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2005 Tour 'day' France
Gotta love Bobke Roll. :)
Hope you cycling fans haven't missed the last few days of the Tour. OLN has shown us some fantastic racing in the Pyrenees mountains. I think it has been some of the best racing we have seen by the leaders in the Tour is quite some time. Armstrong, Basso, and Ullrich have been racing head to head at their limits (and beyond for Jan).
Basso and Armstrong put the hurt on Ullrich
And the win yesterday by Hincapie on the hardest day of the Tour was fantastic. It is unbelievable that he has been able to transform himself into a good climber and win such a stage.
Way to go George!
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its ashame Valverde had to quit, if we can support more our teams i think we could have another Indurain, but, until next year its all Amstrong, he quits because he wants too, but i think he could win two more, hes way to strong, frankly i do not see any comperitors for him, but this year the racing has been great, keeps us awake in the afternoons, no siesta until the tour is over.
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Wonderful stuff Brian! :D
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Yes it was sad to see Valverde abandon the race with a knee problem. He had a great victory in Courchevel over Armstrong. He will be one for us to watch in the future. Maybe in the Vuelta if his knee heals in time.
Armstong is smart to retire after this Tour. I think you are correct, he could race again but clearly his motivation to do so is gone and that is one of the many talents he has, to motivate himself so well to prepare for the Tour. He has also lost some of his famous explose power on the climbs and that is what has made it so fun to watch he and Basso fight it out. If Basso could time trial well, Armstrong would very concerned about his lead. Next year Basso will certainly be a favorite to win. :)
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I hadn't realized until yesterday's coverage that George had never won a TDF stage before! Way to go George!! If there's anyone who deserves a win or 2, it's him.
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Curt,
That is surprising, as is the fact that no team mate of Armstrong had won an a stage of the Tour (accept the team time trial) until yesterday. I agree, Hincapie is very deserving of the stage win. It will be interesting to see what his role will be on the team next year.
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Maybe he'll have his own team next year and go for the outright win .... I think he may be too old though for that to be realistic. :confused: It's also good to see 5 US riders in the top 20!
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Yeah I agree Curt. The grand tours are out of his reach, but he could win a shorter stage race, like the Tour of Georgia, Tour of Switzerland, or the Dalphine maybe. Should be interesting.
In the meantime the boys are at it again on the last big mountain day of the tour this year.
http://www.velonews.com/live/text/243.html
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It's been a good race so far although I feel a little lacking in the epic battles of years past, but still good television! And me and a guy at work have been making fun of Bobke the whole time "Want to grab a cup day coffee?", although that's not as much fun as trying to imitate Bobke's insane hand gestures in meetings.
Good to see Cadel Evans haveing a great race. Now if only we can get a Canadian in there. Maybe Ryder Hjesdal will make it in the next few years?
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Brian,
You cant forget to mension Landis and Leimheimer. They're doing awesome this year! Lance is actually from a few miles where I live, Plano,Tx. If I were him, I would continue to do the tour next year. I find that this year he is much more relaxed and comfortable than the others'. He even jokes around with the camera men.
Everytime Bob Roll says Tour "day" France I laugh. I've watched the "whole" tour so far. (well most of it).
Erick