...that and I'm 50 years young!

Kula

USPS totally in control. No panic, no worry, no problem.

Devil

I see Jan taking 3rd or 2nd overall after the final time trial.

Iron Chef

All thing remaining constant, Was Armstrong going to be in yellow before Ullrich's attack? How was Voekler doing before Jan blew the stage open?

Devil

Yes, Lance was going to be in yellow before Jan's attack. Voeckler was around 2'30" behind the Armstrong group before Jan attacked.