Smoothie104

not including the TTT

DVDaze

I bet he wins the individual time trail at least.

bac

That, and one mountain top finish.

Guest

Almost did today. Maybe tomorrow.

Koffee

Cobra

By the way hes been talking I think he might go for a stage win tomorrow

Murrays

Might!?! How about WILL go for the stage win.

-murray

allgoo19

I got an impression that Lance could have won(if he tried). There's this friendship thing between them Ivan and Lance. Did you see Ivan's right wrist? I heard Ivan's mother is struggling with cancer and Lance is giving him some help. Neither of them say nothing about it in the interview after the stage. Stage win means little to Lance at this point, or any point compare to GC win. I wish Lance could be more aggressive winning more stages.

Guest

I would think it was like the announcers were saying- with that time bonus, he would have distanced himself even more from his rivals, so why not go for it? I did see at the end it was like a half-hearted effort to sprint to the finish- not a lot of heart in that sprint effort, so I figured he probably thought the extra power wasn't worth it since Ivan wasn't a real threat to him winning the Tour.

Koffee

Feltup

There are a bunch of riders with the livestrong yellow bracelet on. I don't think he let him win because is mother has cancer. I think if it was for the tour win Basso wouldn't have a chance. Lance proved himself to everyone that matters.

allgoo19

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think, to a mother of a rider, who is battling with cancer watching her son winning a stage on TV means a lot to her. Who knows, maybe it's the last time she'll ever see it.

A few other things made me think Lance took second on purpose.
1) in 1999 or 2000, Lance let Pantani go ahead and win a mountain stage even though he had a chance to win. Later, this turned into ugly exchange of "He said, he said." Later in the tour, Pantani dropped out.
2) In 2002 or 2003, Lance slowed down for Ullirich to catch up when Ullrich fell badly on the street.

Lance seems to like this kind of stuff.

Guest

This is from the NY Times:

Armstrong Gains as Tour Reaches Higher Ground
By SAMUEL ABT
Published: July 17, 2004


LA MONGIE, France, July 16 - With a lot of help from his friends, Lance Armstrong began his bid to take control of the Tour de France, gaining more than two minutes on his major rivals Friday and moving within striking distance of the overall leader.

Armstrong, who is seeking a record sixth title in the Tour, did everything but win the 12th of 20 daily stages, and the first of two in the Pyrenees. He was second in the stage and moved to second from sixth in the overall standing. Perhaps most important, he crossed the finish line far ahead of his most dangerous rival, Jan Ullrich, a German and the leader of T-Mobile.

Ullrich, who won the Tour in 1997, looked stricken as he pedaled up the final section of the last of two major climbs, losing 2 minutes 30 seconds to Armstrong. Tyler Hamilton, an American and the leader of Phonak, was even worse off, losing 3:27. Roberto Heras, a Spaniard and the leader of Liberty Seguros, lost 2:57.

When a reporter told Armstrong that he was surprised at how much time Ullrich and Hamilton had lost, Armstrong said, "I don't know how surprised you were, but I was pretty surprised."

Thomas Voeckler, a Frenchman with Brioches la Boulangčre, remained in first over all after the stage. He started the 123-mile stage from Castelsarrasin to the ski station of La Mongie with a lead of 9:35 over Armstrong, but that lead had shrunk to 5:24 by the time Ivan Basso, an Italian with CSC, finished ahead of Armstrong in a mountaintop approach to the finish line, with both men gaining time bonuses for their efforts. Voeckler, 25, who was suffering from digestive problems, had to summon all his reserves to stop staggering near the end. He finished 41st.

Third, fourth and fifth at the finish among the 166 riders were Andreas Klöden, a German with T-Mobile; Francisco Mancebo, a Spaniard with Illes Baleares; and Carlos Sastre, a Spaniard with CSC.

Klöden, the German national champion, becomes a man to reckon with now that Ullrich, his teammate, is stumbling. Klöden reached fifth place, and is 6:33 behind Voeckler and 1:09 behind Armstrong in the overall standing. Ullrich, who has been the runner-up in the Tour five times, is 16th over all, 3:37 behind Armstrong. Hamilton is another 45 seconds back and Heras another 1:40.

Sandy Casar, a Frenchman with Fdjeux.com, is third, and Richard Virenque, a Frenchman with Quick Step, is fourth. This race is still taking shape, with an even tougher mountain stage Saturday and two time trials next week in addition to challenging stages in the Alps.

George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Manuel Beltran and José Rubiera of the United States Postal Service team paced Armstrong up the towering Col d'Aspin peak, the first climb Friday, in a pelting rain that stopped later in the afternoon. Luckily for everybody, the descent from the top was neither tricky nor long.

Hincapie, a brute on the early part of climbs in the last few Tours, continued his work on the long slope up to La Mongie, finally yielding to José Azevedo from Portugal, a new recruit to the Postal Service team.

Last winter, the team hired Azevedo, 30, who is a good climber and who is strong in the time trials, to replace Heras as the final pacesetter for Armstrong, a job he did well Friday.

In the final leg, Armstrong and Basso rode together, sprinting the last third of a mile. But Armstrong did not sprint at the line, allowing Basso to take his first stage victory.

Last winter, Armstrong named Basso as a rider he expected to do well in the Tour. Armstrong was correct.

"He's a good guy and he's been a friend of mine for a long time," Armstrong said, not sounding remotely sorry to have finished second.

Armstrong, who survived testicular cancer in 1996 and who heads a foundation to fight the disease, added that Basso's mother has cancer. He said he and Basso had been working together to help her. A stage victory by her son in the Tour de France was one way to brighten her day.

CHANGING GEARS

A teammate of Lance ArmstronG's and another rider were cleared to continue racing despite their connection to a case involving suspected doping in the 2001 Tour of Italy. In effect, the Council of Professional Cycling rejected the position of Tour organizers that Pavel Padrnos of the Postal Service team and Stefano Zanini of Quick Step should be removed from the race because each had been called to appear in October in the case tied to the 2001 race. (AP)

RegularGuy

Yes. He will.

allgoo19

And he just did it!

brent_dube

He will win one more stage, the l'alpe d'Huez ITT

...jeff

errr, of course!

yak

duh ........