2005 Tour De France (1 Viewer)

[Nils Luehrmann]

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George Hincapie was the surprise winner of the opening ITT prologue posting a very respectful time of 9.55 over the 7.9km course which included a 2km cat3 climb.


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Lance finished with a time just over 10 minutes putting him in 5th place.

Both of them were showing off the latest TT bike from Trek:

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2005 OCLV HC Carbon TT[/c]


In fact, four of the top five finishers were all from the United States!

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Levi Leipheimer came in 2nd, 1" behind Hincapie.


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While Floyd Landis came in 4th, 5" behind Hincapie.

 

[Micheal]

Not to steer this thread too far off course... does anyone think that the break up with Sheryl Crow will bother Lance?

If he is feeling "down" from any relationship issues I think it could. Also, has the break up been confirmed yet?

 

[ColinM]

Cycling clears the mind. It will not matter. It would almost help.

 

[Micheal]

Yes but lost love can ravage ones body and kill your spirit to go on.

I guess we'll see what happens. The timing is bad either way...

 

[Jay H]

WHAT?? Lance broke up with Sheryl Crow... Oh Gee, < SARCASM >Too bad. How come I haven't heard this on CNN yet?

At my rate, I will perhaps finish watching this year's TdF maybe in 2010... Nowhere close on finishing the Giro..

Too busy!

Jay

 

[Drew Bethel]

Speaking of cycling, check out this loser:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/bikeloser.html

 

[Micheal]

Yet to be confirmed.
Just a rumour at the moment...

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

I cannot comment on any rumors regarding Lance and Sheryl's relationship, but you might get a kick out of the following link:

Will Sheryl Crow be the Yoko Ono of Cycling?

Nothing to take too seriously, but some of the answers were funny.


I have nothing against Sheryl, but I know there are a lot of people, including myself, that still hold out hope that he and Kristin will get back together again, but if and when that happens it will likely be after he retires.

Besides three wonderful children, Lance and Kristin have been, and continue to play important rolls in Austin's landscape and are still deeply involved in several Austin charity groups. Just before their break-up, they had nearly finished the construction of a beautiful ranch, which I believe they still own together.

OK... now back to cycling.

Did you all know there is a very good professional female cyclist by the name of Kristin Armstrong? Just last month she won a gold medal at the 2005 Pan American Championships.

 

[Allen Hirsch]

Nils:
great photos.

where are the Sheryl-Lance breakup rumors coming from??

 

[Michael Harris]

Sweet

 

[Jay H]

The female pro cylists Kristin Armstrong, no relation, but I wonder how many eyebrows did that turn when cyclists first heard about that.


When I heard Lance's breakup with the non-pro-biker kristin, I was kind of bad vibes from the start. Lance goe on so much how Cofidis abandoned him when he was diagnosed with cancer and whose career was thought to be over. Yet, Lance goes and gets famous and then dumps Kristin for the rock star. Of course, it sounds bad. I don't confess to know either one of them (or Sheryl Crow for that matter) but it just sounds bad on paper.

going to check that Yoko Ono link... Does that mean lance is the John Lenon of cycling?

Jay

 

[AjayM]

Actually there was quite a bit of time in between the breakup and him coming together with Sheryl (the Armstrongs were seperated for a number of months, tried a reconcilliation, then split up).

And I don't understand why people find it hard to believe that a marriage would fail under those circumstances. The guy is probably home for a whole 2-3 months out of the year and even when he is home he's on such a strict training regiment that actually doing anything is difficult (2 week vacation in Fiji may be a problem), and he's under such HUGE pressure from the business side of things as well. There are plenty of marriages around that fail for a whole lot less.

Andrew

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Well DL stage three's long ITT and its cat3 climb, Cote de Paimpillod, lived up to most expectations, and once again the Americans had a great day with three in the top five (Leipheimer, Armstrong, Landis) and Hincapie finishing in the top ten.


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Santiago Botero won the 47km race in just over an hour despite strong Mistral side winds that cause a lot of trouble for the riders.


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Levi Leipheimer put together an amazing effort and finished just one second behind Botero's time, which gave him the overall lead and the yellow jersey.

Lance had a very good ride and finished with the third best time, 26 seconds behind Botero's and puts him in third place overall, 30 seconds behind Levi.


Tomorrow will be a very telling day, as the riders will face 'Le Mont Ventoux' with an average 7% grade over 27km.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Looks like that rumor can be put to rest.

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Here she is recently cheering him on from one of the Discovery Team cars during the Dauphine Libere.

 

[Michael Harris]

I wonder of Sheryl serenades Lance from the team car.

I see that Lance is holding his own during the Dauphine. I am really proud of Hincapie. He has been Lance's loyal lieutenant for years so its nice to see him in great form. Team Discovery is performing well and would love to see them finally get the team win in the Tour, a title the former Posties never attained. Maybe U.S. interest in cycling can be maintained in the post-Lance era.

 

[Micheal]

Awesome! I was kind of disappointed when I read about their supposed break-up a month or so ago. Glad to see that they are still together.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Speaking of the Dauphine Libere, it wrapped up today with yet another great finish, but first here are some highlights from stage 4, 5, and 6:

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Alexandre Vinokourov putting the hurt on Leipheimer and Armstrong ending in a brilliant stage 4 victory on Le Mont Ventoux


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Despite being dropped twice in the last 10km, Lance fought back and finished in fourth place only 37" behind Vinokourov.

Santiago Botero was not as fortunate losing three minutes to Vinokourov on le Mont Ventoux and dropping him from 2nd to 6th in the GC standings. Roberto Heras had an even worse time losing over eleven minutes and continued his drastic slide down the GC standings to 58th place. After stage 4 the top five GC places were:

• 0.00 Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner)
• 0.21 Lance Armstrong (Team Discovery)
• 0.26 Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile)
• 0.47 Floyd Landis (Phonak)
• 2.00 Andrey Kashechkin (Credit Agricole)

Stage 5 will likely be most remembered for when the Maillot Jaune took a nasty fall.

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On a decent, Levi Leipheimer misjudged a corner and hit the ground hard. In yet another example of cycling's sportsmanship, Lance Armstrong convinced the peloton to wait for him to get back to the group before returning to their chase of the breakaway group, but even without the crash, the day would have still belonged to Axel Merckx:

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The biggest surprise though was that the GC contenders would underestimate Inigo Landaluze abilities:

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Landaluze would end up finishing over seven minutes ahead of the peloton and the GC contenders giving him the yellow jersey. Roberto Heras unfortunately continued his downward spiral finishing over 13 minutes behind the leader. After stage 5 the top five GC places were:

• 0.00 Inigo Landaluze (Euskaltel)
• 2.32 Axel Merckx (Lotto)
• 2.51 Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner)
• 3.12 Lance Armstrong (Team Discovery)
• 3.17 Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile)

However, even a three minute lead on the GC contenders is not a lock when the next stage is none other than this year’s penultimate with three CAT1 climbs and ending with the infamous Col de Joux-Plane!

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

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The penultimate stage 6 of this year's Dauphine Libere lived up to its hype and featured some amazingly gutsy performances.

All eyes were on Lance to see how he would react to revisiting the Col de Joux-Plane, where he almost lost the 2000 TdF.

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While he did not win the stage, he never showed any weakness and finished with Vinokourov ahead of all the GC contenders except for Botero. Speaking of Botero...

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While Floyd Landis may have struggled on the Col de Joux-Plane, Santiago Botero fought like never before and clearly had used every once of energy he had.

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The result of which was a victorious win on the most coveted stage of the Dauphine Libere, but perhaps the most impressive performance came from Inigo Landaluze:

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Despite being completely isolated on the Col de Joux-Plane Landaluze never panicked and ended up only four minutes behind Botero thus holding on to the maillot jaune leading up to the final stage of the race. After stage 6 the top five GC places were:

• 0.00 Inigo Landaluze (Euskaltel)
• 0.49 Santiago Botero (Phonak)
• 1.16 Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner)
• 1.37 Lance Armstrong (Team Discovery)
• 1.40 Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile)

 

[Micheal]

Nils, thanks for the great update!
WOW!

What do you think Lance's chances are for another TDF victory?

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

(oops... I forgot a stage 7 report) :b


The seventh and final stage of this year's Dauphine Libere with its eight cat4 climbs over 128km was certainly no gimmie. The results though should help answer Micheal's question - what with Discovery Team's 1-2-3 finish which was more than enough to leap well past Phonak and win the over-all team classification!


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Both Hincapie and Popovych took command of the stage early on and were able to stay in front of the Peleton all the way to the end with George sprinting to his second stage victory!


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In a race for third, Armstrong found himself in a group of six riders with one kilometer to go. The group included Lance's closest TdF rivals, Vinokourov, Botero, and Leipheimer. Perhaps this was all the motivation Lance needed to once again prove that his sprinting skills are often overlooked due to his climbing prowess. He beat everyone to the line, only 22 seconds behind his teammates Hincapie and Popovych thus giving Discovery Team their 1-2-3 finish to end a very successful warm-up to the TdF.

Lance's performance also earned him enough points to win the green jersey just in front of Botero, Hincapie, Leipheimer, and Vinokourov.


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Botero also had a great race and came within 11 seconds of winning the Dauphine Libere finishing 38 seconds in front of Landaluze.


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Here is the surprise winner, Inigo Landaluze, after just finding out he finished with enough time to hold on to the lead and the biggest win of his career!


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Congrats to all the finishers!

Final Top 5 Places

• 0.00 Inigo Landaluze (Euskaltel)
• 0.11 Santiago Botero (Phonak)
• 0.38 Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner)
• 0.59 Lance Armstrong (Team Discovery)
• 1.02 Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile)

Final Top 5 Team Places

• 00.00 Team Discovery Channel
• 06.50 Phonak Hearing
• 11.29 Saunier Duval
• 15.37 Credit Agricole
• 20.24 Davitamon-Lotto