N_C

I'm interested in what Lance's overall lead was during the last 4 tours compared to this years.

If starting from 1999 on the time between him and the 2nd place overall rider has been less and less every year he will have an even more diffcult time winning next years TDF.

Can someone provide a link to where I need to look. I'm having a heck of a time trying to find it.

Thanks.

Joe Gardner

From memory only:
1999 - 7:07
2000: 6:01
2001: 6:44
2002: 7:17
2003: 1:01

I may be wrong on one or two of the above... sorry, no refferences.

Guest

Joe- you're gettin' old... memory's goin' bad, huh?



That's pretty good that you've got it from memory- I just knew to say "a lot".

Koffee

N_C

Joe, even if you're wrobng on the times or not, it looks like the pattern has been up & down. So next year he should have a larger time gap between him and the 2nd place overall rider. If the pattern remains consistant. Hopefully it does and he's able to win a 6th in a row.

Piratello

1999 7:37 (Zülle)
2000 6:02 (Ullrich)
2001 6:44 (Ullrich)
2002 7:17 (Beloki)

wow, Joe was almost right. I had to look up first.

brent_dube

I don't really see it as a pattern. Its not like Armstrong was trying to gain time on every oppurtunity. He probably could have won by 10 minutes on a couple of his tours. Once he found a stable lead gap, he played defensive.