Tour de France - 9th Stage

[PhiI C]

OLNTV is starting their coverage two hours earlier (5:30 A.M. on Sunday) due to this being an important stage. This could be a key stage on whether Lance wins it this year or not according to the experts. Hopefully he will do well and his team will do better tomorrow. Go Lance Go!

[gobbler grad]

Lance loses yellow jersey and over 2.00 minutes behind...he better get his stuff together pretty quick...



Overall Standings

Through Stage 9 - Sunday, July 10

Yellow Jersey Time
1. Jens Voigt 32:18:23
2. Christophe Moreau 1:50 behind
3. Lance Armstrong 2:18
4. Mickael Rasmussen 2:43
5. Alexandre Vinokourov 3:20
6. Bobby Julich 3:25
7. Ivan Basso 3:44
8. Jan Ullrich 3:54
9. Carlos Sastre 3:54
10. George Hincapie 4:05:clap:

[Rabbit'93]

how many stages are in the tour?

[Phil C]

Rabbit there are 21 stages and the last stage is by tradition just a formality as they all ride together to Paris and not compete. Therefore the final winner is decided in the 20th stage. Lance is where he wants to be. He was willing to give up the yellow jersey even before but the peloton wouldn't let him. Even though he is behind he hasn't yet got to his strong races which will happen beginning this Tuesday. The next several days are critical. It was expected that he would be behind by today's race in fact it was thought it would be sooner. So don't get alarmed yet Lance fans.

[Phil C]

The sad thing about today's stage is that David Zambriskie had to drop out of the Tour de France. He never seemed to recover after the crash. It was a shame since he had won the yellow jersey for two stages. In the fourth stage time trial he was left by his teammates at the crash which has been critized by the commentators because it was the fifith member's time that counted and they said at least on of the slower teammates should have stopped and looked after him and escorted him to the finish line instead of leaving him all alone.
He is young and should be back racing soon and should be competing in the Tour de France for several more years. Great Job David!

[AggieJohn]

now phil why was he mad at his teammates earlier this week, seemed to me from a non informed outsider that he's getting mad at them because they aren't putting him in position to win a race, where as it IS and INDIVIDUAL sport.....explain phil

[PhiI C]

It is an individual race but the way it works is that the team is supposed to mainly look after their main rider which is the Discovery Team it is Lance. Individuals may win individual jerseys but the big payoff is winning first place and usually after the race the money is put in a pot and divided up between the team and crew while the winner gets money from other sources. Lance's concern wasn't winning that stage but being left by his teammates because if they aren't around to protect him other teams can box him in. What he was concerned with was that this mustn't be a pattern. It seems that they corrected it today and I have watched the Tour de France for several years and Lance is right where he wants to be as of today. Now at the end of this week we will know where he stands.

[AggieJohn]

that seems selfish and the most non attempt of making a individual sport a team sport

[Owen B]

It's not just an individual sport, Aggie. That's why they call the teams, "teams." They do the same sorts of things (with somewhat different tactics) in auto racing.

[AggieJohn]

but wouldn't you give the team yellow jacketS if lance won if it is a team sport...i don't know i'm tired of lance, i just hear too much bad press about him

[Old Tiger]

We gotta wait till the mountain stages where Lance usually kicks butt

[rhs78]

Lance is right where he wants to be. he said yesterday that it was giong to be a good day to lose the yellow jersey and let the pressure of the yellow fall to someone else. He shold get it back in the the Big mountains latter this week.

[Bandera YaYa]

No wonder they left him behind.....has to always be the "Lance" show.....what a selfish, arrogant person he is..... :rolleyes:

[Etexpirate]

Originally posted by AggieJohn
but wouldn't you give the team yellow jacketS if lance won if it is a team sport...i don't know i'm tired of lance, i just hear too much bad press about him

I LOVE the press...:rolleyes:
..they are just Sooo dependable when it comes to accurately portraying a professional athelete to the public!:D
I think that the members of the team were real clear on how the "team' thing works.. To be unhappy with it at this point seems a bit pointless..
Lance is an exceptional athelete no matter what kind of press he gets..

[3afan]

Originally posted by Bandera YaYa
No wonder they left him behind.....has to always be the "Lance" show.....what a selfish, arrogant person he is..... :rolleyes:

thats not true ... you dont understand professional cycling ...

:cool:

[Bandera YaYa]

Originally posted by 3afan
thats not true ... you dont understand professional cycling ...

:cool: Maybe I wasn't just talking about cycling....... :cool:

[jason]

Originally posted by 3afan
thats not true ... you dont understand professional cycling ...

:cool:
Sooooo true!:p

[Etexpirate]

Originally posted by Bandera YaYa
Maybe I wasn't just talking about cycling....... :cool:

Ahhhhh... I get it! You don't need to understand cycling because you just don't like Lance. :thinking:

I don't know how you could percieve any bad press by watching OLN.. Heck..they barely mention his name on the Tour coverage..

[PhiI C]

One of the best ways to learn about cycling and the Tour de France is to watch OLNTV coverage. You will pick it up. They are good at explaining things.

[Phil C]

ttt for those interested in the tour.

[Adidas410s]

:thumbsup: