The Tour Day 18

…and Lance Armstrong is still the man to beat. Phil Liggett

A buddy of mine who shall remain anonymous made the comment that “bike racing is boring as hell until the last 5K.” I can agree with him, really. I mean, c’mon, you’re sitting in front of the teevee watching a bunch of guys riding, riding, riding their bikes, crash occasionally, then ride some more, then when they get close to the finish line they all sprint as fast as they can go to get across first.

Today, however, was one of those exceptional days in The Sport of Professional Cycling that made watching all those flat stages in this year’s Tour worthwhile. Today was the day Jan Ullrich woke up.

All they hype leading to this year’s Tour was the same mantra pounded over, and over, and over. Armstrong, Ullrich, Hamilton, Heras, Mayo. Who will knock Lance off the winner’s podium? And we all know what happened. Mayo and Heras became non-contenders almost immediately. Hamilton retires due to injuries, and Ullrich, well, frankly Big Jan was a huge disappointment in the Pyrenees. Nobody could believe he was riding so poorly.

I have another buddy who shall remain anonymous, and this guy knows cycling. He said after Stage 10, the day Ullrich struggled so hard to come in at 15th place, “Well, I tend to be a little more reserved. It is not over, until it’s over. Ullrich may not climb as well as Lance, but he’s strong. I’ll take a wait-and-see attitude.”

Ullrich attacked about 34 kilometers from the end of the race and stayed ahead of what was left of the peloton, until he was slowly reeled back in by the combined work of US Postal and Team CSC. Unlike other riders who are swept up, Ullrich wasn’t dropped and he hung on and crossed the finish line in 3rd place, three seconds back. He jumped up to fifth in the overall GC at 6’54” behind Armstrong.

Ivan Basso of Team CSC was outsprinted again today when Armstrong took the stage win. Basso looks to be a podium contender, but with two time trials coming up in the next four days he may not have a chance. Rumor has it that Basso is not a strong time trialist. He came in 29 seconds back in the prologue. We wonder if a mountain stage time trial will improve his performance.

Armstrong again wears yellow, and the chances that he will be challenged before Paris on sunday look better than they did at the end of last week. Nothing personal against Armstrong, I’m rooting for him to win. But the race is much more interesting with strong contenders.

Richard Virenque attacked on all the early mountains in today’s stage to add an impressive lead on his KoM jersey. Thomas Voeckler traded the Yellow jersey for the White. There was no points for the Green sprinters jersey today so Robbie McEwen retains that for now. Lance, of course, is in Yellow. The Green jersey may be up for grabs by default tomorrow. There is a time elimination of 33% off the winning time, and the pundits at cyclingnews.com estimate the winning time to be around 40 minutes. If that is the case, McEwen will have to come in at 53 minutes in order not to be disqualified. Jakob Pill of Team CSC and Iban Mayo of Euskaltel-Euskadi did not start today. Paolo Valoti of Domina-Vicanze abandonded today’s race. US Postal, Quick Step-Davitamon and Rabobank are the only teams left with all riders.

velonews.com reports that it was 35 years ago, on this very day, that another Armstrong made headlines when Neil took that small step for man, and a giant leap for mankind. (For the younger readers who slept through history class, Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon.) Nice coincidence.

If you’ve ever wondered who sponsors pro cycling teams, John Levesque gives a quick rundown here.

On a lighter note, have you been looking for just that right font to celebrate this year’s Tour de France? Well look no more, you can download one here. Designed on a Mac by dincTYPE.

Today’s “Meow Corner” entry is this article about David Millar.

Today’s Tune to the Tour contest word is “Domestique”.

Penalty phase of the CKS/bl Tridiot Rating is over. Considering the length of todays post, factored by the Armstrong win and other calculations too boring to explain, the CKS/bl Tridiot Rating for today is 101.935%