Stage 1
HERE WE GOOOO! Day 1 of 21 race days.
My name is Tally, and I am a Tour de Lance addict.
It's Stage 1 of Lance's Chasing 7™ as the Discovery
Networks are calling it.....
And Lance's last professional race.
After finally begging Tommy to come to bed at
1am, I get up at 5:30am
to watch day 1 of my beloved Tour de France.
(Yes, I'm trying
desperately to win Fit TV's sweepstakes of a
trip to Paris to see the
end of Le Tour on the Champs-Elysees.) OLN is
doing their obligatory
pre-show which is always fun and informative.
I also have the Mac Baby
downstairs so I can follow along online to get
the latest updated stats
and standings of the 209 riders of this year's
Tour. I find the start
times at CBS's sportsline.com and see that the
first man out on today's
Individual Time Trial begins at 6:40am PDT. (15:50
Paris time.) Lance
will start at 9:48am PDT. (Why the hell have
I gotten up so freakin' early????)
I watch and wait. Every year Nike has amazing
Lance commercials, but
this year they've outdone themselves. It's Lance
at his 1996 press
conference, where he announced his cancer had
spread to his abdomen
(and lungs and brain), and that he "intends to
beat this disease, and
resume his career in professional cycling.
WOW.
- 6:40am - still pre-show, and no coverage of
the racers out of the
starting house. I follow along online. The best
time of the day so far
is David Zabriskie (USA) of team CSC at 20'51".
-8:30am - we finally get coverage of the riders.
It's an overcast day
on the Northern coast of France. Good day for
racing. They've been
riding along the northern French coast, with
a nice tail wind which
seems to have dropped off as the times coming
in are slower.
-9:15am - the big guns are coming out.... finally
we have the top contenders,
but no one is coming close to Zabriskie. George
Hincapie, Lance's main
Lieutenant on Team Discovery comes in with the
3rd best time at 21'48".
-9:47am - Jan Ullrich of T-Mobile, who most feel
is Lance's #1 rival,
finally rolls out of the gate. Yesterday he went
head first thru the rear
windscreen of the team car without a helmet when
the team car made a
sudden stop during a training run. He seems to
be ok but has a huge
bandage on his neck.
9:48am - Le Patron, Lance Armstrong rolls out
of he starting house.
Just off the ramp, he looses his right foot out
of the pedal clip, and has
a small hesitation. No panic, but this should
piss him off, along with
yesterday's last minute "Random Drug Test" for
"Lance Only" which I
know enraged him. (Lance donates more to sports
drug testing technology
than anyone on the planet, btw.) This is a good
thing. Nothing lights a fire
under Lance's ass better than getting him pissed
off. YEAH BABY!
- At the midway point - Ullrich is 30 seconds
behind Zabriskie. Lance
crosses the same point 3 seconds AHEAD! Three
minutes later he powers
past Ullrich who started a full minute in front
of him. Drinking champagne,
I think how awesome it would be for Lance to
wear the Maillot Jaune for
the entire tour, but it would also be a lot of
stress to try to defend it before
the mountain stages. Some of the best strategy
is to let others tire themselves
out trying to keep it before they get to the
mountains... which Lance eats
for breakfast.
- Lance crosses the finish line 2" behind Zabriskie!
In-spite of the loss of the
tail wind and the loss of the pedal clip. Just
TWO SECONDS. Vinokourov is
in 3rd place almost a full minute behind Lance,
with everyone else more than
a full minute behind. EXCELLENT!!!! Great end
to day 1 - Lance is in
perfect position, as long as he doesn't get hurt.
More tomorrow.....
Tally