Tour de France 2009, who do you like?

Great ride for Lance today, set up by yesterday's brilliant move to take advantage of the split. In response to interviewer question's yesterday about who the leader of Astana is, Lance made it a point to remind everyone that he is, after all, a 7 time TDF winner. I don't see Lance conceding a damn thing to Contador or anyone else. He's in it to win the whole shooting match.
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What I loved most about the finish was the Team work.

10 seconds rotations it seemed like, Contadaor-Lance-Levi-Kloden-Zubleida !!!

I am liking this tour very much.
 
There was a post on the dailypeloton forums that someone with access to the live feeds from each camera was measuring the pull times. He said that Lance was pulling 2x and Levi 1.5-1.75x the pulls that Contador or the other teammates were doing.

Lance was being nice, supporting his teammates.

I cannot wait until the fireworks on Friday. A bunch of riders will have to attack after loosing time, and then we will see what the Astana riders do.
 
I have been watching and enjoying the Tour de France for years but there is one term I am not sure of. I know asking makes me look silly at least maybe I can find out the answer. What is an echelon?
 
I think when the wind is in your face or behind you, the group rotates in a flattened out circle parallel to the road, and this is properly called a "pace line." But if the wind is diagonal to the road, and the group rotates in a diagonal line accordingly to best avoid that wind, that is called an "eschelon" formation. Cool to watch, has a beauty of form and function.
Lance really did take on a good share of the work yesterday. His teammates cannot say he is not doing his part.
Friday is the first mountain stage, if I am correct.
Some time back Lance stated he would not be going all out on that first mountain, because so much more will remain. Now he could take the yellow jersey there, so I look forward to seeing how he approaches the stage.
 
A lot of the speculation is that the Astana teammates will be under orders not to attack each other on Friday's stage, but only respond when other GC contenders attack the final climb.

I do expect Paulinho, Popo and Zubeldia to pace the yellow jersey group up the early portion of the final climb. I doubt they will burn up Kloden or Levi, since they could finish on the podium.

In the last tour finish on this climb Ulrich destroyed the competition with his steady rhythm, leaving the top GC contenders spread out over several minutes. The last Vuelta stage there had a lead group of I think 7 or 8 riders all with the same time.

I think this years finish could go either of those ways, but if Astana hangs together as expected a group of 7 or 8 riders finishing in a pack is what I expect to happen.
 
I had a vision that the four Astana riders all hit the bottom of Mont Ventoux within seconds of each other overall and it was a final death race up the mountain on the second to the last day of the Tour.
 
Posted today from LA via Twitter:
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” --Mahatma Gandhi
 
BTW, if you're a big fan of cycling and especially, the Tour, you should own all of these DVDs. Hilarious and compelling looks behind the scenes. Scott Coady is a good guy and I hope he makes more of these.

The Tour, Baby!]
 
If they had King of the Rest Day, suit me up in sweats and a t-shirt, get me a Cervelo, and bring out the kissing French babes.
 
I have a vision, too. The nine Astana riders descend to the base of Mount Ventroix, kick Contador down to the pavement, whereupon all 179 tour riders ski jump off his tortilla flattened crushed body, and each one of them shouts, "Die Spanish Dog!"
Then the three remaining Astana contenders shoot it out for the yellow jersey, and the best man wins.
 
Yesterday a fan who is obviously a Longhorn fan cheered Lance as he went by. He ran along him off the road for a few yards. He had No. 7 on his shirt for how many times Lance won the Tour and also wore burnt orange shorts and a Longhorns horns on the top of his head. Maybe someone knows who he is but he is loyal to UT and Lance whoever he is.
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