La Grande Boucle

[pchang]

Oh No!

A life spent shuttling between San Diego and Switzerland? The horror!

[Lawrence of Arabia]

San Diego and San Francisco.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

boonen looks unstoppable. hes either won or taken second on all the flat stages.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

and discovery now has both the maillot jaune and the maillot blanc. the team is making cash, and the maillot blanc probably wont go away until the first mountain stage.

[pchang]

it was like dominoes today. Mengin was oh so close.

[Boris Godunov]

I never paid much attention to cycling before, but my roommate has DVRed the tour since he's a cycling buff.

Damn, many of these guys are Ho-ho-hot! Too bad they tend to have such skinny upper arms. Still, my interest is piqued!

[pchang]

The sprinters tend to have bigger arms. Of course, extra upper body weight can be a real hindrance when trying to climb up those really steep hills.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

What an amazing race today. Christophe Mengin went on a breakaway that lasted nearly the entire race. for the final 11 kilometers he was all alone against the entire field and his lead shrunk from 8 minutes to 11 seconds, that he held from 20k out until the final turn where he slipped and crashed into the barriers, less then a kilometer from the finish line.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

Robbie McEwen won today. both him and Boonen now have two stage victories apeice. Boonen fell in the first 20 km and probably wasnt feeling his best. A german dude tried a breakway (forgot his name) but got caught at the end (he was the first into germany tho, and he might have the maillot a pois rouges) armstrong and the rest finished in the pact. Tomorrows stage is starting to get some bigger mountains, with a cat 2 near the end (maybe a breakway by ullrich, vinokourov, basso to try to gain some time back against lance? it will be intereseting to see how the top five play it.)

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
(...) and he might have the maillot a pois rouges

Yep, he does. And he'll probably be wearing the red race number tomorrow, for being the most aggressive rider.

(maybe a breakway by ullrich, vinokourov, basso to try to gain some time back against lance? it will be intereseting to see how the top five play it.)

I hate to be cynical, but I can't see that happening. Especially not Ullrich anyway. At least Vinokourov dares to attack. I think Ullrich is a bit of a coward (as much as I hate to say it). I don't think he has ever impressed me since Armstrong started winning.

Attack damnit!

[Lawrence of Arabia]

if im T mobile, I attack up the final mountain because you can win back lots of time. its not necessairly a mountain stage, so armstrong might not follow you closely and you can gain some time on him. plus you have three strong mountain guys, if you send vinokourov tomorrow and lance follows, then you can send ullrich tomorrow when lance is tired. or if lance doesnt follow, then youve gained time on him.

[pchang]

If I'm T-Mobile, I switch to Vinokourov

[Zopperoni]

Pieter Weening won by .0002 of a second

A deserved victory though, good stage by him. Kloeden proved that his form was good though.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

and armstrong lost 27 seconds against kloden.

[Zopperoni]

39 actually, but Lance is still in control.