Tour de France - Stage 19

l'Equipe(in French) is saying that Levis's speed average of 53,1 km/h places this stage among the five fastest time trials in TdF history, between 2 performances of Lance Armstrong (2000) and Miguel Indurain (1992).

The pre-stage analysis over at velownews had said that the riders’ speed was likely to benefit from west wind blowing in from the nearby Atlantic Ocean offering the possibility of a record.

BTW, the record speed for a course of longer than 50km was set at 53.986 kph by Armstrong over the 58.5km Freiburg-Mulhouse stage 19 in 2000.

Sweet. I may watch it again.

An utterly amazing TdF for so many reasons ... As for Sunday, I think the decision to race will be Cadel and his team’s decision. On a one on one Cadel Evans probably could drop Alberto Contador but would be dropped by Levi Leipheimer based on today’s efforts. If you factor in Team strengths, Discovery is having a FINE TdF 1st with nobody closer than 19m while Evan’s Predictor-Lotto is 1h49m behind them. Consequently, I think Evans will settle for a sure 2nd rather than risking 3rd after a fight. Just my 2 cents worth.

Hi, Vision.. sorry I've been offline for a few days. You asked great questions in one of the earlier threads:

what is going on behind the scenes of this sport. I thought something had to be rotten either of the athletes or the official side...but now I’m wondering if the whole thing isn’t corrupt.

The worst part is I’m starting to question Landis and Armstrong; with LeMond's testimony and the espy video of Armstrong.

I haven't had the time to watch the last few stages. How are the commentators handling it?

Here is my take, keeping in mind that I'm not even close to being an expert. First of all, don't feel bad about being skeptical. I've been a Tour watcher for many years and admit I was blind to just how bad the drugs usage was. Is. I know it sounds like a cop out, the way fans are saying 'but this process is necessary in order to clean up the sport', but I do believe it's true. And I do also believe that there ARE clean riders -- and they DO have to keep hammering the message, because there is clearly no way they can excel in the sport as long as performance-enhancing drugs and practices drown out their chances of winning. The more people get tossed out for cheating, the better off EVERYONE will be. Most of all, the fans. I'm not as familiar with other bike races, but the TdF does belong to the fans. The organizers are right to protect it, and try to get it back on track. There's no better way than to have a public spectacle of tossing cheaters, if you think about it. And in its wake, the remaining riders deserve the support and attention of fans -- not as a footnote, but specifically BECAUSE they're still giving it everything they've got.

I saw an interview with Horner the other day, who said people are asking him if he's ready to just quit. He said, WHAT!? Hell, no! I've been working to get here my whole life! Now that they're finally tossing out the cheating liars, you think I should quit!!? He is so right.

As far as the commentators go, Phil is the most practical-and-optimistic of all four on Versus. Paul hasn't given much away as far as opinions, but you can tell he's trying to remain professional about it. Bob Roll has been the most severe in his criticisms.. well, him and Phil too, to an extent. If it weren't for those criticisms being so harsh and unwavering, I think the commentators would have looked like apologists. I'm so glad they went the honest route. Trautwig is kind of the Bob Costas of the group -- the media pro. The rest of them are former bike riders. Al's fine but his opinion doesn't hold the same weight as the others. All in all, to answer your question, I think they're hitting all the right notes in the commentating. I know they're skipping over gory details, or fudging sometimes, or giving big blustery praise here and there, but overall? I likey.

Sorry to be so long-winded. :-)

Oh. One more thing. I do question Landis's and Armstrong's claims that they never ever used performance-enhancing drugs. I think Landis probably is guilty of something. I'm sorry, I just do. I think Armstrong probably is, as well. Sorry Lance, but the Occum's Razor theory tells my gut that it's just not possible to be so dominant in (what I hope will turn out to be) cycling's Doping Final Years, without ANY tomfoolery, not even one time, through seven straight smackdown-style wins. I just don't see that being possible, sorry. And if he ever loved cycling, if there's something to come clean about, he should do it.

Now I'm off to go and speed-watch today's stage. BBL!

Hey lainie, nice to see you outside of Sunday night.

Remember that lance does have a larger heart than most and his cancer experience focused him I’m sure. I like this story...

“...It was the middle of Christmas Day and Jan Ullrich was tired from a night of celebrating the holiday. He wanted to see what his friend Lance was doing and to send along his best Christmas wishes. Lance answered the cellular telephone huffing and puffing and informed Jan that he was out for a quick training ride before the holiday dinner. They chatted for a few minutes and laughed about things...and when he hung-up the phone, Jan allegedly stated, “I just learned I’ve lost the next Tour de France...”

What did you think of that espy video at 3:20?

U.S. ambassador to France Graig Stapleton, left, and Seven-time Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong, pose in front of the Discovery Chanel team bus prior to the 19th stage.

Levi Leipheimer of the U.S.waves on the podium after the 19th stage of the 94th Tour de France, a 34.52-mile individual time trial.

Cadel Evans of Australia speeds towards the finish line.

Overall leader Alberto Cantador of Spain.

Levi Leipheimer of the U.S. speeds towards the finish line to win the 19th stage.

Happiness is abundant at the podium.

Leipheimer dominant - TDFblog
Levi Leipheimer threatened not just to cement his place on the final Tour podium today, but to absolutely overturn it. Leipheimer rode the 4th-fastest time trial in Tour history to win his first career Tour stage.

Starting the day in 3rd, 2:49 behind teammate and race leader Alberto Contador, Leipheimer needed 59 seconds to catch Predictor-Lotto's Cadel Evans. On the road, Leipheimer was consistently faster than Evans or Contador, who had the advantage of Leipheimer's time checks. At the day's last time check, Leipheimer trailed Evans by just 8 seconds. Would Evans crack or come through?

Evans, who probably started the day focused on the wrong Disco, responded with a strong final segment, but still finished 51 seconds behind Leipheimer's impressive 1:02:45. Contador, for his part, finished a creditable 5th, which was enough to defend the yellow jersey.

It's the first stage win for the United States this year, and looks to have cemented a great Tour for Discovery Channel: 4 riders in today's Top 10; overall 1st, 3rd, and 8th; white jersey; yellow jersey; and team competition.

Cadel Evans talks about the final stage into Paris - Cycling News
The 30 year-old Australian acknowledged that taking bonus seconds in the final stage to Paris is unlikely but wasn't discounting the possibility. His Predictor-Lotto team may try to pull off an upset since it is within reach of grabbing the world's biggest Grand Tour.

"Sprinting on the Champs-Élysées? I will think about it tomorrow," noted Evans in French after the race. The attentive Australian stayed far up in the stage 18 sprint and gained three seconds when a gap opened up ahead of Contador's group, and had to body-check a spectator in the process. He noted that sprinting could be perilous and admitted, "It is not worth the risk after what happened yesterday."

Contador received help from seven-time winner Lance Armstrong who rode in the team car behind him. "Today, he did not tell me anything from the car but when I was hearing Johan [Bruyneel] I was also hearing behind him the voice of Lance Armstrong." Like Armstrong, Contador has had a near-death experience after suffering a blood clot in his brain, and reflected on that dark time in his young life. "I could not image it when I was there [in the hospital] that today I would be here with all these people watching me."

"It was unexpected but fantastic," confirmed Discovery Directeur Sportif Dirk Demol. "We have confidence that he will not be a one-off winner."

Demol commented on Armstrong's appearance. "Lance is someone that keeps leaving his stamp on the team. Since the stage to Plateau de Beille, Lance talked almost every evening to Alberto and that gave him a lot of confidence."

The battle for the Lanterne Rouge of the last rider in the general classification was likely locked down today when Wim Vansevenant (Predictor-Lotto) went 1'22" slower than Geraint Thomas (Barloworld). 'Sevi' now sits in dead last with a comfortable margin of 6'39" behind the Brit.

Doping? - Macleans interviews David Walsh, author of From Lance to Landis: Inside the American Doping Controversy at the Tour de France.

Michael Rasmussen went up the Gourette-Col d'Aubisque faster than Lance Armstrong ever went up it. Alberto Contador was alongside him the whole way. I’ve been at that race since the early 80s and I know what speeds they go up that mountain. The speeds the leaders go up at today are just illogical.

In the 80s, the best climbers were Colombians, who were 125 lbs. at the most - wee, small, light, skinny guys. EPO came along and allowed the big guys to outsource their oxygen supply, and that changed everything.

On one day in the mountains, a guy who is clean and well prepared and very fit could compete with some of these guys. But he’d burn up so much energy trying to stay with guys who were doped, that when the next day came, he couldn’t compete.

Human growth hormone, blood transfusions and testosterone, used cleverly and sparingly, are very difficult to detect. Look at the drug regime Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes and the doctors in Madrid had Tyler Hamilton on when he was at Operation Puerto in 2003. This is four years ago,and it’s even more sophisticated now. It would start in December, which is eight months before the Tour. And it would start with drugs like EPO, when he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be tested. And through the season, as he got closer to the Tour and the testing protocol changed, he would switch to blood transfusions and human growth hormone. He was paying over $100,000 to Fuentes. We know Fuentes had about 60 riders, minimum, on his books.

Stage 19 - Individual Time Trial
1) Levi Leipheimer, Discovery Channel, USA, in 1:02:45
2) Cadel Evans, Predictor-Lotto, Australia, at :50
3) Vladimir Karpets, Caisse d'Epargne, Russia, at 1:56
4) Yaroslav Popovych, Discovery Channel, Ukraine, at 2:01
5) Alberto Contador, Discovery Channel, Spain, at 2:18
6) José Ivan Gutiérrez, Caisse d'Epargne, Spain, at 2:26
7) George Hincapie, Discovery Channel, USA, in 2:32
8) Oscar Pereiro, Caisse d'Epargne, Spain, in 2:35
9) Leif Hoste, Predictor-Lotto, Belgium in 2:48
10) Mikel Astarloza, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Spain, in 2:49

Overall, after stage 19
1. Alberto Contador (Sp), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM, 87:09:18
2. Cadel Evans (Aus), PREDICTOR - LOTTO, at 00:23
3. Levi Leipheimer (USA), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM , at 00:31
4. Carlos Sastre (Sp), TEAM CSC, at 07:08
5. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP), EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI, at 08:17
6. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), CAISSE D'EPARGNE, at 11:37
7. Kim Kirchen (Lux), T-MOBILE TEAM, at 12:18
8. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM, at 12:30
9. Mikel Astarloza (Sp), EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI, at 14:14
10. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), CAISSE D'EPARGNE, at 14:25
- - -
15. Christopher Horner (USA), PREDICTOR - LOTTO , at 25:09
- - -
24. George Hincapie (USA), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM , at 54:50
25. Christian Vandevelde (USA), TEAM CSC , at 55:50

Teams
1. DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM, 261:39:33
2. CAISSE D'EPARGNE, at 19:31
3. TEAM CSC, at 22:10
4. RABOBANK, at 36:14
5. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI, at 46:51