Excuse the Title, but thats what the Tour de France has been known as for some years. I was wondering if anyone is following it this year? I dont get OLN (luckily the GF does and is taping it for me) but i do keep track of it. Personally, i think Lance will be able to win this year. Look at what he did on day-1, beating everyone by 55 seconds or thereabouts (except his fellow american who is most definately done after today's crash) and his main compeitors by even more. Lance definately looks to be in great shape, and definately has the mentality to do it. And look at his superb team! I think this year could be the best team for him yet. They all look strong, especially after the Time Trial today where they all finished together. I think thats good news for when they hit the Mountains. Only CSC and Ivan Basso seem to be any threat to Lance now - they finished 2 seconds behind while most other teams were 45+ seconds behind. Definately a Tour to Remember...

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lance is a loser, well maybe not in the pro circuit but in real life. Cycling is his life, which cost him his marriage and almost his kids although they have fortunately been way to young to feel the full effects of dad always gone away from home.

David Zzbreskie had a real chance at least till the mtns' but he fell 2 kilometres from the finsih line which put him overall in 9th place.

It is not a wonder that Lance pursued and blew Jan Ullrich away in the first stage TT as Jan has always been out of shape. He should of quit years ago. David Zabreskie is a world TT and although Lance put on an impressive performance early in the TT he faded out, his form viewed from an ex TT I can tell you it sucked, rocking back and forth although for him this is the way to get more power in his pedal stroke and it was for him a small ego victory to blast Jan, personally thinking this is what he had in mind.
Lance will probably win his 7th, and then in my opinion good ridance..........he will have multi-million dollar commercial contracts, especially with Trek and Nike.

time for a ride........

Erich did you not see the story 60 mins. did on him. He almost died from the cancer treatments they gave him and he said that his greatest accomplesment is surviving cancer and not winning bicycle races. He also was dropped from his team while undergoing cancer treatment, which hurt him alot and had a hard time getting sponsership after he recovered. I also heard that his first wife was rather unpleasant but I don't know first hand. Also there is nothing wrong with making lots of money for commercial plugs. The man has to make a living after his bike days are over. [img]graemlins/dr.gif[/img]

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Heard he was 'retiring' after this year??
Did'nt he have the US pOSTAL service sponser him, TA?

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his wife supported him all the way during his time of cancer, by his side day in and day out. I don't want to squabble but I have watched the kid go from nothing to something or so it appears in the sports world. As an individual the man is conceited as anything. Sadly as I said no one has given him a run for the moneis and fame the lat 5 tours. He will win it or so the experts claim. Even the announcers after Zab's fall have said Lance has it in the bag...........good grief !

It´s still a long way to the finish line but Lance has the power to win it both mentally and physically. Well, stranger things have happened but I´d put my money on Lance right now.

( BTW, remember Borg vs McEnroe at Wimbledon 1981...)

"..in 1981, the attacking McEnroe ended Borg's Wimbledon reign at five consecutive championships and 41 straight winning matches when he beat him in the finals in four sets, including two tie-breakers."



And what happened to Miguel Indurain in 1996??

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the whole affair is weird and I think a bit rigged for certain folk.

did you note all the pile ups today. one thing the country from the air is gorgeous

Yeah, well i wasnt asking what you all though about Lance as a Person. More so the race itself as it shapes up over the next few weeks. The fact that he is the most drug-tested athlete in the world (aka he isnt taking drugs) and is able to perform the way he has does say something about the type of rider he is. Especially since he was supposed to have died from cancer 10 years ago...that in itself is pretty remarkable. In the ITT i doubt anyone had good form at the end - going all out over that distance definately tires people out, which is when their form starts to go. The fact that he beat just about everyone else by close to a minute - including Ulrich he used to pride himself on his TT skills - is pretty impressive.

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Muss :

David Zab was supposed to get stomped by Lance as Lance was the favorite going in. But the kid beat him out. It was Lances all the way till he faded. Jan is out of form typcially so he won't do squat. lance will probably pull it off thanks to a close knit bunch of riders to protect his sorry rear. Grantted he is good but he is not that good. There are at least a dozen plus riders in my opinion better than he overall but they do not take their cycling on a serious level as Lance does. Sorry I am repeating myself but it is probably the most important characteristic going into this race. You also may not think that it matters what he is as a amn but that is not true since form on and off the bike counts.

todays race was a bit exciting right at the end during the last turn, Sadly the leader a Frenchman went down and everyone or so it seemed for about 10 seconds followed him right into the barrier...... will Lance blow everyone away in the mountains ? hmmmmmmmmmmm ..........

can this young man make a come back out of 9th place ? that would be interesting

hey where was the man in yellow today ? trying to get his team-mates up with him so he didn;t have to attck the stage leaders........didn't work though and German T-Mobil is biting down Lance's neck. think Lance needs to go for it alone.

a photo finish as the man on the4 left from the Neterhlands Weening eeks out Klöden for the stage win.....just as it should be. Great stuff !

Barring a fall today or tomorrow, looks like Lance has this one in the bag. He is in better shape this year then he was last, or his rivals are just in worse shape since his time advantages are greater this year then before. And looks like his team pulled through in the long run - 2 stage wins too (for the team, most noteably Hincapies win)...thoughts?

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well he did it, he pulled it off a 7th time that guy is super human, i was watching the news and i learned a few things about him. he takes in twice the amount of oxygen the avg 20 year old does, he has less lactic acid in his muscles so his muscles recover faster than normal, and he has an abnormally high amount of red blood cells allowing better blood flow... its pretty crazy, the funny thing is the tour tried to "lance proof" the race, they took all the things he was best at and put less of them... i think that hes a role model and hes doing a good cause with his livestrong foundation

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"Das Dicke Ende Kommt Noch"- "The Worst is yet to Come"- the devil's brigade

Yeah,

congrats Lance!

Just wondering if he can keep out of races in the future really...

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his Discovery team was the best on the tour overall Lance was not even given any competition in my opinion. Jan sat like a large lump of fat which he is and Basso was niot given the urge to charge but to just sit and remain at 2nd place. Pretty boring tour if you ask me and a give away to armstrong.

he will stay on with discovery am sure as a bonafide trainer plus all the million dollar speaking engagements through-out the world he has it made in the shade. dump ugly Sharol Crow and he might just be a success.........

Now he is picking on sweet little Sheryl Crow. Sore loser !!

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

I actually think the T-Mobile team was better overall (they won the Team Competition over DSC) but yes, Ullrich is too fat to race in the Tour. And i wouldnt say Ullrich and Basso didnt try, they definately did (remember when the T-Mobile team got to the front and all began sprinting up the Mtn and dropped everyone until it was just Ivan, Jan and Lance - and Lance had to fend for himself cus his team wasnt around)...but Lance is just too good in the Tour. And it will definately be interesting to see if he can keep out of the Tour next year...it is his life afterall.

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good points Muss. Still Lance has done what no one has been able to do and he will be in the limelight for at least the rest of the year, and then somewhat slowly forgotten. Will he be able to prove his fatherly duties as he says he will ? No clue but am sure some speaking engagements and TV shows and commercials will scoop him up.

now for next year whom will be able to perform ?

Zabel has quit T-Mobil so that puts that outfit in a stage of shock losing one of the all time top sprinters in pro-cycling. maybe Rasmussen can come back as the mtn kid ? Basso/Ullrich ??

E ~