showdown in the pyrenées today !!!
 

... will the tour get decided at the tourmalet today ?

Coverage starts in 2 hours. I think this is the first time I've gotten up before 5am in 4 years.

What are you talking about? Bicycle? Golf?

... haha, when was the last time you got up to watch a cyling race ??

I follow european cycling pretty closely.. especially the spring classics such as Paris Roubaix, but OLN always reruns their coverage later in the day so there is no need to get up.

I have to say that OLN is excellent when it comes to cycling coverage, especially during the tour. Their live broadcast & commentary by Phil & Paul is better than most of the European coverage I used to watch when I lived there.

As for the Tourmalet, unless one of the trio is hurting and looks vulnerable, Lance, Jan, and Vino won't let each other get away that early. There will probably be an attack by lesser riders (Iban Mayo, Simoni etc), and it seems likely to me that Lance will want to let them go. Vino and Jan are so close that the time bonus alone for first or second place could put one of them into yellow, so I suspect, unless he feels strong enough to attack and take first himself, that he will not want to be in the leading group across the line.

As we've seen though, what Lance wants is not always what Lance gets. So who knows?

Anything could happen, but its quite possible the yellow jersey will change hands today. I think a likely scenario is Vinokourov taking yellow today, then losing it to either Jan or Lance in the TT next saturday.

... pretty much what I think, in my opinion the leading trio will cross the tourmalet together and vino may get the victory at the final climb.

... I can´t wait to see the moment when vino attacks, maybe jan can follow and the both will be on their own at the final climb ... ahhh, so many options, for sure the best cycling has come up with since the 89´ fignon/lemond time trial clash.

Ullrich and Vino are pals. The German will stick to Lance's back wheel for much of the stage. It's up to Lance to control Vino. Ullrich will use Vino's attacks today to hit Lance on the head. At the end of the stage when Lance is tired, Ullrich will try to pounce. That's Ullrich's plan - but Lance knows it so he's talking about giving up the yellow shirt. Of course - neither can let Vino get too far away.

On top of it all, there's this tense relationship between Germany/France and USA because of the attack on Iraq. I'm gonna watch the race while working out. Fascinating stuff.

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.... puuuuleezeee ... can´t we just forget that for one day?

:eek7

Lance got extremely dehydrated in the TT and lost nearly 15 pounds of water volume which in normal mortals would probably be fatal. He looked much more comfortable yesterday then he did on Saturday and should be nearly recovered from the dehdration by today. Lance will attack on the Tourmalet today.

... ok, we are at the tormalet now, let´s wait and see what the next 45 min will bring.

ulrich attacks ... amastrong follows !!!

Ullrich goes on the tourmalet! armstrong not looking great

amastrong closed that 50 meter gap ... this has not been decided yet ... vino about 45 sec behind them ...

man, I never thought we'd see Ullrich trying to break lance on this climb. This is classic.

So.. was Ullrich just toying with Lance in preparation for another big attack on the way up to Luz, or was that his big move for the day?

Have a feeling he was just playing cat & mouse, but we'll see in an hour.

looks like vino is out ... now it´s between lance and jan ...

... I don´t think we will seen another attack ... it will all get decided at the final climb today ... it´s between lance and jan !

I'm surprised vino blew up like that. I was expecting the opposite from him.

Wow, Lance just had a pedal mess up, he needs a bike change.......very cool they all waited.

looks like armstrong is gonna win it on the first day which aint hot as hell.

still long way up there, if armstrong catches that frenchie he'll get another 20secs bonus...

Lance did it! :thumbsup

Remember that old Rod Stewart hit "I don't want to talk about it"? That's how I feel now... :mad: Ullrich blew it because he thought that Armstrong might be weak. Lately, Lance has been talking about how the machine didn't work as usual, how he seemed to miss the punch he had in previous years. Well, Ullrich believed it and tried to tear Lance down on the Tourmalet. It turned out to be a bluff. Classic stuff. I'd say that the two had been about equally strong if Ullrich hadn't wasted so much energy on Tourmalet.

Lance was stronger AND smarter. Now Ullrich needs to claw some time back tomorrow. I don't thing he can. Lance probably retains the title. Anyhow, next year with Beloki, Ullrich, Vino and Lance, we're in for a real cat fight...