Kris Flatlander

It looks like Botero is out now, tommorow's stage is gonna be a good one. Levi got lucky today when Lance stopped the peleton after his crash. Shows what a real class act Lance is. Also how do you all think Merckx will be able to hold up? And what about Landaluze?

Helmet Head

Oops. And I can't even say at least he didn't lose any time against the main contenders, since Landaluze and even Merckx cannot be dismissed now.

1 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 20.41.15
2 Axel Merckx (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 2.32
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 2.51
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.12
5 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 3.17
6 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 3.38
7 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 4.51
8 Santiago Botero (Col) Phonak Hearing Systems 5.16
9 Jose Gomez Marchante (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5.44
10 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 5.58

However, looks like Levi and company took a relative break today, while Landaluze and Merckx went all out. The gaps will probably be substantial tomorrow.

Levi no longer has the psychological advantage of the leader's jersey, plus the wounds from today's fall aren't going to be of any help tomorrow. Even getting a good night's sleep could be difficult.

I'm still hoping he hangs on to his lead over the others and regains his jersey tomorrow, but I'm not predicting it!

Tomorrow's profile looks like an absolute brutal day at the office. I wonder how many DNFs we'll see?

waltergodefroot

Let me guess, your favorite peter sellers movie is "a shot in the dark", right?

gcasillo

Apparently, Levi crashed today. Lance got the peloton to wait up for Levi. Doesn't sound like a bad crash, but it does sound like Landaluze is in the driver's seat. Euskatel has a pulse!

doctorSpoc

Actually, it looks like Gerolsteiner was trying to bring back the break but no one else except for the odd Phonak rider was helping... so if Ladaluze wins, T-mobile and Discovery have themselves to blame... looks like Gerolsteiner's riders except for Rebellin were off the pace because they were working the whole race to bring back the break... Rebellin single handedly paced the last climb and most of the decent 'til Levi took his skid..

waltergodefroot

"Phonak was helping, but (the break) was still taking time out on us. We just lost control of the race," admitted Leipheimer. Taken from Velonews.

This would appear to be a major screw up by the Gerolsteiner Gestapo. They should have known who was who in the break, and who would/would not help in a chase.

cedo

I understand the protocol of having the peleton wait while the leader is down. It somehow doesn't seem fair to win a tour by taking advantage of the leader. If someone is going to pass the leader, it should be done to his face. And in general, the status quo is maintained for everyone. But how about a situation with a breakaway like today? If you stop the entire peleton, the only person who benefits, other than those is the break, is the current leader. And a lot of people could lose a lot, if the breakway ends up being successful. Even if Landaluze doesn't win, the break could knock someone else off the podium. Lance? Vino?

2Rodies

Tomorrow's stage is simply brutal. My guess is that it will be some one other than the two GC leaders who win the stage. Euskatel is down to 4 riders so that is really going to hurt Landaluze. The big question is how bad does Levi or Lance want to win this thing? For LA the Tour is the goal not the Daulphine so will he push it to win? Same for Levi is willing to risk an all out effort to win this race and in turn comprimise his Tour chances?

All I wish is that this race was being televised, just reading the live updates on Eurosport gets me excited!

On a different topic.....the racing this season has been really really good. How much of that is down to the ProTour? The new format is forcing teams to have a more rounded squad and it seems as though every race so far has been a real battle without a clear cut winner.

waltergodefroot

I think Landaluze can ride very conservatively and win,
but it appears that Phonak is in the best position to challenge for the race lead
with Landis, Botero, and Pereiro all well positioned and capable of mounting a threat.



Spain Inigo Landaluze born 09.05.1977

Listed victories: 0

2005 Euskaltel - Euskadi
No. 2 The Mountains Competition in Tour de Romandie (PT) - 660 km - 26 April-1 May

2004 Euskaltel - Euskadi
No. 7 Classique des Alpes (1.1) - 165 - 5 June
Ruta del Sol (2.3) - 880 km - 15-19 February
No. 10 Dauphine Libere (2.HC) - 1110 km - 6-13 June

2003 Euskaltel - Euskadi
No. 5 Trofeo Luis Puig (1.2) - 171.6 km - 23 February

2002 Euskaltel - Euskadi
No. 2 Stage 1 in Bicicleta Vasca (2.1) - 163.4 km. - 5 June
No. 5 Clasica de Almeria (1.3) - 174 km. - 3 February

2001 Euskaltel - Euskadi
No. 5 Tour de Picarde (2.2) - 570 km. - 18-20 May


Miscellaneous First year as professional

Smoothie104

Landaluze simply has to follow (yeah, likes its that simple) LA and Levi etc...

It is up to them to attack him.

The fact that he has few teamates left will not be a factor as long as he can stay with the GC contenders. If he gets gapped from he CG guys on any of the climbs, then he need team support, his or anyones, to either limit his losses or get back to the lead group on the flats.

Other teams will try and send guys up the road, to try and get euskaltel to chase, but with such a hard stage, I think it will call come together at the end.

PedalMasher

This race is over for the big names. None of the tour de France contenders will attack and risk a hard recovery before July. I read an article in velo news that more and more tour top GC riders are adopting Lance's race proven strategy of peaking in the alps or pyrenees in July. Lance took 4th last year and arguably won his easiest tour victory of the six. This leaves lesser riders to fight over scraps. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Pro cycling is fast becoming the ultimate specialist sport. I would have LOVED to see Lance ride the Giro or Vuelta or compete strongly in a spring classic.


I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Lance makes a '07 comeback to ride the Giro, Vuelta, and a major spring classic like Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He'll prolly top it off with a run at the world championships and go out with a win like '93. I'll put my $93 Kmart mountain bike up for a bet if there are any takers.

jbhowat

No, I'm pretty sure he said he was retiring after this tour.

kubla khan

i highly doubt that.

oneradtec

Landaluze and Merckx will be knocked off the podium tomorrow. It's a crucial stage that will decide the race. The attacks will be relentless. Vino will be aggressive for sure. Merckx and Landaluze will be very tired after today's effort. Merckx will lose about 4 minutes tomorrow. My guess is that Vino is in good shape to win. I do not expect to see any fireworks from lance....but he'll be there at the end. Leipheimer is strong but races too conservatively. He's a follower ...not an attacker. This should be easy for Vino tomorrow. Again.....the winner will be either Vino, Lance or Levi. The Merckx-Landaluze duo will fade off the podium tomorrow. T-mobile and Discovery will break their legs tomorrow. It's a very hard stage. 2-3 minutes is not enough. It will be the very last day of hard racing for guys like Vino, Lance and Levi before the Tour. I don't think they will hold back very much.

Helmet Head

Have you looked at tomorrow's profile? With Landaluze's legs trying to recover from his all-out effort today, they should easily pick up the required 3 minutes on him by the finish. He might hold out on Forciaz and Croix-Fry, but as the pace picks up on the Columbiere it's going to be tough to hold on. I can't see him holding on all the way up the Joux-Plane.

I predict that Landaluze will live up to his luzer name and luze at least 4 minutes to Levi tomorrow.

But if he holds on, and Levi busts, we could end up with a LAN podium... LANce, LANdis and LANdaluze!

Karlotta

Oh.... a LANdslide....

Grinning, ducking and running,

Karlotta

flythebike

Great speculation here.

Looking forward to the real thing tomorrow.

And my own real thing on Sunday (racing Snow Valley Grand Prix of Bethesda).

Levi's first experience in this role, and he is showing his rookie colors all over his road rashed a$$. I hope he rallies tomorrow and makes a race of it. I disagree that all the tour riders will hand this race to Merckx and Landaluze. This race is within their grasp and it is a big prize and they will fight for it. Lance has said he wants to have a win in his pocket before the tour. Levi and Floyd have never taken out a win this big. Botero would love to confirm his Romandie return. And Vino (never seen him looking so lean): when have you ever known him to fail to attack when he has a chance to win?

It isn't Bastille Day tomorrow but there will be fireworks in France!

oneradtec

I say again....Merckx has zero chance of winning this race....zero! landaluze's chances are not much better. Tomorrow is not a day to follow or suck wheels. It will be intense. The field will be splintered. There will be big time gaps. Landaluze and merckx are tired. Vino is gonna make it hell for everyone. The winner will be either Floyd, levi, lance or Vino. Probably Vino...since they didn't eliminate him in the time trial. Vino and Levi are both at a higher level than they have ever been before. They will be threats at the Tour....especially if Lance has slipped even a little. Landaluze and Merckx are not serious contenders for this Dauphine'. They will be history tomorrow.

Kris Flatlander

I don't know how some of you can put so much faith in Botero, he's twice as far back as Landis and isn't as good as Landis, Lance or Levi. I still think it's between the fours "L's" and Vino. Anyone have predictions for the win tommorow and by how much?

doctorSpoc

he attacked at km 25 today, gained a minute until T-Mobile chased him down... that sound pretty bold to me

https://grahamwatson.com/gw/imagedocs...&05dauphineSt5

classic1

Boteros results speak otherwise (excepting LA of course).

ljb61

Euskatel (sp?) needs a win badly. I hope Landaluze can hold on, but I dont think he can recover enough. I think Lance could win if he went all out, but he is just building up for the Tour like last year. I get the feeling that Vino might win, after all unless Jan gets sick or has bad form Vino will be riding support for him at the Tour. He might as well go for it.
As for Mayo, maybe this slow start will work better for him this year, but I still can not see him winning the Tour, his team is not strong enough. Now the Vuelta is a different story, if he races it and has good form he has a good chance to win IMHO.

jbhowat

Yeah, Vino should go for it and forget the Tour this year. Even if he wants to try and win it, if Jan is in peak form Vino doesn't have an ice cubes chance in hell anyway. In fact the way I see it, if Jan is in top form the only other person who can compete with him (that is racing) is Lance Armstrong.

Smoothie104

For those that don't know about it, go to www.eurosport.com, they have live coverage of the dauphine, the text is in reverse though. The race starts at the bottom of the page, and finishes at the top.

LA is got off the bike at to fix his seat height, peleton is 8 min and change behind a break of 7

Smoothie104

Lance, Hincapie, Jaske and Merckx are on the attack.