Tour de France - Stage 18

[Phil C]

Another Stage another day. Right now Lance is staying with the peloton surrounded by his teammates. There are 8 escapees 15 minutes ahead of the peloton but he doesn't care because they are not contenders.

[Phil C]

The 8 escapees are about 3 miles to the finish line. Our main interest is in the peloton because that is where the contenders are. As of today Lance's team was 38 seconds ahead of T-Mobile for the team title. I don't think they give money for team titles or stage win or to the team that has the most stage wins but those do put you in the newspapers and help get generous sponsors.

[Phil C]

There are ten in the escape group not 8 and they are just over 15min ahead of the peloton. It looks like the winner will be in the escape group again. Thanks to the effort of Lance's teammates lately his team now is tied with T-Mobile with 3 stage wins each.

[Phil C]

There is about 11 miles left to go. It looks like the escapees are going to hold off the peloton and fight it out. It should be a thrilling finish but when it gets near the last few miles the peloton should have lots of action - not so much that they expect to catch Lance but the fight for second and third. Still Lance has to be careful and stay close. The suspense begins to build up!

[Phil C]

De la Cruz has attacked the escapees and is now ten seconds ahead of them. The other nine are not interested in catching him yet. There is still time and distance left to go. The peloton is satisfied to let them go.

[Phil C]

De la Cruz has about 6 miles left with about 23 seconds lead on the other escapees but there is still time for them to catch him. We will see.

[Phil C]

As expected De la Cruz has been caught by the other escapess. Merckx is now in the lead.

[Phil C]

Sometimes when you break away it doesn't work because you use up energy and the others catch you and sometimes pass you by. Other times it works and you can hang on to win.

[Phil C]

There are now five leaders of the original nine escapees battling it out for first place with about 2 miles left to go.

[Phil C]

Merckx has taken the lead and is the favorite but you never know what will happen.

[Phil C]

Three riders are fighting it out for the win. They are Merckx, Vasseau, and Serrano. Excitement indeed!

[Phil C]

The group has about 20 min lead on the peloton. I will report on the peloton after the action here is over. Serrano has pulled ahead of the other two by about 20 seconds with just over a mile to go. Still time and distance though.

[Phil C]

Serrano has been able to hold them off and win the stage! Vasseau has passed Merckx for second place. A thrilling finish indeed!

[Phil C]

Lance and his teammates are at the front of the peloton which only has about 2 1/2 miles to go to the finish line. I don't think anyone will gain much time on Lance though. We will see.

[Phil C]

Lance is setting a hard pace but has been passed by Basso. Ullrich is fighting as well.

[Phil C]

Lance has caught Basso.

[Phil C]

Lance is in the lead of his group with about a mile to go. Basso, Ullrich and Evans are with him.

[Phil C]

Evans leads the four over the line which is fine with Lance. There should be no major change in time differences between the top leaders.

[Phil C]

The Tour is almost over. Lance is completely satisfied with where he is right now. Since the last stage on Sunday is just a formality by tradition where they all ride together to Paris there are two more competitive stages and the one on Saturday is the time trial which Lance is good at. Tomorrow the battle will be for the top five spaces. The top five are:

1. Lance Armstrong

2. Ivan Basso 2min46sec behind

3. Mickael Rasmussen 3min46sec behind

4. Jan Ullrich 5min58sec behind

5. Francisco Mancebo 7min8sec behind


They have tried everything to stop Lance. The race was even set up to try to be a disadvatage to him but nothing has worked. I think now they are resigned that Lance will win and they will be fighting it out for second place and other honors. Only illness or a crash or something like that will stop Lance.

[gobbler grad]

After completing the race today, Lance had to take a surprise drug test... :eek:
2 more stages and he should have it wrapped up...:clap:
cruising to his 7th straight victory...

[Phil C]

That isn't a surprise. I wouldn't be surprise if he gets one more.

[Phil C]

It looks like unless anything happens unexpectly that Lance will win first place and Basso will be able to get second place. The main fight is between Ullrich and Rasmussen for third place. Even though Rasmussen is ahead of Ullrich by 2min12sec, Ullrich gained 36 seconds on him today and that could be important. The time trial is Saturday and Ullrick is much stronger than Rasmussen i this event having beaten him by 2min7sec in the first time trial. The race that will be important tomorrow will be between these two with Rasmussan hoping to be ahead and gaining a few precious seconds to be able to hold on Saturday and Ullrich trying to cut into the lead and with a good race Saturday overtake him. It should be very close making for an interesting and entertaining duel to watch indeed.