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Posted: July 12, 2005 Cycling: TOUR DE FRANCE TIMES - Volume 3, No. 10 (July 12, 2005) By James Raia
Publisher's Greeting For the 72nd time in his career, Lance Armstrong is wearing the Yellow race leader's jersey in the Tour de France. With his second place in the 10th stage, Armstrong easily erased his deficit and now leads Mickael Rasmussen of Denmark by 38 seconds. Meanwhile, as the "real" Tour began with the race advancing in the Alps for the first time this year, several other Americans had strong days. And several predicted title contenders faltered. The T-Mobile threesome of Jan Ullrich, Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloden all stumbled in the stage, while the surprise of the Tour remains Rasmussen, the former world mountain bike titlist. As for the other Americans, Levi Leipheimer moved from 16th to 6th overall, followed by Floyd Landis (10th), Bobby Julich (17th), Chris Horner (24th), George Hincapie (32nd) and Fred Rodriquez (118th). For live updates throughout each stage and for full results, visit the Tour's official web site: www.letour.fr. News, Notes & Quotes The original intinerary of the route was reduced from 192.5 kilometers to 181 kms because of a cattlemen's protest in Grenoble before the start. The neutralized zone was extended to Brignoud, which was originally 14 kilometers into the stage . . . The field of 175 following the rest day was reduced to 173. Evgeni Petrov Petrov (Lampre) of Russia did not start and Gerrit Glomser (Lampre) of Australia (abandoned) . . . In the first mountain stage, the final 50 riders lost 38 minutes and 11 seconds. Iker Flores (Euskatel) of Spain is the lanterne rouge, trailing the race leader by 1 hour 48 minutes and 30 seconds . . . The mountains of the Tour continue Wednesday with the 107.5-mile 11th stage from Courchevel to Briancon. The route includes two "beyond category" climbs, the most difficult race ascents and the first of this year's Tour.
Postcard From The Tour Will return 7/13. More from: Tour de France Times
Postcard From The Tour Rest days at the Tour de France are always misnomers. No competition is held and the pace of the day eases, but it's hardly a day off. Teams hold press conferences in their hotels and various Tour officials have receptions and social gatherings. In today's instance, the press room was on the infield of a velodrome, in the Palais des Sport in Grenoble. The facility was a venue for the figuresksting during the 1968 Olympics and is now used for one of the most unique competitions in cycling - six-day racing. As for the rest day, it was a 425-kilometer drive this morning to Grenoble, mostly along auto routes. It took just under four hours (including two 15-minutes stops), and I believe I averaged about 130 kilometers or 81 miles per hour. Speaking of driving, I have a diesel Citroen, a four-door sedan with manual transmission. Today, I surpassed 3,000 kilometers of driving for the Tour, about 1,863 miles. The price of diesel fuel is around 1.15 Euros per liter or 4.37 Euros per gallon or about $5.25 gallon. Gas fuel is about $1 more per gallon. So far, I filled the gas tank three times, about 60 Euros per tank. More from: Tour de France Times © Copyright 2005, James Raia Posted with the permission of James Raia. Subscribe to James Raia's Endurance Sports News and Tour de France Times at: www.byjamesraia.com. They're free and spam-free. Comment on this story. |
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