Mayo got mauled today. Lost 21 minutes.
Dropped on the Cat 1.
Beloki is about 5:30 back. He had a better stage today than Mayo. He was with one of the groups a little bit back. Check out www.letour.fr for individual stage and GC standings.
From the TDF website
pretty much sums up the day.
I didn’t see the entire coverage today, I just caught the tail end. I’m gonna watch the expanded coverage tonight.
Anyway here are the overall standings as of right now
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance DSC USA
2 057 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 00' 38"
3 021 BASSO Ivan CSC ITA 02' 40"
4 101 MOREAU Christophe C.A FRA 02' 42"
5 038 VALVERDE Alejandro IBA ESP 03' 16"
6 164 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 03' 58"
7 031 MANCEBO Francisco IBA ESP 04' 00"
8 011 ULLRICH Jan TMO GER 04' 02"
9 014 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 04' 16"
10 066 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 04' 16"
11 061 BOTERO Santiago PHO COL 05' 20"
12 096 JAKSCHE Jorg LSW GER 05' 33"
13 044 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 05' 55"
14 007 POPOVYCH Yaroslav DSC UKR 06' 25"
15 108 KASHECHKIN Andrey C.A KAZ 06' 32"
16 019 VINOKOUROV Alexandre TMO KAZ 06' 32"
17 023 JULICH Bobby CSC USA 06' 37"
18 026 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 06' 37"
19 111 GARZELLI Stefano LIQ ITA 08' 04"
20 079 KIRCHEN Kim FAS LUX 08' 15"
21 092 BELOKI Joseba LSW ESP 08' 31"
Beloki is in 21st. 8:30 back over all.
You gotta love that Rasmussen guy. What a tour he’s having.
4 Americans in the top 10. That’s really remarkable.
I’ve never seen anybody ride a smarter or better planned race than Disco and Lance. No panic and no emotion. Just a take no prisoners approach. If they haven’t earned respect by now, they never will.
I know I’m sounding like a broken record about the guy but it’s hard to watch and not be amazed by what he continues to accomplish.
I’m not sure who I am cheering for. Rasmussen who is having the tour of his life or Lance.
I should feel conflicted, but I’m not.
Ullrich doesn’t look good. I can’t help wonder if it is a ploy.
Watching his face and eyes (best that I could), I think he’s suffering far too much for it to be a ploy. Again, if he was close to the front, I might believe it. But no, he’s breaking down. IMHO, he got very demoralized when he was passed in stage 1. I am a little surprised by Vinokurov. Thought he would hang longer and be a threat. Of course, so did everyone else.
I don’t think Michael R has the legs for much more either. For a climber, he really got dropped in that sprint to the finish at Courcheval.
I wouldn’t put much stock in that. I mean. . .he’s not going to hang with Lance, but just being in that 4 man group was more than Botero, Mayo, or any of the T-Mob could do.
He has been a great story though. Those mountain bike guys are tough on climbs. They seem to develop very efficient climbing strokes. He looks better than Lance when he’s climbing for what that’s worth.
As of right now Vino has a few minutes on Lance. Whether he can maintain it on the slopes of Galibier is still to be seen.
I ALMOST called in sick today to watch the tour, but it looks like there will be some good Pyrenes stages to watch Saturday and Sunday, so I’ll get my fix of climbing.
I can’t believe how strong Disco is, from the velonews feed, it appeared that 4? 5? Disco guys led by Hincapie took Lance over the last col. Are these guys freaks or what?
No, not freaks, just very, very professional.
It’s generally accepted that at least 5, maybe 6 of the Team Discovery riders (excluding Lance Armstrong himself) are capable of a Top 15 finish in a Grand Tour. That’s a very strong level of horsepower across the team. Of course, eras come and go - and no small reason for Team Discovery’s roster is the fact that great riders naturally want to train and ride with other great riders. Accordingly, after Armstrong retires, there’s every reason to predict that Team Discovery will no longer be anywhere near as strong - just as the awesome Panasonic and La Vie Claire teams of the 1980’s came and went.
Certainly, however, it’s great to watch when it’s happening. It’s not often you get to see such perfect team riding with the Yellow Jersey so consistently on 5th or 6th wheel for hundreds of kilometers at a time. It’s great stuff to see.
I felt it was important to mention the great unsung hero of the tour.
I look forward to seeing this guy every time. He’s just cool. 
And let’s not forget the women of the tour. Forget that Sheryl Crow hag. If you get the chance, check out Levi Leipheimer’s wife “Odessa”.
But for sheer, inarguable goddess power? Ivan Basso’s sister “Elisa” is simply drop dead awesome. Her boyfriend is on Ivan Basso’s team, and she follows the Pro Tour everywhere. Check her out in this photo. This a photo of Elisa Basso (she’s in the middle).
Okay. Now I’m picturing her, in a red leather devil suit. :eek:
That he is. I loved Phil and Paul on, what was it, Sunday?
“On the left of your screen is a naked man and Discovery…”
Bummer, Valverde’s dropped out, he was only 3:30 behind Lance. Another potential contender bites the dust. Just goes to show that Lance has also had extraordinary luck to win 6 in a row, not just being the best rider.
About Didi the Devil: last year we were in Liege for the prologue and ran into him and tried to chat him up, get a picture, etc. He struck us as really kind of a bastard. He pretended not to understand English (he does) then he pretended not to understand German. Not what you would call a really freindly guy. We were very disappointed.
Aragh! Boonen’s out! Sad!
That’s too bad.
For starters, I had money him at about 45:1. I thought maybe he’d show some serious class in the Pyrenees this weekend and get a few minutes on Lance.
But, two days ago, he fell to the back of the peloton and they said he took a pill from his doctor while riding. You’re just not making it through the tour if you’re not 100%.
With him leaving and Cunego not even starting, it was a bummer year for the future stars.
Yeah, hey, Cunengo, Mayo, Valverde, everyone under 25, stop making out with the podium girls or staring at breasts along the roadside in the back of the peleton!!! We don’t need any more mononucleosis or falls.
George Hincapie wins a mountain stage. George… Hincapie?!? Those Disco guys are total studs. With a rest day tomorrow, there will be some champagne at the dinner table tonight. And it looks like all the pretenders have been exposed, with Lance just having to keep an eye on Basso, same as last year.
Hincapie and Popovych were in great form during Dauphine Libere. They both rode away for a win in a two man breakaway on the final stage over some 180km. It appears Hincapie in particular did what it took this year to get as light as possible, body fat wise.
That being said, watching the last 2 stages in the Pyrenees have been very frustrating for mine. And here’s why… in 1990 Greg Lemond won his 3rd Tour de France. He didn’t take Yellow until the final Individual Time Trial and he always knew that he was going to win the race that way.
However… Laurent Fignon made a memorable comment on Lemond’s win that year - namely, “To win the Tour de France without winning a single stage is to win it sans pinache”. And I have to agree with him. And right here, right now, Lance Armstrong has NOT won a single stage in this year’s tour. Last year I was REALLY impressed with his hunger for stage wins. THAT was a Tour win with shitloads of pinache. But this year? As of today’s date… nope… it’s clinically impressive but that’s about it. Armstrong has never once really needed to DIG DEEP, nor has he ever gone for an outright stage win either.
To be fair, on the stage in the Alps where Valverde beat Armstrong, yes he went for it in the final kilometre that day… but he COULD have gone for it a lot earlier. He just didn’t need to, I recognise that. Still, a Tour de France champion should be able to win individual stages OTHER than ITT’s. It’s not a law, but it is the noble thing to do.
But man, they made the opening prologue a 19km ITT! Armstrong was effectively the virtual Yellow Jersey wearer after Day One. Good luck to the guy. He’s won his 7th tour by beating the course that was served up to him, still… his competition this year wasn’t stellar, no way you could say that.
I am very happy for George Hincapie, after 6 years of riding alongside Lance, he gets a stage win. How great is that.
Rest day tomorrow
Boo with style, or without, in 20 years all that will be remembered is that Lance won 7 straight.
Phil Ligget made a great comment this weekend. He said that every rider in the TDF was waiting for July 24, because that ment that Lance was retired, and they could stop racing for second place. 
Anyway here are the first 10 positions GC.
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance DSC USA
2 021 BASSO Ivan CSC ITA 02' 46"
3 057 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 03' 09"
4 011 ULLRICH Jan TMO GER 05' 58"
5 031 MANCEBO Francisco IBA ESP 06' 31"
6 164 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 07' 35"
7 066 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 09' 33"
8 019 VINOKOUROV Alexandre TMO KAZ 09' 38"
9 101 MOREAU Christophe C.A FRA 11' 47"
10 014 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 12' 01"