yeah, i know france is a sore subject now, but ....

this great sporting event is being covered live daily on OLN.
approx 20 stages in 30 days covering 2200 miles.

lance armstrong (team USPS) stands a GOOD chance of winning his 5th conseceutive TDF, becoming only the 2nd to do so.

any other fans out there?

Howdy Thrillbilly,
I'm a fan, but not getting a chance to watch I'm just able to get real short reports so I just keep an ear open to hear what Lance is doing.

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Frank X. Morris
17 Kia Niro
08 Jeep Wrangler 4 door unlimited

I'm a big cycling fan and used to get OLN, but last year my cable service replaced it with the Oxygen network for women.

The OLN TDF coverage is excellent and about the only place you can get daily race news other than the internet. Unfortunately, even ESPN doesn't devote any time to cycling.

Lance has a shot at 5. He's off to a pretty good start with his team winning the TTT. I think the next real test is Saturday in the 1st mountain stage.

Sholin

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What else, '73 MB 280 SEL (Lt Blue)
Daily driver: '84 190D 2.2 5 spd.

I get OLN via satellite. My Tivo has been snagging 3+ hours per day of coverage, including live coverage of the last 2 hours of each stage. Best coverage I've ever seen in North America. Of course, they show it all day and all night in Europe...

Side topic, I've been looking at the cars driven by the race directors and officials. I swear somebody - don't know if it's team or race official - is driving a Maybach. You can see it following the riders up to the finish line. Anyone else notice this?

- JimY

For those who don't get OLN (like me ), you can get a live feed from Danish TV on the Internet. You can find the link by going to Lance's site: www.lancearmstrong.com.

The man who I most admire on this year's tour is Tyler Hamilton for his courage and perseverance, riding on with his injury.


Warren

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2011 C300

Gone but not forgotten:

1995 E420
1990 500SL

Yeah, I thought that looked like a Maybach.....?

Funny how much OLN tries to hype the USPS team as "American". In fact, only 3 of the riders are American. Its truly an international team, just the the Tour de FRANCE is an international event.

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Dean Albrecht
"Lead, follow, or better yet, get out of the way!"E500 owners motto

not to hijack the thread, but....

You know, I understand the population wise, cycling fans do not make up a big portion of the viewing audience, but OLN has plenty of other excellent programming that the majority would be interested in. I just don't get why we get some channels and not others.

BRING MY OLN BACK!!!!!

....hijack mode deactivated

Sholin

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What else, '73 MB 280 SEL (Lt Blue)
Daily driver: '84 190D 2.2 5 spd.

lance goes BMX/MTN bike to keep yellow jersey!!!

armstrong shows strong MTN bike skills cutting switchback to avoid a crash. at front of peleton, 1st rider crashs directly in front of lance. he goes off-road to avoid rider, cuts thru grass/rock of switchback, dismounts, jumps ditch with bike, remounts bike and continues with leaders, comes in with peleton, and keeps the yellow jersey! crashed rider out of TDF.

very exciting!!!

I avoid work in the morning in order to watch the complete telecast. This TDF is shaping up to be excruciating, with Lance's legs looking a little weaker than normal and the peloton looking like it's not going to behave and concede the win.

Need2Speed, I would disagree with you that the Posties aren't an American team. Only mildly, though. You're right that most of the guys on the TDF team are not Americans, and Lance himself, along with the rest of the TDF competitors, live and train in Europe a large part of the year. I believe, though, that USPS is more than just the 9 riders participating in the Tour, Bruyhneel, et. al. I don't know precisely how many domestic Postal riders there are that ride in the American classics, crits, the American and Candian stage races, etc., but it's plenty.

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David

His:
2003 Dodge Durango SLT
2002 BMW E39 530i Sport
1988 Mercedes 300TE
Hers:
2003 Chevrolet Suburban
1999 E430

great day of the tour!

the bad/ugly: protesters stop main pack for approx 2 minutes, while 9 men in break progress. no matter, none were contenders. i dont know the precedent, but officals rule no time adjustment allowed.

approx 20K out, 2 men break from the 9, work together to increase break and loose the others.

the beauty: approx 2K out, the 2 men clasp hands (like touching gloves in last round of boxing) then sprint for the finish.

they beat the peleton by 20 minutes, but...

lance armstrong maintains the yellow jersey!

Hey a Tour thread, cool.........

I've been a huge fan of cycling and the Tour de France in particular since I was a kid. Still pissed at Bernard Hinault for reneging on his promise to Greg Lemond and trying to swipe the Tour from him in 86. Hell, I guess I might have tried it too if I had the chance at a sixth yellow jersey.

Next week in the Pyrenee's is shaping up to be quite a battle. Vinokourov and Mayo have shown that they are on form and have the legs to challenge Lance in the mountains. But don't count out Ulrich just yet and Tyler Hamilton's performance thus far has been epic. A darn shame about Beloki too. He really looked strong this year.

Friday's time trial will be telling. If Lance is on form he will take some big time from his closest challengers. If he really is not in top condition we will know after this stage.

I for one am not yet convinced that he is suffering all that much on the climbs. Remember, Armstrong is an absolute master of racing tactics and psychology.

Rest day tomorrow so no live coverage. Damn, having withdrawal symptoms already.

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Joe

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1980 300SD - 495k miles - 'The Ambassador'
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Former Family Members
95 C280
73 280SEL
90 300D
87 300SDL (X2)
86 560SEL
84 300D
80 300SD

What I read about the mass protest was that there would be no time adjustment because, much like the "rub of the green" concept in golf, it was a natural phenomenon and couldn't be helped. None of the leaders were penalized anyway since the breakaway group were all over an hour behind in the overall classification.

You may be right about Lance's gamesmanship. He is a master. The individual time trials will be pretty important.

__________________
David

His:
2003 Dodge Durango SLT
2002 BMW E39 530i Sport
1988 Mercedes 300TE
Hers:
2003 Chevrolet Suburban
1999 E430

lance still wears THE jersey, and holds 21 lead.
time trials on friday, it should be very telling.

after fridays individual time trial:

lance still wears the yellow !!!

ullrich wins trial by 1'36" over armstrong and looked STRONG

but... lance still holds 34" lead. (tyler hamilton is 4th)

4 days in mtns is next, they will be telling.

No doubt that Ullrich is back. His perfomance today was awesome.

Lance has always said that Jan Ullrich is the most talented cyclist in the world. Today we saw why.

Based on todays performances it appears that Lance will need to attack in the Pyrenees and gain some time on Ullrich before next Saturdays Time Trial in the penultimate stage.

This weekend we will see some spectacular racing!!

__________________
Joe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1980 300SD - 495k miles - 'The Ambassador'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Former Family Members
95 C280
73 280SEL
90 300D
87 300SDL (X2)
86 560SEL
84 300D
80 300SD