[DRB]

12:05 CEST 22km/217.5km to go
The pace is pretty brisk and there have been a whole series of attacks but none have succeeded in getting more than a few metres clear of the bunch so far.

Sadly the pain of riding with a broken wrist is too much for Andreas Klöden and he has just climbed into the T-Mobile team car; he managed to ride most of yesterday's stage with it anaesthetised by the initial shock and the adrenalin from the race, but crash injuries mostly hurt more the next day than they did when you did them. He broke his schaphoid bone in a crash early yesterday and rode the whole stage like that. That's pretty amazing.

After the short but sharp third cat climb at Baleix (the four spotty jersey points going to Bobby Julich) an attack finally goes clear, and it is Floyd Landis, seeking the bonus seconds at the sprint which is coming up shortly, it would appear.

12:34 CEST 43km/196.5km to go
Landis's escape was too much for the Discovery Channel team, who mopped it up forthwith. The next attack came from French champion Pierrick Fedrigo, who was joined first by Kurt-Asle Arvesen and then by Erik Dekker and Carlos Da Cruz. They hovered off the front of the peloton for a while and now a larger group has formed around them and gone clear. So we now have Jose Luis Rubiera and Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel), Oscar Sevilla (T-Mobile Team), Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Team CSC), Erik Dekker (Rabobank), Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros-Würth), Sébastien Hinault (Credit Agricole), Dario Cioni (Liquigas-Bianchi), Stéphane Augé (Cofidis), Bram Tankink (Quick.Step), Pierrick Fédrigo (Bouygues Telecom), Daniele Righi (Lampre-Caffita), Carlos Da Cruz and Thomas Lövkvist (Française Des Jeux), Andrei Grivko (Domina Vacanze) and Samuel Dumoulin and Simon Gerrans (Ag2r-Prevoyance) away, and their lead is increasing briskly towards two minutes. This looks to the moderately informed eye like la belle, the good breakaway for the day.

 

[DRB]

13:12 CEST 67km/172.5km to go
The break are still pulling away, with the lead now over 8 minutes over a bunch who mostly seem to have other things on their minds. The most notable absentees from the break are Davitamon-Lotto, who are probably the only team who will be bothered to chase the break down unless its lead reaches absurd proportions. We spoke to their workhorse Johan Van Summeren this morning: "I'm feeling alright. Starting to be tired but I guess that's normal. Most riders have that problem. Will you be on the front today? "It's going to be difficult today. It's not completely flat and there are just too many kilometres to ride with one team only. We can ride only with four guys and that's not enough to chase a breakaway." Is it mentally hard doing that all the time? "Oh no. When you see Robbie throwing his hands in the air afterwards then it's no problem. But if you have to do it every day for nothing, then I think it's more difficult."

13:25 CEST 75km/164.5km to go
The lead has settled down a bit now, falling back under 8 minutes for a few kilometres before starting to climb again; Lotto and Gerolsteiner are doing their bit behind.

If this break stays away and stays together, the best sprinter on the block is clearly Allan Davis, but he has no team-mates for support and is likely to need to respond to a lot of attacks. Otherwise the stand-out rider for this sort of stage is Erik Dekker, who has won here in Revel before, the second of his hat-trick of stage wins in the 2000 Tour.

 

[I Are Baboon]

A 150 mile stage today? Damn that's a long bike ride.

 

[DRB]

From Chris Horner's diary. The well fueled American athlete.

We had a nice rest day on Monday in Pau. I've been talking to the media enough, but not too much. I slept until 9:30, took a shower and shaved my legs. Then I went for an hour ride and came back to the hotel. Then I went to McDonalds for lunch...it was great! I had a Big Mac, a hamburger, fries, a large Coke and a McFlurry for dessert. My teammates are used to my hamburger desires. On Saturday night, we were staying in a funky Balladins hotel in Foix without a restaurant. We were eating in a Buffalo Grill, like a chain steakhouse in America.

It was funny story; we had a set menu of pasta and chicken, but I also wanted a hamburger. It was on the menu, so I asked, but the waiter said "it is not possible". I said "what do you mean? This is a Buffalo Grill, isn't it? You've got hamburgers, don't you?" That went on for a while, and then the manager came out and she said "it is not possible". I told them of course you can, this is Buffalo Grill and I would pay for it, but they weren't having it. Anyway, it took me four times, but eventually got my hamburger but always in France, it's "no you can't" not, "ok, you can but it will cost you this." So eventually I had my hamburger and fries and had a great race the next day!

 

[DRB]

More interesting news

Alexander Vinokourov is leaving the T-Mobile Team as of the end of the season. The 31 year old Kazakhi informed the management of the team of his decision a few days before the end of the Tour.

"Alexandre wants the chance to win the Tour as captain of a team," said Team manager Olaf Ludwig. "We are sorry for his decision, but understand his reasoning."

Vinokourov has been courted by several big teams, and there is speculation that he may end up at Cofidis or Ag2r next year. Discovery Channel director Johan Bruyneel denied that his team was interested in signing the attacking T-Mobile rider. "We want someone who can win the Tour. Vinokourov isn't one of them," he said.

 

[DRB]

144 km The 17 men in front have just pedalled into the Haute Garonne region boasting a lead of 10'52"... There is still a large 140 km to go though, even if it looks like this break will stay clear right to the end.

 

[MtnBikerChk]

why am I listening to diving on eurosport today - it says TDF!

 

[DRB]

126km to go.
14:13 - Advantage Grows Again
As the peloton passes the 102km mark, it is 12 minutes behind the 17 escapees.

 

[DRB]

why am I listening to diving on eurosport today - it says TDF!

Live radio coverage of diving? You gotta be kidding. You'd have to be an awesome announcer to translate that to radio.... either that or drunk as a skunk and mean (or lecherous).

 

[MtnBikerChk]

Live radio coverage of diving? You gotta be kidding. You'd have to be an awesome announcer to translate that to radio.... either that or drunk as a skunk and mean (or lecherous).

its like dead silent.....and then you hear SPLASH.

 

[DRB]

its like dead silent.....and then you hear SPLASH.

Now that's funny.

114 km The lead keeps on going up: 14'40" the latest call. They won't be getting that back. Unless the peleton gets new legs.

 

[DRB]

14:32 - Points At The Finish For First 25 Riders...
The peloton is currently 12’20" behind the 17 escapees. Unlike the last transitional stage when Davitamon-Lotto began chasing the escapists at the half-way mark, the peloton doesn’t appear interested in chasing the attacking riders today.
The reason for the pursuit in the stage to Montpellier was that Robbie McEwen wanted to add some points to his tally in the race for the green jersey. He won the stage and elevated himself up to third in the points classification.
Today the points at the finish are awarded to the first 25 riders across the line. The rider in 18th place (ie. at the front of the peloton if today’s escape succeeds) will earn eight points. That'll at least make the ending interestin.

 

[MtnBikerChk]

Now that's funny.

PHEW - diving over - tdf now being broadcast.......

 

[DRB]

14:49 - Lead Up To 15’45"
The peloton is now 15’45" behind the 17 escapees. This is the second biggest leading margin of any escape this year. (The maximum gain of any attack was 18’45" - for Hincapie, Sevilla, Pereiro, Davis, Caucchioli, Brochard, Pineau, Bertolini, Camano - in stage 15.)

 

[DRB]

104 km At the main feeding zone at Pouy-des-Touges, Kurt-Asle Arvesen (CSC) somehow managed to spill the entire contents of his musette on to his legs and bike, losing his lunch to the road... Luckily for him, another team helped out and gave him one of their lunch bags. A touching little alliance there. It would have been impossibile for the Norwegian to keep up with the others without eating his fill.

 

[DRB]

14:59 CEST 144km/95.5km to go
Born-again mountain goat George Hincapie leads the chase; the gap has dipped slightly but that is probably because the break are eating and the bunch hasn't got up to the feed yet, rather than the determination of the chase. T-Mobile are passing around a piece of paper with some air of amusement - probably next season's contract...

 

[DRB]

15:13 - 17 Lead By 19’20" 84km to go
Rubiera, Savoldelli, Sevilla, Arvesen, Dekker, Davis, Hinault, Cioni, Auge, Tankink, Fedrigo, Righi, Da Cruz, Lovkvist, Grivko, Dumoulin and Gerrans are now 19’20" ahead of the peloton which continues to be led by six Discovery Channel riders.

Sevilla is the best placed in the bunch at 38' behind armstrong. Moves him into the top 20 maybe the top 15. Wonder when someone gets interested.....

 

[DRB]

15:20 - Discovery Can Challenge For Team Title
The team classifiction is judged on the combined times of the three best riders in each formation. T-Mobile held an advantage of 19’28" over Discovery Channel at the start of the 17th stage. There are two things which could help the American-registered squad inherit the lead.
First of all, T-Mobile’s third-best rider Andreas Kloden abandoned at the 18km mark of today’s stage. The second element is the fact that Discovery has two riders in today’s big escape.

 

[DRB]

15:45 CEST 173.5km/66km to go
With the bunch on the climb, Salvatore Commesso is sporting sleeves rolled up for that wifebeater look, as the temperature rises under clear blue skies. The bunch look quite frankly bored, and the lead is up over 22 minutes; at this rate Discovery will need to start worrying about Sevilla's lead soon. Well, probably not, but it would make a diverting change.

15:51 CEST 177.5km/62km to go
On the descent after the 4th-cat climb (where the bunch had an impromptu cavalry escort for a while) Sturt O'Grady comes up to the front for a word with Armstrong, who is momentarily rigfht at the front.

Sevilla looks to be taking it easy in the break now, presumably with an eye to preventing the Discovery team classificaton advantage from getting too big.


Almost 25minutes.

 

[DRB]

So the leading group is starting to attack itself. Decker has launched a few that have been covered

16:16 - Eight Riders Lead By 12"
There are now eight riders in the lead group (Tankink, Sevilla, Savoldelli, Arvesen, Hinault, Righi, Grivko and Gerrans). They are 12" ahead of the next group of riders.

 

[DRB]

16:22 CEST 201.5km/38km to go
The front group are working well together and have picked up half a minute already on the less organised chasers. Savoldelli, Grivko and Sevilla look particularly strong.

Behind them the bunch have closed fractionally to 23.10.

 

[DRB]

16:22 CEST 201.5km/38km to go
The front group are working well together and have picked up half a minute already on the less organised chasers. Savoldelli, Grivko and Sevilla look particularly strong.

Behind them the bunch have closed fractionally to 23.10.



16:26 CEST
The chasers have got their act together now, with Dumoulin and Rubiera sitting on the back because of their team-mates in front. The gap is up to 40 seconds with both groups riding hard, while the big gap back to the bunch is now shrinking slightly.

 

[DRB]

29 km There's no way back for the nine chasers, who are 1'10" behind. The peloton ride at 23'00".

32 km The leaders are working together exceptionally. The gap is up to just over a minute now, with 32 km to ride. Française des Jeux boss Marc Madiot must be furious that his two riders Lovkvist and Da Cruz fell into the trap back there... They just haven't had any luck this year, have they?

 

[DRB]

16:45 - Eight Leaders From Eight Teams 20km to go or so
The eight stage leaders represent eight different teams (and seven countries). They are currently 1’45" ahead of the nine chasers.

The last cat 3 climb could shake the first group even further. Savoldelli and Sevilla have to be considered favorites.

 

[DRB]

16:55 CEST 225.5km/14km to go
Mario Kummer was just interviewed on German TV about what T-Mobile would do to defend their team classification lead. His answer: nothing. They are not in a position to do anything about it - Klöden is out, Kessler and Steinhauser are
not feeling well, they simply don't have the manpower for it.

The train passes the crossing (where the barriers nearly beheaded Janek Tombak) and the team cars and commissaires are now speeding up the road to get back with the bunch.

The front group are still working together, all coming through to take turns on the front, as they drop into Revel; the course does a 12 km loop over the final climb of the day to come back to the finish here.

T-Mobile are, the above notwithstanding, now working on the front of the bunch; if they can pull the second group back by a few minutes they can save their team position.

 

[DRB]

17:03 - Two Lead Three...
Hinault and Savoldelli are now being pursued by Gerrans, Grivko and Arversen.

17:02 - Savoldelli Into The Lead
The stage is now being led by Paolo Savoldelli of the Discovery Channel team. He has been joined by Hinault on the final climb of the stage.

 

[DRB]

6 km Back in the peloton, the bunch has been split by the fierce pace set by T-Mobile.

6 km Grivko is passed by Arvesen and Gerrans who are powering down the descent in a bid to reach Hinault and Savoldelli.

7 km Savoldelli passes the summit in first, Hinault right behind. Grivko a further six seconds back... The Disovery man is an exceptional descent specialist, while Hinault is definitely stronger on the sprint. This will be really interesting!

 

[DRB]

17:06 CEST
Hinault is not working, just hanging on Savoldelli who is know in full flight on the descent, his favourite terrain. Gerrans is hanging on to Arvesen with difficulty, and Grivko is dropped.

 

[DRB]

17:09 CEST 236.5km/3km to go
Savoldelli asnd Hinault are watching one another but working, while Arvesen has some trouble getting Gerrans to come through. He does, and the four come together.

Savoldelli jumps clear as they come together though...

 

[DRB]

17:12 - Savoldelli Wins The Stage!
Paolo Savoldelli has won the stage in fine style! He raced into the lead in the final 100m. He is the second Discovery Channel rider to win a stage of the 2005 Tour de France.

Weak team my ass.

 

[DRB]

Apparently the big boys aren't willing to leave well enough alone....

17:24 CEST
On the climb it's Vinokourov setting the pace in his celeste Kazakh champion's jersey., with Armstrong well up behind Ullrich.

It was not Mancebo who fell, but Arroyo; he is up but hurting and in danger or elimination.

17:26 CEST
Ullrich goes with Armstrong on his wheel, then Rasmussen and PopovychLeipheimer is having trouble getting across, but is helped when Basso comes up. Landis is missing from this little all-star break that has a significant-looking gap, possibly caused by thaty crash.

 

[DRB]

9 km VINO ATTACKS!!! As usual, the Kazakh pocket Titan gives it a go on the category three climb... Ullrich, Armstrong, Rasmussen and Basso all cling on, before passing Vino and leaving him way down the road. The peloton has been decimated by that acceleration... the likes of Cadel Evans totally left for dead.

 

[DRB]

7 km The leading group from the peloton ride over the summit, but still the symbolic struggle continues! Ullrich tries all he can to drop Rasmussen, but the Dane holds his wheel, with Popovych, Armstrong and Basso right up there too. It will be hard for the likes of McEwen, O'Grady and Hushovd to get back there for the sprint...

 

[DRB]

17:29 - Yellow Jersey’s Group 5km From Finish
The yellow jersey’s group has just past under the 5km to go banner. This bunch has dropped the riders in seventh and eighth places in the general classification - Cadel Evans and Floyd Landis.

 

[DRB]

17:33 - Vinokourov Instigated Escape
The peloton split to pieces because of an attack by Vinokouov at the base of the final climb. This group is now being led to the line by Popovych. They finished 22’34" behind Savoldelli.

17:32 - Evans Driving The Chase
Evans is setting the pace of the chase group that’s now 13" behind Armstrong’s group with 1km to go.

 

[DRB]

General classification after stage 17

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 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 9.38
8 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 9.59
9 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.03
10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 12.07

vino's little attack moved him from 9 to 7 at the expense of evans and landis.

 

[JRB]

How does it end up Sunday???

Lance, Basso, Ullrich????

*can Basso time trial???

 

[DRB]

How does it end up Sunday???

Lance, Basso, Ullrich????

*can Basso time trial???

Yes he can. he won the final time trial in the Giro and was in the top 5 in the first time trial. He has really worked on that aspect of his riding.

Ullrich is going to have to hump it to catch Rasmussen. This TT is not a flat affair. Its up and down.

I'm leaning more towards Lance, Basso and Rasmussen.

Tomorrow has a cat 2 climb to the finish that should produce more of the same as today amongest the big boys.

 

[DVNT]

They need to make this race more exciting.

Like have a Giant Monkey throw Barrells at the riders as they try to climb the next Mtn Stage.

 

[N8 v2.0]

They need to make this race more exciting.

Like have a Giant Monkey throw Barrells at the riders as they try to climb the next Mtn Stage.

MXC Style!!!