[DRB]

12:45 - Leipheimer, Vinokourov & Hushovd Rejoin Peloton

After being dropped early today, Leipheimer, Vinokourov and Hushovd have rejoined the peloton at the 21km mark.

There was a crash in the neutral zone (come on ya'll). Kloden was down not sure about the others.

Lots of attacks EARLY.

And for those of you who need live coverage on your phone, cyclingnews is bringing that to you....

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/news/?id=/features/2005/mobile_live

That being said I am off to the eye doctor with my daughter.

 

[DRB]

Not quite out the door. Another attack
12:54 - 11 Riders On The Attack

Evans (DVL), Vasseur (COF), Ludovic (DOM), Zandio (IBA), Turpin (A2R), Flecha (FAS), Pineau (BTL), Gilbert (FDJ), Rodriguez (DVL), Horner (SDV), Geslin (BTL) are now on the attack. They escaped the peloton at the 26km mark. After three kilometers they have established a lead of 30" on the peloton.

Evans will certainly keep the peleton interested in the break. Horner

 

[DRB]

13:03 CEST 37km/143.5km to go
The break now has 2'16 and looks like to be it for the day. Armstrong looks happy in the peloton, behind his Discovery Channel teammates.

13:07 CEST 40km/140.5km to go
Of the breakaways, Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto) is the best placed rider on GC, starting the day 12'57 behind Armstrong in 11th place. That's not too dangerous for Discovery. Also, there are no riders who threaten Rasmussen's polka dot jersey, Hushovd's green jersey, or Popovych's white jersey, so this break might be allowed to go all the way.

It's 2'59 now as Noval and Padrnos lead the bunch.

 

[N8 v2.0]

What race was it yesterday where their was a pile up and a rider died?

It was a women's race...

 

[Echo]

I think it was a training ride, like 7 riders from a women's national team got hit by a car. Some pretty serious injuries and one rider died.

 

[TreeSaw]

I think it was a training ride, like 7 riders from a women's national team got hit by a car. Some pretty serious injuries and one rider died.

Holy crap...I didn't hear anything about it!!!

 

[DRB]

Holy crap...I didn't hear anything about it!!!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/?id=2005/jul05/jul19news2

Australian rider Amy Gillett has died after she and five other riders from the Australian women's team were hit by a car during a training ride in Germany on Monday. Three other team members are reported to be in critical condition after being helicoptered to hospital, and the remaining two are also still in hospital, albeit with less serious injuries. The other riders involved are Katie Brown, Lorian Graham, Kate Nichols, Alexis Rhodes and Louise Yaxley. All are being treated in hospitals in Leipzig and Zwickau; Rhodes, Yaxley and Brown are believed to be the most seriously injured.

This was the car that hit them...

 

[DRB]

Insert tons of attacks

15:37 CEST 117km/63.5km to go
Armstrong now leads on the first part of the descent, at a steady pace, hopefully to allow Hincapie to get back on. Leipheimer is next to him.

Bits and pieces of the peloton are coming over the climb now - a group with O'Grady and Rogers in it at 8'30.

Evans has a chain problem, but he's going again and on the Col du Soulor, which is a non-categorised climb.

Hincapie is now back with Armstrong's group. Also Kloden, Kashechkin and Sastre are there.

15:38 CEST
More riders are getting back to the Armstrong group, including Popovych, and Rubiera. No doubt Azevedo will get there too. For Armstrong, that's the advantage of having this climb 70 km from the finish. His team - which has been doing a hell of a lot of work - can regroup.

 

[DRB]

Current situation:
Cadel Evans (Daviatmon-Lotto), Eddy Mazzoleni (Lampre), Oscar Pereiro (Phonak), Xabier Zandio (Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne)
Jörg Ludewig (Domina Vacanze), Philippe Gilbert (Française Des Jeux), Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), Anthony Geslin, Ludovic Turpin (Ag2r-Prevoyance),Jérôme Pineau (Bouygues Telecom), Cedric Vasseur (Cofidis), Marcos Serrano (Liberty Seguros) at 2'15
Armstrong group at 6'46

Evans should be very motivated for a stage win to honor Amy Gillett. Pereiro is looking to get his stage win. Then I'm sure the rest would like one as well.

I'm sure Vino will launch so more attacks for the fun of it.

 

[DRB]

16:31 CEST
The Gilbert group is on the climb, suffering a bit as it's been a long day. They are at 1'47, while the peloton follows at 4'47.

It looks like Evans will finish with roughly 3'00 on the peloton, which will move him into 9th overall. Depends a bit on bonus seconds et al.

16:33 CEST 161km/19.5km to go
Pereiro takes over and forces the pace, taking the points at the summit of the climb ahead of Evans and Zandio, and keeping his polka dot chances theoretically alive.

16:34 CEST
Gilbert attacks the chase group, as Flecha goes with him. A little pointless, as they're not going to catch the leaders. Now Ludewig goes after Flecha. Gilbert goes over the summit, 1'44 behind the break. then Ludewig and Flecha at 1'50.

The peloton is at 4'34.

 

[DRB]

So is Pereiro screwing up again....

16:38 CEST 165.5km/15km to go
Evans leads the break over another small climb, with with Pereiro marking him closely. Mazzoleni and Zandrio aren't doing much.

Maybe Evans is going to use is mountain bike skills and huck the finish line.

 

[DRB]

Levi's wife is hot.

16:43 CEST 169.5km/11km to go
All four leaders are cooperating now, as Mancebo's fifth place on GC is not really in danger from Evans. Pereiro doesn't seem to care about Landis's 7th place, which is certainly in danger.

Maybe Floyd took up for George and now Oscar is going to take it out on Floyd..... nice team work.

 

[DRB]

16:56 CEST 178.5km/2km to go
2 km of hard riding for Evans, who will get no help from the rest of his breakaway mates. Mazzoleni is perhaps the only one who should help him, while the other two can (finally) use the excuse that they are protecting their GC riders from Evans. Also, Pereiro wants to win.

 

[DRB]

16:57 CEST
Evans doesn't really care, as he gives it all for the GC. 700m to go as he rounds the last corner.

16:58 CEST 180.5km/0km to go
Evans sprints as hard as he can, then Mazzoleni and Pereiro jump together, and Pereiro wins! Zandio second, Mazzoleni third, and Evans fourth.

Results
Provisional
1 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 4.38.40
2 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne
3 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto

Now to see where Evans ends up on GC.

 

[DRB]

Popovych is not in the Armstrong group which is where Kashechkin is. Kashechkin is the second place rider for the White jersey. He was 6 minutes behind at the start..

 

[N8 v2.0]

So, now does Lance have #7 in the bag?

 

[DRB]

So, now does Lance have #7 in the bag?

Well there is stage 18, that has this evil 10% 3 km climb at the very end.

Provosional GC
1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 2.46
3 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 3.09
4 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 5.58
5 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 6.31
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 7.35
7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 9.30
8 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 9.33
9 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 9.38
10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 11.47

Evans jumped ahead of Landis by 3 seconds. Thanks Oscar. Floyd will be able to make that up easy in the final TT. Levi has a decent shot at 5th.

 

[McGRP01]

So, now does Lance have #7 in the bag?

Rivals Not Sure They Can Catch Armstrong

Published - Jul 19 2005 08:43AM EDT || AP

PAU, France(AP) Ivan Basso is just 2 minutes, 46 seconds behind Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France. As far as the Italian rider is concerned, the race is over.

"It's not possible to beat him," the second-place Basso said Monday as riders rested in Pau. "I have done all I can."

Armstrong holds a significant advantage over his closest challengers, who are running out of time with the race ending Sunday.

With a time trial on the penultimate day _ Armstrong's specialty _ Basso needs to make huge time gains in the four stages before that for an improbable comeback. Basso's Team CSC director, Bjarne Riis, also seemed resigned to finishing no higher than second.

"He has class, strength and talent," Riis said of Armstrong. "It's not easy to beat someone like that."

Armstrong looked good after Monday's day off, sticking with his closest rivals in the first portion of Tuesday's 16th stage. Ahead of them, a breakaway group of riders lower down in the standings led the way over the big climbs.

The 112.2-mile stage from Mourenx to Pau is the last tough mountain route of the Tour, before riders head through the Massif Central area of France on their way to the finish in Paris.

Armstrong's team director, Johan Bruyneel, was cautious about Tuesday's trek, which features the Col de Marie-Blanque, a category 1 climb, and the Col d'Aubisque, a harder ascent that doesn't have a rating. It snakes up for 10 miles at a 7 percent gradient.

"It's a difficult stage. The last climb is tough, and pretty far from the finish," Bruyneel said. "We need to be careful and keep an eye on the team. Everyone can have a bad day. We need to protect Lance and let the race work for us."

The Discovery Channel riders have had two bad days so far during the Tour. However, Armstrong didn't lose any time to his rivals either time.

"We have a decent lead with a big time trial to come," Bruyneel said. "For the moment, it's enough _ 2:46 on Basso and more on the next guys. Maybe we can take a little more advantage. But it doesn't matter if it's 30 seconds, all that matters is to win."

 

[DRB]

Rivals Not Sure They Can Catch Armstrong

Published - Jul 19 2005 08:43AM EDT || AP

PAU, France(AP) Ivan Basso is just 2 minutes, 46 seconds behind Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France. As far as the Italian rider is concerned, the race is over.

"It's not possible to beat him," the second-place Basso said Monday as riders rested in Pau. "I have done all I can."

Hahahahahahaha
He used your article from the other thread...

 

[McGRP01]

Hahahahahahaha
He used your article from the other thread...

I haven't even read the other thread. Funny.