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sailor · 07-05-2005, 09:43 AM

Stage 4, July 5 -- Tours - Blois TTT

The long awaited Team Time Trial today. For those that dont know, a team time trial is just like an individual time trial, except that you do it by team. Five or more of a team's riders must cross the finishline at the same time to give that time to those in the group. As expected, it came down to a fight between Discovery and CSC, probably the two strongest teams in the world. In the end, Discovery pulled it out, winning by just two seconds over CSC. Of note, Zabriskie crashed only 1.5km from the end. CSC didnt (and couldnt) wait for him, as they were concerned with getting Ivan Basso, who is their great hope for placing well in the overall, across the line ASAP. Zabriskie limped across the line a minute after the rest of the team, knocking him into ninth place and passing the yellow jersey to... Lance! A somewhat heartbreaking way to lose the jersey, as he would have kept it had he not crashed. Also, had he only crashed 500m further down the road, he also would have kept the jersey--if you crash within 1km of the finish, you are given the same time as the rest of the group. I'm sure this will be hard for him to swallow.

And if I may now say it, barring a crash, sickness, or a totally unbelievable crack in the mountains, Lance has number seven. His closest adversary is Vinokourov in seventh, 1 minute 21 seconds down. And I don't see the man cracking in the mountains, he looks to be on his best form ever. And this is all on the fourth stage. Unbelievable. I'm hoping that we'll see some good attacks in the mountains though, probably from Vino, maybe from some of the climbers like Roberto Heras or Iban Mayo, though neither of those riders look to be on the sort of form to let them seriously ride away from the group, and both have done so poorly in the time trials that they arent much of a threat to the overall.

07-05-2005, 09:43 AM	#8 (permalink)
sailor beauty in the breakdown Location: Chapel Hill, NC	Stage 4, July 5 -- Tours - Blois TTT The long awaited Team Time Trial today. For those that dont know, a team time trial is just like an individual time trial, except that you do it by team. Five or more of a team's riders must cross the finishline at the same time to give that time to those in the group. As expected, it came down to a fight between Discovery and CSC, probably the two strongest teams in the world. In the end, Discovery pulled it out, winning by just two seconds over CSC. Of note, Zabriskie crashed only 1.5km from the end. CSC didnt (and couldnt) wait for him, as they were concerned with getting Ivan Basso, who is their great hope for placing well in the overall, across the line ASAP. Zabriskie limped across the line a minute after the rest of the team, knocking him into ninth place and passing the yellow jersey to... Lance! A somewhat heartbreaking way to lose the jersey, as he would have kept it had he not crashed. Also, had he only crashed 500m further down the road, he also would have kept the jersey--if you crash within 1km of the finish, you are given the same time as the rest of the group. I'm sure this will be hard for him to swallow. And if I may now say it, barring a crash, sickness, or a totally unbelievable crack in the mountains, Lance has number seven. His closest adversary is Vinokourov in seventh, 1 minute 21 seconds down. And I don't see the man cracking in the mountains, he looks to be on his best form ever. And this is all on the fourth stage. Unbelievable. I'm hoping that we'll see some good attacks in the mountains though, probably from Vino, maybe from some of the climbers like Roberto Heras or Iban Mayo, though neither of those riders look to be on the sort of form to let them seriously ride away from the group, and both have done so poorly in the time trials that they arent much of a threat to the overall. __________________ "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." --Plato Last edited by sailor; 07-05-2005 at 09:49 AM..