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Tour de France 2002.


boxcarwilly

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another summer means a bunch of bikes, a bunch of miles and a bunch of drama. the tour is road cyclings most illustrious event throughout the year. to the best of my knowledge this is the 99th running of the tour and my second year as the 12oz tour de france commentator. as usual ill post standing and my own recaps along with schedules and maybe some good things from the poetic phil liggett. heres his breakdown.

 

2002 Tour de France Preview

July 1, 2002

I can find no one who does not think Lance Armstrong will win the Tour! What a terrible burden if you are Lance Armstrong. Sure, on paper, Lance has never been better with wins in the Midi Libre and the Dauphine Libere. His build-up preferences this year, compared to victory in the Tour of Switzerland last year.

He also has the best US Postal Team ever around him. The team has been the story this year, and with wins in their own right and without Lance, they will scare the pants off the rest of the field.

On the flat, George Hincapie and comeback man Slave Ekimov, will fire up the train to keep the waters smooth over the low roads for their captain. In the mountains, up will come the Spanish element of the squad, plus new revelation Floyd Landis, to guard their man over the rougher waters of altitude.

Lance himself will handle the time trials and should win his fourth Tour de France. After he rid himself of cancer, he shocked by winning his first Tour in 1999. He returned to confirm his feat a year later, and last year, made up over half an hour to conquer the field for a third time.

Now, if he wins, many will say "of course, he did." If he loses, he will be on the downward trend, so you see Lance just cannot win this Tour whatever he does, in the eyes of some!

He could go for the lead from start to finish, just like Maes did and Anquetil almost did, but I don't think so. For the first time, possibly since the days of Eddy Merckx, riders are saying, no one can beat him. If this is so, than the watchword is "beware."

As we get ready for the Tour, which starts in beautiful Luxembourg, let's remembers what happened to the 1988 winner Pedro Delgado when the race started in the Grand Duchy in 1989. In the Prologue time trial over 7.8kms, he missed his start (and he was last to go as the previous winner) and finished up 2-54 behind winner Erik Breukink. "Perico" had spent too long warming up and made the classic mistake.

It got worse though, and in the team time trial he got dropped by his team next day. His Reynolds squad finishing last of the 22 teams and another massive 4-32 lost!!

Luxembourg was not a favorite place for Pedro, as he left the country 9-57 behind the race leader and in 197th place -- or second from last.

Things did get better though, and in Paris, he was on the podium in third place, 3-34 behind Laurent Fignon and 3-42 back of Greg LeMond. If it hadn't been such a great race between LeMond and Fignon, the real ride might have been seen to have come from Pedro Delgado, who now commentates alongside us and has even learned words of English.

 

 

 

lance is in top form. lance is my vote, he was last year too and this isnt american sentiment we all know i am an anarchist, but there is just something super human about this guy. amerika seems to breed it into their riders this issue of recovery stardom. lance minus a nut. lemond with metal under his skin. theres just something about the perseverence of the pain that these guys put themselves through. i hope lance does exactly what he did last year and just play the final jersey game, he didnt break out of around 15th until about 10 or so stages in. if he doesnt burn himself out he will take it. he has the best pace the best legs, but i am a little concerned about the usps team, even tho liggett is all about them i just dont know if they can fair without some of the names that used to keep lance alive. but thats my word. and im no pro.

 

 

Saturday, July 6

11:30am-1:30pm ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Sunday, July 7

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Monday, July 8

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Tuesday, July 9

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Wednesday, July 10

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Thursday, July 11

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Friday, July 12

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Saturday, July 13

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Sunday, July 14

Live audio race coverage available on olntv.com - 9:30am-11:30am

CBS Coverage - 5:00pm - 6:00pm ET

OLN Coverage - 9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Coverage, commentary & analysis of day's stage

Monday, July 15

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Tuesday, July 16 - Rest Day

9:30am-11:30am ET - Re-air of previous day's stage

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of previous day's stage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Highlights of Stages 1-9

Wednesday, July 17

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Thursday, July 18

8:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Friday, July 19

8:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Saturday, July 20

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Sunday, July 21

Live audio race coverage available on olntv.com - 9:30am-11:30am

CBS Coverage - 2:00pm - 4:00pm ET

OLN Coverage - 9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Coverage, commentary & analysis of day's stage

Monday, July 22 - Rest Day

9:30am-11:30am ET - Re-air of previous day's stage

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of previous day's stage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Highlights of Stages 10-14

Tuesday, July 23

9:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Wednesday, July 24

7:30am-11:30am ET - Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Thursday, July 25

8:30am-11:30am ET -Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Friday, July 26

9:30am-11:30am ET -Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Saturday, July 27

9:30am-11:30am ET -Live!

3:00pm-5:00pm ET - Re-air of live coverage

9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Commentary & analysis of day's stage

Sunday, July 28

Live audio race coverage available on olntv.com - 9:30am-11:30am

CBS Coverage -- 2:00pm - 3:00pm ET

OLN Coverage - 9:00pm-11:00pm ET/PT - Coverage, commentary & analysis of day's stage

Thursday, August 22

8-pm ET/PT - Post-race Show

 

Join Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen for a re-cap of the most exciting moments of the 2002 Tour de France.

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Guest Jan Ulrich

thanks for posting this up willy. i'm probably going to miss 3/4 of the tour because i don't have OLN. i'll beg friends to let me come over during the mountain stages but otherwise, this will be my primary source for tour updates.

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Guest HESHIANDET

this is cool here, when the tour is over i'll archive the deails into bicicletas.

 

 

im saying lance all the way, btu i'd love to see liepenhiemer(*SP) get a good finish. i know hes young, but hes at the front of rabobank, soooooo.

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Guest ctrl+alt+del

geeeeeeeez. good job at keeping us up to date willy!!:crazy: :crazy:

 

this is what i know.......

 

1 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Lampre Daikin 4.58.21

2 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 0.03

3 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal

4 Raimondas Rumsas(Ltu) Lampre Daikin 0.06

5 Santiago Botero (Col) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.07

6 David Millar (GBr) Cofidis 0.08

7 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour 0.09

8 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 0.10

9 Dario Frigo (Ita) Tacconi Sport 0.11

10 Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) ONCE 0.12

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July 6th. Prologue.

It was a remarkable Prologue time trial on probably the best course I've ever seen in my 30 years on the Tour. It did, of course, produce the finish America and OLN wanted, but that was the bonus of super day in Luxembourg!

Lance was inspired and I hope he doesn't pull any criticism for not starting in his yellow jersey as last year's winner. The purists might not understand.

He has a point when he wanted to start in his USPS team strip and earn the maillot jaune. It was a great incentive over the second part of the course.

Will he try to lead from start to finish? I can't believe he will, but he hinted in French that this might be the case. After all, as someone pointed to me, his team will still have to control the race whether he's in the lead or not.

Another surprise, on a day of many, was the great performance from Laurent Jalabert. I thought he was coming to the start with suspect form, but instead it looks like he has purposely kept his form a secret and is ready for a good Tour. Phil Liggett OLN

 

This TT was FUCKING amazing. I really cant say much more than that my little brother called it before the start he said Lance won. and oh fuck did lance win. Lance took ever single thing that was in him and threw it at everyone in 7 damn kilometres. think of training for 100-200 mile races and then smoking the fuck out of the worlds top sprinters. i know alot of people dont put a lot of weight on the prologue but me being a sprinter think the tts are the best part of the race. Lance is super human he isnt real he is like osama bin laden wagging the fucking dog i refuse to believe his existence. One testicle three tour wins fuck me.

 

July 7th. Stage 1. Luxembourg to Luxembourg.

In a stark contrast to the rather predictable start to the Tour de France we saw in yesterday’s prologue, the first road stage of the 2002 race concluded with a flurry of action, high drama and finally a surprising and impressive victory. Rubens Bertogliati found himself in the right place at the right time – and with a well timed surge he bolted away from an elite pack to not only claim the stage win, but also inherit the overall lead.

The 23-year-old Swiss rider began his second Tour in obscurity, but thanks to a sensational final kilometer he can now be assured of recognition when he starts the second stage in the yellow jersey.

Pundits perused the route and predicted a finale for the sprinters. Perhaps this contributed to Bertogliati’s quest for victory, because the birthday boy, Erik Zabel – the Tour’s most successful current quick – was present, primed and prepared to pounce. But Rubens ignored protocol. Why wait in the shadow of stars like Zabel or Robbie McEwen or Fabio Baldato or the reigning world champion Oscar Freire, when you’ve got enough strength to race clear and enjoy a solo salute? All these renown sprinters filled the minor placings with the same time as the winner from the Italian Lampre team. They just didn’t share Bertogliati’s conviction today.

Until today, Rubens was considered a fair time trial rider and a handy team man. From hereon in, however, he’ll be recognized as the man who threw an element of surprise back on the Tour.

As the peloton passed under the one-kilometer to go structure, Rubens jumped down the right-hand side of the road. Pedalling a big gear and pushing with all his might from the hips down – in a style more reminiscent of a track rider starting a one kilometer time trial – he quickly raced clear of the pack of sprinters who were focused on predictable rivals. Within seconds his advantage was 50 meters. Enough for him to insist with his effort despite a painful closing 25km which was packed with attacks over the undulating course. Twenty seconds later the sprinters panicked. The gap was opened, and there was nothing they could do.

Bertogliati’s standing grind continued until the finish was in sight. Then he sat, pumped his pedals nine more times and rolled across the line. Exhausted. Exhilarated! He found the energy to throw his left arm in salute. And then turn to see the look of surprise on the faces of the famed, but foiled sprinters.

It was the sort of surge many riders try, but rarely do they succeed. At this level, timing is everything. But sometimes even the experts get it wrong. ‘Kilo’ riders often turn into sprinters. But rarely, on the road, does one kilometer provide the rewards that Rubens received today.

 

 

I didn't get a chance to watch all of todays stage. When i caught it, it was strictly peloton racing with a 3 minute leader breakaway. Christophe Moreau caused a little bit of a crash, but like i said im not much help today.

 

 

 

 

**leave me alone the girl on my neck came to visit this weekend. we only watched the prologue together. shes a courier in boston so we went for a ride to the beach and stuff. i think things are getting good in that department. so shoosh you got two for one today. and ill be back tomorrow weekends are tough with me here and her there and me having oln so excuse me in advance for friday, sat, and sunday posts and comments being made on mondays or tuesdays depending how good the weekend was....

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Guest HESHIANDET

today was the last i'll see of the tour untill the video comes out :(. back in philly, no OLN. good race, lil homeboy was on point w/ his breakaway, it wsa dope.

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Guest HESHIANDET

i ust got back to philly. i need to catch up on some bills and then i hope to come out for 2 or 3 weeks. hit my email son!

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Guest TEARZ

today's win by freire was really top notch.

i'd be interested to get your feedback on this one jobe.

at the outset i was sure that the other man/machine besides lance in the peloton, zabel, would take this stage... telekom have so many fast guys, including danilo hondo- not that mapei is any joke w/ steels... but with the stage being in germany and the profile of the course, it seemed to have zabel written all over it.

coming into the final sprint was a hard turn- with a small crash- some bonjour guys and maybe an ag2r... then it was on... little homie in the yellow jersey basically was forced to lead it out because his lead ran out of gas... then the telekom train went, and of course mcewan marked zabel as always- and i was sure that he had him.... in fact he beat zabel to the punch, but then out of nowhere freire came like a bat out of hell on the right. i nearly shit my pants, and judging by the look on mcewan's face, probably excited because he thought that if he beat zabel he would win, he probably felt the same way.

great sprint really.

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McEwen Hits Jackpot; Zabel Takes Lead

German Erik Zabel couldn't do it in his home country, but as the 2002

Tour moved back into France today, Zabel, riding for the Deutsche

Telekom team, made the right moves to put himself atop the leader board

and into the yellow jersey. Zabel collected the precious few bonus

seconds that he needed to take the overall lead from Lampre rider Rubens

Bertogliati in today's intermediate sprints and by finishing second on

the stage overall.

 

Australian champion Robbie McEwen of the Belgian Lotto team won today's

mostly flat, 174.5-km stage from Metz to the capital of the Champagne

region, Reims.

 

efending three-time champ Lance Armstrong stayed tucked safely in the

front of the field surrounded by his US Postal Service teammates.

Armstrong and company were careful to conserve as much energy as

possible today as tomorrow's 67.5km team time trial is considered the

first stage of this year's Tour that is likely to have an impact on the

final General Classification.

 

There were no major crashes in the third stage and, as the race moves

into its fifth day, the entire field of 189 riders that started the race

in Luxembourg on Saturday is still complete.

 

 

 

*********************

i know i have gotten lazy. i just havent been able to focus i installed a screen door yesterday and started building a new style wheel three leading three trailing and it frustrated me i am stuck on one fucking spoke. well onto the tour i didnt watch more than three minutes of the peloton chase and spent the whole time hoping for a crash like mondays. i guess i am just in rare form these days, normally i can completely focus on the tour when it is one but this year is wierd im not into it. im not watching the revolutions per minute and examining the upstrokes of sprinters i turn it on and it becomes background music. i promise i will try to focus on todays coverage. sorry for being a horrible reporter.... thats what phil liggett is for tho.

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so ive failed miserably again, relying on oln emails to get you guys the latest greatest tdf info...

 

ONCE Pops Cork In Team Time Trial!

ONCE-Eroski shook up the standings in the 89th Tour de France today by

winning the 67.5km Team Time Trial stage by 16 seconds over defending

champion Lance Armstrong's US Postal Service squad. Today's stage took

place in the heart of Champagne country with the course often running

next to the scenic Marne River.

 

ONCE rider Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano started the day in 12th place (26

seconds back) on General Classification, but thanks to the time gained

in today's stage, he is the new yellow jersey. With the help of his ONCE

squad, Galdeano should have no difficulty hanging onto the Tour's symbol

of leadership until the first individual time trial stage on Monday,

July 15th.

 

Although his Postal team finished second on the day, American Lance

Armstrong actually moved up one spot on General Classification to third

place, just seven seconds behind Galdeano.

 

QUOTE

"In Team Time Trials you've all got to think together, think the same

way and we did that today.

 

"Armstrong is number one, he's the best rider here in the Tour de

France. Of course we'll try to win, but we'll see in Paris. For now I'm

just going to enjoy this moment."--New Tour leader Igor Gonzalez de

Galdeano

 

 

 

hopefully i ll catch this on late nite OLN because we all know how much i love the tts. once is pink like my bike... but lance oh damn...

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lance takes it back.

 

i took someones advice woke up early and watched the stage today. needless to say i was extremely impressed beyond a breath. lance took it. if you havent seen it you need to watch this stage to understand the chessboxing mentality of professional cycling. this was a perfect example of thought out riding. with usps rider roberto herras carrying lance to his 17th stage win there really is nothing more to say. jalabert blew himself out, but did win a ton of points for king of the mountain classification, the look on his face when he was tailed after having a 2 minute lead at the 5k was something that i would not be surprised leads him into a deep dark depression.

i really dont have a lot to say, minus the sheer amazement at lances technique, killing a mountain stage proves to the entire world that he just aint human.

thats my word and im sticking to it.

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Guest TEARZ

heras, heras, heras. god damn... in my opinion, it was really a shame that beloki stayed with lance and roberto (and he suffered like a motherfucker to do it), because lance would have certainly given heras the win, which he deserved. i haven't ever seen heras ride that well; i know he won the 2000 vuelta, but he was for complete shit last year, especially in the vuelta. i agree wholeheartedly- a truly inspiring, non-human effort by lance and postal. i've got to think that at this point, barring any major crash or problem, that lance will ride in yellow all the way to paris.

almost makes me want to go suffer in the hills. in fact i will tomorrow.

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I'm going to miss the next few stages due some light travelling, but I'm sure Lance will stay in yellow till Paris now. Tomorrows climb is a bit tougher than today's and if the effort put in by team USPS is anything to go by... lance could gain even more time tomorrow. I mentioned in another thread my disgust with OLN's choice for Ride of the Day. I do believe that Armstrong deserves mounds of respect. And I do believe that he didn't draft Herras to the line. He rode the mountain as a team mate of Herras and sprinted for the win because Beloki forced him. Lance even said it himself that Herras won the stage. Which I thought was on the level. But the tactical riding done in the last 3 kilometers was text book perfect. Crunching Beloki inbetween Herras and Armstrong, making him work and setting up Lance for the win. It was exciting to watch. I'm going to be sad to miss the next couple of days.

 

Thanks for the Tour news Willy!!

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Guest im not witty

wow, this whole thread got me pumped, and i know nothing about bikes! but i read every word in this thread, soooo go bike stuff. if you guys are down, well then so is i. also i am drunk.

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sacre bleu.

 

again!!!!!!!!!!!!

call me a liar, call it a repeat. this time 5km out, beloki heras and lance had a nice tight little breakaway going and then the superman did it again. i really dont even think that anything else is worth commenting on more chessboxing. i guess i could comment on the real boxing skills of christophe moreau but i didnt see the alleged punch and wish i had... i love it when cycling becomes hockey.

 

take this in your downtube and smoke it... 6 hours in the saddle, a beyond classification climb to end the rce and an average of 19mph over about 120 miles. maybe id better settle down all my lance talk my jinx him. oh wait hes batman... he beat superman with a little help from the green arrow.

 

lance waited up for heras to give him the win but beloki wouldnt give up. i give him the award for eating the most shit and still wiping his mouth... because he is putting up with a lot grinning and bearing it. whereas among lance and roberto i dont think they know grins they just know wins. that was lame i was trying to be poetic like phil liggett but... no british accent and no time trial bike to go waste time on... god i want to ride so bad.

 

lance to paris... in yellow making bling bling.

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