How about that team time trial today?! Go USPS team!!!

I guess no one is interested in it!

Sorry I wasn't online at 1am

That time trial was awesome!

Lance kept pushing VHP by asking him what jersey he wanted to wear that night

I don't think there's any question as to which team is the strongest this year. *As a sidenote: how about Tyler Hamilton!?!? *He's ridden 2 stages and a Team Time Trial with his collarbone fractured in two places! *And with the drug testing/restrictions the most powerful painkiller he can use is like Tylenol or something. *Tyler won't win but he has shown more heart by continuing to ride in pain after the huge crash in stage 1.

Big respect to Hamilton for carrying on. however the moment they hit some climbs he'll quit. A terrible shame because he was one of a small number of riders that could have given the fat mouth Texan a run for his money. Notice how the 'tiffosi' have not taken to Lance at all. I wonder why. He mixes with some iffy guys, Dr Ferrari being one, so one has to ask yourself how come he has been so much better than the rest. No doubt a fantasic athlete, iron (and other things? LOL) in his veins, hard as nails, but....................

BTW rididing with a broken collarbone is not without predcedent. Hardman of the peloton Sean Kelly attempted to ride through the pain in the mountains some years back. Just too much for him, or anyone. *Real tragedy.

Guy I always rated was Andy Hampsten, a true star and I believe he always rode 'clean'. Never forget his fantastic victory up to Alpe d'Huez in the arly nineties. An American athlete to be very proud of. Likewise LeMond.

The TV coverage was pretty good. Watching a good team time trial is like watching performance art. Postal never had that sloppy, falling all over the place look as some of the other teams (notably Cofidis). But I guess that that is what you get when you have Lance, Ekimov (Olympic TT and pursuit champ), Hincapie (won the TTT at Junior Worlds in '90), and VHP (Colombian national TT champ in '97). They were SMOOOOOTH.

Did you catch VHP on the podium getting his yellow jersey?? Man, he was grinning ear-to-ear! *I'm very happy for VHP. *Not often that a domestique gets to wear the golden fleece (on his birthday, no less)

VHP has a great history, BTW. *He started out as a swimmer and bought his first bike from the money he received as a swim coach.

VHP keeps the yellow another day!

Petacchi wins his third stage *

This Tour is shaping up to be very exciting... and we're not even in the mountains yet.

My bad. I guess it was posted too early

I watch it every night. I always know what's going to happen too because I can't keep myself from looking at the results on the internet in the afternoon...

...incredible.

After last year's performance, I started thinking to myself that VHP was going to step up when Lance retires, not Heras. All-around bike riding stud. I watched the TTT because I think that events like that are awesome. I have just been checking in so far, when the big mountains start, I probably won't even bother going to work, I'll just watch the threeplay on OLN. One of these days, I am going to take a July off and go hang out with the cheese-eaters...

I don't know crap about the Tour Bacchus, but a captain at work is going to France on Saturday to do some sort of organized century ride up there in the mountains. His name is Eric Buske. Some of you might recall him winning a shitload of money on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire about two and a half years ago. He was my lieutenant in Spec Ops back then...

LINK

Kept it secret for 2 weeks??! *Didn't his family watch him on TV?

Isn't Alessandro Petacchi friggin' amazing?! Strongest sprinter I have seen in a while. The commentators say he isn't a threat in the mountains, but a couple of riders say he is strong there. It very well may be the most exciting Tour in quite a while although, barring disaster, Lance should pull it off again.

Note: Spent the entire day at jury duty - got selected
again , although this one could be interesting. Involves a felony DUI (sorry, can't say any more about it, as the trial continues tomorrow).

Chain, did Eric share any of the wealth w/you?

Alessandro is riding pretty well but I still think he would be nothing if Cipo was in the race. Jean Marie Leblanc is a political dick-tator. I don't think he realizes how much revenue some one like Cipollini brings to the tour and how many sponsors love him. Oh well.

Too bad about Tyler, I would have really liked to see him get second place this year. First next year. Levi had some bad luck too. It would have been awesome to see 3 Americans in the top 10 overall. Once the road turns upward (as Phil Ligget would say) Tyler will be out of the tour. He can't climb out of the saddle with a broken collar bone. No way. Hopefully Ullrich can put up a good fight and make it a little interesting. Enough at least to show that next year he won't go quietly into his donut eating fat German hole for the winter. Hopefully he will have Jenny Craig on his side for next year and he can win another tour. 4 second places is a tragedy for a born winner like him. Stage 8 should be exciting. I can't wait.

Velonews

-Shrub

Spot on, WS

I can't begin to imagine how incredible this Tour would be if Super Mario was riding... I can bet that no one would be talking about Petacchi right now.

I, for one, will be glued to the TV this weekend to see how everyone fares in the mountains. *VHP asked Lance to let him keep the yellow for two days and then he'll gladly turn it over to him in the mountains. *VHP is in yellow again today