The tour is over. What are your final thoughts? Highlights and Lowlights? How did it fare against your expectations? How did the OLN do with their broadcasters and commercials? Any tour disappointments and surprises?

How did your predictions fare?

<img src="http://eur.news1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/sp/afpji/20040725/040725165401.r1ikthug1b.jpg">

Final general classification

1 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 83.36.02 (40.56 km/h)
2 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 6.19
3 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 6.40
4 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 8.50
5 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 14.30
6 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 18.01
7 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 18.27
8 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 19.51
9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 20.12
10 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 22.54
11 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio-Bianchi 24.21
12 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 24.36
13 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears - Banesto 25.11
14 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 27.16
15 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 28.11
16 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 28.53
17 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco 29.00
18 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 31.12
19 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 32.50
20 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 37.11

It's the Tour, so it is always a great race to watch. It's always amazing to watch the precision and teamwork of Postal, and to watch T-mobile yet again display that money does not get you anywhere if you have an idiot DS. Of course, who can forget Voeckler's heroic battle to hang on to the yellow as long as possible.

That said, the disappointments are what have been discussed already--where was the competition????? On paper in June, this Tour had the making of an epic battle between half a dozen podium contenders. It's as if everyone's will to compete was shattered in the first day of the mountains.

Oh yeah, I wish Petacchi and Cipo went head to head in the sprints. :)

While I loved to see Lance Win, the way he domanated made it a little boring for the last week. I had assumed that this last week wooudl be full of tight battles.

I thought OLN did a great job. I could give a list of things that I would have changed had I been running the station but as my wife keeps reminding me "the world does not revolve around me"

I's sad to see it in. I hope OLN airs some more races this year.

One of the highpoints to me is the potential for next year if LA doesn't compete. I think it may be a whole new race. All I know is that it hasn't even been 24 hours and I'm already going through withdrawl.

I think Basso looked good.Tyler will always crash.Heras is done.Jan didn't quit and he can win another one.Kloden did great.T-Mobile has too many good riders.If Floyd leaves he'll get his ass kicked like everyone else.Mayo looks fragile.OLN needs guys that know what they're talking about or are at least entertaining.
And Lance is the Man,again.

I have to wonder if the people bored with Lance's "domination" have been watching this week. Give me a break. Lance wins two awesome sprint finishes and the scariest time trial ever, and it's boring? I loved it. I couldn't believe any rider made it up Alpe d'Huez with all their limbs and equipment still intact with that insane crowd. And the finale of stage 17 was one of the best finishes I've ever seen. We see the GC guys battle it out in the mountains all the time, but how often do we get to see the top 4 GC guys battle it out in a sprint finish? Not very often, and anyone who found that boring needs to watch a lot more racing. We got to see it twice in a week with stage 15 and 17. It didn't even matter who won--it was such a rarity to see.

Since people are unhappy with Lance's domination, they should also be happy that just like in the Giro, some of the next generation made themselves know. I'm not sure Voeckler could ever win the Tour, but I'm sure he'll train differently next year and set much higher goals. I had never heard of Karpets before, but he proved capable in the mountains and the time trials. He could be the real deal. Boonen is having a great year. And you have to be impressed by Basso, who reached very high and made the podium. I'd love to see Cunego at the Tour next year, but even so, the future of cycling looks good to me. New blood is exciting. Especially since a lot of the "old" blood was such a disappointment (Mayo, Heras, etc.).

OLN was great. I'm so glad they got rid of whatever prevented them from showing live coverage on Sundays. Al and Bob's commentary was kind of lame compared to Phil and Paul, but I always watched the live coverage in the morning (or tivo'ed it), so I didn't have to deal with it. Still, I found myself wondering what comments Bob would have on certain things, so I would tune it at night and listen to Al and Bob. Al definitely got a lot better in the third week.

I'm sorry the Tour is over. I'm going to suffer from Tour withdrawal tomorrow morning!

Have to second mohair's comments. It was a great Tour and once they hit the mountains it was a thrill to watch especially w/ all of the fans right there (sometimes too close). I doubt the riders were "bored" when they were climbing through 1 million fans! Also second on the great sprint finishes, some truely thrilling moments from this years tour and some great up and comers revealed.

I'm going to miss watching it too....there were some boring stages, but overall I still really enjoyed watching it. Great job OLN! Phil and Paul rule!

Okay, guys. Most of us did not say Le Tour was "boring." I for one stated that I was disappointed that the principal rivals turned out to be pretenders. Ullrich and Basso showed they are true competitors, but as Lance said, USPS was never really forced to attack or put on the defensive. They dominated TTs, shredded the peleton and Lance did some sprint finishes. I for one was hoping for:

mountain stages where rivals liked Tyler, Mayo, Ullrich, Levi and Heras had Lance isolated in the high mountains and then they just attacked the hell out of each other.

Cipo showing there's a litle life in those old legs yet by challenging Petacchi in some of the sprint finishes and maybe even winning one or two. Now we know this Tour was probably Cipo's last.


But we did see the future in cycling (Voekler (FRA), Basso, Cancelara (bot ITA), Boonen (BEL) and Landis (USA)

Congrats to Lance and USPS for showing total domination.

I have to wonder if the people bored with Lance's "domination" have been watching this week. Give me a break. Lance wins two awesome sprint finishes and the scariest time trial ever, and it's boring? I loved it. I couldn't believe any rider made it up Alpe d'Huez with all their limbs and equipment still intact with that insane crowd. And the finale of stage 17 was one of the best finishes I've ever seen. We see the GC guys battle it out in the mountains all the time, but how often do we get to see the top 4 GC guys battle it out in a sprint finish? Not very often, and anyone who found that boring needs to watch a lot more racing. We got to see it twice in a week with stage 15 and 17. It didn't even matter who won--it was such a rarity to see.

Since people are unhappy with Lance's domination, they should also be happy that just like in the Giro, some of the next generation made themselves know. I'm not sure Voeckler could ever win the Tour, but I'm sure he'll train differently next year and set much higher goals. I had never heard of Karpets before, but he proved capable in the mountains and the time trials. He could be the real deal. Boonen is having a great year. And you have to be impressed by Basso, who reached very high and made the podium. I'd love to see Cunego at the Tour next year, but even so, the future of cycling looks good to me. New blood is exciting. Especially since a lot of the "old" blood was such a disappointment (Mayo, Heras, etc.).

OLN was great. I'm so glad they got rid of whatever prevented them from showing live coverage on Sundays. Al and Bob's commentary was kind of lame compared to Phil and Paul, but I always watched the live coverage in the morning (or tivo'ed it), so I didn't have to deal with it. Still, I found myself wondering what comments Bob would have on certain things, so I would tune it at night and listen to Al and Bob. Al definitely got a lot better in the third week.

I'm sorry the Tour is over. I'm going to suffer from Tour withdrawal tomorrow morning!

Amen. Mostly.

You said just about all of it. I loved the ass-spanking of Simeoni the most and also enjoyed the comeback on Basso, after the "gift."

Great tour! :)

The last week of the tour was fantastic. Before then, it was like a Roller Derby and not too entertaining for me anyway. The Tour organizers did a lousy job of laying out the route this year, in my view. It was ridiculous cramming all of the mountain stages and two time trials in the final week. Although they may have been trying to "Lance proof" the Tour, I think the route actually favored him and the Posties.

As much as I am impressed with Lance and glad to see him win #6, I'm ready for some new blood and increased competition in the Tour. I am disappointed that Pettachi didn't show up in good form for the early spring stages. That could have added some spice to an otherwise boring week. I think the tour needs to do something to limit the amount of crashes in the first week. It was ridiculous, and led to some strong contenders getting knocked out through no fault of their own.

Perhaps the best thing about this year's Tour is the emergence of young riders like Basso, Kloden, Voeckler.

All of my predictions, save for Armstrong winning, proved to be wrong. That alone made it interesting. I think people will debate for years why the other contenders imploded in the Pyrenees. I'm going to guess that it was mental than physical defeat.

I'll echo other thoughts concerning the new riders. There is a groundswell of great talent coming forward to challenge the podium. I'm already eager for next year.

One of the highpoints to me is the potential for next year if LA doesn't compete. I think it may be a whole new race. All I know is that it hasn't even been 24 hours and I'm already going through withdrawl.

Unfortunately for the competition, there is virtually no chance Lance won't be back next year. He said he will be back and I'm sure the new contract with Discovery Channel warrants it.

It could be demoralizing to the rest of the field but I hope they use it as motivation.

francois

Having read so much crap on this forum, I can't resist pointing out who was wrong

Wrong:
1. Lances excuses last year were excuses and he is on the decline.
Well as it turns out, last year wasn't good for Lance probably for the reasons he said and he came back and dominated again, winning more stages than ever.

2. Ullrich is in his best shape ever and this is his year.
His form wasn't great in the first 2 weeks and he finished off the podium for the first time ever.

3. Mayo, Hamilton, and Heras will put time on Lance in the mountains.
Mayo and Heras did nothing. TH unfortunately out with an injury.

4. Mt. Ventoux in the DL was a disaster for Lance.
Either he bluffed or he was honest in saying he was trying to peak a month later.

As others have said, I was somewhat disappointed that this year's tour really did not live up to the hype. However, I can't say I was overly surprised, as looking at the pre-tour results, Armstrong was definitely the best prepared. I guess I was mostly hoping for more attacks in the mountains. The sprint stages were great, even without Petacchi and Cipo being present, and the TT's were also exciting, so I'm overall pleased. However, if I never see another freakin' Subaru commercial in my life, I'll be more than happy!

One of the other things I was disappointed about was the apparent lack of support behind teams main GC rider. Maybe Postal is just head and shoulders above the rest of the teams, maybe Bruyneel is just a great DS, but the other teams never seemed to get organized around their main guy, instead focusing on breaks, supporting their sprinters, etc. I really feel it was USPS who helped make this tour relatively effortless for Lance. If other riders want to win the overall, they need to get riders who will support them to the ends of the earth and focus only on their leader, and not their own ambitions. Yes, the attacks and sprints are a great part of the tour, but it would be nice to see more competition for the overall.

I have to wonder if the people bored with Lance's "domination" have been watching this week. Give me a break.

some of the next generation made themselves know.

OLN was great. I'm so glad they got rid of whatever prevented them from showing live coverage on Sundays.

I'm sorry the Tour is over. I'm going to suffer from Tour withdrawal tomorrow morning!

Excellent points mohair.

The lack of competition was disappointing of course but we got treated to a 'perfect game' so to speak. It is always good to see superhuman feats in any sport. I am happy to witness such an achievement by a cyclist for the ages.

I share your thoughts about Voeckler. Not a future tour winner but a young man with a very, very big heart. Basso has a very bright future. I think the real future rests on the shoulders of <a href="http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/cy/profiles/1500000000009389.html">Damiano Cunego</a>. He is the second coming. I hope he does to 05 TDF so he can at least ride with Lance.

OLN continues to improve. I'd say 20% better. A lot of little things like that Sunday live broadcast that you mentioned.

francois

I had it as
1. LA
2. Ullrich
3. Hamilton

The press and a great number or RBR's were saying LA has gone Hollywood and would not be prepared before the race. The reality was the complete opposite. USPS maintained total domination over the race unlike any other tour in History and LA himself was more prepared for this one than any of his previous races. USPS had the plan. USPS worked the plan. LA won according to the plan. No deviations from the plan. It was remarkable to watch it unfold. It was like a big unstopable machine that just steamrolled over the top of the competition with remarkable precision and timing. (I'm sure Ullrich and Kloden have nothing but respect and admiration for the USPS machine, Germans understand such things) .

It was good to see a young hero unfold for the French fans. They have a champion and high hopes for next year. Maybe the French public will throw their hearts into the race again and quit all the back biting and finger pointing.

Basso and Kloden, where did they come from? Yeah, the Europeans knew they would be players but they were not even on the radar screen in the US. Again, young enough to be great champions in the next generation.

Then Robbie McEwen and the contest for the Green Jersey was down to the final wire. I guessed McEwen right on this one, I had
1. McEwen
2. Pattachi
3. Cooke
It was great to watch Robbie derail the big Italian trains with guts and pure energy. Too bad about Pattachi and Cipo going home.

From the final results, everything we thought would happen, did not happen with the exception of LA winning the GC.

I though LA would have to rely on his team heavily and squeek across the final finish line by a nose. I never expected the total and utter domination as expressed by USPS. It was like a 9 stage rocket. Stage after stage peeled off with clockwork precession until LA simply had to carry on the momentum across the finishline. Clearly the year of the team and each and every one of them worked together as a team.

And truely LA deserves to be Crowned "The Boss!"

We got to see the human side of LA with all his warts and wrinkles. Now that he is the King he can be himself and be the Boss of the peloton. LA is the classic super A type of personality. Tough to get warm and fussy with. Needs total control over everything and everyone. But LA, has the power and determination to pull it off. It's good to have a king. So what if one of his minor subjects rubbed him the wrong way and he made em pay. What are they going to do, tell him to stay at home. I wouldn't be surprised if they keep Simeoni at home. Why waste the money for the ticket if the King won't let him play. All sends a message to the rest of the back biters. (I will get you where you live!)

I'm curious to see if Europe is willing to accept LA as the Boss. I think they will. I think LA will have a lot of influence over the tour in years to come.





All of my predictions, save for Armstrong winning, proved to be wrong. That alone made it interesting. I think people will debate for years why the other contenders imploded in the Pyrenees. I'm going to guess that it was mental than physical defeat.

I'll echo other thoughts concerning the new riders. There is a groundswell of great talent coming forward to challenge the podium. I'm already eager for next year.

I doubt the riders were "bored" when they were climbing through 1 million fans!This is totally inconsequential, and has possibly already been discussed (I didn't visit RBR during the three weeks of le Tour), but ... I'd like to know exactly where those one million spectators were.

Do the arithmetic. The climb up Alpe d'Huez is 13.8km, or 8.58 miles, long. If the spectators were distributed equally along the entire route, there'd be 116,550 of them per mile. Split between two sides of the road (never mind that there's no room to stand on one side or the other in some parts), that's 58,275 bodies per mile. That's over 11 people per foot, per side. Since it takes about 18 inches per person to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, that means they'd have to be lined up almost 17 deep. For every foot of every mile, without interruption, along both sides of the road.

There's just no way.

Even if three-quarters of that million people were up at the top (assuming there's room there for them; I wouldn't know, since I've never been there), there still would have had to have been almost three people per foot, per side, along the entire route. Even that many would have been physically impossible.

And from what I could see, it didn't look like there were all that many more spectators lining the road than in past years.

Methinks that 1,000,000 fans figure was nothing more than a little French cooking ...

Having read so much crap on this forum, I can't resist pointing out who was wrong

Wrong:
1. Lances excuses last year were excuses and he is on the decline.
Well as it turns out, last year wasn't good for Lance probably for the reasons he said and he came back and dominated again, winning more stages than ever.

2. Ullrich is in his best shape ever and this is his year.
His form wasn't great in the first 2 weeks and he finished off the podium for the first time ever.

3. Mayo, Hamilton, and Heras will put time on Lance in the mountains.
Mayo and Heras did nothing. TH unfortunately out with an injury.

4. Mt. Ventoux in the DL was a disaster for Lance.
Either he bluffed or he was honest in saying he was trying to peak a month later.

I was wrong about Lance. Last year was not a trend but a hiccup. He had the perfect tour. I'm now convinced he's the best cyclist ever.

Jan... showed up late. His engine did not start until the 3rd climbing stage. I'm happy with his performance after that. But the reality is even if he had no problems and had the perfect tour, he would have still lost by about 3 minutes. No way to beat Lance this year.

Everybody else??? They forgot to show up. It don't matter though, they would have gotten beat badly by the Lance and the postal machine. Heras and Mayo wery hype machines and their Team directors should be fired and those teams possibly dismantled.

francois

As others have said, I was somewhat disappointed that this year's tour really did not live up to the hype. However, I can't say I was overly surprised, as looking at the pre-tour results, Armstrong was definitely the best prepared. I guess I was mostly hoping for more attacks in the mountains. The sprint stages were great, even without Petacchi and Cipo being present, and the TT's were also exciting, so I'm overall pleased. However, if I never see another freakin' Subaru commercial in my life, I'll be more than happy!

One of the other things I was disappointed about was the apparent lack of support behind teams main GC rider. Maybe Postal is just head and shoulders above the rest of the teams, maybe Bruyneel is just a great DS, but the other teams never seemed to get organized around their main guy, instead focusing on breaks, supporting their sprinters, etc. I really feel it was USPS who helped make this tour relatively effortless for Lance. If other riders want to win the overall, they need to get riders who will support them to the ends of the earth and focus only on their leader, and not their own ambitions. Yes, the attacks and sprints are a great part of the tour, but it would be nice to see more competition for the overall.

Everything that made last year's tour great, the weakness of Lance, the pivotal crashes, the attacks, the attacks, the attacks... were missing this year. This year was like a Muhammad Ali pumelling Liston. There's greatness of course in seeing the master at work.

I have realized that Johan Bruyneel is the true genius. The guy is like a laser... smart, focused, concise. Everything he said in th Lance Chronicles proved true. He is able to get 110% out of his crew like acevedo, heras, landis.

francois

Okay, guys. Most of us did not say Le Tour was "boring." I for one stated that I was disappointed that the principal rivals turned out to be pretenders. Ullrich and Basso showed they are true competitors, but as Lance said, USPS was never really forced to attack or put on the defensive. They dominated TTs, shredded the peleton and Lance did some sprint finishes. I for one was hoping for:

mountain stages where rivals liked Tyler, Mayo, Ullrich, Levi and Heras had Lance isolated in the high mountains and then they just attacked the hell out of each other.

Cipo showing there's a litle life in those old legs yet by challenging Petacchi in some of the sprint finishes and maybe even winning one or two. Now we know this Tour was probably Cipo's last.


But we did see the future in cycling (Voekler (FRA), Basso, Cancelara (bot ITA), Boonen (BEL) and Landis (USA)

Congrats to Lance and USPS for showing total domination.

Needspeed said it much better than I did. "Disappointing" is a much better description than "boring". I watched every minute of it so I should not have used the term "boring".

I did not mean to offend.

Just being able to see the entire TdF is such a luxury, I have trouble complaining.

Highlights:
The Postal Team. Not just Lance, but the unreal precision and strength of that team were simply awe-inspiring.

Voeckler: Come on, when that guy kept the jersey in the first mountain stage? What a performance, so inspirational.

Lowlights:
Mayo: "Oh, boo-hoo-hoo! I don't feel good today! If I can't win this stage, I'm just going to quit the whole race! I simply can't go on, where's my mommy?" Dude, suck it up. Pathetic.

Tyler and Cipo crashing out early: Both could have added sparks to the race had fate not intervened.

Rabobank: Why were they even there? "Yeah, we've got a GC contender, I guess. Oh yeah, I think we've also a strong climber, don't we? Maybe we should sorta work on some strategy.Yep. Hey, you want to grab some lunch?" I have never in my life seen a team not give a CRAP like that one. Levi, come home, we miss you, brutha.

The Cutters: "Wow, Americans aren't seen in a bad enough light lately. I know! Let's find five of the biggest douchebags in the country, have them insult every person they can find, chant 'USA!' for 20 non-stop hours and cover people in Postal stickers! That's GOLD, baby, GOLD!" OLN, please, learn from your mistakes.

My god. Just over 24 hours since the closing and my de-tox symptoms are starting to manifest. Another year and another tour. There have been better battles in the past to watch but each tour is unique. I'd really like to see Ullrich develop a year round schedule to carry some fitness deep into the season. I think he surprised a lot of people with his mountain time trial so it's clear he can turn it on when needed. I hope Tyler will have his just rewards next year and I hope Lance races a full season if he does show up for next year's tour.

Next year will be a totally different race to watch (and confusing to say the least) with the introduction of "Rider Frequency Miles" that will offer bonus time on the mountain stages and the loss limit rule showing up on all the time trials. I wonder what Phil Liggett thinks of handicapping now since he was in favor of the TTT rule this year.

Thanks to all who chimed in this to add to my overall tour experience. Your insite and theory was greatly appreciated and the spirited debate is always fun to follow.

I've taken heat since the last tour over my predictions which I based on observation and not on any personal favorites.
A)I was wrong on Alp D Huez as the Kaiser put on a brilliant diesel driven performance
I'll admit it was stoked to see him do so well. I think the cold weather and head cold he supposedly had caused the drop in the Pyr. still a great racer and a classy guy
B) Mayo's team would let him down. I thought it would come later but it happened early
C) Some top GC contender would be out after the first week (see above, I thought it would be wind but it was the stones
D) Lance would come back with a vengeance. with all the evidence pointing towards the 'hiccup' as Francois put it and knowing Mr Armstrongs 'chip on the shoulder' personality, who could doubt he'd come back with a vengeance.
E) neither Petacchi or Cipo would see Paris (like him or not Mcewen IMHO is the best out there, it seems Ale Jet is only as good as his train) I was pulling for Zabel but wouldn't have bet against it
F) not ruining Francois' Tour anymore by not taking his bet that Ullrich would win the final TT by 4 minutes (in hindsight, really what were you thinking?)

what I liked, that US Postals doms were more prepared for the Tour than most GC captains. The results show it and their performance in the Mtns and flats was legendary.
More cobbles!!!! some don't like it but I'm a 'Clasics' fan, need more stages for the 'hard men' and I get tired of 135 lb climbers having all the fun. Go Magnus! Jakob Piil's great Jacky Durand impersonation. Jan and LA having a good chuckle after LA b!tch slapped Simeoni back to the peloton. we needed a new "Patron' was fun to see. Haven't seen the peloton this scared since the badger.
Being called an LA fanboy even though I still think Merckx is the greatest ever and will argue this point as vehemantly as I will that LA is the best there is rigt now. (not a troll so don't start)
I think it was disappointing only if you were a hater or a superfan of one of the competition.
as an impartial observer, those close finishes and fantastic TT's were a thing of majesty. How many days til the Vuelta?

I'm glad I got to see a historical 6th win! I'm disappointed in the competition though. I was hoping to see more of a GC battle. Having the mtns at the end added suspense to the first 11 stages. I was nervous about the contenders crashing out. I think LA's competition took too hard a beating in those early stages to be effective in the mtns though, which made it anti-climatic. I wish another team had been organized enough to challenge postal. So all in all I enjoyed the outcome but had hoped for a better game.

I'm sad Voeckler couldn't hold on. That would have been a nice TdF story for the locals.

Now that its over, my "final thoughts" are more questions than answers. I'm wondering if LA will skip a year and focus on other races? What will postal look like next year if he stays/goes? What kind of publicity will cycling get next year if he stays/goes.



The tour is over. What are your final thoughts? Highlights and Lowlights? How did it fare against your expectations? How did the OLN do with their broadcasters and commercials? Any tour disappointments and surprises?

How did your predictions fare?

Rabobank: Why were they even there? "Yeah, we've got a GC contender, I guess. Oh yeah, I think we've also a strong climber, don't we? Maybe we should sorta work on some strategy.Yep. Hey, you want to grab some lunch?" I have never in my life seen a team not give a CRAP like that one. Levi, come home, we miss you, brutha.

The Cutters: "Wow, Americans aren't seen in a bad enough light lately. I know! Let's find five of the biggest douchebags in the country, have them insult every person they can find, chant 'USA!' for 20 non-stop hours and cover people in Postal stickers! That's GOLD, baby, GOLD!" OLN, please, learn from your mistakes.


Good points.

Rabobank. I agree... lack of strategy. Levi and Michael on different frequencies. However, I wouldn't call em out like that. Michael Rasmussen was most aggressive rider and mixing it up everyday. He's clueless but his persistence and climbing ability were quite impressive. Levi was cool.

If you want bad teams, really look no further than Liberty Seguros and Euskatel. Maan why did they even bother. Invisiteams

As far as the cutters go, I think OLN heard us loud and clear. They pretty much disappeared after the first week. I am sure it was because of all our not so friendly feedback.

francois

The fix to the problems the other teams need are a complete focus on le Tour, the whole le Tour, and nothing BUT le Tour like LA and Co.

That, however, is not an acceptable business model for most of the teams out there. Sponsors want wins. Wins drive people to buy whatever widget Co. X sells. Selling widgets begets advertising dollars. Advertising dollars begets bicycle racing teams.

LA had the advertising thing down with The Lance Chronicles. Talk about an orgasmic ad-fest for his sponsors! All LA all the time! Trek, Nike, Giro, et al must've been creaming in their collective pants over all the exposure.

'Hey Johan! "The bike's too light..."' Classic stuff for us non-pro cycling wankers that think having an 11lb bike is going to make up for not training 4-6hrs/day.

Le Tour: LA had them all beat mentally BEFORE THE TOUR BEGAN. You could hear it in the interviews. The lack of attacking riding bears this out: after all, why attack if you think it won't matter in the overall? The attacks came from the guys that wanted stage wins, not GC guys. (with the exception of JA's attack in the mtns that LA and Co. neutralized)

IF LA comes back for a 7th, it'll be his to lose. If he doesn't come in as prepared, gets a divorce and has focus problems, has a cold, etc. the opponents have a chance. If not, then... 6 in a row is a tough mental block to get over. You really have to BELIEVE that you're the one MF-er that'll take it to him and train specifically for beating LA at his own game. That means the team's gonna have to believe and train specifically to beat USPS/Discovery Channel/Whomever. See above for why that'll probably NOT happen.

On to the Vuelta!

M

how much do you think he gets from Peets? or does he do that one ' pro bono' because he likes their coffee or hates Starbucks?
yup it's all about the swag, people really think it's for the pros but really it's for we Freds on bikes we don't deserve.

I have to admit, Lance really surprised me this year. After last year's performance, I had serious doubt whether he can pull of the magic number 6. I thought the record of 5 will never be broken and Lance would go on to be among one of the greats. Now, he has surpassed the 5 win club. Not only that, he had 6 straight wins. That's just incredible. Whether he can do it again next year, I have my reservations.

Another surprise is Jan Ullrich's "poor" performance this tour. I'm disappointed in his 4th place finish. I had really hoped for a strong match between him and LA. Maybe this year's win for LA is partly due to Ullrich's slump. I hope Ulrich take this as a wake up call.

Besides that, I'm sad for Tyler Hamilton and happy for Levi Leipheimer.

It was an interesting tour I suppose. Being the Tour I enjoyed it and we were treated to some fine cycling for sure.

Well done to Lance, that man was actually more inspiring to me than ever, you got to give it to him and his handmaidens, they can ride like no other team.

Shame about Jan and Tyler, no surprise for some Italian sprinters who dropped out early in the piece. ;)

The lack of any real competition was disappointing - No no body was really willing, or should I say capable from riding away from Lance. Basso was content riding in behind Lance as if in awe.

The biggest disappointment for me was actually the course layout. The flat stages were pretty uninspiring and the hill stages didn't have the effect as they do in previous races.

I have seen better years.

Lets see who can actually compete against Lance next year when he attempts number 7. Perhaps Jan will come back as focused as ever.

because they were having a hard enough time hanging on to the pace of the USPS doms.
I think everybody after seeing the pack whittled down to 20 or so riders and 8 of them wearing USPS kits needs to re-examine their prep. You can't leap off the front if you are on the rivet just keeping up. Bravo to the postie Doms!!!!

I was wrong about Lance. Last year was not a trend but a hiccup. He had the perfect tour. I'm now convinced he's the best cyclist ever.

francois

Here are only his major palmares (maybe 10% of his carrer placings)

1940

1° campionato italiano di inseguimento
1° Giro d'Italia (1° a Modena, 2° a Ortisei, 2° nel GP Montagna)

1941

1° campionato italiano inseguimento
1° giro di Toscana
1° giro dell'Emilia
1° al giro del Veneto
1° Tre Valli Varesine
1° giro della provincia di Milano

1942

Primatista mondiale dell'ora / Hour record (Vigorelli, Milano)
1° campionato d'Italia su strada e inseguimento


1946

1° alla Milano-Sanremo
1° al giro di Romagna
1° al Circuito di Lugano
1° al Gran Premio delle Nazioni
1° al Giro di Lombardia
1° al Circuito del Trocadero
2° al Giro d'Italia

1947

1° al Campionato del mondo di Inseguimento
1° al Giro d'Italia
1° al Giro di Romagna
1° al Giro del veneto
1° al campionato d'Italia su strada
1° al campionato d'Italia inseguimento
1° al Giro di Lombardia

1948

1° alla Milano-Sanremo
1° al Giro della Romagna
1° alla Tre Valli varesine
1° al Giro di Lombardia
2° al Circuito di Het Volk

1949

1° alla Milano-Sanremo
1° al giro di Romagna
1° al Giro del Veneto
1° al Giro d'Italia
1° al Tour de France
1° al campionato del mondo inseguimento
1° al Campionato d'Italia
1° al Circuito della Lauvière
1° al giro della Lombardia
3° alla Freccia vallone (Fleche Wallonne)
3° al Circuito di Vimercate
4° al Criterium di Prato

1950

1° alla Parigi-Roubaix
1° alla Freccia Vallone (Fleche Wallonne)

1951

3° al giro di Lombardia
3° alla Ronde di Aix-en-Provence
4° al Giro d'Italia
10 ° al Tour de France

1952

1° al Giro d'Italia
1° al Tour de France
2° alla Parigi-Roubaix

1953

Campione del Mondo / World Champion
1° al Giro d'Italia
1° al Bol d'Or des Monedières
9° alla Milano-Sanremo

1954

1° al giro di Lombardia
4° alla Milano-Sanremo
4° al Giro d'Italia
4° al Giro della Svizzera
6° al Campionato del Mondo

1955

1° al Campionato d'Italia
2° al Giro d'Italia
2° alla Parigi Roubaix
2° alla Milano-Modena
2° al Giro della Romagna

The tour is over. What are your final thoughts?


Jan's a dud. He doesn't even deserve a contract next year. He's had how many years to figure out how Lance and the Posties do it and how to beat them? He just sits on Lance's wheel waiting for Lance to make it happen for him. What's he waiting for, for Lance to fall off?

Poor Ty needs training wheels.

Voeckler has balls bigger than all outdoors. Jan should hire him as his coach.

Landis deserves a Ferrari from Lance. Oh what the heck, they all do.

Bob Roll's too cool. Impromptu hand gestures rule.

The Gummer got implants?

To all the "other" teams - it's all in the details boys. It's in the details. Details cost money though. Big money.

If Johan isn't a millionaire, he should be.

Ligget and Sherwen, you're good but are you really watching the same video I'm watching? *I* saw the dude clip a pedal, why didn't you?

Check the video of the time trials. Lance was possessed. He was frantic to win. All others were riding to survive and limit their losses.

The lack of Petacchi and Mario's leadout trains allowed sprinting to be what it should be.

What a pity we can't see how steep those mountain roads really are. Couch potatoes are convinced that they can ride up them too.

The riders average speed for three weeks is about the same as my 15k time trial speed was in my prime.