2004 Tour de France

[Zaius]

Great stage today! Keep it up Voeckler!

[Mariner]

I want Lance to win but I am becoming a Voeckler fan. He has shown a lot of guts.

[speedbump]

I want Lance to win but I am becoming a Voeckler fan. He has shown a lot of guts.

Agree! He's been a nice story to follow. Sadly, after looking at the race profile for the next two stages he'll probably be in the white jersey (best young rider) after tomorrow. I hope he can still put in a top 10 finish in Paris.

I was sad to see Tyler Hamilton leave the race due to back problems. His dog 'Tugboat' had to be put down last week as well, so I'm sure the culmination of both was hard. They showed him taking off his race jersey when he abandoned and you could see the bruises on his back.

Ivan Basso is proving to be a threat. He's not too shabby of a time trialist, especially since the next TT is up L'aupe Duez. This could get real good....


p.s. for anyone who can't get to a t.v. but has internet access, you can a) listen to race radio b) read the newsflashes which update the race every 20 seconds or so or c) do both!

Official Tour website: http://www.letour.fr/2004/us/index.html

It also shows terrain profiles for each stage and will use a red line to show where the race is so far. Quite handy for when you can't get to a t.v.

[Zaius]

Agree! He's been a nice story to follow. Sadly, after looking at the race profile for the next two stages he'll probably be in the white jersey (best young rider) after tomorrow. I hope he can still put in a top 10 finish in Paris.

I was sad to see Tyler Hamilton leave the race due to back problems. His dog 'Tugboat' had to be put down last week as well, so I'm sure the culmination of both was hard. They showed him taking off his race jersey when he abandoned and you could see the bruises on his back.

Ivan Basso is proving to be a threat. He's not too shabby of a time trialist, especially since the next TT is up L'aupe Duez. This could get real good....

Yeah looks like Basso's the only one who has the most remote chance of beating Armstrong this year. But it still doesn't look good for him. I am still surprised at Ullrich's performance this year.

[LT1]

Lance Armstrong has outsprinted Ivan Basso for the victory of stage 15. This is the American's 20th stage win in the Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong will be the last rider to start the time trial to L'Alpe d'Huez in stage 16. He has inherited the yellow jersey after the 15th stage. The new top 10 is:
1. Lance Armstrong (USP) 2,786.6km in 67h13'42" (41.440km/h)
2. Ivan Basso (CSC) at 1'25"
3. Andreas Kloden (TMO) at 3'22"
4. Frnacisco Mancebo (IBB) at 5'39"
5. Jan Ullrich (TMO) at 6'54"
6. Jose Azevedo (USP) at 7'34"
7. Georg Totschnig (GST) at 8'19"
8. Thomas Voeckler (BLB) at 9'28"
9. Pietro Caucchioli (ALB) at 10'10"
10. Levi Leipheimer (RAB) at 10'58"

[LT1]

Thomas Voeckler rolled across the line in Villard-de-Lans 9'27" behind the stage winner (and the new yellow jersey), Lance Armstrong.

[Mariner]

Tomorrow's time trial will be the test of whether Basso has a chance to beat Lance. I can hardly wait to watch it (even though it starts at 5:30 am my time).

[BravoFan]

I watch every night with my husband when he comes home from work. It's very difficult to avoid all the news during the day on what happened (which is why I typically stay away from this thread).

I agree with Quinn that it's absolutely unbelievable to see what these men are capable of doing.

I was very happy that Voeckler kept the yellow for as long as he did. But of course, I am cheering for Lance to win and get the new record.

[Mariner]

Lance blew Basso out of the water today. As they kept saying on OLN, the only thing that could keep Lance from winning his record 6th Tour now is the Race itself.

[BravoFan]

Yeah, I got screwed. They started talking about the tour and I rapidly switched the radio only to get the news on the station I switched it to.

I hate knowing ahead of time.