tourdefrance stage 20
This is the only time ive felt so sad after watching a stage in my whole life.
Jan Ulrich was superb!! BACK on form man!! back as the Jan Ulrich he has always been since 1999. Every year podium position since 1999 except for last year, where he was down with a flu before the tour. He has got it back again!!! overtaking Michael Rasmussen's advantage of about 2.3 minutes and reclaiming 3rd place!!! GREAT job man!!! He set the Best time for the time trial, 1st place!! until lance armstrong came and beat him by 24 seconds la..but still!! waaa...in third place is vinokourov.. by about 1 minute plus.. wheee its jus like how it had always been last time. Big Jan Ulrich and Lance Armstrong, the two strongest riders of the tour de france. ulrich has proven that he still is man. Its been a long time since ive seen them two competiting together in a close matched stage. Vinokourov has finally proven himself too. Two years ago Vino didnt race. Last year he did, but Ulrich was sick, and Vino wasnt on form. This is the onli year where the duo are both back on form. Michael Rasmussen was sad. 4 bike changes and two crashes.not really 4 bike changes cos there were onli two bikes present. definitely not his day today. Recalling back to exactly two years ago, this was the same stage where Jan Ulrich fell and Lost narrowly to Lance. It was raining, and he slipped. Lance won NArrowly. a pity there wont be any more chances of these happening once ulrich has left.
Next year eveyrthing would be different. The tour would be different. its so sad. All the riders that ive learnt to recognise and love ever since i got into cycling, all starting to fade away one by one. i cant imagine this would be the last time id be seeing the two of them cycle. Lance retiring. Ulrich not retiring, but even so if he wins next year it aint that spectacular anymore..Next year its him againts basso man..Ulrich you better win.. Now even if joseba beloki comes back in shape i wont get to see the 2002 drama of beloki armstrong and ulrich anymore. Crap id really miss them man. All those past drama from all their past years of racing. all those spectacular moments all etched in my mind. 2003 beloki ulrich and hamilton all attacking armstrong..how beloki fell on a highspeed descent at stage 9 and retired to a broken thigh, while armstrong avoided him and rode into a field of grass..how Jan Ulrich fell at stage 20 timetrial thus losing to armstrong by onli 9 seconds..the times where Heras helped Armstrong when he was his teammate..Armstrong winning tdf with Ulrich at second place.. how armstrong played bluff at one stage by playing dead and den attacking to victory when everyone tired out.. how armstrong always rides timetrials..his habit of pulling at the back of his shorts to straighten imaginary creases.. Jan Ulrich using his powerful engine to pull the peloton, such as in last year champs- elysees.. Armstrong and his characteristic quick cadence pedaling while Ulrich with his trademark grinding of massive gears..the patented "look" that armstrong gives his competitors before he attacks them and beats them.. Armstrong's former Team United States Postal Service and Jan Ulrich's former Team Bianchi... Ulrich's trademark rudyproject ekynox and rhydon and Lance's Oakley zero.. The years of yellow jerseyed Team Once with Joseba Beloki..The days where people such as mario cipollini and gilberto simoni were still around..Talking of Gilberto he missed out on this year tour de france. He went for Giro D'italia though, got second man! pro..first was valvedez or someting cant spell. I heard all the spanish riders are conserving for tour of spain or someting. The days of Tyler Hamilton, him riding on with a broken collarbone and even winning stages such as stage 16 where he broke away..hamilton's retirement last year after alleged doping to win world championships.. Crap man tinking of all these my Cycling manager is outdated..Alessandra Petacchi didnt take part in tdf again..went for giro too
Ah so sad..the kinda feeling is..how to describe? bittersweet. tmr would be Champs-Elysees.. Armstrong's last day as a professional cyclist..ah sad..but anyway would be nice too...watch Robbie McEwen, Thor Hushovd, Erik Zabel and Stuart'O Grady fight it out for the green jersey..well at least these are all still familiar names.
Btw there was one stage this year where andreas kloden attacked vinokourov..like wth intra-team disunity ah? where got attack one teammate one? T-mobile like never very united liddat..remember that there was an interview where andreas said that he would never work for/help vinokourov..true enough..
Stage 21 Final Criterium race - Champs-elysees ( updated post )
This post getting kinda long so id keep this short.. Anyway as the commentators predicted yesterday there Were numerous breakaways, all of which were pulled back by the peloton. Anyway guess who won?? ALEXANDRE VINOKOUROV! haha SUPER pro mann at the final kilometer or so he broke away with some lousy guy who he later dumped.. more like a solo breakaway..ONE man..with the power to hold off THE whole peloton behind him!! especially when everyone is speeding up to prepare for the sprints!! omg that's HOW pro laaa..Anyway the weather was challenging it drizzled before that so the track was particularly wet... Slippery wet cobberstones for a high-speed criterium course..how hard is that..As usual armstrong played safe stayed behind.. He was drinking champaign with his team manager and chatting with vinokourov and ulrich and ppl..haha its so....heartwarming? to see them chatting with each other during a race..its like they put the competitiveness aside and start smiling and all... Ah at the end of the day..Armstrong won the malliot jon.. basso and ulrich podium second and third respectively.. Thor Hushovd green jersey..even though vino crashed their final sprints.. btw for winning the stage vino earned his bonus time which brought him up to 5th overall in the GC...
The end of another tour de france..but the end of another era.. oh well... that's it for tdf reports this year..see you next year
Jan Ulrich was superb!! BACK on form man!! back as the Jan Ulrich he has always been since 1999. Every year podium position since 1999 except for last year, where he was down with a flu before the tour. He has got it back again!!! overtaking Michael Rasmussen's advantage of about 2.3 minutes and reclaiming 3rd place!!! GREAT job man!!! He set the Best time for the time trial, 1st place!! until lance armstrong came and beat him by 24 seconds la..but still!! waaa...in third place is vinokourov.. by about 1 minute plus.. wheee its jus like how it had always been last time. Big Jan Ulrich and Lance Armstrong, the two strongest riders of the tour de france. ulrich has proven that he still is man. Its been a long time since ive seen them two competiting together in a close matched stage. Vinokourov has finally proven himself too. Two years ago Vino didnt race. Last year he did, but Ulrich was sick, and Vino wasnt on form. This is the onli year where the duo are both back on form. Michael Rasmussen was sad. 4 bike changes and two crashes.not really 4 bike changes cos there were onli two bikes present. definitely not his day today. Recalling back to exactly two years ago, this was the same stage where Jan Ulrich fell and Lost narrowly to Lance. It was raining, and he slipped. Lance won NArrowly. a pity there wont be any more chances of these happening once ulrich has left.
Next year eveyrthing would be different. The tour would be different. its so sad. All the riders that ive learnt to recognise and love ever since i got into cycling, all starting to fade away one by one. i cant imagine this would be the last time id be seeing the two of them cycle. Lance retiring. Ulrich not retiring, but even so if he wins next year it aint that spectacular anymore..Next year its him againts basso man..Ulrich you better win.. Now even if joseba beloki comes back in shape i wont get to see the 2002 drama of beloki armstrong and ulrich anymore. Crap id really miss them man. All those past drama from all their past years of racing. all those spectacular moments all etched in my mind. 2003 beloki ulrich and hamilton all attacking armstrong..how beloki fell on a highspeed descent at stage 9 and retired to a broken thigh, while armstrong avoided him and rode into a field of grass..how Jan Ulrich fell at stage 20 timetrial thus losing to armstrong by onli 9 seconds..the times where Heras helped Armstrong when he was his teammate..Armstrong winning tdf with Ulrich at second place.. how armstrong played bluff at one stage by playing dead and den attacking to victory when everyone tired out.. how armstrong always rides timetrials..his habit of pulling at the back of his shorts to straighten imaginary creases.. Jan Ulrich using his powerful engine to pull the peloton, such as in last year champs- elysees.. Armstrong and his characteristic quick cadence pedaling while Ulrich with his trademark grinding of massive gears..the patented "look" that armstrong gives his competitors before he attacks them and beats them.. Armstrong's former Team United States Postal Service and Jan Ulrich's former Team Bianchi... Ulrich's trademark rudyproject ekynox and rhydon and Lance's Oakley zero.. The years of yellow jerseyed Team Once with Joseba Beloki..The days where people such as mario cipollini and gilberto simoni were still around..Talking of Gilberto he missed out on this year tour de france. He went for Giro D'italia though, got second man! pro..first was valvedez or someting cant spell. I heard all the spanish riders are conserving for tour of spain or someting. The days of Tyler Hamilton, him riding on with a broken collarbone and even winning stages such as stage 16 where he broke away..hamilton's retirement last year after alleged doping to win world championships.. Crap man tinking of all these my Cycling manager is outdated..Alessandra Petacchi didnt take part in tdf again..went for giro too
Ah so sad..the kinda feeling is..how to describe? bittersweet. tmr would be Champs-Elysees.. Armstrong's last day as a professional cyclist..ah sad..but anyway would be nice too...watch Robbie McEwen, Thor Hushovd, Erik Zabel and Stuart'O Grady fight it out for the green jersey..well at least these are all still familiar names.
Btw there was one stage this year where andreas kloden attacked vinokourov..like wth intra-team disunity ah? where got attack one teammate one? T-mobile like never very united liddat..remember that there was an interview where andreas said that he would never work for/help vinokourov..true enough..
Stage 21 Final Criterium race - Champs-elysees ( updated post )
This post getting kinda long so id keep this short.. Anyway as the commentators predicted yesterday there Were numerous breakaways, all of which were pulled back by the peloton. Anyway guess who won?? ALEXANDRE VINOKOUROV! haha SUPER pro mann at the final kilometer or so he broke away with some lousy guy who he later dumped.. more like a solo breakaway..ONE man..with the power to hold off THE whole peloton behind him!! especially when everyone is speeding up to prepare for the sprints!! omg that's HOW pro laaa..Anyway the weather was challenging it drizzled before that so the track was particularly wet... Slippery wet cobberstones for a high-speed criterium course..how hard is that..As usual armstrong played safe stayed behind.. He was drinking champaign with his team manager and chatting with vinokourov and ulrich and ppl..haha its so....heartwarming? to see them chatting with each other during a race..its like they put the competitiveness aside and start smiling and all... Ah at the end of the day..Armstrong won the malliot jon.. basso and ulrich podium second and third respectively.. Thor Hushovd green jersey..even though vino crashed their final sprints.. btw for winning the stage vino earned his bonus time which brought him up to 5th overall in the GC...
The end of another tour de france..but the end of another era.. oh well... that's it for tdf reports this year..see you next year
posted by wx at 3:16 PM
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