Technically Speaking: Off the Cuff

What a finish to the Tour!. I had the fortune/misfortune to watch the last stage live. I was happy about that for I kept getting news of the Tour before I had a chance to watch it via TiVo. The unfortunate part is that I couldn’t skip the commerials and the boring segments.

I haven’t figured out the nuances of the riding etiquette. For the last stage, I think that the overall leader’s team has the privilege of leading the peleton all the way into France. It seemed to be a traditional thing that all the riders had agreed upon. This makes the last day of the Tour a bit boring. No action till they reach the Champs-Élysées, Paris.

What I found really exciting about the last few stages of the Tour is how Lance gained the lead and steadily increased it through to the end. By the end of the 18th stage Lance had a commanding lead, nearly assured of victory. At the end of the 19th, Lance was all but named bonified winner. Starting the 20th stage, short of a race ending crash, Lance was the winner, no one could touch him. Now that is the way to ride to victory, without a worry and assured victory.

Lance has set a new record of wins, consectutive wins, 6 for the Tour. When asked if he would be there again for next year’s Tour, Lance was a bit apprehensive to commit. But I think that he will continue to dazzle us until he feels that he can not do it any more.

Check the results of the last few stages.
Final Standings
1 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 83h 36′ 02″
2 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 06′ 19″
3 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 06′ 40″
4 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 08′ 50″
5 AZEVEDO José POR USP at 14′ 30″
6 MANCEBO Francisco ESP IBB at 18′ 01″
7 TOTSCHNIG Georg AUT GST at 18′ 27″
8 SASTRE Carlos ESP CSC at 19′ 51″
9 LEIPHEIMER Levi USA RAB at 20′ 12″
10 PEREIRO SIO Oscar ESP PHO at 22′ 54″

Stage 20 Results
1 BOONEN Tom BEL QSD in 4h 08′ 26″
2 NAZON Jean-Patrick FRA A2R at 00′ 00″
3 HONDO Danilo GER GST at 00′ 00″
4 MC EWEN Robbie AUS LOT at 00′ 00″
5 ZABEL Erik GER TMO at 00′ 00″
6 CASPER Jimmy FRA COF at 00′ 00″
7 O’GRADY Stuart AUS COF at 00′ 00″
8 COOKE Baden AUS FDJ at 00′ 00″
9 MORI Massimiliano ITA DVE at 00′ 00″
10 DE GROOT Bram NED RAB at 00′ 00″
Also:
114 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP at 00′ 19″

Stage 19
Stage Standings
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 1h 06′ 49″
2 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 01′ 01″
3 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 01′ 27″
4 006 LANDIS Floyd USA USP at 02′ 25″

Overall Standings
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 79h 27′ 17″
2 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 06′ 38″
3 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 06′ 59″
4 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 09′ 09″

Stage 18
Stage Standings
1 107 MERCADO Juan Miguel ESP QSD in 4h 04′ 03″
2 073 GARCIA ACOSTA Vicente ESP IBB at 00′ 00″
3 096 FOFONOV Dmitriy KAZ COF at 00′ 11″
4 058 JOLY Sébastien FRA C.A at 00′ 11″

Overall Standings
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 78h 20′ 28″
2 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 04′ 09″
3 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 05′ 11″
4 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 08′ 08″

Stage 17
Stage Standings
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 6h 11′ 52″
2 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 00′ 00″
3 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 00′ 01″
4 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 00′ 01″

Overall Standings
1 001 ARMSTRONG Lance USA USP in 74h 04′ 56″
2 061 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC at 04′ 09″
3 017 KLÖDEN Andréas GER TMO at 05′ 11″
4 011 ULLRICH Jan GER TMO at 08′ 08″