The Tour de France 2005
Day 7: Another wet long day dominated by the sprinters. Lance keeps the yellow jersey and poor Dave Zabriskie keeps falling farther and farther behind. The rest of the positions and times among Americans and Discovery Channel Team members are virtually unchanged.
American Racers
Discovery Channel Team Racers
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| Day 6: A long rainy day with another
spectacular crash at the end that wiped out several sprinters and France's
favorite son. Alexandre Vinokourov finished well, gaining a time bonus which
pushed him up to 3rd overall. Meanwhile, Americal Dave Zabriske -- who at
one point wore the yellow jersey -- fell far behind. His crash two days
ago must have hurt him more than he let on. Lane Armstrong continues to
hold the lead. Tomorrow: Long and mostly flat, but a few hills. Rain is
likely.
American Racers
Discovery Channel Team Racers
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| Day 5: Another mostly flat stage that
ended in an all out sprint, with several wicked turns thrown in the last
few kilometers to shake the riders up. Australian Robbie McEwan won the
stage, though he remains out of contention for the Sprinter's green jersey
(he lost a great deal of points when the judges dropped him to last place
after stage 3 for making contact with another racer during the final sprint).
Lance Armstrong retains the leader's yellow jersey, and since the entire
peloton is scored with the same finish time, there were no time losses this
stage. There were a few shuffles in overall standing due to the sprinter's
time bonuses for winning sprints (and some minor attrition). Tomorrow there
are a few more hills, but for the most part it's another long flat stage.
American Racers
Discovery Channel Team Racers
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| Day 4: The Discovery Channel Team
won the Team Time Trial today, letting Lance Armstrong take the overall
points lead and the yellow jersey. Their main rivals, Team CSC, finished
just 2 seconds behind, but Dave Zabriskie -- who had the points lead going
into the day -- crashed and finished over a minute behind the rest of his
team. Now that Armstrong has the yellow jersey, the question is whether
or not the Discovery Channel Team will fight to keep it this early on, or
let another team take it for a few stages, then attempt to reclaim it in
the mountains. I suspect the latter, because it takes a lot of energy to
fight to keep the jersey this early on. Tomorrow's Stage 5 is another mostly
flat stage favoring the sprinters.
American Racers
Discovery Channel Team Racers
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| Day 3: Today’s third stage was a long
mostly flat day, like Stage 2. There were a few climbs, and that allowed
Erik Dekker of the Netherlands to claim the King of the Mountains jersey
(though we’re still over a week from any real mountains). Belgium’s Tom
Boonen won today’s stage (he won yesterday’s as well) and holds on to the
Sprinter’s green jersey. The Overall Point Leader’s yellow jersey continues
to be worn by American Dave Zabriskie. Most of the teams took it fairly
easy, resting up for tomorrow’s Team Time Trial (you’ll notice that the
highest finishing member of the Discovery Channel Team was 82nd, nearly
halfway back). As mentioned, tomorrow’s Stage 4 is the Team Time Trial,
where Lance Armstrong’s Discovery Channel Team is expected to win -- though
other teams have been beefing up their time trial skills. Expect a change
in point standings after the time trial, though there wasn’t much of one
today – just a few changes due mostly to attrition or the time bonuses given
to sprint winners and stage winners.
American Racers
Discovery Channel Team Racers
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| Day 2: A straightforward day of racing
in France with not too many surprises. At 26km into the 181.5km stage, four
riders staged a breakaway from the main peloton that lasted until the last
6km. As one of the breakaway riders, Thomas Voeckler won a masterful race
up the only major climb in the stage to be the first to wear the red polka-dot
King of the Mountain jersey. In terms of the Green Jersey (the sprinters
jersey), Tom Boonen of Belgium won the final sprint of the day to the finish
line and he gets to wear the green jersey tomorrow. Dave Zabriskie keeps
the overall lead and the yellow jersey. There was only minimal changes in
the standings since almost every rider finished in the main peloton, which
all receive the same time. Some of the position changes are due to the wear
and tear of the Tour, but most are because of the sprints (which award a
time bonus for succesfully winning a sprint). That's why George Hincapie
"fell" to fifth without losing any time; Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi won enough
sprints to gain a twelve-second time bonus and jumped up to third. Tomorrow's
Stage 3 is another flat road course, 212.5 km (132 miles) this time. There
will be sprints and probably a breakway or two, but most riders will be
saving their strength for the following day: the Team Time Trial.
American Racers
Discovery Channel Team Racers
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Day 1: The Tour started off well for the Americans in general and Dave Zabriskie and Lance Armstrong in particular. Today's first stage was a 19 km (12 mile) individual time trial. In individual time trials, riders start one minute apart and race for the best time. Dave Zabriskie won the stage with a time of 20:51 and Lance Armstrong finished second, just 2 seconds behind. Lance looked strong and had a great race. He managed to catch -- and pass -- his main rival Jan Ullrich at the 15 Km point (this is key in time trial stages because it means Armstrong was able to make up the minute time difference). That puts Ullrich 1:06 behind Armstrong, but will be an even bigger blow to the ego, particularly this early in the event. Overall, Americans (racing for 3 different teams) took 4 of the top 6 places. Tomorrow is a 181.5 Km (112.5 mile) mostly flat stage. Whatever happened to Tyler Hamilton? He was another big name in American racing. He had a bad Tour last year, and ended up dropping out. A few months ago, he was accused of blood doping (a charge he denies). I didn't see his name as one of this year's participant in the Tour, so I wonder what happened. American Racers
Discovery Channel Team Racers
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