Armstrong... oh dear!!!

"vintage" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jan Ullrich beat Lance Armstrong more than a minute!!! Imagine what if his team Bianchi never lost
time to USPS in TTT.

Or imagine what if Lance had not lost today's time trial. It makes little sense to "what if" in
these circumstances. What happened is what happened, and Lance is still in the lead.

People said they wanted Lance to earn his wins more, and this year he's going to have to do
just that.

Quoted message said:

Jan Ullrich beat Lance Armstrong more than a minute!!! Imagine what if his team Bianchi never lost
time to USPS in TTT. Armstrong at this point reminded me of when the old clunker Bernard Hinault
was trying to win his last tour de france. C'mon LA, what's wrong with you! Don't give up!!! Go
Posties...

Can't they adjust that brake so it won't rub on the rim???

"Robert Oliver" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"vintage" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jan Ullrich beat Lance Armstrong more than a minute!!! Imagine what if his team Bianchi never
lost time to USPS in TTT.

Or imagine what if Lance had not lost today's time trial. It makes little sense to "what if" in
these circumstances. What happened is what happened, and Lance is still in the lead.

People said they wanted Lance to earn his wins more, and this year he's going to have to do
just that.

Lance now has to gain more time in the mountain stages. The last ITT is about the same distance but
over an easier course. It looks as if Jan Ullrich has a higher top end in ITTs at the moment. This
will be the hardest fought Tour since the Lemond years.

"Callistus Valerius" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Jan Ullrich beat Lance Armstrong more than a minute!!! Imagine what if his team Bianchi never
lost time to USPS in TTT. Armstrong at this point reminded me of when the old clunker Bernard
Hinault was trying to win his last tour de france. C'mon LA, what's wrong with you! Don't give
up!!! Go Posties...

Can't they adjust that brake so it won't rub on the rim???

POTM.

Jim Johnson

Robert Oliver said:

"vintage" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jan Ullrich beat Lance Armstrong more than a minute!!! Imagine what if his team Bianchi never
lost time to USPS in TTT.

Or imagine what if Lance had not lost today's time trial. It makes little sense to "what if" in
these circumstances. What happened is what happened, and Lance is still in the lead.

... which, for Lance, is probably the worst thing about this ITT. Still in the lead means that he
will be attacked. If Wino attaks, Ullrich won't close the gap but let Armstrong do the work. If
Ullrich attacks, Wino will let Lance do the work. If Lance doesn't attack (and he hasn't done it
in this year's tour) he risks losing it all in the final ITT to Ullrich. A wide open TdF. Who'd
have thought?

Gerrit

"Robert Oliver" <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

People said they wanted Lance to earn his wins more, and this year he's going to have to do
just that.

Like he didn't earn any of his previous wins?!! WTF?!!

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

If Lance doesn't attack (and he hasn't done it in this year's tour) he risks losing it all in the
final ITT to Ullrich. A wide open TdF. Who'd have thought?

What final ITT? Isn't there only a final TTT remaining?

Rick

"Java Man (Espressopithecus)" <[email hidden]> schrieb

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What final ITT? Isn't there only a final TTT remaining?

No, that's an error on www.letour.fr . Of course the last TT is an individual, as there are some
teams which have only three riders left, how could they make a team time trial?

Regards, Markus

"Gerrit Stolte" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 15:39:38 GMT, "Robert Oliver"

... which, for Lance, is probably the worst thing about this ITT. Still in the lead means that he
will be attacked. If Wino attaks, Ullrich won't close the gap but let Armstrong do the work. If
Ullrich attacks, Wino will let Lance do the work. If Lance doesn't attack (and he hasn't done it
in this year's tour) he risks losing it all in the final ITT to Ullrich. A wide open TdF. Who'd
have thought?

Gerrit

It makes no difference. There will still be attacks from riders looking for stage wins rather than
GC placing. If Ullrich was in the lead, there would still be attacks and USPS would need to chase.
Lance is betting that his "superior" conditioning will allow him to gain big time in the mountains
as everyone else fades.

Lance seems to be riding a much more tactical race this year, he made a comment after one of the
stages in the Alps to the effect of "We would have been glad to give up 2 more minutes if it meant
we could have kept 2 more riders (USPS) in our group." Ulrich is the biggest threat, but his
conditioning is still unknown. If he cracks, Lance will get back more than the 1:30 he lost today. I
don't think Jan can expect to get back another
1:30 in the final TT, at that point Lance will hold back nothing.

-T

"Tom Schulenburg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Gerrit Stolte" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 15:39:38 GMT, "Robert Oliver"

... which, for Lance, is probably the worst thing about this ITT. Still in the lead means that
he will be attacked. If Wino attaks, Ullrich won't close the gap but let Armstrong do the work.
If Ullrich attacks, Wino will let Lance do the work. If Lance doesn't attack (and he hasn't done
it in this year's tour) he risks losing it all in the final ITT to Ullrich. A wide open TdF.
Who'd have thought?

Gerrit

It makes no difference. There will still be attacks from riders looking

for

Quoted message said:

stage wins rather than GC placing. If Ullrich was in the lead, there would still be attacks and
USPS would need to chase. Lance is betting that his "superior" conditioning will allow him to gain
big time in the mountains

as

Quoted message said:

everyone else fades.

Normally, I would completely agree with this assessment, but quite frankly Armstrong has not looked
that great so far in any of the mountain stages. I hope he's playing some head games with Ullrich,
but it may be that he loses in the mountains because he's about a Power Bar short.

M.

Oh, so Lance was holding back today? Come on. Why can't Lance lovers just admit that HE GOT
SPANKED!(with, his special "Helmet" and "Skinsuit" ? Whatever.)

Tom Schulenburg said:

"Gerrit Stolte" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 15:39:38 GMT, "Robert Oliver"

... which, for Lance, is probably the worst thing about this ITT. Still in the lead means that
he will be attacked. If Wino attaks, Ullrich won't close the gap but let Armstrong do the work.
If Ullrich attacks, Wino will let Lance do the work. If Lance doesn't attack (and he hasn't done
it in this year's tour) he risks losing it all in the final ITT to Ullrich. A wide open TdF.
Who'd have thought?

Gerrit

It makes no difference. There will still be attacks from riders looking for stage wins rather than
GC placing. If Ullrich was in the lead, there would still be attacks and USPS would need to chase.
Lance is betting that his "superior" conditioning will allow him to gain big time in the mountains
as everyone else fades.

Lance seems to be riding a much more tactical race this year, he made a comment after one of the
stages in the Alps to the effect of "We would have been glad to give up 2 more minutes if it meant
we could have kept 2 more riders (USPS) in our group." Ulrich is the biggest threat, but his
conditioning is still unknown. If he cracks, Lance will get back more than the 1:30 he lost today.
I don't think Jan can expect to get back another
1:30 in the final TT, at that point Lance will hold back nothing.

-T

Jamie said:

Oh, so Lance was holding back today? Come on. Why can't Lance lovers just admit that HE GOT
SPANKED!(with, his special "Helmet" and "Skinsuit" ? Whatever.)

HE GOT SPANKED! HE GOT SPANKED! HE GOT SPANKED!

There, I said it!! Are you happy now??

The other night a few of us were pontificating on today's ITT course. My guess was that 59 and
change would win it. DAMN, close but so freakin wrong! (Lucky guess actually!!)

HE GOT SPANKED! (one more time for good measure!!)

Lindsay
----------------------------
"One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the
difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's
remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license."

P.J. O'Rourke

Michael said:

"Tom Schulenburg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Gerrit Stolte" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 15:39:38 GMT, "Robert Oliver"

... which, for Lance, is probably the worst thing about this ITT.

Still

Quoted message said:

in the lead means that he will be attacked. If Wino attaks, Ullrich won't close the gap but let
Armstrong do the work. If Ullrich attacks, Wino will let Lance do the work. If Lance doesn't
attack (and he

hasn't

Quoted message said:

done it in this year's tour) he risks losing it all in the final ITT

to

Quoted message said:

Ullrich. A wide open TdF. Who'd have thought?

Gerrit

It makes no difference. There will still be attacks from riders looking

for

Quoted message said:

stage wins rather than GC placing. If Ullrich was in the lead, there would still be attacks and
USPS would need to chase. Lance is betting that his "superior" conditioning will allow him to
gain big time in the mountains

as

Quoted message said:

everyone else fades.

Normally, I would completely agree with this assessment, but quite frankly Armstrong has not
looked that great so far in any of the mountain stages. I hope he's playing some head games with
Ullrich, but it may be that he loses in the mountains because he's about a Power Bar short.

M.

I don't think it's wise to play too much with the competition. Martina Hingis one time was asked
about the competition. At the time, she said something along the lines of, "What competition? I'm
3,000 points ahead of everyone else." (And she was.) You never want to P-off your competitors or let
them think they can win.

--
Bob M in CT Remove 'x.' to reply

Tom Schulenburg said:

"Gerrit Stolte" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 15:39:38 GMT, "Robert Oliver"

... which, for Lance, is probably the worst thing about this ITT. Still in the lead means that he
will be attacked. If Wino attaks, Ullrich won't close the gap but let Armstrong do the work. If
Ullrich attacks, Wino will let Lance do the work. If Lance doesn't attack (and he hasn't done it
in this year's tour) he risks losing it all in the final ITT to Ullrich. A wide open TdF. Who'd
have thought?

Gerrit

It makes no difference. There will still be attacks from riders looking for stage wins rather than
GC placing. If Ullrich was in the lead, there would still be attacks and USPS would need to chase.
Lance is betting that his "superior" conditioning will allow him to gain big time in the mountains
as everyone else fades.

Right now, there is no need for USPS to watch for anybody but Vino, Ullrich, maybe still Hamilton.
All the other guys can do what they want.

Gerrit

Lindsay <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Jamie said:

Oh, so Lance was holding back today? Come on. Why can't Lance lovers just admit that HE GOT
SPANKED!(with, his special "Helmet" and "Skinsuit" ? Whatever.)

HE GOT SPANKED! HE GOT SPANKED! HE GOT SPANKED!

Ullrich has BALLS... GO JAN

Quoted message said:

Right now, there is no need for USPS to watch for anybody but Vino, Ullrich, maybe still Hamilton.
All the other guys can do what they want.

Vino is the real threat. He's shown he can take time out of Lance in the mountains. And not just one
day, Pantani style. Twice in a row, in the only two high mountain stages so far. Stages Lance surely
wanted to win. The best Lance could do in reply was take 30 sec in a long time trial.

Lance is in trouble, and this would be much more evident were it not for the TTT, the only thing
masking Lance's relative weakness. And the only think keeping Lance in yellow.

Lance may still win; but too many people here need a cold dose of reality. Lance's surging in the
mountains is not _more_ likely now, because now "he really needs to step forward". Lance taking time
out of Vino in the Pyrenees is _less_ likely precisely because his riding to date has shown he's
weak. Well, weak compared to previous years.

Gerrit Stolte <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Right now, there is no need for USPS to watch for anybody but Vino, Ullrich, maybe still Hamilton.
All the other guys can do what they want.

Gerrit

No offense, but Armstrong & USPS should not even spent a cent of their time worrying on Hamilton's
attack or threat at all. It doesn't matter, Lance Armstrong or Tyler Hamilton, as long as an
american wins TDF this year!!!! (too bad Tyler's chance gets slimmer & slimmer) But yes, Alex & Jan
are definitely the guys to watch.

"Jamie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Oh, so Lance was holding back today? Come on. Why can't Lance lovers

just

Quoted message said:

admit that HE GOT SPANKED!(with, his special "Helmet" and "Skinsuit" ?

Isa that what caused the hole on his shorts? Or perhaps that hole changed his aerodynamics so much
he lost time due to it... All the best Dan Gregory ;-)