OT: Tour de France

[cbass]

I know there are some active cyclists in the forum. Is anyone following the Tour de France? I missed stage 14 but from reading the results it sounds like Armstrong may have broken Ullrich on the climb to the finish at AX-3 Domaines. I was happy to see that Basso kept up; but where was Vinokourov?

I'm fascinated by the spectators lining the route on the climbs. I see many of them taking photos as the racers pass. Have any of our European forum members ever been a part of the crowd? I'd love to see your TdF photos if you have any.

Enclosed are two cycling photos I made with my Bessa just prior to the start of the 2005 Race Across America last month. The first is two riders sharing a joke on their way to the start area (one would finish, the other would not), the second is British rider Chris Hopkinson's cheeky rear wheel, which helped ease the tension at the race start.

 

[peter_n]

Right now I'm working, watching the tour, and writing to the RFF! 🙂 Vino was dropped yesterday many kilometres from the finish after burning out because of the aggressive T-mobile tactics, which were all about getting Ullrich one up on Armstrong. They underestimated (if that is possible) Armstrong's tenacity IMO.

Ullrich wasn't broken, he just ran out of gas about 1 kilometer from the finish and couldn't deal with Armstrong's high cadence attack. The attached was taken last year and is from the Tour DAY Cummington (to use the Bob Roll vernacular 😉). Cummington is in western Mass. BTW.

 

[cbass]

Stage 15 -- wow! A thrilling finish. Bravo, Hincapie! Bravo, Basso! Bravo, Rasmussen! Bravo, Armstrong!

Nice to see Ullrich riding hard; it would be great to see him on the podium in Paris. The Basque fans were tremendous. Excellent work once again by the camera crews as the riders passed through the legions of excited fans! Good coverage on OLN here in the States. Phil & Paul are a treat.

ManGo -- the Tour of Britain picture was very nice!
Peter - Nice Bob Roll callback. He's priceless, that guy, with is mojo, juju AND voodoo!

 

[Todd.Hanz]

Viva Tour de Lance!

If you ever get to visit Austin, Tx., his hometown, you'll see hunreds of "little" Lances on most every road. Austin has got to be the most bicycled city in America.

Todd

 

[peter_n]

As a person who lost a parent to cancer and a cancer survivor myself, I have a lot of time for Lance Armstrong. Also as a person with some competitive juices still running in my veins I can tell you that I read his book Its not about the bike when I was having some difficulty last year and identified a lot with his mentality. I hope he wins this year.

Having said that I'm really looking forward to next year's Tour to see who will pick up the mantle! 🙂

 

[eric]

Stage 15 -- wow! A thrilling finish. Bravo, Hincapie! Bravo, Basso! Bravo, Rasmussen! Bravo, Armstrong!

Great for Hincapie!! I was riding some races with him when we were both Juniors. I turned 18 and he was still 16 I think. I was HAPPY he wouldn't be in my field. But in some races, he was. He kicked everyone's ass at 16. I'm glad he's still around. Mike McCarthy was same vintage as us and I thought for sure he would be still around.
No Cable so no Tour for me. Just the highlights. Hot in SoCal today and I was out riding anyway. I'll pick up the DVD when its over. After 21 years riding and 2 kids, I just have time to watch the highlights.

 

[peter_n]

hey ManGo, nice pics! 😎 I missed 'em first time around... 😱

 

[zpuskas]

ManGo, nice photos, I the the one's showing movement.
These guys are great athletes. I doubt the average (or even above average) baseball or football player could play continuously for 3-5 hours day after day.

 

[Bertram2]

I know there are some active cyclists in the forum. Is anyone following the Tour de France? .

I follow Le Tour on TV, each year, since about 15 years. Basso surprises me, Rasmussen is a tough young man, Jaksche and Voigt have done a great Job and Ulrich proved once more that he cannot beat Armstrong. As it looks now he cannot beat Basso either.

How do you like that photo of Vino ?

http://www.usefilm.com/image/281239.html

Note the title, I like his style 🙂
Best,
Bertram

 

[Tarzak]

Tour coverage

Tour coverage

Hi.
We're fortunate in Australia with SBS a free to air station showing most of each stage live (which means staying up late and being not so fresh for work the next day) and that day's highlights for half an hour in the evening (next day for us).

They have a web page with updates.
http://www.sbs.com.au/tdf/

 

[peter_n]

So Lance won and is now a living legend - what an amazing person. I'm already looking forward to next year's Tour! 🙂 One thing I want to say is that I thought yesterday's time trial was unneccessarily dangerous; a time-trial is supposed to be just that - not an obstacle course as well. It reminded me of 2 or 3 years years ago when they held a time-trial in the Alps - sometimes you have to wonder what the organizers are thinking, or if they're thinking at all...

 

[cbass]

Yes, Armstrong is assured of his place in cycling history. A very nice finish and a fitting end to a stellar racing career. He's also left the Tour in good hands -- Basso, Vino, Popo and other young riders should be able to carry on where Lance has left off.


The TT yesterday was crazy! I saw the highlights on OLN (Only Lance Network 🙂 ) Poor, poor Rasmussen. He was a living example of Murphy's Law during the race. At least he still held the King of the Mountains title. I thought there would have even been more mishaps given the technical nature of the TT route!

 

[peter_n]

Only Lance Network LOL! True though... 😉 I saw the whole thing yesterday and my heart was in my mouth. That was a ridiculously difficult course. Rasmussen suffered the worst but at least he looked happy on the podium in Paris today!

Well I'm off to Gillette Stadium (aka The Razor) to see AC Milan play Chelsea in a friendly match. A good sports day today! 😀