Thank you very much Oma, I appreciate your comments. Most sports can be exciting at various times, at other times we can wonder what all the fuss is about.
I made no post re: Thursday's stage as it was over a flat course and very little happened to worry Lance. Apart from Arnold Schwarzenegger turning up to present the jerseys.
However yesterday was a different story. It was the first of 2 long individual time trials. This is Lance Armstrong's strong suit. He started the day just 21 seconds ahead of the field. Lance has dominated the time trial in the past, but he has appeared vulnerable this year. So this was a big day.
In this stage each rider is on his own, no team mates to take the strain. Each rider starts at 2 minute intervals and rides as hard as he can, in this case for 29 miles.
The last man in the field starts first, the leader starts last, that was Lance.
I have ridden a few time trials in my day, and was over the moon the cover 25 miles in under an hour. Even happier when I cracked 2 hours for 50 miles. I was working on beating 4 hours for 100 miles when I hung the wheels up.
These boys are on another planet.
The winner was Jan Ullrich who covered the 29 miles in 58 mins 32 secs. Lance was 2nd in 1 hour 8 secs. Only his second time trial defeat in 8. Ullrich was 6th overall at 2mins 10secs behind Lance at the start. He is now 2nd, 34secs behind Lance who is still in the lead.
The race now heads for 4 very tough days in the Pyrenees, these are going to be make or break time for Lance Armstrong. The first day is 122 miles climbing to 4,500 feet. If he is to win his 5th Tour De France and join the truly greats he has to do it over the next 4 days. By the way, Tyler Hamilton did a superb ride yesterday to haul himself into 4th place just 2mins 59secs behind Lance Armstrong. I do like to see athletes excell at sports not generally associated with their country.
|