LA's 2004 TdF margin of victory



sunman

New Member
Feb 29, 2004
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So, now that it has become obvious that none of his popular rivals have come to win, it is time to predict Lance's margin of victory in Paris. Next thing you know the rags will claim that USPS (or maybe just Lance, alone, in a black TT skinsuit) sabotaged the other contenders.
 
I think Ivan Basso will ride with Lance through the Alps matching him all the way. No way Lance and USPS will let him ride away to gain time, and I don't think Lance will be able to ride away from Basso either.

That boils it down to the last ITT where I think Lance will put another 0:45 to 1:30 on Basso to finish about 2-3 minutes ahead. The real race is for who gets the last spot on the podium this year. And all indications are that along with Basso we will have 2 newcomers to the podium in Paris this year.
 
davidbod said:
I think Ivan Basso will ride with Lance through the Alps matching him all the way. No way Lance and USPS will let him ride away to gain time, and I don't think Lance will be able to ride away from Basso either.

That boils it down to the last ITT where I think Lance will put another 0:45 to 1:30 on Basso to finish about 2-3 minutes ahead. The real race is for who gets the last spot on the podium this year. And all indications are that along with Basso we will have 2 newcomers to the podium in Paris this year.
I concur with your analysis....I'm hoping for a little larger lead than 2-3 minutes going into the last ITT though...
 
zapper said:
I concur with your analysis....I'm hoping for a little larger lead than 2-3 minutes going into the last ITT though...
I wager that tomorrow Jan Ullrich will gain 3 minutes on Lance and will finish third, giving Basso the number 2 spot which Ivan will have to fight to keep. Lance is a shoo-in for first,barring accident however.
 
thugpreacha said:
I wager that tomorrow Jan Ullrich will gain 3 minutes on Lance and will finish third, giving Basso the number 2 spot which Ivan will have to fight to keep. Lance is a shoo-in for first,barring accident however.
I sat there for three hours watching the tape from this morning and I had to turn it off when I saw he was going to beat Ulrich's time. That climb while extremely hard was perfectly suited for LA's style of prolonged riding out of the saddle up hills.

I really don't see tomorrow or Friday amounting to squat. It will mean absolutely nothing. I predict that not a damn soul, except for a few insignificant riders simply looking to get a stage win. I think that even the last time trial will be poor.

This is why I get so frustrated with the TDF. There are literally only three or four days of real racing. Hell, after watching some old clips, it seems that the last time that the TDF had any back and forth competition was between LeMond and Hinault, and they were on the same team.
 
I have to admit that I originally posted this poll a bit out of frustration with the performance of the "key rivals" and a general lack of excitement in what could have been a "cyclysm." However, my poll options are becoming a little less ridiculous.

Continuing to tempt fate...