Dolomiti

True that Botero is a powerhouse rider though.

Looks like the gap is only 1'15" in the end. So Vino is still over 5 minutes behind.

jbonus

Vino takes it. Woohoo!

va_cyclist

Did Hushovd attack after Boonen went down or before?

darrencope

Stage:

1 019 VINOKOUROV Alexandre TMO KAZ
2 061 BOTERO Santiago PHO COL 00' 00"
3 101 MOREAU Christophe C.A FRA 01' 15"
4 023 JULICH Bobby CSC USA 01' 15"
5 151 MAZZOLENI Eddy LAM ITA 01' 15"
6 001 ARMSTRONG Lance DSC USA 01' 15"
7 044 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 01' 15"
8 164 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 01' 15"
9 057 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 01' 15"
10 161 TOTSCHNIG Georg GST AUT 01' 15"

darrencope

Overall GC:

1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance DSC USA
2 057 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 00' 38"
3 101 MOREAU Christophe C.A FRA 02' 34"
4 021 BASSO Ivan CSC ITA 02' 40"
5 038 VALVERDE Alejandro IBA ESP 03' 16"
6 061 BOTERO Santiago PHO COL 03' 47"
7 164 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 03' 58"
8 031 MANCEBO Francisco IBA ESP 04' 00"
9 011 ULLRICH Jan TMO GER 04' 02"
10 014 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 04' 16"
11 066 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 04' 16"
12 019 VINOKOUROV Alexandre TMO KAZ 04' 47"
13 096 JAKSCHE Jorg LSW GER 05' 33"
14 044 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 05' 55"
15 007 POPOVYCH Yaroslav DSC UKR 06' 25"
16 108 KASHECHKIN Andrey C.A KAZ 06' 32"
17 023 JULICH Bobby CSC USA 06' 37"
18 026 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 06' 37"
19 151 MAZZOLENI Eddy LAM ITA 08' 46"
20 135 ROGERS Michael QST AUS 09' 10"

I'm surprised no one is talking about Basso.. he's been pretty quiet, but he's right there...

Doid23

You know, it's not like the rest of the group doesn't benefit from Lucky Lance's team. They all sat on Discovery's wheel all the way up the last climb yesterday. Those who cracked benefited just as much from Discovery as Lance did, and they just couldn't handle the pace that Lucky Lance, Valverde and Rasmussen could. And those other unlucky, hard working, deserving guys don't get to chase away every breakaway, they just follow the Discovery team. In fact, they don't chase any breakaways, team or not.

Dolomiti

It does get a little bit lame sometimes, where the other riders and teams don't work at all when they are the ones most likely to lose their GC positions. Like when no one else would chase Vino in 2003. Their loss I guess. Vino certainly can take a high overall place, but catching Armstrong now would take something very special.

Grasschopper

Yea and um...I don't think it is lucky. Lance isn't lucky to have that team, he assembled that team with the management of USPS/Disco for this express purpose. No luck about it.

Smoothie104

4 to 6 Disco guys are making over the toughest climbs at a pace hard enough to shell a lot of the big names. Do you think if Ullrich or Basso was in Yellow that he would have 4 or more teamates making the lead group of 15 or so over the Galibier today? not a chance.


Discovery is stacked with Talent, which makes it easier for LA to win. Imagine if Lance didn't have 4 guys to chase for him today, He would have had to but in a lot of work by himself. He was tired at the end as it was, and if he had to limit his own losses today, he would have lost more time, and felt the effects later in the week.

Indurain won 5 straight without nearly as strong a team, Lemond won in 1989, and only 1 teamate made it to Paris.

I've been watching the Tour for over 15 years, There has never been a GC contender with such a strong supporting cast. I'm not a Lance hater, I know he's incredible, but If he had the team that several of the other GC hopefulls had, He may not have won 6, and if he did they would have been much closer.

Smoothie104

It was nice to see Moreau beat Lance to the line, I'm glad there is still some fight left in the rest of the field.

slooney

OK- So I haven't been watching the tour for 15 years, but then, today's tour isn't the tour of fifteen years ago either. The role of a team leader, in any sport, is comprehensive. So Lance benefits from his (and mgmt.s) good planning and hard work. That is what's requred of today's tour. Comparing it to fifteen years back is apples to oranges, IMHO. "Lance will never be a great as Indurain, or Eddy, or Bernard, or..." BFD. He's not racing that race- He's racing today's race, and doing a pretty good job of it.

One of the things that amazes me about the Tour is how it's changed- from an event we could all relate to until when, the'90's (?), when it was essentially about the motor. Today's tour is way, way more of a science experiment than in years past.

SunSwingsLow

Disco is stacked with Talent mostly BECAUSE Lance is there not the other way around. Its not like Lance just fell onto the best team and started winning tours. Top young riders all want to ride with Lance to learn from him and profit from his knowledge, not to mention ($)profit from his victory.

He built this team to win the Tour so I dont think there will be to many apologies or concessions when his team performs exactly how he and the Disco/Us Postal managers set it up to.

roadwarrior

He's sick....too bad because I think he is a good rider...

roadwarrior

Watch the 1999 Tour again.

Here's the point, though....good organizations work hard to prevent what you mention. Since they have worked hard to attract top riders, they do not have to typically worry about no teamates...

This is like saying, "I'd like to see Peyton Manning throw all those touchdown passes without an offensive line to protect him."

roadwarrior

So what's your point?

jnbacon

From LeTour.fr:

"18:10 - Voigt Eliminated From Le Tour 2005

"The overall leader after nine stages finished the 11th stage in 168th position. Jens Voigt was the second-last rider in the stage to Briancon. Although he fought hard to stay within the time limit which is calculated on a percentage on the winning time, he has been eliminated from the Tour."

That's rough, after his good day on stage 9.

SAB

There has never been a pro cycling team like USPS/Discovery. Armstrong is totally devoted to the Tour - he is a Tour de France specialist. He hardly races the rest of the year, and when he does it's only warm-up for the tour. That devotion spreads to the rest of the team from Johan Bruneel to all his teamates. They have one goal - to Keep Lance in yellow in Paris about 10 days from now. No other team has such a singular mind. On top of that, Lance is a tremendously gifted athlete, both physically and mentally. It's not luck and it's no wonder why/how he has won the tour 6 times. I don't expect much to happen in the GC the next couple of days until we get back to big hills, and the time trial. Lance needs to win a couple of big stages and cement his victory. Today I think they had planned to win, but Vino came out swinging - we'll see what happens next...

Devil

That is VERY unfortunate.

cydewaze

I just read that too. Poor Jens! He's one of my favorite riders.

teamawe

What makes you think that? 30k of downhill at the end of the stage is a long way to hold onto a climbing lead for a yellow jersey. I think they did just what they wanted today. Protected the jersey, rode hard but not extreme, cemented the teams strength in everyones eyes, and gave up 1:30 to a guy that was 6:30 down. I would have made that trade too.

roadwarrior

I'd take it a bit further....

No team in the last six years has won more grand tours than Postal/Discovery. They are set up to run and win grand tours. Regardless if they run an A team or stick Heras with a B team, they still have won. Two Vueltas, six TdF's and now a Giro. Nine grand tours out of the last 19 if my math's correct.
So is it also OK to be critical of Quick Step or Lotto? Teams set up to win single day classics? A Belgian team signs a stud Belgian (Boonen) for one purpose...to win Belgian classics...

Iron Chef

Who does Johan select to win next 2006 Tour Day Lance?

Grasschopper

Well the media line out of the team is that is why Popovich was brought to the team. I guess we will see.

doctorSpoc

this is all very true... it isn't luck, it's all well planned and orchestrated... and you are right this is part of the game today... and you seem to have a good understanding of how this all works to the huge benefit of Armstrong. i think some others may not really have a good understanding of just how much Lance benefits from having such a dominant team behind him and don't understand that Lance isn't just playing lip service when he says he "couldn't do it without his team"... he's dead serious.. he literally could not do what he is doing without his team... and not just A team but this team

geneman

Someone needs to explain to me how Hincape can hang with Boonen in PR, hang with the elite climbers on the Galibier, and not win more often. Is he that inspired when it comes to helping LA keep yellow?

I'm very, very confused.

Mark