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MagicMtnDan
07-21-2004, 12:03 PM
LÂ’ALPE DÂ’HUEZ, France - Riding through a frenzied sea of fans, Lance Armstrong dominated his rivals Wednesday and extended his overall lead in the Tour de France by winning a time trial high in the Alps.
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The five-time champion finished the 9.6-mile climb through 21 hairpin turns to the L’Alpe d’Huez ski station in 39 minutes, 41 seconds — the only rider under 40 minutes. It was the first time Tour organizers set up an individual race against the clock on the legendary climb.
“I wanted it bad because of the history around this mountain and the importance to the race. All in all, it was a very important day,” Armstrong said. “Lots of emotion, lots of adrenaline.”
He was 61 seconds faster than second-place Jan Ullrich and actually passed his closest challenger, Ivan Basso, even though the Italian started two minutes ahead of the Texan.
“Lance is strong in the mountains,” acknowledged Basso, who was eighth Wednesday, 2:23 behind, and now trails by 3:48 in the overall standings.
Armstrong said he was surprised Basso lost so much time, adding: “It’s still a tight race. I knew I had to be good.”
It was ArmstrongÂ’s second consecutive stage victory, third during this Tour, and 19th of his career, plus two team time trials. At this point, seemingly only a disaster would stand in the way of a record sixth straight title when the cycling marathon ends in Paris on Sunday.
Behind Basso, Andreas Kloden is third overall, 5:03 back, after arriving third Wednesday, 1:41 behind Armstrong. His teammate Ullrich — the 1997 champion and five-time runner-up — is fourth overall, 7:55 off Armstrong’s pace.
Last year, Armstrong finished just 1:01 ahead of Ullrich, by far the TexanÂ’s narrowest winning margin since he came back from cancer to win his first Tour in 1999.
No one came close to ArmstrongÂ’s performance Wednesday. Wearing black shoes, black socks and his coveted yellow jersey, which he reclaimed by winning TuesdayÂ’s first stage in the Alps, Armstrong was relentless. Despite the steep climb, he rode at an average speed of 14.5 mph.
As overall leader, Armstrong had the advantage of being the last of the 157 cyclists to start the race against the clock. That enabled Armstrong to measure himself against his opponents — notably Basso — as he climbed.
“I didn’t expect to get gain so much time on Ivan Basso,” the American said. “When I set out, I didn’t know how fast I was going, how my form was. But a spectator said, ’A minute ahead.’ I replied, ’No, no, that’s not possible.”’
Mouth open, silver chain dangling out of his unzipped jersey, Armstrong caught Basso and passed him just after riding over a red-white-and-blue Texas state flag drawn on the black pavement. Basso glanced left at Armstrong, who just looked straight ahead.
At the bottom of the climb, crowds completely covered the road, parting only at the very last second as riders hurtled toward them. Some fans ran alongside the bicycles, waving flags that came close to catching handlebars or wheels. Others were slow to move aside, forcing riders to swerve. Spectators honked horns, blew trumpets, rang cowbells and urged riders on with applause and yells in a cacophony of languages.
Police motorcyclists rode in front of the racers, sirens blaring, parting the crowds somewhat. But every moment still seemed to be an accident waiting to happen.
“The crowds were animated,” said Armstrong, who complained in particular about German fans. “Although I enjoyed my day, I still think it’s a bad idea to have a time trial on this mountain.”
Some of the hundreds of thousands of people camped out for days to get the best spots.
It was the 24th time since Fausto Coppi of Italy first won a stage here in 1952 that the Tour had come to LÂ’Alpe dÂ’Huez. But until now, the mountain was the tiring end of Alpine stages that had already taken riders over other climbs.
The ascent has an average gradient of 7.9 percent, rising to 11.5 percent in its steepest stretches. It is classed as “hors categorie,” or unrated — the hardest on the cycling scale of difficulty.
The route started with a flat section in the valley at Bourg-dÂ’Oisans and finished at an altitude of 6,105 feet, for a vertical ascent of 3,729 feet.
Some riders did not go all out, saving energy for Thursday and one of the toughest stages this year: 126.8 miles from Bourg-dÂ’Oisans to Le Grand-Bornand. That trek includes five climbs, one of them an unrated ascent to Col de la Madeleine, at an altitude of 6,600 feet.

MagicMtnDan
07-21-2004, 12:04 PM
Tour director says fans spat at Armstrong (sounds like German fans)
Wed 21 July, 2004 19:44
L'ALPE D'HUEZ, France (Reuters) - Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has admitted he had seen fans spit at five-times champion Lance Armstrong during the 15.5-km time trial to L'Alpe d'Huez.
Leblanc also said the swarming crowds on the twisting climb on Wednesday had frightened him as riders, including Armstrong, were forced to weave through excited fans who jumped out on to the road.
"I was scared too and I felt relieved when we reached the section with barriers," Leblanc told Reuters after stage winner Armstrong described the stage as a "bad idea" and hit out at some German fans.
"Until this morning, everybody thought this time trial was a good idea and now we realised it was not so.
"There were lots of aggressive fans surrounding the riders and I even saw two idiots spit at Lance Armstrong."
"Unfortunately I doubt you can put barriers on the 14 kilometres of the climb," he added.
Armstrong, who stormed to victory nearly a minute ahead of his closest challenger Jan Ullrich and now looks set for a record sixth Tour win, urged organisers to think seriously about holding another time trial at the ski resort.
"I don't know if that's such a good thing for the Tour de France. I don't think it's safe. I think organisers should watch out," said the American.

HCS
07-21-2004, 12:07 PM
He kills them on the hills. Thee other guys are only good sprinters.

Coach
07-21-2004, 12:14 PM
What a suprise the Germans now don't like Lance. By the way the French don't have a single rider in the top 12 now. F 'm both.
I wish Lance would go to the Olymics to crush these other countries.
Lance dominated this time trial to day. When he caught Basso and passed him Basso knew the His tour would now be for 2nd place. It was still awesome to see the American Flags all over the course being waved. Actually I am sure that a few of my buds are part of the flag waving, as they were there today.
Go Lance.

Essex502
07-21-2004, 12:38 PM
The focking French pukes that run that race should control the crowds. There's going to be an accident sooner or later that affects the race and that just ain't right.:mad:

Tom Brown
07-21-2004, 12:40 PM
What happened to cheering for your boy, instead of cheering against your guy's opponent?
Formula 1 is having a similar issue right now. Tons of people seem to be upset with Ferrari and Michael Shumacher for being so good. There's little talk of other teams needing to rise to the occasion. That's crap.
May the best man win. :cool:
... and I hope it's Lance. :D

eKolbe
07-21-2004, 12:51 PM
best sign of the race ...
painted on the road in 3 foot letters...
"Cut their balls off Lance."

Ducatista
07-21-2004, 12:52 PM
Lance Lance, he's our man. If he can't fu(k France, nobody can!
Good job Lance, stick it to them! USA USA!

Tom Brown
07-21-2004, 12:57 PM
Originally posted by eKolbe
best sign of the race ...
painted on the road in 3 foot letters...
"Cut their balls off Lance."
LMFAO!!! :D

Seadog
07-21-2004, 01:48 PM
It would not surprise me, after the vicious media attacks in france, if some idiot(s) would try to take him out of the race.

Ducatista
07-21-2004, 01:55 PM
It figures that in France's biggest sporting event, the winner will wear a "yellow" jeresy. I'd like to see him rip that thing off on the podium and drape the Stars & Stripes over his chest.(Gee I hope that didn't sound gay):D

manuel
07-21-2004, 03:04 PM
Just last month at the 24 hours of Le Mans the GTS results were CORVETTE 1st & 2nd (yellow ones at that) beating out 5 Ferrari's,
and the GT class was won by the WHITE LIGHTNING team (USA) Porsche, Do the French do anything well ?,
"I fart in their general direction" (M. Python):D

RiverOtter
07-21-2004, 04:52 PM
Just watched Lance slowly pass and leave Basso in the dust on OLN. It was awsome :cool: