As reported on cyclingnews.com, the 654.5 km TTT should be the decisive stage of the 2004 edition of the Tour De France. Word has it any team whose riders can stay anaerobic for more than 12 straight hours will be the likely winner. What is unclear is if any of teams will be able to start the next stage the following day. It promises to be a historic stage nonetheless. "We decided to shake things up a little bit this year and put more pressure on Armstrong" said Jean-Marie LaBlanc Tour De France manager. Previous 5 time champion Miguel Indurain was quoted as well "The riders of today will never be able to pull it off, I pushed for a longer time trial for years but never had much luck in getting anyone to listen" Lance Armstrong responded to doping rumors saying "There is absolutely no truth to the allegation that USPS will be using special EPO Energy bars to enhance our performance during the long TTT"

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/?id=map

As reported on cyclingnews.com, the 654.5 km TTT should be the decisive stage of the 2004 edition of the Tour De France. Word has it any team whose riders can stay anaerobic for more than 12 straight hours will be the likely winner. What is unclear is if any of teams will be able to start the next stage the following day. It promises to be a historic stage nonetheless. "We decided to shake things up a little bit this year and put more pressure on Armstrong" said Jean-Marie LaBlanc Tour De France manager. Previous 5 time champion Miguel Indurain was quoted as well "The riders of today will never be able to pull it off, I pushed for a longer time trial for years but never had much luck in getting anyone to listen" Lance Armstrong responded to doping rumors saying "There is absolutely no truth to the allegation that USPS will be using special EPO Energy bars to enhance our performance during the long TTT"

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/?id=map

it figures cyclingnews would ruin my fun by correcting the length of the TTT on their website. *grin*