1) Great Tour: much respect to the podium boys, and to Vinokourov for spicing things up along the way.
2) Why is everyone all over Rasmussen for his problems yesterday? Consider this: he had bike changes, flat tires, and fell of his bike twice, and still finished 97 places higher than he did in his last time trial on stage 1. At this exponential rate of improvement, he looks likely to be the next great time trial specialist. Add that to his prowess in the mountains, and I think we're seeing the next 7 time Tour champion. . . . . . or not.
3) OK, I will freely acknowledge that I was wrong about Ullrich winning the time trial stage, but only by less than half a minute, and aside from LA, he was the class of the field. I have really learned to like Ullrich over the years. He makes no excuses, simply vows to do his best, and as always, at the end of the Tour looks to be the only one in the field gaining strength along with his nemesis. Now that Armstrong has retired, Ullrich is my favorite rider in professional cycling, and I hope he returns to the TdF next year to win it, and . . .
4) Don't know if it's been discussed, but I think I'm correct in stating that if Jan finishes on the podium next year, he'll tie Poulidor for most podium finishes. If he could manage to get there by creating a "Lance sandwich" (winning the TdF before and after Armstrong's dominance), Jan would achieve something monumental in his own right.
This day is always bittersweet for me; I realize we are still in midseason, but there's nothing quite like the TdF, and certainly it will be quite some time before I'm able to indulge my craving for televised cycling on a daily basis here in the United States, where the typical person thinks "Vuelta" is the name of a latin supermodel.
2) Why is everyone all over Rasmussen for his problems yesterday? Consider this: he had bike changes, flat tires, and fell of his bike twice, and still finished 97 places higher than he did in his last time trial on stage 1. At this exponential rate of improvement, he looks likely to be the next great time trial specialist. Add that to his prowess in the mountains, and I think we're seeing the next 7 time Tour champion. . . . . . or not.
3) OK, I will freely acknowledge that I was wrong about Ullrich winning the time trial stage, but only by less than half a minute, and aside from LA, he was the class of the field. I have really learned to like Ullrich over the years. He makes no excuses, simply vows to do his best, and as always, at the end of the Tour looks to be the only one in the field gaining strength along with his nemesis. Now that Armstrong has retired, Ullrich is my favorite rider in professional cycling, and I hope he returns to the TdF next year to win it, and . . .
4) Don't know if it's been discussed, but I think I'm correct in stating that if Jan finishes on the podium next year, he'll tie Poulidor for most podium finishes. If he could manage to get there by creating a "Lance sandwich" (winning the TdF before and after Armstrong's dominance), Jan would achieve something monumental in his own right.
This day is always bittersweet for me; I realize we are still in midseason, but there's nothing quite like the TdF, and certainly it will be quite some time before I'm able to indulge my craving for televised cycling on a daily basis here in the United States, where the typical person thinks "Vuelta" is the name of a latin supermodel.
