Tally's Tour de Lance  Stage 17

5:30am - We are now out of the Pyrenees. Today's flat stage is the
longest stage of the entire tour, running 239.5k from Pau to Revel.
While there are some climbs, they do not get any steeper than a CAT 3.
But being long and undulating makes it far from an easy day. Gorgeous
sunny day. Slight wind in the 80s

I forgot to mention yesterday since I was 75% asleep, Lance celebrated his
78th day in the Malliot Jaune (yellow jersey). He is now tied for 2nd with
Bernard Hinault for most days in yellow in the history of the Tour.
Eddy Merckx has worn it the most with a total of 95 days, which Lance
cannot catch with his retirement in four days. FOUR DAYS!!!!!!
Wow.


News today - Andréas Klöden (TMO), who is in 11th place, crashed
yesterday. After yesterday's stage he went to the hospital and they
found he had broken his wrist. After starting the stage and realizing
his wrist could not withstand the vibration, has abandoned the Tour
after 18k. There are now 155 riders left in the tour. In more T-Mobile
news, Vino has announced that he "wants to be the Big Man somewhere,
and since his contract is expiring, will leave the team at the end of
the season. Will TDC give him an offer?

5:50am - There is a large breakaway including Rubiera and Savoldeli
both from TDC, that is now 17'50" ahead of the peloton. No one in the
breakaway is even close to Lance in the overall GC. OScar Sevilla (TMO)
is the closest at 38'51". Everyone else is over 50 min behind.

6:05am - Gap is now 18'30". It's surprising the sprinter teams aren't
leading the peloton. Perhaps after the feed zone they'll start the chase.

6:30am - Gap is now 20'04". TDC is leading the peloton on a nice
relaxing ride thru the sunflower fields of France.

7:00am - Gap is now 24'04"with 53.3k to go. Riders from Credit Agricole
have come to the front to start a chase. Bit late boys.

7:15am - The breakaway is attacking one another, and is splintering a bit.
They're heading to the bonus sprint point. At last a bit of excitement.
The cool thing is, with having two riders up in the breakaway with such a
giant time gap, TDC may move into first place in the team competition.
Not that today is boring by any stretch, since the scenery of France is
breathtaking, but it is a bit tame compared to the mountain stages.


Now THIS is how to watch the Tour de France!

7:50am - The peloton just made it over a railroad crossing before the
barriers came down, stranding all the team cars behind them waiting for
the train. wacky.

8:00am - Gap is up to 25'03". Wow. 8k to go. TDC's Paolo Savoldeli "Il
Falco" has gone over he last summit in the lead, and now he's flying
down the descent like a madman, followed by Sebastian Hinault.

8:10am - 2k to go, it's now a cat & mouse game to the finish line with
the top four riders counter attacking each other.

8:12am - YEAH!!!! TDC gets another stage win with Paolo Savoldeli
crossing the line first! AWESOME!
Now we wait 25 min for the rest of the boys to get in........

8:20am - Power failure. Screen is black. Oh - commercials now - goodie  goodie.

8:30am - Jan Ullrich has finally decided to chase and lower the time on
the gap since T-Mobile is first in the team competition. We'll see if
this late effort makes a difference. Apparently there was a crash at
the back of the peloton curing the blackout. Lance & co up front are
fine. 5k to go. Hincapie driving the lead group. Now Vino has jumped
ahead. Now Popovych. Now Hincapie. Now Popovych. Now Lance. NOBODY
FALL!!! They are putting time between themselves and the rest of the
peloton including Floyd Landis.

8:35am - Mad sprint for the finish. Popovych leading the group in.
Waiting to see if TDC now has the lead in the team competition. Sevilla
jumps up into 15th place. Lance celebrates day 79 in the Malliot
Jaune,so he is officially #2, and has lead the 2005 tour for a total 13
days. TDC is 37" behind T-Mobile in the team standings.

Tomorrow we get back to a baby mountain stage with two CAT 2 climbs, so
who knows what kinds of attacks will come.


 

GO LANCE!


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