The rest day was too much for Iban “demoralized” Mayo as he didn’t show up for sign in this morning. Jakob “Mr. Attack” Piil also was a no show but a knee injury prevented him from continuing.
Virenque takes off again. Someone needs to tell him Bastille Day is over. I guess if you want to be king of something it might as well be the mountains. Initially, there is a break of nine riders which grows to eleven, then fourteen. They obtain a gap of around 3:00. Klöden falls but gets back in. What’s up with the naked people running around?
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| Armstrong takes the win ahead of Basso and a suffering Ullrich. Will Armstrong win tomorrow's mountain time trial on L'Alpe d'Huez? Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com to find out! Photo copyright Fotoreporter Sirotti. |
Ullrich attacks! (way to early, but what do I know) Let’s figure this out. Ullrich attacks alone while teammate/T-Mobile leader Klöden sits with Lance?!?!? Hmmm…maybe their director sportif is on holiday! C’mon Kummer, take charge of this team and give them some direction. Nobody on postal or CSC seems to worry about Ullrich while Landis is doing a huge pull. Somewhere along the way, Jan gets about a minute advantage. He’s going all out and almost runs off the road in a decent. Azevedo then leads the Armstrong group as they reel in the leaders. I’m not going to list them because some of the names are too long and it doesn’t matter anyway!
This was the best mountain finish I’ve seen in a long time. I didn’t think Lance was going to give it to Basso this time. Lance did everything right today with the help of the blue train and the tactics of Bruyneel.
On a final note, tough guy Voeckler finishes 9:27 behind Lance. I’m going out on a limb and predict Lance will be in yellow tomorrow. If I’m wrong, I will never dribble again!
Think about it. Win the stage today, wear yellow tomorrow, and get to start last in the time trial. Somebody is using their head. Did ya hear that T-Mobile?
