Tour de France - Friday

[Phil C]

Lance is holding back with the pack today. He has a big enough lead over his main competitors so that he is probably satisfied just to stay close to them. Six scapees have left the pack and are about six minutes ahead of them but that is no problem to Lance because these are riders that are so far behind in overall time that they pose no threats to the leaders and they are just trying to win a stage. They did do some surprise drug tests today and Lance and his team were tested - all passed. There have been rumors that Lance has used drugs but every time he is tested he comes out clean. Probably jealousy may be involved here. Lance has passed a test again and is still the leader overall. There will only be two days left after today. GO LANCE GO!!

[Phil C]

The six escapees are now over 9 minutes ahead of the pack. They have about 60 km (37.5 miles) left to go. None of them are a threat to the leaders so Lance and the rest of the leaders are satisfied to let them fight it out at this stage and they are staying with the pack. GO LANCE GO!

[Phil C]

The six escapees are 10 min 10 seconds ahead of the pack (in French it is the Peloton). The escapees as I have said are no threat to any of the leaders and the leaders are satisfied to stay with the peloton and alas there is little else to report at this time.

[RBARKER]

17 H 34 - Top 10 After 18 Stages Of The 91st Tour
Even though six riders finished well ahead of the peloton (11'29") there was no change to the top 10 in the general classification after the 18th stage. The top 10 overall after 3,171.1km of the 91st Tour de France is:
1. Lance Armstrong (USP) 3,171.1km in 78h20'28" (40.493km/h)
2. Ivan Basso (CSC) at 4'09"
3. Andreas Kloden (TMO) at 5'11"
4. Jan Ullrich (TMO) at 8'08"
5. Jose Azevedo (USP) at 10'41"
6. Francisco Mancebo (IBB) at 11'45"
7. Georg Totschnig (GST) at 12'56"
8. Carlos Sastre (CSC) at 15'14"
9. Leivi Leipheimer (RAB) at 16'25"
10. Pietro Caucchioli (ALB) at 16'33"

[Old Tiger]

Did anyone else see the Late Shows "Top 10" That Lance Armstrong is getting cocky.

[Phil C]

Lance is right where he wants to be. There are only two days left and he has a big lead. It would take a big disaster to lose it now. It would be like being ahead by 17 points at the two minute warning in an NFL game.