Tour de France starts July 4 - Armstong content

[Spudman]

Since the Tour is about to start Outside magazine put out a pretty cool article about some of the unknown bits in Lance Armstrong's life. Yes he's riding this year for Astana and has already completed the Giro d'Italia or Tour of Italy. He road very well considering.

Check out the story. It's pretty inspiring.
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200907/lance-armstrong-tour-de-france-1999-1.html?imw=Y

[sunvalleylaw]

I am already getting excited to watch! And while we are staying at my MIL's we have the channel. :AOK:

[sunvalleylaw]

For any that are interested and do not have the Vs. cable channel, (formerly OLN), here is a link to the Vs. website and video so you can watch on line. Starts tomorrow!

http://www.versus.com/videoPlayer

[Spudman]

Astana has 4 riders in the top 10 after stage 1. Contador #2, Kloden #4, Leipheimer #6, Armstrong #10.

[Spudman]

After the stage 4 TTT team Astana has 4 riders in the top 5 GC. Wow!

1. Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank in 10:38:07
2. Lance Armstrong Astana
3. Alberto Contador Astana in 10:38:26 at 00:19
4. Andréas KlÖden Astana in 10:38:30 at 00:23
5. Levi Leipheimer Astana in 10:38:38 at 00:31
6. Bradley Wiggins Garmin - Slipstream in 10:38:45 at 00:38
7. Haimar Zubeldia Astana in 10:38:58 at 00:51
8. Tony Martin Team Columbia - Htc in 10:38:59 at 00:52
9. David Zabriskie Garmin - Slipstream in 10:39:13 at 01:06
10. David Millar Garmin - Slipstream in 10:39:14 at 01:07

[Robert]

Thanks for the updates! Keep us posted how Lance is doing. I am very curious to find out how he will do this time.

[Spudman]

After stage 5 the GC now has 6 Astana riders in the top 11. Lance is 1 second from leading the race.

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank 15:07:49
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:00:19
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:00:23
5 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0:00:31
6 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:00:38
7 Haimar Zubeldia Aguirre (Spa) Astana 0:00:51
8 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC 0:00:52
9 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:06
10 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:07
11 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Astana 0:01:16

[Spudman]

Stage 6 GC results. Not much change.

1. Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank in 19:29:22
2. Lance Armstrong Astana in 19:29:22
3. Alberto Contador Astana in 19:29:41 at 00:19
4. Andréas KlÖden Astana in 19:29:45 at 00:23
5. Levi Leipheimer Astana in 19:29:53 at 00:31
6. Bradley Wiggins Garmin - Slipstream in 19:30:00 at 00:38
7. Tony Martin Team Columbia - Htc in 19:30:14 at 00:52
8. Christian Vande Velde Garmin - Slipstream in 19:30:38 at 01:16
9. Gustav Larsson Team Saxo Bank in 19:30:44 at 01:22
10. Maxime Monfort Team Columbia - Htc in 19:30:51 at 01:29

[sunvalleylaw]

Team Astana (Armstrong's team) just put the hurt on Fabian Cancellara (the current overall leader) and Astana and Armstrong just need to finish it out to grab the yellow jersey for Armstrong. Repeated attacks leading up to the main climb that finishes the race, (a climb beyond the normal measurement classifications for climbs) broke Cancellara off the pace of the peloton (main group of riders that you have to stay with to maintain your time in the overall contention). Exciting! You can watch at the vs. link I posted above each morning if you search for "watch live" on the vs. site. If you don't catch it live, you can watch highlights and clips later. :AOK: :AOK: :D :bravo: :beer:

[sunvalleylaw]

Contador, Armstrong's team mate who is also a top contender for the overall win, is trying to get enough time to take the yellow for the day away from Armstrong. He needs 18 seconds on Armstrong to do it. This is so exciting!

EDIT: Armstrong appears to be racing as a teammate today and ride conservatively to protect his teammate (and himself) from Cadel Evans, rather than battle Contador for it.

EDIT: A young rider from France, in his first tour, took the day, which is a huge break for him as basically an unknown. It will get him on to a top team next year. Nocentini took the yellow with Contador and Armstrong 2 seconds apart overall. Amazing! Garmin Slipstream's Brad Wiggins turned in a huge day too!

[Spudman]

What a stage. Contador is a rocket. Lance is a stud. What a team. Wow!

[just strum]

If my bike parts would have arrived in time - I coulda been a contenda.

[Robert]

Awesome to hear! What's Armstrong gonna do this year!?

[sunvalleylaw]

I bet we have to wait a while to see. Contador just re-established himself on the same team, so we will need to wait and see what happens over the next stages. Contador is much younger and in his prime, but Lance is just amazing, so it will be interesting to see. Lance is already establishing himself as one of the top riders in this tour at age 37, so that is amazing in itself.

Here is a link setting the stage before today's race:

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/31834286/ns/sports-tour_de_france/

Contador made up the time Lance had into him, but Lance held on and is only two seconds out after the first big mountain stage, and Contador is a climbing specialist. I bet they continue to drop the rest of the field and then duke it out in the final stages, unless once clearly establishes a dominance. If they are close, neither will back down I think.

The NY times noted Lance stayed back today to support his teammate, but is only two seconds back:

Contador did not win the stage — Brice Feillu of France came out ahead of a breakaway group that led most of the stage — and he did not grab the yellow jersey as the leader because Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy finished far enough ahead in that breakaway group. But Contador made the biggest news.

His strong finish put him 6 seconds behind Nocentini for the overall lead and although he is only 2 seconds ahead of Armstrong, who is in third.

Until the final few miles, Armstrong seemed set up to be the day’s hero, riding strong with four other Astana teammates as they pushed a brutal pace at the head of the peloton. He role alongside Contador until he made his move and Armstrong stayed back to fend off any challengers. He ended up finishing 15th in the stage. Their Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer is in fourth place over all, 31 seconds behind Armstrong.

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland started the day with a fraction-of-a-second lead over Armstrong and a 19-second lead over Contador. In fact, after Cancellara, the next four places belonged to members of Armstrong’s Astana team. Those team dynamics, with Contador and Armstrong not yet having made clear who was indeed the team’s leader, made for the great mystery of the early stages of this race.

But Cancellara — who had two flat tires earlier in Friday’s stage — could not keep up with Astana’s late pace and fell back as the peloton splintered; he dropped to 39th place over all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/sports/cycling/11tour.html?hp

Whatever happens, it looks to be exciting, and has really changed the tour this year having Armstrong back. The tv commentators today were saying that the crowds compared to the last few years are already amazing.

[Spudman]

GC results after stage 9 - Monday is a rest day so no racing.

4 Astana riders in the top 10!

Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale) in 30:18:16
Alberto Contador (Astana) at 00:06
Lance Armstrong (Astana) at 00:08
Levi Leipheimer (Astana) at 00:39
Bradley Wiggins (Garmin - Slipstream) at 00:46
Andréas Klöden (Astana) at 00:54
Tony Martin (Columbia - HTC) at 01:00
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin - Slipstream) at 01:24
Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) at 01:49
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) at 01:54