It was a great race today. A very long, fast start followed by two Category 1 climbs that split the peloton into the contenders and everyone else. Lance pulled away from just about everyone (with the help of his teammates) and dropped all the other GC (general classification) riders in the first third of the last climb.
Only Ivan Basso of CSC was able to stay with him at the end and pipped him to the finish. Since Basso's best finish in the Tour is eleventh he hadn't generally been considered a threat on the general classification to Lance's bid for a sixth Tour. I think he might be considered differently after today.
Lance put something like 2:30 on Jan Ullrich (who looked in pain) and even more on other contenders like former teammates Heras and Hamilton. He even gained on Iban Mayo who, as a Basque riding near his home territory was supposed to make a better showing.
Lance may not be as strong as he was two years ago--though time will tell over the next couple of days--but he looks a lot stronger than the usual suspects who contend for the overall crown.
Fascinating race. I remain very annoyed by those who suggest that he is using drugs. I imagine that he probably did in his early days in the Tour (this is his tenth) and he is very careful not to say that he has "never" used them. But I honestly believe that he has been winning these Tours because of his struggle with cancer. After overcoming that, the Tour has to seem a relative breeze.
There seems to be little or no appreciation of that in the commentary. They (especially the French press) seem to be looking for other reasons for his success/dominance.
I put it down to strength of will and preparation.
Posted by artandscience at July 16, 2004 06:22 PM