tour de france

[andrew T]

what jene said about people giving up because thay lost three miutes is not right once they gett into the mountains three minutes is nothing

armstrong lost about fourteen minutes today but he will still be in contention to win it as most of the people in the breakaway are sprinter who die(not literally) once they reacxh the steep stuff

[Jene]

ye but who was it? moyo(cant spell it), he said he didnt think he could win in any more cos he aint a climber, he's a sprinter so he isnt likely to make up the time against armstrong who is a climber....

[krocks]

Mayo is a very good climber, but like most climbers he is a crap time-trailist on the flat compared to the likes of armstrong or ullrich. So, the only chance he had of winning the overall was to stay real close until the mountains, where he could have attacked a lot, trying to gain enough time so that the others would have been too far behind by the final flat time trial.
To give up 5 minutes so early in the race is a bit of a disaster for him, as the other guys are not too bad at climbing either. He probably just go for stage wins, and see how it pans out. For armstrong, its great psychologically that 1 of the few that could have dropped him in the mountains is now so far behind. Those 5 that are front after yesterday haven't a hope in hell's chance to win the overall race, but they could finish higher than usual.

[the duncan]

15 H 11 - Rubiera Stitched Up After Yesterday's Crash
Bruyneel has also explained that Jose Luis Rubiera required six stitches to his the calve muscle of his left leg after being caught up in a crash yesterday.

taken from the tour website, sounds like he is just carrying on though, gnarly sod!!

[Simon]

taken from the tour website, sounds like he is just carrying on though, gnarly sod!!

Unlike Cipollini, who seems to have seen the impending hills as good enough reason to maintain his impressive record of retiring instead of climbing any of them!

[pyrat]

phew! what a carnage crash at the end. I love crashes in the tdf it adds so much entertainment.

[the duncan]

sure as hell does, but you have to feel for the poor sods who slogged it out all day on the attack only to get caught right in the last few km's, they will be shagged tomorrow.

och well, aonther day successful in the office
off home soon, do some bikingh of my own.

[Jene]

ne1 no what time the stage starts 2day?? i wanna go out but can't find the time anywhere looks like a kinda fun stage as well..........

[the duncan]

i think about 12.30 for us, saya 1.30pm for the frogs, so will be an hour earlier

if you look in
'Route' on this page it tells you start and estimated finish time too

http://www.letour.fr/2004/us/index.html

[Jene]

hmmm, i spent 10 mins lookin on that site for that!! lol.......ty!

[the duncan]

blinkin stink, the tour has alreqady started today, they are 10km, got a long one today, about 240km!!

even less work today!!

[Jene]

he he ....and mountains ....GO ARMSTRONG, lol, im so glad i dont have to work!!

[Ed]

hills rather than mountains (although by British standards I'd guess they'd be mountains)

managed to time the gym session today nicely to catch the last 30km of the stage - impressive win by Virenque... hopefully he'll not blow it on the first day of proper mountains...

[Jene]

well still cat 2 climbs.....cat 1 climb 2mo o well Hors catagory climb in 3 days....he he he

[Pinches]

Tyler Hamilton, who finished in 4th last year, despite breaking his collar bone on the first stage has just abandoned!

Tyler Hamilton was 20th overall after 12 stages of the 2004 Tour de France. He is now out of the race. He has been very upset for the past two days after his dog, Tugboat, was put to sleep after being diagnosed with cancer.

Poor old pooch... In fairness,

The director of his Phonak team has explained that the reason for Hamilton's retirement is because of severe back pain.

Which sounds more like it!