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Post by scdistance on Jul 22, 2006 5:49:37 GMT -5
It looks like Lance Armstrong has been replaced by a man from Lancaster Pennsylvania. After falling behind by 11 minutes and 30 seconds, he made a remarkable come back and is now only behind by 30 seconds.
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Post by scdistance on Jul 22, 2006 5:50:43 GMT -5
He is currently in third place
Oh, I almost forgot he also has a hip condition.
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Post by urbanlegend on Jul 22, 2006 5:53:26 GMT -5
Why is it that our athletes always seem to be fighting some kind of injury or disease. I think somneone is trying to get on the news.
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Post by scseether on Jul 22, 2006 8:00:38 GMT -5
Well one thing is for sure, if you win the Tour De France and you're injured it makes you look that much better than the average biking joe.
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Post by CoachSpongeBob on Jul 22, 2006 8:29:14 GMT -5
A couple things you missed there though. He only lost 10 minutes to the stage winner on Thursday - not 11 minutes. But the stage winner wasn't a contender to win the whole race. He only lost 8 minutes to him. And really, 8 minutes isn't that much. That wasn't what was amazing. He looked like he had nothing left at the end of the stage, and to come back and basically run the entire next stage by himself and get all of that time back, that is what is amazing.
They have also said that the hip surgery he needs is having no effect on how he is doing in the tour de france. He has said he hasn't really felt it during this race, but previously when he felt it, it didn't hinder him greatly on the bike.
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Post by scdistance on Jul 22, 2006 18:31:28 GMT -5
I heard that because of his hip he could only get on a bike from one side(not thet it matters as long as he can get on).
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Post by scdistance on Jul 22, 2006 18:32:44 GMT -5
In my opinion this guy is better then Lance Armstrong. Not only is he a great athlete but a better person(as far as I know).
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Post by hasercentury06 on Jul 22, 2006 21:06:00 GMT -5
I guess it would be nice to know his name. It's Floyd Landis.
He's up by 59 seconds with one stage to go. The article I read about said he thinks he has it in the bag. Pretty confident, but borderline c.o.c.k.y I think. We'll see.
I like the censoring on here. Its amusing.
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Post by CoachSpongeBob on Jul 22, 2006 22:16:18 GMT -5
Colin - I am assuming you don't know much about cycling. You can't make up much of any ground on the last stage. It's a flat stage, and you can't get away from the pelaton. Unless your within a couple seconds, nobody ever makes any moves on the last day. I could explain it more, but it's just too hard to do it. The teams keep everybody in check, and it's too hard to work in the front.
As far as Lance, he is a great guy. The french hate him (not all of them) because he dominated them so much. We Americans do the same thing if somebody came in and took our one pride and joy (the Tour de FRANCE). They redicule him to death over there. But he is a great guy. He is more outspoken - and does it in a good way - trying to help the cycling community.
Landis is more of a quite guy. Nice guy too, but just different. Him and Lance are good buddies though, old teammates.
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Post by hasercentury06 on Jul 22, 2006 22:25:51 GMT -5
I didn't say he wasn't going to win it. I think he will. Just its very unusual for an athlete to talk like that on the day before.
And on the contrary, I know a decent bit about cycling. My mom is probably the biggest Tour fan around, and my sister is a huge Lance fan. So I know the whole team racing thing and how the pelaton works.
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Post by CoachSpongeBob on Jul 22, 2006 22:30:46 GMT -5
Then you know its next to impossible for him to lose tomorrow. It just doesn't happen. The smallest lead Lance had going into the final day was 61 seconds, and he sipped the champaign long before the race was over on the last day. I doubt any of the contenders will even take a chance at it, its just improbable unless Floyd gets hurt that he will lose. Everybody knows it, its just a ride to glory tomorrow.
In fact, my opinion now - I think everybody knew yesterday that Landis was going to win if he had a clean run. He was a much better time trial rider then the two ahead of him. Unless he made a mistake, they couldn't hang with him. It will go down in history that he won the tour on Thursday, in the mountains.
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Post by scdistance on Jul 23, 2006 8:22:55 GMT -5
That's great for him, hopefully he will be able to keep it up and win again next year.
As far as Lance goes... I don't like him much because the whole cheating on his wife thing.
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Post by scdistance on Jul 23, 2006 8:28:03 GMT -5
I also here that there were alligations of him using steroids during his first tour de france
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Post by CoachSpongeBob on Jul 23, 2006 8:55:29 GMT -5
When did he ever cheat on his wife?  And they (the french) claim he always was cheating. But he was tested more then anybody on tour, and never had any sign of having any illegal substances. |
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Post by CoachSpongeBob on Jul 23, 2006 9:34:48 GMT -5
So far as expected, nobody has put in any challenges in the last stage. For a portion the top 3 got together and rode next to each other, showing to everybody the podium finish of the race. Seems to be a very relaxed race and looks to be a bunch sprint finish again.
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