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Le Tour de France

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by efusco, Jul 20, 2006.

  1. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Not sure if anyone's following the Tour, but some of you may have quit paying attention yesterday after Floyd Landis "bonked" on the last climb of the day and fell behind the yellow jersey by more than 8 minutes.

    EVERY report said that the race was over for him and that the USA would, for the first time since 1998, not bring home the victory.

    Today, right now, Floyd is the virtual leader of the TDF!!! He leads the Yellow jersey by over 8'35" and is a man possessed. Still one major climb in the stage, but this is something to watch.

    It's on OLN (Outdoor Life Network) if you get that channel (I don't any more dammit), or you can follow the stage at:
    http://www.olntv.com/tdf/newsflashes/newsf...sflashes&e=9999
     
  2. withersea

    withersea DNF is better than DNS

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    That is absolutely amazing!
     
  3. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Less than 30km in the stage and Landis still leads by about 8 min.
     
  4. eyeguy13

    eyeguy13 Member

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    I'm a cyclist and have been avoiding going on-line because I usually tape the Tour in the morning and watch when I get home from work. I don't want to see the results until later. I thought PriusChat was a good bet because NO ONE EVER mentions cycling on this forum.....imagine my surprise when I read this thread!!!! Damn!!!! Foiled again!!!!! :)

    Go Landis!!!!!! I'm so happy for him. I'm not coming back to PriusChat until later tonight. Basically no internet until after work. Now how will I waste time today?????
     
  5. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Landis finished 5'41" ahead of the second place finisher and about 8' ahead of Pereiro who'll retain the Yellow, but barely.

    This is a race again kids!!! Damn I wish I had OLN on TV!!
     
  6. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    17:21:43 - The Top 10 In Stage 17
    The top 10 in the 200.5km stage to Morzine is:
    1. Floyd Landis (USA - PHO)
    2. Carlos Sastre (ESP - CSC) at 5'42"
    3. Christophe Moreau (FRA - A2R) at 5'58"
    4. Damiano Cunego (ITA - LAM) at 6'40"
    5. Michael Boogerd (NED - RAB) at 7'08"
    6. Frank Schleck (LUX - CSC) - at 7'08"
    7. Oscar Pereiro (ESP - CSC) - at 7'08"
    8. Andreas Kloden (GER - TMO) - at 7'08"
    9. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP - EUS) - at 7'08"
    10. Cadel Evans (AUS - DVL) - at 7'20"

    OVERALL standings after stage 17 (sorry about the weird way it looks)
    Pos. No. Name Nat. Team Time Gap
    1 097 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP CEI 80:08:49.000 00:00:00.000

    2 014 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 80:09:01.000 00:00:12.000

    3 071 LANDIS, Floyd USA PHO 80:09:19.000 00:00:30.000
     
  7. jbarnhart

    jbarnhart New Member

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    If Landis has another good time trial, he could clich it!
     
  8. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jbarnhart @ Jul 20 2006, 01:21 PM) [snapback]289473[/snapback]</div>
    He's a much better time trialer than both Sastre and Pereiro. He's a clear favorite to win at this point...but it's been a wildly competative Tour.
     
  9. jbarnhart

    jbarnhart New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Jul 20 2006, 02:16 PM) [snapback]289594[/snapback]</div>
    Yeah, but just yesterday Landis was "out of contention!"
    True words. It goes to show how completely Lance dominated the Tour. It was awesome to see Lance completely crush his peers on the mountains. But it's also fun to watch a Tour where the outcome isn't certain by the end of the first week or so.
     
  10. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Quote from the post stage report today:
    Bob Roll said:
    I wish I could have seen it, I was pacing the house for the last 100km just watching the intermittent reports online.
     
  11. eyeguy13

    eyeguy13 Member

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    Interesting to see if Pereiro or Sastre will attack tomorrow in a stage that normally is for the sprinters and a lead up to the time trial on Saturday. I've been watching the Tour for over 10 years now (even back in the lame days before OLN when the best we could get was 30 minutes on ABC Sports on Sat and Sun), and this was one of the best stages I've seen. Lance's "the look" is still a good stage.

    After the stage, Pereiro came over and shook Landis' hand and gave him a hug. That's good sportsmanship.
     
  12. Denny_A

    Denny_A New Member

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    One additional note: The 5 principal on-air OLN guys offered their pre-race preditions. Four of them gave Landis NO chance and dismissed him from any further effect on the Mayo Journ. However, Bob Roll flatly predicted that Landis would not only go for it, but succeed by pulling himself back into contention. When challenged (sanity issue) he did not backdown. Later, all concurred that Floyd's ride was the greatest single performance, ever, of the Tour.

    The Tour is the greatest show on earth. Displaying the best-of-the-best athletes in the world.

    36 mile Time Trial at 0730 CDT tomorrow. Don't miss it folx!
     
  13. EricGo

    EricGo New Member

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    Man was that exciting at the time trial today !

    Honchar, Landis, Pereiro, and Kloden were just amazing. I know from my hobbyist interest in extreme aerobic sports that microscopic damage to muscle fibrils occurs after massive endurance feats that takes weeks to recover from. I wondered if Landis had sustained too much of it after his comeback in stage 17, but I guess not smile.gif

    Hail to the best sport in the world, and truly AMAZING athletes.
     
  14. eyeguy13

    eyeguy13 Member

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    This was a great Tour!

    I hope Landis can come back after his hip replacement.

    Americans on the podium for 8 straight years. Who would have thought????
     
  15. eyeguy13

    eyeguy13 Member

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    Congtatulations to Floyd Landis and Team Phonak for winning this years Tour de France!!!

    He proved that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Never give up.

    11 months until next years Tour :(
     
  16. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    The papers in Europe, and esp. France, will be SMOKING with rage that the Americans won the Tour again even after they finally got rid of Lance....I wish I was there to listen in on the conversations in the bars on this one!!

    What a fantastic individual performance. If anyone watched the OLN clips of the Landis interview after his stage win, it was telling. They asked him "how do you feel after winning your first Tour stage?" he replied, stone faced, no strutting or show boating..."I don't care, I'm here to win the race and I won't be satisfied until I've done that."....it was HIS race at that point in my mind....there was nothing short of natural disaster that could've stopped him. I watched that clip 3 times....very very powerful stuff.
     
  17. EricGo

    EricGo New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Jul 23 2006, 11:19 PM) [snapback]291246[/snapback]</div>
    There has been some public bickering between Landis and Armstrong, and for some in France, an enemy of my enemy is my friend.

    And the guy is so unassuming, it is hard to get angry at him, nationality notwithstanding.

    Armstrong sure knows how to pick fights. While the french were still agonizing over losing the World Cup, he said something along the lines of: The french football team all tested positive for being assholes. I'm surprised he wasn't physically assaulted while in France for the tour, but maybe I am just extrapolating from what I think what would have happened if the roles were reversed.
     
  18. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(EricGo @ Jul 24 2006, 10:09 AM) [snapback]291399[/snapback]</div>
    That's hilarious! Yea, he can pick fights, but this is one I don't think he started. He's been treated like crap by the French for a long time.

    And I agree that Landis is a VERY different personality than Lance.
     
  19. withersea

    withersea DNF is better than DNS

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    Here is a great article about Landis from the NY Times.
    Kind of long, but good reading.