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Tour de Lance

By mikeolichney,
in YZ400F/426F/450F/450FX

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SoundChaser

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TOUR DE LANCE....

1. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal, 199.5 km in 6:00:29(average: 33.205 kph)

2. Roberto Heras (Sp), U.S. Postal, at 01:04.

3. Joseba Beloki (Sp), ONCE, at 01:04.

4. Santiago Botero (Col), Kelme, at 01:11.

5. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp), ONCE, at 01:11.

6. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit), Lampre, at 01:23.

7. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC-Tiscali, at 01:33.

8. Marcos Serrano (Sp), ONCE, at 01:37.

9. Oscar Sevilla (Sp), Kelme, at 02:07.

10. Andrei Kivilev (Kaz), Lampre, at 02:39.

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mikeolichney

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Originally posted by ACTIONMAN:

GO LANCE ...TEAR EM UP..JUST PRETEND YOUR ON A 426 AND THEY'RE RIDIN 50'S

I guess his team colors are YZ blue. And the other guys are on 50s. Here is proof from Botero's diary 2 years ago:

Throughout the Tour de France, a Colombian rider on the Kelme - Costa Blanca Team, Santiago Botero, has been keeping a diary for the newspaper. Each day the newspaper publishes his diary from the previous day. Unfortunately, the only diary entry I have seen appeared in this past Sunday's edition. However, it was worth the read.

"There I am all alone with my bike. I know of only two riders ahead of me as I near the end of the second climb on what most riders consider the third worst mountain stage in the Tour. I say 'most riders' because I do not fear mountains. After all, our country is nothing but mountains. I train year-round in the mountains. I am the national champion from a country that is nothing but mountains. I trail only my teammate, Fernando Escartin, and a Swiss rider. Pantani, one of my rival climbers, and the Gringo Armstrong are in the Peleton about five minutes behind me. I am climbing on such a steep portion of the mountain that if I were to stop pedaling, I will fall backward. Even for a world class climber, this is a painful and slow process. I am in my upright position pedaling at a steady pace willing myself to finish this climb so I can conserve my energy for the final climb of the day. The Kelme team leader radios to me that the Gringo has left the Peleton by himself and that they can no longer see him.

I recall thinking 'the Gringo cannot catch me by himself'. A short while later, I hear the gears on another bicycle. Within seconds, the Gringo

is next to me - riding in the seated position, smiling at me. He was only next to me for a few seconds and he said nothing - he only smiled and then proceeded up the mountain as if he were pedaling downhill. For the next several minutes, I could only think of one thing - his smile. His smile told me everything. I kept thinking that surely he is in as much agony as me, perhaps he was standing and struggling up the mountain as I was and he only sat down to pass me and discourage me. He has to be playing games with me. Not possible. The truth is that his smile said everything that his lips did not. His smile said to me, 'I was training while you were sleeping, Santiago'. It also said, 'I won this tour four months ago, while you were deciding what bike frame to use in the Tour. I trained harder than you did, Santiago. I don't know if I am better than you, but I have outworked you and right now, you cannot do anything about it. Enjoy your ride, Santiago. See you in Paris.'

Obviously, the Gringo did not state any of this. But his smile did dispel a bad rumor among the riders on the tour. The rumor that surfaced as we began the Prologue several days ago told us that the Gringo had gotten soft. His wife had given birth to his first child and he had won the most difficult race in the world - He had no desire to race, to win.

I imagine that his smile turned to laughter once he was far enough not to embarrass me. The Gringo has class, but he heard the rumors - he probably laugh all the way to Paris. He is a great champion and I must train harder. I am not content to be a great climber, I want to be the best.

I learned much from the Gringo in the mountains. I will never forget the helpless feeling I had yesterday. If I ever become an international champion, I will always remember the lesson the Gringo taught me.

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MikeOK

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That guy is the Tiger Woods of bike racing. If you ever need inspiration, just read his book "It's Not About the Bike". It's even more amazing that he can reach this level after you know what he went through with his cancer.

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VintageDave393

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As a fellow cancer survivor, Lance is truly one of my heros and is a daily inspiration to me. Everyone should read his book "It's not about the bike". We all have to live our dreams while we are here. :D It's no wonder he's so tough in the mountains, he's beaten the biggest monster of them all. ? The Alps probably seem like a downhill to him.

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CJ_Baran

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Lance is an animal!! I spent many years racing road bikes...and he makes it look way too easy. My wife and I have been following the tour every year since 1989. Just some intersesting stats on the tour and Lance:

Length of route: 2,141 miles, or 346 times around Central Park

Vertical distance covered: 11.5 miles, or climbing Mount Everest twice

Calories Armstrong will burn: 75, 634, or 128 Big Macs, or 45 pounds of pasta

Number of times his heart will beat over 21 days of riding: about 952,000

Number of beats for average person during that time: 230,000

Water he'll lose: more than 157 pounds

His weight: 157 pounds

His water consumption: 20 gallons–215 20-ounce water bottles

Power he will generate: 97.2 million joules, enough to light his hometown of Austin for 2 hours and 18 minutes

Now you know why I started riding motorcycles again!!

?

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Thumpty_Dumpty

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"The Texan is really whooping up on them Euros now"

mikeolichney:

These are all fine athletes, both Lance and the 'Euros', as you disresectfully refer to them. Like one of the other posters here, I spent many years road racing and the levels of fitness and commitment needed to even be good enough to start a race like this is simply unbelievable. Stage race riders are probably the most complete athletes in sport, period.

Armstrong is an awesome athlete, at the top of his profession, currently. I don't want to start a 'Euro v US' thing here, but you seem to have forgotten that he had to come to Europe and race the 'Euro' circuit to get as good as he is now.

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mikeolichney

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Thumpty Dumpty: Sorry, but I take offense to the french press and the hecklers screaming "doper!" at him. Hell, the frenchman that just won stage 14 is an admitted doper, and Lance has NEVER failed a drug test. I know he is clean, but the french hate him because he is American.

http://espn.go.com/oly/news/2002/0721/1408286.html

I held a pro triathlon liscense in the early 90s and my best event was the bike. Unless it was the Hawaiian Ironman or I flatted, I would always have one of the top ten bike splits. I remember one day this young kid showed up to race, he must have been 18. He demolished us all on the bike, including "the Teminator" Scott Molina, who had just won the Hawaii Ironman. Molina eventually passed Lance in the run for the win. He was just a kid back then, with no support, and I am sure that he had little access to drugs. He is the real deal.

[ July 22, 2002: Message edited by: mikeolichney ]

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