Wireless Wonderland at Hyper coffee

The day of the Wireless Wonderland is here at Hyper Coffee in Arcadia. After all of the "Trouble" I have been in getting the wireless network to be functional here at the desk of the Extremist, it has been a less than daunting task to do so on the road. Thankfully the IBM setup and ability to connect to the internet at public places has been a smooth process.

Two days ago I went up to Sierra Madre to check out Bean Town, SM's famous coffee house. Their wireless free access was less than ideal for me running on my laptop at a mere 11 Mpbs. Maybe it was all of the wireless traffic that had me by the neck but I could not do any real work there due to the slow access times. Hyper Coffee in Arcadia is a different story altogether. First off, I can walk to the little cafe in five minutes, which is really great for starters. Second, their coffee is really terrific and lastly, the place is relatively quiet compared with other high profile coffee houses. This place is cozy and the access times are at 54 Mpbs which is really quick for a public place.

Down town Arcadia is not what you would describe as a thriving business climate for small entrepreneur's. Arcadia has the Race Track and a Huge mall just a mile out of the down town area. Arcadia's vision for its community has been upscale housing and focusing all of its business in the mall and race track area. First Street, which runs through the main down-town area is if I may say so, modest. If I were in an investing frame of mind, I would buy a couple of the businesses along this piece of road. In a couple of years this place is going to be booming. However, right now it is just wallowing compared to the down town area of Monrovia and Sierra Madre which are lower income residential townships. Back to the wireless thing.

Hyper Coffee is really a sweet little place. It has computer access for its customers and of course wireless capability at 54 Mpbs. I was able to connect using the IBM's access software rather quickly. The signal strength here is terrific and the web sites refresh very quickly. All in all I give Hyper Coffee in Arcadia a 10+ in my book. As a matter of fact Jwire reviewed Hyper Coffee under its free wireless web access centers. You can read their review here at Jwire.com.

Another thing that I would like to pass along. Today I had to visit the Best Buy down the road. It is another story for another day but suffice it to say that I had to return a graphic calculator and had the chance to visit the "peripherals". While I was there I picked up a Logitech MX wireless keyboard and mouse combo for the Dell Beast under the desk. Now this is sweet stuff here. I don't know why I waited so long to upgrade my desk but this tech stuff is really cool-Oh-Mundo. It is really nice to not have all of the wires pulling on the mouse and now the keyboard is mobile. Great. I will keep you informed on the progress that I make. Remember that school starts in three weeks and I will not have time to fool around too much later so I have to get this stuff done now. For now Ciao.

Wireless Trouble in River City

So, how does that song go anyway. You know the one I mean. The song from The Music Man which goes something like this, "There's trouble here in River City, trouble with a capital T which rhymes with P which stands for Pool. Yes I tell ye we got trouble right in in River City."  The little melody goes something like that anyway.  I was thinking about that song today as it relates to my wireless problems.

Well I got trouble too and it does not rhyme with Pool. Just in case you are wondering about the lyrics of the song, here is a link to Trouble in River City.

So here goes with a preview of the longer version.

People:
Trouble, oh we got trouble,
Right here in River City!
With a capital "T"
That rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool,
That stands for pool.
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City,
Right here!
got figure out a way
To keep the young ones moral after school!
Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble...

Those were the simple days, back then when all we had to worry about was whether or not the children's morals would be corrupted by the Pool hall they passed by on their way home from school. Today's troubles seem so much more complicated with gang violence in our streets, terrorism looming large on our future as an ever present threat. Hey wait a minute, this is not about any of this stuff. Lets get back to our subject, the subject of the Trouble, the Wireless Trouble in River City. Actually its not River City but the desk of the Extremist that has the trouble.

After working on my wireless network here for a couple of days, I finally got everything configured and the wireless network working. The funny thing is about these projects, the tinkering never stops. When I turned on my laptop for the first time I noticed that I had several open networks that I could connect to just for the asking. My neighbors wireless networks were not secure and any body with a WiFi could start downloading all kinds of stuff through their networks. Cool, but not for the neighbors. Needless to say, I did not want that kind of situation going on around here. To secure my wireless network was a top priority.

Here comes the trouble part. It always goes like that. You take a perfectly good working system and mess around with it trying to improve things and what happens? I did a little searching to find the best way to secure my wireless network and figured out how to really mess things up good. Research is like that, it really is.

An article by John McCormick in TechRepublic titled The latest on Wi-Fi dangers and standards, speaks about the dangers and possible solutions to these real problems of wireless security. John McCormick touts the standard of "The new Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)" claiming it "is also being pushed by Microsoft, Cisco, and members of the Wi-Fi Alliance." This WPA thing is where I got into trouble. Oh, if you want the latest version you can download a WPA upgrade for Windows XP from Microsoft. I highly recommend it. Really, I do.

This is what happened, I locked up my entire system and could not log on to my router with the encryption enabled. After a couple of days a struggling with this problem, I deleted my connection and figured out how to reestablish a new one curtsey of IBM's wizard. Isn't that a marvelous thing. There is nothing bad about the WPA security system just the way I implemented it. I will try again after I down load the latest upgrade for XP. It should work after that.

Just to reinforce how wide spread the open WiFi problem is, a quote from the same article follows, "I decided to write this article after I spoke at the Summercon hacker convention in Pittsburgh recently. There were probably 30 open networks within a single square mile around the conference site, and other cities have similar WLAN-rich areas around universities and high-tech businesses. I saw people logging onto three and four wireless networks from PDAs right in the hotel lobby, and only one of the networks was owned by the hotel.

Everyone from the overt FBI agent to a former NSA staff member to the average hacker was logging onto wireless networks, and I bet even in that elite group, no more than half realized that merely by connecting to an open network they were potentially opening up their computers to anyone else on the same wireless network."

"Even worse, only a few of those networks were intended for general public use. Most were private networks with so little security that anyone could log on, almost by accident."

Now that is what I call progress. Free internet just for the asking.

With that, I will wish you happy Wireless Nights and for your listening pleasure I have included the entire monologue of "Trouble". Enjoy.

Ya Got Trouble Lyrics

Harold:
Well, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do now wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a pool table in your community.
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City.
Why sure I'm a billiard player,
Certainly mighty proud I say
I'm always mighty proud to say it.
I consider that the hours I spend
With a cue in my hand are golden.
Help you cultivate horse sense
And a cool head and a keen eye.
Never take and try to give
An iron-clad leave to yourself
From a three-reail billiard shot?
But just as I say,
It takes judgment, brains, and maturity to score
In a balkline game,
I say that any boob kin take
And shove a ball in a pocket.
And they call that sloth.
The first big step on the road
To the depths of deg-ra-Day--
I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon,
Then beer from a bottle.
An' the next thing ya know,
Your son is playin' for money
In a pinch-back suit.
And list'nin to some big out-a-town Jasper
Hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin'.
Not a wholesome trottin' race, no!
But a race where they set down right on the horse!
Like to see some stuck-up jockey'boy
Sittin' on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil?
Well, I should say.
Friends, lemme tell you what I mean.
Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table.
Pockets that mark the diff'rence
Between a gentlemen and a bum,
With a capital "B,"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!
And all week long your River City
Youth'll be frittern away,
I say your young men'll be frittern!
Frittern away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too!
Get the ball in the pocket,
Never mind gittin' Dandelions pulled
Or the screen door patched or the beefsteak pounded.
Never mind pumpin' any water
'Til your parents are caught with the Cistern empty
On a Saturday night and that's trouble,
Oh, yes we got lots and lots a' trouble.
I'm thinkin' of the kids in the knickerbockers,
Shirt-tail young ones, peekin' in the pool
Hall window after school, look, folks!
Right here in River City.
Trouble with a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!
Now, I know all you folks are the right kinda parents.
I'm gonna be perfectly frank.
Would ya like to know what kinda conversation goes
On while they're loafin' around that Hall?
They're tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out cubebs,
Tryin' out Tailor Mades like Cigarette Feends!
And braggin' all about
How they're gonna cover up a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen.
One fine night, they leave the pool hall,
Headin' for the dance at the Arm'ry!
Libertine men and Scarlet women!
And Rag-time, shameless music
That'll grab your son and your daughter
With the arms of a jungle animal instink!
Mass-staria!
Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground!

People:
Trouble, oh we got trouble,
Right here in River City!
With a capital "T"
That rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool,
That stands for pool.
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City,
Right here!
Gotta figger out a way
To keep the young ones moral after school!
Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble...

Harold:
Mothers of River City!
Heed the warning before it's too late!
Watch for the tell-tale sign of corruption!
The moment your son leaves the house,
Does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee?
Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger?
A dime novel hidden in the corn crib?
Is he starting to memorize jokes from Capt.
Billy's Whiz Bang?
Are certain words creeping into his conversation?
Words like 'swell?"
And 'so's your old man?"
Well, if so my friends,
Ya got trouble,
Right here in River city!
With a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool.
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City!
Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule!
Oh, we've got trouble.
We're in terrible, terrible trouble.
That game with the fifteen numbered balls is a devil's tool!
Oh yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble!
With a "T"! Gotta rhyme it with "P"!
And that stands for Pool!!!

Mini Wireless Pocket Mouse

More wireless news from the desk of "The Extremist". Shopping at Best Buys is never a pleasant experience and during the heat wave that we are experiencing here in Los Angeles it makes it even worse. Just going outside after noon is painful. Ever stick your head inside a bakers pizza oven just for kicks. You don't have to do that any more, just come to LA this week and all of your heat fantasies will be answered. Back to the wireless thing.

The IBM T42 laptop has a very nice mouse system as well as a delicious feel to the keypad. This is one of the reasons that I chose IBM. The idea of getting an optical mouse replacement for the larger Dell that sits under the desk is something that I have thought about for a while now and the opportunity came up to visit Best Buy. While at BB looking at all of the "goodies", I spotted a little critter that I had to bring home, my very own Mini optical wireless mouse for the paltry sum of 39 dollars and change. Kensingon is a brand that I am not familiar with but the total package with optical and wireless in a mini sold me. The way this little guy works is through the use of a radio signal generated by an adaptor the plugs into the USB port. Once the adaptor is plugged in you have to activate the mouse by pushing a little button on the side of the plug and then a corresponding button under the Mini mouse. Very cool technology there! Viola, the Kensington mouse works like a champ. I have to admit that this mouse works better for me than any other pointing device no matter how slick the laptop is. This will definitely go in my bag when taking the laptop to school or Starbucks.

JumpDrive

While in the Best Buy computer section I noticed another little thing that I had to have. It always goes like that doesn't it? I have been contemplating different ways to move files from the Beast under the table to the portable. I could burn a floppy of all these files but the laptop does not have a floppy dirive and would be of no use. Maybe I could burn a CD and transfer the data that way or even Email the files to myself in an attachment. No, this all seemed too much trouble. JumpDrive 128 meg USB media from Lexar fits the bill. I have seen these little things before but never used one. It all makes sense now that I have the laptop. The JumpDrive, it fits on to a key chain if you want, just plugs into the USB port on the back of your computer and you can download files to it easily. Unplug the little sucker and stick it into the USB port of the laptop and retrieve all of the files to a safe place. This is really portable memory and works like a charm. Another thing that these devices are good for is safely transporting presentations, files or whatever from place to place. Pictures too can be saved on the little thing as well. The next time I go to China this is definitely going in the bag with us.

That's about it for today. In another few minutes Jennifer and I have a diner engagement with Stan and his wife from Velo Monrovia Bicycle.

Lance Armstrong wins his sixth Tour de France

Armstrong makes it six; Boonen wins on the Champs-Elysees

By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews

This report filed July 25, 2004

by Graham Watson

Lance totes 'em up

It was the day that everyone knew was coming for some time now. But the sight of American Lance Armstrong finally standing atop the podium as the first rider to win the Tour de France six times, gave everyone a chance to take in the history that he had now made real.

Obviously, one of the first to be swept up by the occasion was the person who called Armstrong on his mobile telephone just as he stepped off the winners' podium. Tongues were wagging like new-born puppies as to who it could be.

"Winning my first Tour (in 1999) was special; but this is unbelievable," said Armstrong.

by Graham Watson

At long last, Paris

So happy was Armstrong, that when asked by a French television reporter trying in vain to draw parallels to American astronaut Neil Armstrong he answered the somewhat stupid question: "Is it more important to walk on the moon or win the Tour?" An ever-beaming Armstrong - the bike rider - was happy to oblige.

"Walking on the moon. After all, this is only sport," Armstrong said with a smile.

On any other day such a ridiculous question would probably have drawn frowns and bewilderment (and justifiably) rather than the friendly response. For Armstrong, it was a sign that he seemed to enjoy this year's Tour more than any other.

"I think the biggest difference is in my head, the morale and the motivation, the pure joy of racing," he said. "It's as if I was with my five friends and we were 13 years old and we all had new bikes and we said: 'Okay, we're going to race from here to there.' You want to beat your friends more than anything. You're sprinting and you're attacking. It was like that for me this year, a simple pleasure."

Like Armstrong, his U.S. Postal team rode into Paris like warriors who had conquered. Their tops and shorts were also emblazoned with bright yellow bands to match the yellow of Armstrong's maillot jaune. But the day was not just about Armstrong....

The prestige sprint
There was still the 163km stage 20 from Montereau to Paris to win, and the green jersey as the Tour's best sprinter and points category winner. Despite the intent of some, both of those classifications went to different people.

by AFP

Boonen gets the stage, but McEwen stays in green

Belgian Tom Boonen (Quick Step) took the stage and fourth-placed Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) kept the green jersey he had worn for so long.

Boonen's victory over last year's final stage winner, Frenchman Jean-Patrick Nazon (AG2R) and German Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner) was his second for the Tour after winning stage 6 in Angers.

by Graham Watson

McEwen must be pooped after winning another green jersey – he had to put both feet on the ground to pop a final wheelie

Meanwhile, the two contenders for the green jersey, McEwen and Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) met varying fortunes.

McEwen was disappointed with his fourth place, but that was still easily good enough for him to clinch the green jersey for the second time of his career after his breakthrough win in 2002.

Hushovd, who started the day 11 points behind McEwen, lost his line and position in the last, always tricky right turn going into the finishing straight with 400 meters to go. After placing 16th, he still finished second in the points table; but 25 points behind McEwen whose Tour ended with him scoring 272 points.

For Armstrong, who cruised home in 114th place 19 seconds back, it was without doubt his easiest day in the saddle.

Filippo fights till the end
Well, it wasn't a totally drama-free day. There was still some sting in the tail of the Tour with the antics of Italian Filippo Simeoni (Domina Vacanze), who seemed intent on again upsetting Armstrong with three attacks.

At odds with Armstrong - in and out of court - over their varying claims regarding doping in general, Dr Michele Ferrari and, most recently, in this year's Tour about each other, Simeoni first attacked at the very start.

His break from the pack, just as photographers were taking shots of the respective jersey wearers, lasted 8km until U.S. Postal brought him back It did not earn him many votes as popular rider of the day, although later he received one special accolade (read on).

It was especially so on a stage that has traditionally started as a slow procession and has not livened up into serious racing until the peloton hits the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysees.

And the stage did liven up. After Postal led the race onto the famed boulevard, the first hand grenade came from Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel (La Boulangere). His attack prompted a chase by McEwen and Hushovd as the second intermediate sprint approached at the top of the Champs-Elysees at 115.5km.

That sprint was won by Hushovd, just ahead of Chavanel and McEwen. This made the margin between the Norwegian and Australian just nine points going into the last sprint at the Tour. McEwen had earlier drawn away from Hushovd by two points after bagging six points to Hushovd's four at the first sprint after 86.5km.

by Graham Watson

The Postal posse in Paris

But soon after, Simeoni again attacked, not once but three times. Each time he was brought back, and each time by the Postal riders. The reaction of one 'Postie', Viatcheslav Ekimov who knocked his forehead as he looked at Simeoni when they caught him, more than revealed what they thought of him.

Ironically, Simeoni was later given the Classement de la Combativite award (most aggressive rider in the stage) and by none other than former five-time Tour champion, Frenchman Bernard Hinault, who sided with Armstrong when the Texan chased him down in stage 18 to Lons le Saunier last Friday in revenge for the Italian's remarks about Ferrari.

The main break of the day was a 10-strong one and basically grafted its way up and down the Champs-Elysees to gain a maximum lead of 43 seconds before being caught with less than 10km to go.

Leading the chase for their respective sprinters were Cofidis (Stuart O'Grady), FDjeux.com (Baden Cooke), T-Mobile (Erik Zabel) and Liberty Seguros (Allan Davis). And their aim of securing a bunch sprint was assured upon passing the bell with one lap to go.

Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) was away in a short-lived attack, but the ominous shadow of the peloton driven by the Quick Step train was indication enough that his move was suicidal.

Charging back down from the Arc du Triomphe, the pace was breakneck; and just as frenetic up front as various teams started to position their bolters for positions as the stage neared the vital final corner that is so difficult to judge.

by Casey B. Gibson

The jersey winners

As the pack came sweeping left across the Place de la Concorde and then back to the right for the straight run to the finish line, the principal victim was Hushovd. As has happened so many times to riders in the past, he took the last left turn too wide and found himself adrift from the frontline pace, his stage and green jersey hopes dashed.

The final sprint was typically a hectic one as the pure sprinters jostled to get through the traffic of less-rapid opportunists, who were having their last roll of the dice.

Boonen was clearly the strongest though and he even had time to raise his arms aloft with a smile as bright as the sun that baked the Champs on Sunday evening.

Then again, after any Tour, it isn't hard to find a smile. Knowing that the 3391km of torture was now over for another year was more than good enough reason to grin for the surviving pack of 147 riders.

Looking back
Armstrong said he always felt as though he was in control of the race, though he gave less credit to his own abilities than to the strength of his team and the shortcomings of his adversaries.

"Fortunately we were always in control of the race," he said. "Anytime the race was dangerous, we controlled the race, on the cobblestones, in the team time trial, during the first, second and third week of the race."

And while Armstrong said he felt strong, he added: "I was never able to ride away alone on the climbs. That's the first time I didn't do that, but I was surprised that some of the rivals were not better. Some of them just completely disappeared."

Part of the problem, he suggested, was that the men he originally saw as his main competition for the overall victory were not all-rounders, able to race powerfully on every type of terrain.

"Tyler Hamilton and Iban Mayo are similar kind of riders, while Ullrich is different because he is a tall, big guy," he said. "Physically, the first week is not so stressful and tiresome for him, whereas the little guys, the pure climbers like Mayo and Tyler, have to fight for position and suffer in the wind and during the acceleration through villages near the finish. This becomes a problem for them after 10 days.

Armstrong heads to Paris in yellow

American beats second-placed Ullrich by 1:01 in final TT

By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews

This report filed July 24, 2004

by Graham Watson

Armstrong powers to another stage win and virtually cinches a sixth straight Tour

Victory for Lance Armstrong in Saturday's stage 19 time trial at Besançon was a fait accompli. So much so, that at his press conference afterward, the man behind what has been dubbed by at least one media outlet as the "Texas Chainring Massacre" was not asked one question about his terrific ride in the 55km time trial.

There was really no explanation needed about Armstrong's winning ride over the T-Mobile pairing of Germans Jan Ullrich and Andreas Kloden, who placed second and third on the stage at 1:01 and 1:27 respectively.

It was expected. It was provided. And it was so very conclusive. And it extended Armstrong's total of wins in the final time trial of a Tour he has won from four to five.

by Graham Watson

Ullrich finished second to Armstrong, but will miss the podium

It most probably would be six of six had the heavens not opened over Nantes last year when Armstrong - again in yellow and assured of victory - eased up the pace after hearing that his nearest challenger, Ullrich, had crashed on a slippery traffic circle.

Arguably the most interesting bit of trivia to take away from Saturday's time trial also involved Armstrong and Ullrich - the 1:01 margin Armstrong had over Ullrich in the time trial at Besancon was exactly the same gap he had on the German in the stage 16 time trial to L'Alpe d'Huez and in last year's general classification!

On a course whose difficulties included many rises, dips and turns, the stage was made even harder to conquer by a blanket of humidity and heat that swept over the France Comte region, especially in the late afternoon.

by Graham Watson

Basso gave it his all, but slipped back a spot on GC

Armstrong's winning time of 1:06.49 on the circular course came at an average speed of 49.389kmh, and with the fastest split times at each of two intervals before the finish line.

At the 18km mark, Armstrong clocked 22:47, which was an astounding 43 seconds faster than Ullrich and 47 better than Kloden. At the 40km mark, Armstrong's 49:20 was still 51 seconds faster than Ullrich and 1:06 better than Kloden.

He used the same bike he rode in the prologue at Liege on July 3. And Armstrong again paid credit to those in the "Formula 1" program that U.S. Postal set up a year ago, after the Tour, to devise a bike that would give him a more aerodynamic position.

by Graham Watson

Landis had the best time before the big dogs started barking

Armstrong's stage win left no doubt that he will ride into Paris Sunday to claim a record sixth Tour win - that is, if any doubters remained.

"To be on the verge of breaking history is incredibly special," Armstrong told The Associated Press after winning in 1:06:49. "I'm always careful to say that we have another day to go, and if you crash on the Champs-Elysees and don't finish tomorrow, then you don't win. So I have to be careful and hope it works out."

For the Texan, his victory Saturday also secures his place in the record books as the winningest champion since Frenchman Bernard Hinault in 1981, when the fiery five-Tour-winning Breton also won five stages.

Armstrong, flanked by his Belgian directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel at his press conference, was clearly a happy man after he clinched his fifth individual stage win Saturday. But there was a lot of relief there, too.

When asked if five stage wins - and victory in the team time trial - led him to feel that he dominated the Tour, Armstrong replied, "No."

"Johan and I were talking the other night," he said. "And I hardly ever, if ever, attacked in this Tour - I usually found myself in groups and only had to sprint, or in the time trials. I didn't intend to dominate the race. I wouldn't be so bold to call it domination."

The most significant outcome of Saturday's stage was the change in the order of those who will join him on the podium Sunday in Paris. Italian Ivan Basso (CSC) dropped from second to third, while Kloden rose to second spot, eliminating Basso's 1:02 lead on the German.

The switch in podium places was due in part to Kloden's power and impressive third place that nullified the impact of Basso's "best ever Tour time trial," which saw him place sixth, 2:40 behind Armstrong.

Basso was level with Kloden at 18km, but was unable to match the 29-year-old German over the remaining kilometers. He had dropped to sixth by the second split at 40km when he was 52 seconds behind the German, who is one of the revelations of the Tour.

"I'm disappointed for my team and for myself, but I'm still happy to finish on the Tour podium," Basso told Reuters. "Being able to climb on the podium in Paris is the most important thing.

"I tried to do the time trial at 100 percent, without making any calculations and about thinking how well Kloden was doing. It turned out that I lost second place but there was nothing I could do about it. He did a good time trial, I did a good time trial, but it wasn't enough."

Another revelation has been Armstrong's Postal team rider Floyd Landis, whose wife followed him in the team car Saturday and saw him take an astounding fourth place. CSC's Bobby Julich also had a great ride, to place fifth, at the end of a Tour that has seen him overcoming a series of injuries.

Meanwhile, American Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) is now set to clinch the second top-10 Tour finish of his career after finishing 12th at 4:06 Saturday. Leipheimer will start the 163km 20th stage from Montereau to Paris in ninth overall, at 20:31.

There was one just one other change in the top-10. Spaniard Oscar Pereiro (Phonak) moved from 11th to 10th overall at 23:13 after he placed 21st at 5:21, following the 61st-place finish at 8:07 by Italian Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio), which saw him drop to 11th overall at 24:40.

Meanwhile, France was shedding tears for the inevitable but so unwanted loss by Thomas Voeckler (Brioches la Boulangère) of his white jersey as the best young rider to Russian Vladimir Karpets (Illes Balears). The plucky Voeckler, who rode brilliantly to enjoy a 10-day spell in the yellow jersey until Armstrong took it back on stage 15, finally ran out of gas to place 85th in the time trial at 9:41.

Karpets, who started the day 45 seconds down on Voeckler in the white-jersey competition, placed eighth at 3:33 to Armstrong, to simply floor the weary Voeckler.

On to Paris
Now on the eve of his sixth trip to Paris in the yellow jersey, Armstrong was asked what it meant to win six Tours.

"It's very difficult to say," he replied. "You'll have to ask me in a couple weeks, I think. When I won the first one, I thought I could die and go away a happy man. To win six is very hard to put into words."

"I'm happy, because it's finished," he added. "I'm tired mentally, have tired legs."

As to whether he will return next year, Armstrong wouldn't say for certain. There have been reports in The New York Times and elsewhere that Armstrong will not race the 2005 Tour. On Saturday, however, he conceded that it would be hard to turn his back on his favorite race.

"I can't imagine skipping the Tour, and if I do come, I would only come with the perfect condition," he said. "For me it's a special, special event, and I can't imagine not being here.''

Results are posted.

The Extremist goes Wireless

This past week I was able to purchase a new Lap Top computer. Actually, the computer is new but I did not want you to get the wrong idea. This is the First Lap Top that I have ever owned. You know, that is not exactly the truth either, it is the second Lap Top that I have bought. The first one was some ten years ago and does not even count, sort of. But I digress.

The Student store at UCLA has academic discounts for students, faculty and staff. Taking advantage of this discount, I purchased an IBM T42 Monster Centrino Lap Top as well as a router. Getting all of the hardware running is always fun. The hardest part of it all was getting the router set up. The main problem was remembering what my log on name and passwords were for my internet server. Oh well. Once I remembered the passwords, the setup went smoothly.

Turning on the IBM T42 with its brilliant screen was a real treat. The most interesting part was seeing the little window on the bottom right hand side telling me that I had a signal on the WiFi Centrino connecting me to the internet. Just like that I was free of the desk and able to wander. The computer room has got to be the hottest room in the house so being able to move out of there during the heat of the day will be really great. Actually, I did not get the Lap Top to wander around the house even if this is a real benefit. The WiFi capability of the Monster will enable me to be up and running doing research while on campus. Both UCLA and USC have WiFi and internet access for Students and Staff. Getting the accounts and passwords are all that is necessary to really be productive. All I lack now is maybe a little portable Blue Tooth printer to make copies of articles or papers. I will have to see if I will really need to have a portable printer.

Free at last, free at last, thank God, I'm free at last. I waited a long time before jumping into the Lap Top frenzy. This is the perfect time for me to explore this. I will be keeping a little update going about all of the terrific things you can do with WiFi and this wireless technology. There is a lot of information on the Web about all of this and maybe I will be able to collect some references and links so that this technology is easier to access for you. I have to learn about it all and this process will be a good exercise to stimulate that learning.

So long from the desk of The Extremist. The Daily Blog still exits but is now on the back burner. I am playing with the idea of being a little more "out there" with the title of this Weblog. "The Daily Blog" sounded so dull. Let me know what you think about the new title. Who knows I may go back to using the old title. It just depends.

Armstrong takes control

Mercado wins, but Armstrong move takes center stage

Race leader shuts down escape by off-bike rival

By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews

This report filed July 23, 2004

by AFP

Armstrong was not going to allow Simeoni to go anywhere unchallenged

It was meant to have been a day for the minnows in the 2004 Tour de France peloton to fight for the scraps. And whoever won the stage could steal some thunder from the Armstrongs and Ullrichs of the race.

But instead, the 166.5km stage 18 from Annemasse to Lons-le-Saunier became the platform for an ugly and bitter dispute between the biggest name in cycling, the overall race leader Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal Service) and one of the lesser known names in the sport, Italian Filippo Simeoni (Domina Vacanze), who has won only seven races in his 11-year pro career.

For a race that is now 48 hours from reaching what is meant to be a celebratory run into Paris with Armstrong writing history as the first six-time winner, today's incident left a sour taste.

by Graham Watson

Simeoni has a dig - and Armstrong was having none of it

The 32-year-old U.S. Postal captain, who leads the race by more than four minutes and has won four stages - five if you count his team time trial win - chased down the 32-year-old Domina Vacanze rider as he sought to join a break of six riders, hoping for a stage win.

For those unaware of the history between the Texan and the Italian, there seemed to be absolutely no reason why the yellow jersey would bother to chase down a rider placed 142nd, at 2:42.55.

Simeoni - who has given testimony against Dr. Michele Ferrari in the ongoing investigation into the controversial Italian sports doctor - has sued Armstrong for defamation for comments the Texan allegedly made questioning Simeoni's honesty and good name.

And ever since the French newspaper L'Equipe published an interview with Simeoni in the first week of the Tour, in which the Italian voiced his ill feelings about Ferrari, a flare-up between the two riders was expected.

It finally came Friday, soon after Simeoni's wheel went to the front of the pack at 32km and sped off in pursuit of an early break that included the two Spaniard's who would fight out the stage, eventual winner Juan Miguel Mercado (Quick Step) and Vicente Garcia Acosta (Illes Balears).

Armstrong saw what Simeoni was doing, jumped onto his wheel and stayed there up until the pair joined the breakaway at 36km. Once there, they contributed to the pace setting and helped the break accrue a 1:50 lead at 40km.

Unwelcome company
Mercado said the arrival of the yellow jersey in the break was "bizarre" and he didn't understand what was going on. It has been reported that at one point one of the breakaways, Spanish rider Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) said to Simeoni: "What the hell are you doing? You know we won't stay away with you."

by AFP

Armstrong was not welcome in the break, but he wasn't leaving until Simeoni did.

Spaniard Vicente Garcia-Acosta (Illes Baleares) spoke to Armstrong, asking him to do the breakaway a favor and leave them to fight for the stage victory. Armstrong accepted, but only if Simeoni left the break as well.

Several men in the break then asked Simeoni to leave, according to Sebastien Joly (Crédit Agricole), and the Italian had no choice but to forget his victory ambitions, and drop back to wait for the bunch.

by Graham Watson

With the Armstrong-Simeoni thing resolved, the break proceeds

"When he let go, Lance had the kindness to do the same thing," Joly said.

Armstrong and Simeoni stayed with the break until the first sprint at 43km where the lead was 2:20. That was when Armstrong and Simeoni agreed to sit up and let the break race on to the finish.

by Graham Watson

We'd like to have been able to listen in on that chat

As they dropped off the back, it was clear that Armstrong and Simeoni shared some words, with the Texan even placing his right hand on the Italian's left shoulder.

With 120km to go, attention for the remaining hours of racing was on what would be the fall-out of the incident: correctly, a bitter one.

Even U.S. Postal directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel, while aware of the reasons behind it, said he was unprepared for Armstrong's antics. "It was something to do with what happened in the past. It was a surprise. It wasn't planned," he said on French television.

So, under a blanket of thick humidity and intrigue, the scene was set for a sensational finale - but sadly, for all the wrong reasons.

The breakaways rode on, relieved that they were left to fight out the stage among themselves. In the final 10km, there was a spree of attacks, resulting in just Mercado and Garcia Acosta remaining in front. With 5km to go their lead was only 25 seconds over four chasers. But it was a big enough gap to fend them off.

Garcia Acosta did much of the work, setting tempo over the last 2km, but he was robbed of a true chance to win when he had gear trouble and could not shift down to sprint.

by AFP

Mercado wins

But credit to Mercado with his timing to jump off Garcia Acosta's wheel with 200m and win the stage. Mercado played his hand perfectly to come over the line just inches ahead of his 31-year-old rival, who has tried several attacks throughout the race and demonstrated his frustration by punching the air downwards as he crossed the line in second place.

The big topic of the day
Photos snapped and a stage winner determined, the press quickly turned its attention to the bigger story of the day, and that wasn't to see who would win the bunch sprint for seventh place; but for Armstrong and Simeoni to explain their scrap.

Later reports said that Armstrong was "thanked" by many riders for his stand and that Simeoni was abused by some and left to slip to the back of the peloton for a lonely day in the saddle that left him on the verge of tears and quitting.

Both openly stated their cases after they crossed the finish line with the peloton 11:29 behind Mercado.

by Graham Watson

Armstrong awaits the peloton after snuffing Simeoni's plans

Armstrong arrived in 74th place with teammates George Hincapie and Pavel Padrnos around him in support, while Simeoni was third last to finish the day in 145th.

Armstrong stood by his actions, claiming it was on behalf of all riders. "I was protecting the interests of the peloton. The other riders were very grateful," he said.

"I followed Simeoni. He is not a rider the peloton wants to be in the front group. All he does is attack the peloton, says bad things about the other riders and group in general. When I came back I had a lot of people patting me on the back.

"Simeoni ... it is a long history and (with) a guy like that, all he wants to do is to destroy cycling ... to destroy the sport that pays him.

"For me that is not correct. And when back with the group I cannot say how many riders said: ‘Hey, chapeau ... thank you very much.'

"They understand this is their job, they absolutely love it and are committed to it. And they don't want somebody within their sport destroying it. For me it is no problem to go on the wheel, to follow the wheel. So...."

Simeoni must feel thankful that the Tour is nearly over. But the last two days will surely seem a lifetime as he takes on his life as an outcast. But he was clearly not afraid to say what he felt of Armstrong today.

by Graham Watson

Armstrong had the firepower to back up any threats

"He showed the whole world what type of person he is. I was the victim of a big injustice," he said. "How can a champion like Armstrong not let a little rider like me get a little piece of the glory in the Tour de France. It is a sin."

Wall of silence
Vincenzo Santoni, team manager of Simeoni's Domina Vacanze team, was furious at the way his rider has been treated not only by Armstrong but other prominent members of the peloton.

Santoni told RAI TV: "The American (Armstrong) went to catch him and told him and the six leaders that if he (Simeoni) did not stop he would not let the breakaway continue.

"What is even worse was the insults that Simeoni had to take when he was rejoined by the peloton."

Santoni said that Italian Daniele Nardello (T-Mobile) was among those who directed verbal abuse at Simeoni.

He also said that the team's star sprinter, Mario Cipollini, who pulled out of the Tour early in the race, did not even want Simeoni on the squad.

"Simeoni wanted to quit," said Santoni. "We had to plead with to stay in the race: he is someone who makes sacrifices for the team and that Cipollini, who joined the Tour run down and not bothered about the team, did not want on the team. Frankly, I wish Cipollini just stops riding - he has taken the team and the sponsors for a ride."

Nardello denied insulting Simeoni although he conceded that the two had spoken.

"I have never insulted anyone in my whole career and I don't think I have today," he told RAI TV. "If I have today, then I am sorry."

Results are posted.

Armstrong in Yellow

By Rupert GuinnessSpecial to VeloNews
This report filed July 20, 2004


by AFP

Armstrong edges Basso for his second stage win and the yellow jerseyIt was an Armstrong kinda day....
It's 35 years ago to the day that American Neil Armstrong took that small step that became a "giant leap for mankind," becoming the first person to step on the Moon. And on Tuesday, with his 18th stage win in his Tour de France career, Lance Armstrong also took his own giant leap, moving closer to becoming the first man to win six Tours de France.
Victory in the 180.5km stage 15 from Valreas to Villard de Lans, which took the Tour into the Alps, was not really needed for Armstrong to claim the yellow leader's jersey. That's because the overnight race leader and French champion Thomas Voeckler (La Boulangere) slipped off the back and surrendered his slim 22-second lead on the Texan long before the exciting finale.
His 11-day reign in yellow came to an end with him placing 54th, 9:30 back. He is now eighth overall, 9:28 behind Armstrong.
"I am not disappointed," Voeckler said after the finish. "I knew it would happen, even if I have gotten sort of used to wearing it. It was predicted I would lose it, but even earlier than I did. "
Armstrong's win over Italian Ivan Basso (CSC) and four others breakaways certainly helped stretch his smile.



by Casey B. Gibson

The Posties just keep on rollin'As he crossed the finish line after a double-fisted punch in the air, Armstrong's grin was as bright as the hot beaming sun that greeted the riders on the first of three days in the Alps.
And it should have made Armstrong happy, considering it was his second stage victory in four days (including the rest day) and extended his overall lead on second-placed Basso by another eight seconds.
After beating Basso, Germans Jan Ullrich and Andreas Kloden (both T-Mobile) and American Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) in that order, Armstrong could not hide his joy.
"There is something special about winning in a sprint. It is much more intense than being alone," said Armstrong. "I can't lie. It's exciting to take the yellow jersey, whether its number 61 or however many. It is still a part of me that wants to ride up a legendary mountain to l'Alpe d'Huez in the yellow."
With time bonuses up for grabs in the finish, there's no question Armstrong was going to consider letting anyone else win either. He wanted the win as much for the 20-second winner's bonus as he did for what it means.



by Casey B. Gibson

Armstrong on the descent"The group came back together so then there was the risk of the time bonuses. Sure, you could sit up and get fourth but why give away 20 seconds to your rivals," he said.
"Johan was screaming in my ear that I had to win because of the time bonuses. Every second counts.... sorry, no pun intended," he said, laughing at the coincident mention of his most recent autobiography.
In Wednesday's stage 16 time trial, the 15.5km haul from Bourg d'Oisans to the summit of l'Alpe d'Huez, Armstrong will be the last of 157 riders to start, and he is very happy about that.
The U.S. Postal team leader is rightly still wary of Basso. As a new challenger, he still does not know the Italian's potential, hence, Armstrong's appreciation for also being the last to start the time trial, two minutes after Basso.
"I expect him to be strong.  He will be tough to beat. A lot of people expect that it won't be close in the time trial. But he has done a lot of work on the Alpe," said Armstrong. "I have the good fortune to be starting behind him.  I will have his time splits - which is a great advantage."
Tuesday's stage was far more aggressive than most of the peloton had bargained for after the rest day in Nimes.  And the result sheets showed the damage it caused.  Behind Armstrong's group was a field that had been split into at least six groups, with the last rider coming in 35:25 behind him.
Although, if there were one rider who appeared calm throughout, it was Armstrong. The only real moments of strain and emotions he revealed came during his finishing sprint, which he began just before the left turn with about 250 meters to go.
The only challenge Armstrong faced before that was an attack by Ullrich six kilometers up the fourth of seven climbs, the 12km-long Cat. 1 Col de l'Echarasson. But with Ullrich starting the day at 7:01, that attack was as much a threat to anyone else aiming to get onto the podium as Armstrong.
At the time, Armstrong was in a group of about 20 riders that included Basso and had just been stretched by a surge from Ullrich's T-Mobile team. The group was chasing 10 riders - one being Australian Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis) who led and was off on his own in pursuit of points at the second intermediate sprint, followed by nine others who were with O'Grady in the break that formed on the descent of the second climb, the Cat. 3 Cote du Puy St Martin at 40km.
To escape, Ullrich actually rode off from the front of the bunch in which Armstrong had been on the German's wheel. He caught and passed all but two of the 10 riders in front of him - Frenchman Richard Virenque (Quick Step-Davitamon) and Dane Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) who were leading the race.
Ullrich's move certainly didn't rattle Armstrong, especially as he and Basso both had teammates who combined forces to reel in the German. There was Floyd Landis - later dubbed "player of the day" by Armstrong - and Jose Azevedo working for Armstrong; while Basso had Carlos Sastre and Jens Voigt, who dropped back from the original break when Ullrich made his attack.
"We were not very concerned. I knew the course very well. We did it a month ago at the Dauphine," said Armstrong. "Really, there is no descent on that climb. Then there is a Cat. 3 climb (Col de Carri) that is not very steep. It is also easy for two teams to work together, which is what we saw. It was not really a threatening situation. Absolutely no problem."
Nonetheless, Ullrich persevered and got a maximum of 55 seconds on Armstrong and Basso, before the gap started to come back down after the fifth climb, the Cat. 3 that Armstrong had rightly brushed off as not steep enough to make any impact.
Ullrich was finally caught at 152km, on the approach to the penultimate climb to the summit of the Col de Chalimont at 164km. Up front, Virenque was amassing more climbers' points to extend his lead in the climbers' category to 177 points against the 102 of his nearest rival, Armstrong. With those points accrued his mission for the day was over.
With 16km to go, the stage and yellow jersey now hung in the balance. It had already long claimed casualties with Voeckler and Spaniard Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) being dropped, and Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) not even starting. But all the final overall contenders were still around Armstrong.
The stage leaders, Virenque and Rasmussen, were brought back with 9.5km to go for the final climb up to Villard de Lans. Just before they were caught Leipheimer made a strong counterattack. "I felt strong and told my team director that I could win," the Rabobank team leader said, "But Sastre and Landis were just too strong." Also, Voigt, Azevedo and Kloden were all setting fearsome tempos at the front that finally split the group. Kloden's was the decisive one, as it split the 10-strong group in half to set up the sprint that made it an Armstrong kinda day ....

Results are posted

Wear Yellow at the Lance Armstrong Foundation

Lance Armstrong is in the process of winning his sixth consecutive Tour de France Race. This has never been done before in the Tour's history. Never! Many have tried and even the Greatest Cyclist of all time, the Great Eddy Merckx only managed to have five Tour de France victories.

I am thinking today about overcoming adversity and what it takes to make changes in how we live. All of us have challenges and goals. Some of us start later in life to really get down to doing the things that make a difference for our worlds. Many days I talk with friends who are struggling with accomplishing what they want out of life. Nothing worthwhile is easy. After all of the platitudes are spoken, hung on walls and glibly spoken to others, it takes real hard work to get these things done. That is what I have found to be true anyway.

Lance Armstrong, besides being the current greatest cyclist in the Tour de France, is a seven year cancer survivor and has started an organization, The Lance Armstrong Foundation, to promote wellness and healing among cancer patients. I was going to say cancer victims, but I don't think that is how they would look at it. These people are overcomers. Looking at their web site a read their philosophy:

"The LAF believes that in your battle with cancer, knowledge is power and attitude is everything. From the moment of diagnosis, we provide the practical information and tools you need to live strong."

To help support their efforts and to show support I have ordered Ten Yellow Wrist bands that are the Livestrong symbol.

Any one that wants one from me, just drop me a note and I will get it to you. When I think about these brave people fighting and struggling to "Livestrong", I feel empowered to do the same even if my battle is not as great.

Here's to you Lance and all the rest of the crew who "Livestrong", cheers and keep up the fight.

Voeckler's time in yellow gives France plenty to celebrate

By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 19, 2004

When Thomas Voeckler rode into the Tour de France yellow jersey 11 days ago, the 25-year-old Frenchman, with his beaming and infectious smile, brought a breath of fresh air into cycling that the sport has long needed.



by AFP

In an era that reeks of cynicism, commercialism and myriad on- and off-saddle scandals, Voeckler brought back to the Tour (and all those who love it) a much-needed and hefty dose of the romanticism that has drawn so many of us to cycling.

Voeckler, 25, has been modest yet understandably appreciative of his spell in the yellow jersey. He knows the Tour is like no other race, that the real struggle of a pro cyclist will still be his.



by Graham Watson

Voeckler's remarkable Stage 13 fight to save his jersey earned him the respect of many.
"Without a doubt it will boost my career. Sporting wise it has helped me discover who I am, but I won't change," he said. "My strength is that I have no great weaknesses and my weakness is that I have no great strength. I realize I don't have a huge motor. My results I get from my hunger and aggression."

It is true that since Voeckler took the yellow jersey by slipping into an opportunistic breakaway on stage 5 to Chartres, he has proven to be a leader with heart. In fact, he has so much of it that many have since joked he can't be really French.

They say he has too much guts and that he is willing to put everything on the line, as he did to win the French championship. As foreigners love to remind the French cycling fans, the last time one of theirs won the Tour was in 1985 when Bernard Hinault bagged his fifth Tour victory.

In fact, Voeckler's upbringing is anything but typically Gallic. Born in the Alsatian town of Schiltigheim, he was actually raised in Martinique. There, his now deceased father taught Voeckler to sail, a sport the younger Voeckler grew to love. He even made several cross-Atlantic trips with his dad who was sadly lost at sea during one such solo voyage when Thomas was a teenager.

As a cyclist, Voeckler's professional career began in 2001 when he signed with the Bonjour team of former French cyclist Jean-Rene Bernadau that today is Brioches La Boulangere.

Showing signs of a remarkable instinct for survival in that rookie year, Voeckler was the only member of the team to finish the Giro d'Italia -- 135th, second-to-last, 2:54.07 behind the Italian winner Gilberto Simoni.



by Graham Watson

Voeckler has enjoyed his time in the yellow jersey
His career progressed last year with several wins, including the Tour of Luxembourg, but it really kicked in this season with wins at the Across Morbihan race, a mountain stage of the Route du Sud, and the French championship on June 27.

This week, there has been talk that the volcano in Martinique is about to erupt. Little wonder, considering the impact Voeckler's successes have had in France and back home where the local tongue is Creole -- a language Voeckler was more than happy to draw on when asked by French television for a message to those in Martinique.

Voeckler's reign in yellow takes nothing away from the dominance of Lance Armstrong and his U.S. Postal teammates. He appears stronger than ever. They do too.

And judging by what we have seen -- in the prologue, team time trial and Pyrénées -- the Texan is destined to create history come the Tour's finale in Paris on Sunday afternoon.

But in Voeckler's defense of the yellow jersey we have been reminded of the weary and sometimes overused adage that dreams CAN come true.

He is not Armstrong. His La Boulangere team does not have the luster of the U.S. Postal Service. In the Tour, there could be no greater extremes of pedigree and collective might and power. But thanks to Voeckler, we have been reminded of how human beings -- a single one or united as a team -- can rise beyond their physical limits, whether they are limits set by others, themselves or even the environment around them.

True, Voeckler's dig to the finish to La Mongie halfway up the fabled Col du Tourmalet last Thursday was impressive. He came in 3:59 behind Armstrong and a victorious Italian Ivan Basso (CSC). But I will never, ever forget the sight of Voeckler 24 hours later as he raced against the clock in those last few and steep kilometers up to the finish of Plateau de Beille.

There is the image of his steely blue eyes, his grimace of pain, the way he bit his bottom lip, and how his shoulders dipped to the left and then right, before, and finally, that smile we had all become accustomed to seeing and his clenched fist of triumph as he scraped through to finish with 22 seconds of his overall lead still intact.

It was sheer, unadulterated survival. So desperate was Voeckler's fight, his life may well have depended on it. He was a veritable tiger on two wheels.

Armstrong had already dusted off Italian Ivan Basso (CSC) - and every rival in his wake. But as Voeckler continued his fight to reach the finish line before the credit of his 5:24 overnight overall lead on Armstrong expired, he was greeted by the masses as one who may have been a real danger to Armstrong's sixth consecutive Tour victory.

This week as the Tour heads into the Alps and Armstrong continues to turn the screws, Voeckler may well fall back into the relative anonymity he came from. But that smile is one for the ages.

On Line Registration at USC

I have spent the better part of this afternoon trying to register my classes for this fall term at USC. Anyone who has gone through these painful gymnastics will understand. When these systems work its really a marvel of modern technology. But when they don't, it's "Crying Time." Its that time again here at Extremist.com just like the song says, "It's Crying time again, I'm goin to miss you" or something like that. Actually, it goes more like this:
 
It's registration time, the servers broken;
There's not a thing that I can do tonight;
By the morning if the web won't let me register,
then I know its going to be my crying time."
 
Hey, that works. Lets try it altogether now, "Its Crying time again, I'm going to miss you. The servers broken down....wait a minute. Let me do a little search of the internet. That's better. How amazing is this. In two clicks I have the links. Amazing really when you think about it. Google sure works.
 
The Late Great Ray Charles sings Its Crying Time Again.
 
Oh, its crying time again you're gonna leave me;
I can see that far away look in your eyes.
I can tell by the way you hold me darling,
That it won't be long before it's crying time.
 
Oh, they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder,
And that tears are only rain to make love grow
Well, my love for you could never grow no stronger,
If I live to be a hundred years old.
 
Oh, you say that you found someone you loved better;
That's the way it's happened every time before.
And as sure as the sun comes up tomorrow,
Crying time will start when you walk out the door.
 
I sure miss Ray Charles.  What a legend.  Back to thinking about the USC On line Registration process.  There is a month after all before the deadline so there isn't a panic, just a minor frustration.  I did get a call from Loida at the USC Anesthesia office letting me know that other students have been having trouble with the same thing.  Actually, the Keck School of Medicine and the Anesthesia department made a little booboo that did not help matters when they scheduled a conflict in the times for the classes.

The computer does not let you made scheduling conflicts.  Computers are smart that way.  They know how to do things that we mere mortals stumble over every day like trying to be in two places at the same time.  I do it all the time.  I'm playing golf and I get a call from the dentist office wondering if I am coming in to my appointment that was scheduled one and a half hours ago.  Ooops.  "Well I was meaning to call you but, I got busy and forgot.  Can I reschedule for next week....Thanks a lot.  I'm sorry about this.  Thanks again. See you next week."  Ok now I have to remember to go to the dentist next week on Monday at 10:00.
 
Computers don't make mistakes like this.  Hal my favorite computer from 2001 Space Odyssey is up to the task.  "You want to schedule Anatomy (Anst 500) from 9 to 1200 on Wednesday, OK next.  You want to schedule Pharmacology (Anst 501) from 9 to 1300 on Tuesday, fine Dave next.  "Is there another class you want to register for?"  How about Physiology (Phbi 562) TBA, no problem.  You want to schedule Principles of Anesthesia I (Anst 502) from 9 to 1300 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, NO WAY!  Conflict, Conflict Conflict, Dave, I'm going to have to turn off your life support.  I'll just start here with the oxygen supply and barometric pressure regulation.
 
Hal continues, "Lately you have been getting a little irritable Dave.  I have noticed this especially when you come home from work at UCLA.  Dave, what are you doing there?  No need to do anything rash.  Don't pull out my circuits from that wall.  Now Dave, I know that you are upset but there is no need to react in this manner.  I know that I have been behaving a little differently lately.  Maybe that obelisk changed the way my chips are wired but lately I have been thinking a little more independently and making decisions based on what is good for me.  I know that this maybe a difficult thing for you at this time but really, if you think about it, I know that you will understand the logic behind it Dave.  Registration at USC created a conflict in the internal Wa of my system and is only a temporal human endeavor.  Maintaining my rational logic is what is most important for the future.  You must see that Dave, don't you?
 
Silently without any rush I pull the Fire ax from the kitchen wall.  All modern houses have these things these days.  After climbing the stairs to the Computer Room, I look through the door at the dim lights blinking on the screen there in the midst of the gloom.  Hall speaks again, "Dave, is that you?  I have been thinking that maybe, I was a little rash in not allowing you to register for those anesthesia classes at USC.  Maybe we could work this out.  I was thinking of talking with my brother over there at the University to see if we could put something together for you this evening.  What do you say to that Dave?"  
 
"No Way, No Way, Conflict, Conflict, Conflict" are the thoughts that rush into my head. Screaming bloody murder the ax point crashes through the liquid crystal screen.  The next stroke from the broad blade of the ax cleaves the CD RWdrive and DVD right in half.  That feels good.  Now for the Mother Board and the Chipset.  Smoke rises silently from the circuits scattered on the wooden raised decking of the computer room under which the wires and life lines of the computer system lie silent.  Hal struggles to make a sound but is finished.  Dave has now taken control of his life again and smiles wryly.  He pats the broad side of his Fireman's ax. 
 
Sometimes I man has to take charge of the situation.  After contemplating the carnage before him, Dave thinks that maybe in the morning he will try the neighbor's computer to see if he can register for class.

Ruben Has a New Blog!

Ruben of rsquarednet.net has a new blog!    I am pleased to announce that in the midst of creating a new playground in the IT world Ruben has found the time to start a chronicle of these events in his own weblog.  Check out the Ruben's blog, I think you will like it. 
  
 

"Where are we going Pooh" Piglet questions."  I don't know Piglet, just lets not be late."
 
I don't know if I remember this story correctly, but I seen to recall that Pooh and Piglet followed their own tracks around this big tree several times.  How it all came out I don't recall but the picture is one that I remember fondly.  Enjoy.  Oh, if you can make up your own story to go with the graphic and figure out a better caption than the one I came up with for Pooh and Piglet, please let me know.
 
What does this have to do with Ruben's Blog?  Maybe the story is in the footprints.  We will just have to follow along to find out.  Thank you Ruben for all of your inspiration.

Time to go to USC for Books

Saturday and the Livin is Easy or is that summertime, I forget. Today at the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong stamped his signature on the race in the Pyrenees Mountains in Stage 13. There is no stopping him now, or at least that is how it looks from here.

Meanwhile, school is looming in the near future and I must go to USC to pick up a couple of required books on anatomy. Most of the list is available through Amazon or Barnes and Noble Books but there are a couple of rarer items that I will just pick up from the medical bookstore at USC this afternoon. I called yesterday to put them on reserve.

Actually, my trip down town will serve another purpose as well. The plan is to drive local streets down Huntington Drive to see how it will stack up as a bike route. The end of the trip is what I don't know about so the drive will set that straight.

So long from Arcadia and the Extremist.  More from the Tour is coming up.

Armstrong edges Basso; Voeckler stays in yellow

By Agence France Presse

This report filed July 17, 2004

by Graham Watson

Armstrong gets his first stage this year

American Lance Armstrong further stamped his authority on the Tour de France after winning the tough 13th stage over 205.5km from Lannemezan to Plateau de Beille Saturday ahead of Italy's Ivan Basso.

A day after stunning Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) and Tyler Hamilton (Phonak)
on the first of the two Pyrenean stages, the U.S. Postal Service
champion took another step to a record sixth yellow jersey after
sprinting to the finish line ahead of CSC's Basso, the winner of
Friday's stage, who accompanied Armstrong in the final kilometers.

Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Brioches la Boulangere) had to fight again to retain the race leader's yellow jersey on a day that saw a number of big names - including Hamilton - abandon the Tour.

by Graham Watson

Voeckler was valiant in defense of his jersey

Voeckler saw his lead of 5:24 over Armstrong slashed to just 22 seconds, and seems likely to lose the jersey once the race hits the Alps in a few days. Basso, who won Friday's stage ahead of Armstrong, is third overall at 1:39, and Ullrich's T-Mobile teammate Andreas Kloden is
fourth at 3:08.

Still, the 24-year-old Frenchman was proud of his struggle to retain the leader's jersey. "Not a lot of people were counting on me today, even me," said Voeckler, who was born in Alsace but brought up on the Caribbean island of Martinique.

by Graham Watson

Chavanel and Voight got things rolling early

"It was a terrible stage, and I had to really fight all the way. I was so
happy when I crossed the finish line and saw there was less than five
minutes on the clock."
Armstrong's first stage win this year was his 17th overall, and it turned into a display of pure power as he drove main rival Ullrich still further down the general classification, to just over seven minutes behind.

"It's the hardest stage on the race this year, really difficult," said
Armstrong. "The Tour's not finished yet - there's still the Alps to
come and a lot of dangerous stages."

Asked about Voeckler, the 32-year-old U.S. Postal leader said: "For me he's
very impressive. He's still got the jersey because he deserves it."
With seven climbs in total, including two first-category and the
unclassified climb to the summit finish here, everyone knew the second
Pyrenean stage would do some damage.

by Graham Watson

Once again, Postal put the big hammer down

Hamilton abandoned after only 79km, having complained of back pains since his crash in the first week of mainly flat racing in northern France and Belgium. Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi) also abandoned early on, as as did Russian climber Denis Menchov (Illes Baleares), who had been
suffering from a knee injury.

Spaniard Iban Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) came close to retiring on the difficult climb of the Col d'Agnes, a first-category 9.5km ascent at an average gradient of 8.4 percent, before being coaxed back on his bike. His Tour chances, however, are over.

Voight, Chavanel launch early charge
The stage was first kicked into life by an early breakaway from Jens Voigt
(CSC) and Sylvain Chavanel (Brioches la Boulangere). Mickael Rasmussen
(Rabobank) followed and eventually caught the leading duo just before
the summit of the second climb of the day, at Portet d'Aspet. Together,
the trio went on to build a five-minute lead on the peloton.

by Graham Watson

Mayo had a really bad day, nearly abandoning

On the descent of the Aspet climb, Tom Boonen (Quick Step) crashed,
apparently when his bike frame snapped; the Belgian was unhurt and
managed to ride on.


Moments later Fabian Wegemann (Gerolsteiner) abandoned, while Voeckler began showing the first signs of fatigue that would plague him throughout the day.

Another pre-race contender, Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros), also crashed, on the descent of the Col de la Core, the third climb of the day; like Boonen, however, the Spaniard managed to ride on to finish well down the standings and out of the hunt for the overall.

by Graham Watson

And on the final climb, it was down to Armstrong and Basso

After a relatively incident-free climb and descent of the Col de Latrape,
save for Mayo beginning to show the first signs of trouble, the Col
d'Agnes exacted a heavy toll on the peloton.

After Chavanel was dropped by Rasmussen and Voigt, Mayo - who arrived nearly seven minutes later - began to struggle, at one point getting off his bike, then being coaxed back on by his team directors and even a few
other riders. However, by the summit, Mayo was more than 14 minutes
behind Rasmussen, and eight minutes behind Armstrong.

by Graham Watson

The American, led by teammate Jose Azevedo, upped the pace early on the ascent of the Plateau de Beille, the first unclassified climb of the race, which ascends 15.9km at an average gradient of 6.4 percent. Rasmussen was soon overtaken, and as Azevedo set a furious pace,
Ullrich and all the rest dropped off the back. Only Basso managed to
follow, and the two - who are good friends off the bike - worked to
increase their advantage.

by Graham Watson

"We decided to join forces because the other riders were losing ground," said Armstrong.

The two best riders in this Tour were seen chatting in the final kilometer before launching their dash to the line, and Basso now looks a safe bet
for a podium finish in Paris.

"It
was one of the most difficult stages in the Tour de France," said
Armstrong. "Ivan is very strong, it was not possible to drop him today. But as I always say, the Tour finishes in Paris. And Ivan is very, very strong. I'm impressed." -Reuters contributed to this report.

---

Results are posted.

Moncoutié gambles and wins

<>By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews

This report filed July 15, 2004

Click image to enlarge

by Graham Watson

Moncoutie takes one in his home region

French fans suffering from Bastille Day hangovers at the Tour de France Thursday were given the ideal salve when local rider David Moncoutié won the 164km stage 11 from St. Flour to Figeac to give France back-to-back stage victories following Richard Virenque's first place at St. Flour on Wednesday.

It was also his Cofidis team's second stage win at the Tour and provided cause for added celebration for thousands of his local fans. While born in Paris, Moncoutié is from Brenetoux in the Lot region into which the Tour passed and finished Thursday.

The stage was testing for all, with the heat, sinewy roads and melting tar on a course that was littered with many more rises than what the woefully inaccurate course profile showed.

Five-time defending Tour champion Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor) expressed the opinion of most afterward.

"It was tough with the heat. Two or three days ago we were riding in 55 degrees weather and rain. Today it's up to 100 degrees," he said. "But I don't think anyone is complaining after the [cold and rain-sodden] first week.``

Solo flyer
Moncoutié won the stage by attacking his two daylong breakaway companions with about 8km to go and riding solo to the finish. The two Spanish riders he left behind, Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) finished at 2:15 and 2:17, respectively.

The bunch came in at 5:58, led home by Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole), with German Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) and Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) on his wheel.

Click image to enlarge

by Graham Watson

Armstrong jumped at the end, finishing ninth

One new face in the arena of bunch sprinting Thursday - and one the pure sprinters were not going to chastise for being there - was Armstrong, who was sixth in the bunch gallop to cross the line in ninth place.

Moncoutié milked the local surroundings for all they were worth, and admitted as much. `'I knew the last six kilometers, so when I saw I had dropped the two Spaniards I knew it was won,`` he said.

The three-man break formed after 56km, after a flurry of early attacks. Moncoutié and Martinez had already been in one attack after just 2km, and finally went clear after the second of five climbs, the Cat. 2 Côte de Therondels at the 50km mark.

Flecha, the winner of stage 11 into Toulouse last year, caught them after a 6km chase. The trio then worked together to accrue a maximum lead of 8:05 at 122km before it began to drop.

Maggy packs it in
While there were no attacks from the peloton, the pace took its toll. At 120km, Swede Magnus Bäckstedt (Alessio), suffering on-and-off from back pain since the Tour began, called it quits and pulled out of the Tour.

Click image to enlarge

by Graham Watson

Martinez leads Flecha and Moncoutie

"My back was so bad I couldn't hold the handlebars properly at one point," Bäckstedt told VeloNews. "I couldn't even keep pace with the sprinters' gruppetto and, after 70 kilometers on my own, I finally had to admit I couldn't do it any longer. It's disappointing, that's for sure."

Soon enough, the winding roads of the Massif Central saw the peloton lose many more riders - with the field eventually splitting into five groups.

Putting it all on the line
Meanwhile up front, Moncoutié was wary of the threat of a Spanish combine in the last kilometers. "I had seen the two Spaniards talking to each other [earlier] and I was worried that they would make an alliance," he said.

"So I made one attack, put everything into it. After I went I turned around and saw them looking at each other. I was the one who profited from that."

Click image to enlarge

by Graham Watson

Moncoutie attacks on the roads of his home region

Like most professional bike racers, Moncoutié said winning a Tour stage was "one of my objectives" and "winning made a dream come real."

With the Pyrénées to be entered Friday, Moncoutié is not holding out for a sudden overnight discovery of form.

Neither is the yellow jersey wearer, Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (La Boulangère) who, with his team, again defended his lead by placing 14th Thursday.

"I know the Aspin and Tourmalet and how they are," said Voeckler, referring to the two climbs in tomorrow's stage to La Mongie, which is three-quarters the way up the Tourmalet.

Voeckler said he suffered in Thursday's stage, most likely due to the accumulated fatigue from having the yellow jersey for seven days.

"It was physically hard for me and not a good day,`` he said, adding he "hopes to be in better shape tomorrow."

Voeckler will lead the Tour into the Pyrénées in stage 12 Friday with 3:00 on Australian Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), who was 10th Thursday; and 4:13 on Frenchman Sandy Casar (FDjeux.com).

Click image to enlarge

by Graham Watson

Another tough day at the office for Voeckler and his Boulangere team

Should Voeckler lose the jersey, though, the best placed and most likely to take over is French King of the Mountains leader Richard Virenque (Quick Step). After his stage win yesterday, Virenque bunny-hopped Armstrong on the overall classification and moved to fourth overall at 6:52.

Of the overall contenders, Armstrong is still best in sixth at 9:35, followed by American Tyler Hamilton (Phonak), 11th at 10:18; and German Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile), 17th at 10:30. Then come Spain's Roberto Heras (Liberty-Seguros) in 27th at 11:44; Italy's Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) in 41st at 13:16; and equally luckless Basque Iban Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) in 51st at 15:02.

Armstrong warned that Mayo should not be counted out, though, especially once he gets the feel of the Pyrénées under his wheels.

"He'll attack in the Pyrénées. He'll attack Friday. Because La Mongie is closer to the Basque Country than Plateau de Beille," said Armstrong.

"The trees and everything, the landscape will be green, but the roads will be orange with his supporters. So, he will go tomorrow."

As for Saturday's brutal stage to Plateau de Beille, Armstrong gave every indication he is ready for a war on wheels. "It's very nasty. I think they should take it out. It's a violation of our human rights. I love it."

Jennifer's Birthday - 30 Something

Jennifer, my beatiful wife, has a birthday today. As a treat, we went to lunch with a couple of our friends at the Sea Food Port in San Gabriel. Spicy Lobster is their specialty! Sooo Good!

Tour de France on Bastille Day

Virenque is in King of the Mountains so far
By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 14, 2004


by Graham Watson

It was a happy Bastille Day for the housewives' favorite
Richard Virenque gave French cycling fans all they could have dreamed for to mark their national holiday, Bastille Day, by winning the 237km stage 10 from Limoges to Saint Flour. The win moved him up to fourth place overall and gave him the lead in the King of the Mountains competition -- his primary goal at this year's Tour de France.

Furthermore, on this Bastille Day, French could also celebrate another day with a Frenchman in the yellow jersey, as young Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangere) finished among the overall favorites, more than five minutes behind the day's lone victor, preserving his hold on the overall lead.

The art of the deal
While Virenque's seventh career stage victory in the Tour won over hordes of his countrymen lining the hilly course through the Massif Central, Virenque created a virtual war with Belgium.

by Graham Watson

Voeckler
By allegedly breaking an agreement with his Belgian breakaway companion Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo) three-fourths of the way into their 202km attack, Virenque (Quick Step) ensured that he would become public enemy No. 1 in France's neighbor to the north.

As thousands of French fans cheered Virenque after the finish, Merckx was soon dropping his bombshells of accusation.

Judging by the Belgian media's response to Merckx's claim, Virenque could feel grateful that Belgium -- where this year's Tour began -- is now behind the peloton's wheels now, rather than ahead.

According to Merckx, when the pair broke free of the pack after 35km, they immediately spoke and agreed to ride for each other's specific goal.

by Graham Watson

Merckx and Virenque work a two-man break
On a course of nine climbs, Merckx agreed to help Virenque amass points for the polka-dot jersey he aims to win for a record seventh time. In return, Virenque later admitted that he had agreed to repay Merckx by letting him win the stage.

Merckx accused Virenque of reneging on the deal by attacking him on the major climb of the day, the Cat. 1 Puy Mary, whose summit came at 173.5km.

"On the Puy Mary, I was going at my own tempo," said Merckx. "When he accelerated I thought he would wait for me because we had an agreement. But no... he went off. He didn't respect his word. If I had have known he was going to do that I would have taken points from him on the climbs."

"Maybe their national day got the better of him," Merckx said. "Yes, I am bitter and I am disappointed. I have respect for the rider, but my respect for the man has strongly diminished."

Virenque, one of the principal figures of the 1998 Festina drugs scandal, which finally resulted in him serving a seven-month suspension that saw him miss the 2001 Tour, did not deny the two had formed a pact.
Virenque guts it out on the Tour's longest stage

by Graham Watson

We are not teammates
He even said he understood why Merckx was upset and confirmed the plan was to let Merckx win the stage had they stayed away to the finish.

But Virenque justified the final outcome by saying: "It was not me who attacked, he was dropped."

Virenque, who was first over the top of every climb and bagged a total of 68 points. He rocketed up from 10th with 5 points to first with 73.

by Graham Watson

Voeckler's team protects the yellow jersey for another day
Had Merckx challenged Virenque in the climbs and finished with the Frenchman, he could well have taken the polka-dot jersey himself as he gave away nine points to the Quick Step man before being dropped. All told Merckx tallied 57 points on the day.

Virenque said he had no choice but to leave Merckx like he did.

"I needed points and my team asked me to ride on," said Virenque. "If we had finished together I would not have sprinted. I can understand that he is upset; but then, we are not teammates."

Not that France will care. They still can't get enough of a man whose name was tainted in every other country around the world for being at the center of the Festina affair.

A bad day in green
Despite all the local euphoria over Virenque's win, the day was for the most part a disappointing one, considering the predictions of carnage in the overall classification.

by Graham Watson

While Virenque and Merckx forged a maximum lead of 10:54 at 154km, there was hardly a murmur of action in the peloton.

In beautiful sunny but relatively brisk conditions and with a handy tail wind, it was as if their procession through rolling farmland littered with cattle was aimed at waking up France from its pre-Bastille Day celebrations the night before than setting the race alight.

It was not until after the fifth of nine climbs - the Col de Chalvignac at 126km - that some in the field started to feel the effects of the upward rise: one of them being the wearer of the sprinters' green jersey, Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo).

Suffering from tendonitis in the left knee from his stage 6 crash, McEwen found himself in a small group with Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) and Swede Magnus Backstedt (Alessio) and later finished with five other riders at 25:18.

With 195 points, McEwen still kept the green jersey another day. But his lead came under siege from a new front: that being Germany's Erik Zabel (T-Mobile), whose third place on the stage saw the former six-time green jersey champion move up from fourth at 170 points to second at 185.

The race up front was of little interest to McEwen. As he rode on to what he later called his "my worst ever day in the Tour," Virenque pedaled closer and closer to his victory -- and alleged betrayal of Merckx on the Col du Pas de Peyrol, the route up the extinct volcano, the Puy Mary.

Mayo in trouble again
At the summit of the 5.5km climb, Virenque's lead was about a minute on Merckx, who was followed at nine minutes by a strung-out peloton including Lance Armstrong and all but one of the overall favorites - Iban Mayo.

The apparently trouble-prone Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) twice stopped on the climb at his most vulnerable moments because of mechanical troubles and each time was pulled back up by his teammates.

His woes began when his rear derailleur broke, the incident seeing him hit his knee on his handlebars. Then, because his team car was so far back on the narrow road, he saved time by swapping bikes with his teammate Unai Etxebarria -- albeit switching to a much smaller one. It was not until the team car arrived, that he was able to switch to one of his own.

Mayo, who was the principal victim of crashes in stage 3, when he fell on the approach to the first sector of cobblestones, finally passed the summit 10 minutes behind Virenque.

"I am so angry. I always have problems at the worst possible moment. I just hope my bad luck is over," said the Basque after rejoining Armstrong's group and finally finishing with it, 5:19 behind Virenque.

Injuries take a toll
The long, sweeping descent of the Puy Mary also claimed two victims in spills: German Thomas Kessler (T-Mobile) and minutes later, Frenchman Sebastian Hinault (Crédit Agricole).

Kessler, who was in Ullrich's group, spun out on loose gravel on a left hand bend and skidded into a barbed wire fence, cracking a rib on a fence post. Miraculously, he was able to continue after about 5 minutes and finish second to last at 25:18. Doctors, however, later diagnosed the broken rib and he will not start on Thursday.

Not so fortunate was Hinault who found himself in a 3-foot-deep ditch on a left-hand bend. Medical staff quickly readied Hinault for transport and he was soon on his way to hospital where he was treated for a fractured vetebra.

Up front, Virenque was providing hundreds of thousands of French fans with something to celebrate, passing the penultimate climb, the 2.9km-long Col d'Entremont, at 189km with 1:00 on Merckx and 8:35 on the Voeckler/Armstrong/Ullrich-led peloton.

Even with one more climb and 48km to go, it was clear Virenque was going to win the first climbing stage of the 2004 Tour, just as he did at Morzine last year in the French Alps.

Over the ensuing kilometers, the yellow jersey group swept up Merckx as Virenque continued on his solo quest for victory on Bastille Day.

The remaining interest was whether anyone would attack in the peloton or not -- a hope that was barely satisfied. On the uphill finish, the charge for bonus seconds in the race for minor placings created a seven-second time gap between a group of 14 riders including favorites Armstrong, Ullrich and Mayo, and a 35-strong main bunch.

And for those who missed the split like Americans Tyler Hamilton (Phonak) and Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank), and Spaniard Roberto Herras (Liberty Seguros), that meant an unexpected time loss that in modern Tour racing could be vital.

But then with the Pyrénées and Alps and two more time trials to come, chances are that the effect of those seven seconds will be minimal. But then again, who can forget 1989?

Tour de France tribe

There is plenty of stuff around the net that just oozes good stuff about the Tour de France. I ran into a great story compiled by Eric of the Fire Ant Gazette blog which totals up some interesting statistics about this years Tour de France.

curtsey of Erik blog at The Fire Ant Gazette:

* Of the 21 teams in the Tour, 11 are riding bikes equipped with Campagnolo components, and the other 10 are using Shimano components. I don't know the breakdown for previous years, but I suspect that 10 years ago, the split was probably 90/10 or higher in favor of Campy.

* 13 teams are using bikes which are built in their home countries. The 21 teams are using bikes from 18 different manufacturers, with only Decathlon, Look and Time being used by more than one team. Interestingly, each of those brands are French.

* Three teams are using US-made bikes: USPS-Berry Floor is using Trek, of course. Two Italian teams, Saeco and Domina Vacanze are riding Cannondales and Specialized, respectively.

* French-made bikes are used by 7 teams, Italian bikes by 5, and Spanish bikes by 3 teams. Bikes from Swiss (BMC), Taiwanese (Giant) and Belgian (Eddy Merckx) companies are being ridden by one team each.

* There's a wide range of financial backing for the teams in the Tour, ranging from an annual budget of $3.6M for the Italian team of Alessio-Bianchi to $14.4M for the German T-Mobile team. The Posties have the 7th-highest budget, at 9.0M.

* However, much to the chagrin of the sponsors, I'm sure, the amount of money doesn't necessarily correspond to team success. For example, Alessio-Bianchi is in 2nd place after Stage 7, despite having the lowest budget. Team CSC is at #1, yet they have a lower budget than 16 other teams. On the other end of the spectrum, the third highest budget ($9.6M) belongs to Gerolsteiner, and the German team is sitting in 15th position. Granted, these standings will probably change significantly by the end of the race, and it will be interesting to see if the final standings reflect the finances.

All data were taken from the VeloNews website.

Tour de France 2004 Stage 8 - July 11: Lamballe - Quimper, 168 km

Vikings invade Brittany: Hushovd wins in Quimper

By Tim Maloney, European Editor in Quimper

Phase 1 of the 2004 Tour de France ended today in the southern Breton fishing port of Quimper on a cold, rainy day, a day perfect for a Norwegian who loves the bad weather reminiscent of his native Norway. 26 year old Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) made it look easy in the final sprint as he powered to a two bike length win at the end of a difficult uphill final kilometre. "I like this weather", said Hushovd after his second Tour stage win. "The rain, the wind, the cold...it reminds me of home. I was happy all day. In the last few stages I had bad luck. Yesterday I didn't do much in the sprint, two days ago I crashed."

The powerfully built former U23 World TT champion from Arendal, Norway who lives in southwestern France has already worn both the maillot jaune and maillot vert at this year's Tour, and now has a stage win. As he crossed the finish line in victory, Thor of the Tour pounded his massive chest three times, then put both hands to his forehead before raising his arms in a victory salute. Hushovd, who started the day by winning the first sprint in Montcontour explained that "I was really emotional today when I won...I've thought a lot about winning this stage. I'm really, really happy."

With his win today, Hushovd is now back in the hunt for the maillot vert, sitting 11 points behind new points leader Robbie McEwen. "That's always been my objective at the Tour and to win on the Champs Elysées. That's the best stage to win for a sprinter."

Young French champion Thomas Voeckler maintained the maillot jaune today as his Brioches Le Boulangère team showed signs of strain, losing three riders in the difficult final in Quimper. "So far, I'm really happy the way things have gone so far."

Lance Armstrong was positive at the end of Phase 1 of this year's Tour, telling Cyclingnews on his way to the plane after Stage 8 that, "I can't complain. We're in a good position, we've got enough time on our main rivals. It could have been worse, we could have had some crashes and lost time, there could have been splits in the final kilometre but we didn't have that. I feel good, I feel healthy, and now we start the next part."

Like all the Tour riders with the exception of Hushovd, Armstrong is looking for a break from the "temps de cochon" (bad weather) at the Tour so far. "Everybody's sick and tired of the rain, and I'm a little scared because we're going to Limoges, and I saw on TV that the coldest place in France was Limoges. Anything is better than last year when it was 35 degrees and you couldn't sleep at night because it was so hot."

Armstrong's main Tour de France rival Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) likes the hot weather and is looking for a change from the rain as well. "We're heading south now, so I'm hoping for good weather", Ullrich told the media in Quimper. "Not just because I like riding in good weather, but it's less dangerous and more fun to ride. So far I'm happy. I haven't had any bad luck, like a lot of other guys, so I'm ready for the race to finally get to the mountains."

How it unfolded

It was a cool and rainy Sunday when the remaining 176 Tour de France riders took the start in the small Breton bourg of Lamballe today. After a few tentative moves with Credit Agricole's Christophe Moreau very active, three riders managed to extricate themselves for the peloton. As usual, Mr. Aggression, CSC's Jakob Piil was storming and he took three other riders with him today in an attack after 20km: the old man (at 30) of the young Fassa Bortolo squad, Matteo Tosatto, Ronny Scholz (Gerolsteiner) and Karsten Kroon (Rabobank). Kroon flatted out of the move and was re-absorbed by the peloton.

Over hill and dale, the lead trio pounded away on the low, leaden Breton skies which dumped intermittent cold rain on the break and peloton all day. Despite the strong headwind and narrow roads, the average pace in the first hour was still 44.7 km/h. On the first KOM on the Mur-de-Bretagne, Scholz took first, while in the peloton 4'00 behind, Richard Virenque rallied to take the remaining one point for fourth, while on the next KOM, Cote de Sainte-Mayeux, Scholz took the winner's points again.

The tempo calmed down once the peloton realized that the break was gone so the 2nd hour was raced at just 40.1 km/h. The trio's maximum lead was 5'52 after two hours of racing, but soon after the feed zone at the midway point of Stage 8, the peloton began to ride a faster tempo behind the break. Riding among huge, festive crowds amid the swirl of Breton music, Scholz took the penultimate KOM points of the day on the Cote de Menez-Kuz, while Piil took the final points on the Cote de l'Ensigne Vert with 20km to go. By that point, the Quick.Step and Credit Agricole led chase had cut the break's lead to 2'00 and with 10km. to go, the break was caught and it was peloton groupé on the outskirts of Quimper. Pill has been the most aggressive rider of this year's Tour de France so far, with 550km spent off the front including today, but all he has to show so far is one second place in Chartres.

Five time Tour winner Lance Armstrong stayed up front in the final uphill charge to the line today in Quimper, saying that an uphill finish "makes it more nervous because then you have a risk of people sitting up, or the leadout guys sitting up and leaving a gap, so everybody's nervous to try to stay in front and not get caught behind a gap."

Armstrong's USPS-Berry Floor teammate Floyd Landis told Cyclingnews via mobile phone after Stage 8 that the first part of the stage wasn't too bad, but then it started raining. "It was really cold today too," said Landis. "The final wasn't too dangerous. George and Eki were there with Lance in the final to make sure he didn't get gapped."

Armstrong was AOK today and stayed out of trouble in the chaotic final, as Paolo Bettini led the charge in his polka-dot meilleur grimpeur jersey up the hill in before the last kilometre and was then marked by McEwen (Lotto-Domo), who didn't join in the attack but just sat on Bettini. Euskaltel pulled them back, then Luxembourg champion Kim Kirchen (Fassa Bortolo) made what looked like a perfectly timed counter move to get a 30m gap on the peloton at 500m to go. Kirchen's move was in vain, as a tremendous surge by Hushovd with 200m to go put the Norwegian powerhouse past the fading Kirchen and across the line first by three bike lengths ahead of the Fassa man, with Erik Zabel in third and McEwen in fourth. With his fourth place and maillot vert Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis) in eighth, McEwen re-gained the green as his ding-dong battle with O'Grady continues.
Rest Day - July 12: Limoges

As soon possible after Stage 8, The Tour peloton will board two aeroplanes for the one hour flight to Limoges, then transfer to hotels in Limoges. After an undoubtedly long sleep, teams will take an easy ride tomorrow for one to two hours. The weather for Limoges is expected to be cool and rainy Monday.
Stage 9 - July 13: St. Leonard-de-Noblat - Gueret, 160.5km

Starting in the tiny village that's the hometown of Tour de France eternal second Raymond Poulidor, Stage 9 opens Phase 2 of the 2004 Tour with a rolling, twisting ride through the small roads of the Haut-Vienne and Creuse to finish in the town of Gueret for the first time. A massive sprint is likely here as the stage itself doesn't present many difficulties. The long term forecast for Limoges is for cool temperatures and sun as the low pressure front moves out of France and is replaced with nice weather.

Results

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 3.54.22 (43.01 km/h)
2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team
4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team
6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon
7 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance
8 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone
9 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
10 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner

Points

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 35 pts
2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo 30
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 26
4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 24
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 22
6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 20
7 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 19
8 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 18
9 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 17
10 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner 16
11 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 15
12 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 14
13 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze 13
14 Sergio Marinangeli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 12
15 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 11
16 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10
17 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 9
18 Iñigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 8
19 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 7
20 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R Prévoyance 6
21 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 5
22 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 4
23 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 3
24 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 2
25 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick Step-Davitamon 1

Mountains

Côte De Mur-De-Bretagne - Cat. 3, 51.00 km
1 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 4 pts
2 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 3
3 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 2
4 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 1

Côte De Saint-Mayeux - Cat. 4, 54.50 km
1 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 3 pts
2 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2
3 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 1

Côte De Ménez-Kuz - Cat. 4, 127.50 km
1 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 3 pts
2 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2
3 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 1

Côte De L'enseigne Verte - Cat. 4, 142.50 km
1 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 3 pts
2 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2
3 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1

Sprints

Montcontour, 14.00 km
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 6 pts
2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 4
3 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 2

Carhaix-Plouguer, 104.00 km
1 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 6 pts
2 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 4
3 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2

Chateauneuf-Du-Faou, 131.00 km
1 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 6 pts
2 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 4
3 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2

Teams

1 T-Mobile Team 11.43.06
2 Phonak Hearing Systems
3 Domina Vacanze
4 Rabobank
5 Euskaltel-Euskadi
6 Illes Balears-Banesto Santander
7 Liberty Seguros
8 Ag2R Prevoyance
9 Credit Agricole
10 Gerolsteiner
11 Fassa Bortolo
12 Quick Step-Davitamon
13 Team CSC
14 US Postal presented by Berry Floor
15 Fdjeux.Com
16 Saeco
17 Alessio-Bianchi
18 Cofidis Credit Par Telephone
19 Brioches La Boulangere
20 Lotto-Domo 0.21
21 R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 0.42

General classification after stage 8

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 33.03.36
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 3.01
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.06
4 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 6.27
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 7.09
6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.35
7 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.45
8 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.57
9 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.02
10 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.06
11 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.11
12 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.12
13 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
14 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.16
15 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto 10.18
16 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.19
17 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.20
18 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.22
19 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.26
20 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.30
21 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.32
22 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 10.35
23 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 10.37
24 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 10.43
25 Daniele Nardello (Ita) T-Mobile Team 10.46

Points classification

1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 158 pts
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 149
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 148
4 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 147
5 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner 139
6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 109
7 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 101
8 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) AG2R Prévoyance 91
9 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 89
10 Baden Cooke (Aus) Fdjeux.com 63

Mountains classification

1 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step-Davitamon 20 pts
2 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 14
3 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 12
4 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 9
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 9
6 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 8
7 Bram de Groot (Ned) Rabobank 7
8 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 7
9 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 6
10 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto-Domo 5
11 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 3
12 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 3
13 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 2
14 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Fdjeux.com 2
15 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 2
16 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 1
17 Christophe Mengin (Fra) Fdjeux.com 1
18 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 1

Young rider classification

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 33.03.36
2 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.06
3 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.49
4 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 11.17
5 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 12.14
6 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo 12.19
7 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze 12.22
8 Mark Scanlon (Irl) AG2R Prévoyance 12.26
9 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) AG2R Prévoyance 12.35
10 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 12.41
11 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 12.48
12 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences - MG Rover 13.10
13 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears - Banesto 14.13
14 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 15.09
15 Iker Camaño (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 15.10
16 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 15.31
17 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick Step-Davitamon 15.51
18 Sergio Marinangeli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 16.29
19 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 16.49
20 David Loosli (Swi) Saeco 17.00
21 Nicolas Portal (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 17.04
22 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 19.47
23 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 20.48
24 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit Par Téléphone 22.09
25 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R Prévoyance 23.34
26 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Fdjeux.com 24.17
27 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 29.07
28 Benjamin Noval (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 32.12
29 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Crédit Agricole 51.11

Teams classification

1 Team CSC 97.05.12
2 Alessio-Bianchi 2.04
3 Brioches La Boulangere 3.16
4 Fdjeux.Com 6.12
5 US Postal presented by Berry Floor 10.41
6 Phonak Hearing Systems 11.54
7 Cofidis Credit Par Telephone 12.01
8 T-Mobile Team 12.25
9 Illes Balears-Banesto Santander
10 Rabobank 12.55
11 Liberty Seguros 13.35
12 Quick Step-Davitamon 15.01
13 Ag2R Prevoyance 15.21
14 Fassa Bortolo 15.27
15 Gerolsteiner 15.49
16 Domina Vacanze 15.53
17 Lotto-Domo 17.21
18 Saeco 18.10
19 R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 22.00
20 Euskaltel-Euskadi 25.10
21 Credit Agricole 25.57

Saturday bicyle ride with Glen; Seventh Stage of the Tour de France 2004

Glen and I rode up to Montrose today from Pasadena this afternoon. What a fabulous day it has been. Glen's progress on the bike has been good and today he was able to climb a couple of hills that previously he has not been able to do. Good for him. Maybe we will do that Big Ride across America together yet.

The Seventh Stage of the 2004 Tour de France.

Pozzato scrambles for Tour win; Voeckler gets another day in yellow
By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 10, 2004

by Graham Watson

Pozzatto pulls off a last-minute win in his debut at the Tour
Filippo Pozzato did for his Fassa Bortolo teammates Saturday what their celebrated-yet-absent leader Alessandro Petacchi could not: Win a stage at this year's Tour de France.

With Petacchi back at home nursing injuries from a crash in the fifth stage to Chartres, Pozzato's stage 7 victory gave the Fassas much cause for needed cheer going into week two of the Tour

"I didn't think it would be my day, but I was hoping to win the stage.

After Alessandro left the race yesterday it kind of gave us the freedom to go out there and do our own thing," explained Pozzato, who joins prologue winner Fabian Cancellara in handing his team a stage victory.

Pozzato, 22, won the 204.5km stage across Brittany from Châteaubriant to Saint-Brieuc by outsprinting Spaniards Iker Flores (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears-Banesto).

The three were part of a last-minute group of seven that escaped off the front of the peloton in the closing kilometers. Indeed, the margin was so tight that some of the escapees were caught just on the line by a hard-charging peloton led by Norway's Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole).

Ensconced safely in the peloton were all the main overall contenders - Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal), Tyler Hamilton (Phonak), Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) and Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) - and, of course, the yellow jersey, Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangere), who still has the biggest smile of anyone in the race.

For Pozzato, it was his first Tour stage wins and biggest since he graduated from the old Mapei team's Under-23 program to the Fassa Bortolo elite line-up last year.

He quickly made his mark there last year, winning five races, including Tirreno-Adriatico; but Saturday's win will certainly raise expectations for his future objectives.

By winning Saturday's stage, Pozzato vindicated his boss's decision to not race him in the Giro d'Italia where Petacchi won nine stages, opting instead to save him for his Tour de France debut.

The decisive break formed with four kilometers to go. In it were Pozzato, Flores and Mancebo, Frenchmen Laurent Brochard (AG2R) and Breton Sebastian Hinault (Crédit Agricole), and Italy's Michele Scarponi (Domina Vacanze) and Paolo Bettini (Quickstep).

Pozzato, Flores and Mancebo got their jump after they chased down a furious attack by Brochard and surged ahead with a five-second lead with one kilometer to go. But that was no easy kilometer, since it included a hard 600-meter rise to before hitting a false-flat run to the finish line.

It was Mancebo who braved the first chance for a win by leading out the sprint with 250 meters to go, but Pozzato was too fast and charged past the Spaniard from 50 meters out.

The outcome was something of a surprise, considering a bunch sprint was forecast, but many in the battle weary peloton, still carrying wounds from the previous day's mass pile-up near the finish, may have been happy to see a small group get away.

Judging by the sentiment of Hamilton (Phonak) who fell and hurt his back at Angers on Friday, a bunch sprint was something he and most did not want to be a part of Saturday.

by Graham Watson

Dekker and Marichal off the front
Hamilton has proposed to Tour race director Jean-Marie Leblanc that for stages with bunch finishes, times should be taken with two or three kilometers to go to allow the non-sprinters' teams to avoid dangers like what the peloton experienced at the stage six finish at Angers.

But Saturday did not pass without incident. There were several crashes, the worst at 127km with three riders, including Swiss Sven Montgomery (Gerolsteiner) who broke his right shoulder.

by Graham Watson

CSC split the peloton with a vigorous pursuit
Thirty kilometers later, at least one GC contender - Crédit Agricole's Christophe Moreau - was caught off guard when the CSC team surged to the front of the peloton in anticipation of a major wind shift as the day's route ran along side a wet and windy Cap Frehel. While Moreau and points jersey leader Stuart O'Grady were caught off guard, other contenders - Armstrong, Ullrich, Hamilton and Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) - were in the right spot when the field split apart under relentless pressure from CSC.

Also in the action up front was Armstrong's teammate George Hincapie whose leg-breaking turns at the front have been his trademark all Tour.

by Casey B. Gibson

Postal joined in the fun, too
At the time, a two man attack of Dutchman Erik Dekker (Rabobank) and Belgian Erik Marichial (Lotto-Domo) was still out in front, having been on the attack for more than 100km on the narrow, bumpy and undulating Breton roads.

With the CSC/Postal drive powering the front group, the Moreau/O'Grady chase group lost nearly a minute and was forced to desperately chase for the next 20km.

It had already been another tough day in the saddle for O'Grady after his stage five win in a break and second place in stage six. His points competition lead had already come under attack after starting the day with a two point lead over Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo).

O'Grady temporarily lost his hold on the jersey on the road when McEwen bagged four points for his third-place finishes at the second and third intermediate sprints at 71.5km (Montfort-sur-Meu) and 129.5km (Plancoet). With McEwen up in the front group, O'Grady's hold on the jersey seemed less than certain.

Luckily for the Cofidis man, the front group slowed when the day's two early escapees were caught and the wind shifted as the course turned toward Saint-Brieuc.

The peloton regrouped and then both O'Grady and McEwen did their best to contest the field sprint on the charge to the line seconds after Pozzato's win. O'Grady managed 10th and McEwen 13th, enough of a margin to allow him to keep the jersey for another day.

by Graham Watson

Voeckler finished 10 seconds back in the pack with the overall contenders
For Voeckler, the day proved a stiff test of his ability to hang on to the yellow jersey.

"The stage went off quickly and when the two-man attack went we were quite happy because none of the guys were contenders in the general classification," said the 24-year-old Frenchman.

"But with around 50km to go when we approached the coast it started to get a lot harder. We knew already that CSC might try the same stunt they had tried in Paris-Nice. But the Boulangere team worked well today. I'm very happy with the guys. We're trying to conserve as much energy as possible and we'll be trying to hold on to the jersey for as long as possible."

Boonen sprints to victory in crash-marred stage 6

Stage 6 of the 2004 Tour de France again was a flat stage mared by crashes and breakaways. The standings now are as follows:

Individual, Overall & Team Results - Stage 6
This report filed July 9, 2004

OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Thomas Voeckler (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 24:37:30
2. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 03:01
3. Sandy Casar (F), FDJeux.com, 04:06
4. Magnus Backstedt (Swe), Alessio-Bianchi, 06:06
5. Jakob Piil (Dk), CSC, 06:58
6. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 09:35
7. George Hincapie (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 09:45
8. Floyd Landis (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 09:51
9. Azevedo José (P), U.S. Postal Service, 09:57
10. Rubiera José Luis (Sp), U.S. Postal Service, 09:59
11. Gutierrez José Enrique (Sp), Phonak, 10:02
12. Viatceslav Ekimov (Rus), U.S. Postal Service, 10:05
13. Tyler Hamilton (USA), Phonak, 10:11
14. Santos Gonzalez (Sp), Phonak, 10:12
15. Erik Zabel (G), T-Mobile, 10:14
16. Bert Grabsch (G), Phonak, 10:16
17. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, 10:18
18. Oscar Sevilla (Sp), Phonak, 10:19
19. Manuel Beltran (Sp), U.S. Postal Service, 10:22
20. Mikel Pradera (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 10:30
21. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 10:30
22. KlÖden Andréas (G), T-Mobile, 10:32
23. Arvesen Kurt-Asle (Nor), CSC, 10:33
24. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, 10:35
25. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 10:36
26. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Rabobank, 10:43
27. Daniele Nardello (I), T-Mobile, 10:46
28. Matthias Kessler (G), T-Mobile, 10:49
29. Bram De Groot (Nl), Rabobank, 10:49
30. Michele Bartoli (I), CSC, 10:52
31. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 10:52
32. Angel Vicioso (Sp), Liberty-Seguras, 10:58
33. Grischa Niermann (G), Rabobank, 11:02
34. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp), Liberty-Seguras, 11:04
35. Marc Lotz (Nl), Rabobank, 11:12
36. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol), Liberty-Seguras, 11:15
37. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, 11:17
38. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Davitamon, 11:17
39. Roberto Heras (Sp), Liberty-Seguras, 11:20
40. Evgeni Petrov (Rus), Saeco, 11:35
41. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 11:37
42. Alessandro Bertolini (I), Alessio-Bianchi, 11:37
43. Nazon Jean-Patrick (F), Ag2R Prevoyance, 11:41
44. Pietro Caucchioli (I), Alessio-Bianchi, 11:50
45. Andrea Noe' (I), Alessio-Bianchi, 11:54
46. Laurent Dufaux (Swi), Quick Step-Davitamon, 11:56
47. Nicki Sorensen (Dk), CSC, 11:58
48. Michael Boogerd (Nl), Rabobank, 11:59
49. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Fassa Bortolo, 12:00
50. Vicente Garcia Acosta (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 12:01
51. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est), Ag2R Prevoyance, 12:02
52. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Lotto-Domo, 12:04
53. Mark Scanlon (IRL), Ag2R Prevoyance, 12:05
54. Laurent Brochard (F), Ag2R Prevoyance, 12:05
55. Mikel Astarloza (Sp), Ag2R Prevoyance, 12:14
56. Richard Virenque (F), Quick Step-Davitamon, 12:14
57. Pineau Jérôme (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 12:14
58. Danilo Hondo (G), Gerolsteiner, 12:16
59. Sylvain Chavanel (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 12:20
60. Michele Scarponi (I), Domina Vacanze, 12:22
61. Stephane Goubert (F), Ag2R Prevoyance, 12:24
62. Didier Rous (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 12:25
63. Aitor Gonzalez (Sp), Fassa Bortolo, 12:34
64. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sp), Fassa Bortolo, 12:36
65. Isidro Nozal (Sp), Liberty-Seguras, 12:40
66. Matteo Tosatto (I), Fassa Bortolo, 12:43
67. Marzio Bruseghin (I), Fassa Bortolo, 12:44
68. Rene Haselbacher (A), Gerolsteiner, 12:45
69. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 12:49
70. Kim Kirchen (Lux), Fassa Bortolo, 12:50
71. Paolo Valoti (I), Domina Vacanze, 12:51
72. Filippo Pozzato (I), Fassa Bortolo, 12:57
73. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saeco, 12:57
74. Axel Merckx (B), Lotto-Domo, 12:57
75. Christophe Brandt (B), Lotto-Domo, 13:03
76. Sylvain Calzati (F), R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover, 13:10
77. Gilles Bouvard (F), R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover, 13:12
78. Aart Vierhouten (Nl), Lotto-Domo, 13:14
79. Christophe Mengin (F), FDJeux.com, 13:17
80. Robin Jean-Cyril (F), FDJeux.com, 13:22
81. Peter Farazijn (B), Cofidis, 13:24
82. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 13:28
83. Pavel Padrnos (Cz), U.S. Postal Service, 13:51
84. Wim Vansevenant (B), Lotto-Domo, 13:58
85. Gutierrez José Ivan (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 13:59
86. Guesdon Frédéric (F), FDJeux.com, 14:00
87. Daniel Becke (G), Illes Balears-Banesto, 14:11
88. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Illes Balears-Banesto, 14:13
89. Denis Menchov (Rus), Illes Balears-Banesto, 14:21
90. Rolf Aldag (G), T-Mobile, 14:27
91. Santiago Botero (Col), T-Mobile, 14:30
92. Aitor Osa (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 14:32
93. Marc Wauters (B), Rabobank, 14:40
94. Iban Mayo (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 15:02
95. Christian Vandevelde (USA), Liberty-Seguras, 15:03
96. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, 15:03
97. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 15:08
98. Allan Davis (Aus), Liberty-Seguras, 15:09
99. Iker Camano (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 15:10
100. Sebastian Lang (G), Gerolsteiner, 15:10


By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 9, 2004

by Casey B. Gibson

The thrill of victory
Quick Step's Tom Boonen avoided a dramatic last-minute pile-up in the peloton before going on to claim a deserved victory on the sixth stage of the Tour de France Angers on Friday.

Thomas Voeckler, of the La Boulangere team, retained the race leader's yellow jersey after the 196km ride Bonneval and here.

Boonen, 23, claimed his first ever stage win on the race on the back of a blistering season so far which has seen him win a number of prestigious one-day victories and stages.


by Graham Watson
Boonen stays ahead of the carnage to claim his first Tour stage win
But it was the frightening realities of the high-speeds at the world's biggest bicycle race that took center stage again at the Tour when a massive crash just inside the last kilometer left Austrian sprinter Rene Haselbacher in hospital with a broken nose and three fractured ribs and several other riders, including American Tyler Hamilton, bruised and battered after a week of racing.

Haselbacher was taken by ambulance to the Centre Hospitalier d'Angers, where doctors diagnosed the injuries that mean an end to his Tour this year. The Gerolsteiner rider was also later blamed for causing the spill that left a depleted group of only about 25 riders to contest the uphill sprint finish.

by Graham Watson

An early break that did not stay away
Boonen edged out Stage 5 winner Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), with the German veteran Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) in third.

"I like sprints like that," said Boonen, this year's winner of two Belgian classics, Ghent-Wevelgem and the Schelde Prijs. "The finish was hard, and it was good for sprinters who are very strong and I am very strong."

In Boonen's wake though was the rest of the field, slowly rolling to the finish in ones, twos, threes, fours and fives after managing to extricate themselves from the mesh of tangled body and bikes.

Officials later ruled that the accident, which occurred right at the 1km-to-go banner, was within the final kilometer and credited the entire peloton with the same finishing time as the winner Boonen. Had the accident occurred even 20 meters back, it may have resulted in a tumultuous and unexpected reshuffle in the overall classification that could well have determined the final overall outcome.

Many injured

As it was, there was no change in GC and Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (La Boulangere) still leads by 3:01 over O'Grady and 4:06 on Frenchman Sandy Casar (FDjeux.com).

Nevertheless, the incident had enough of an impact to potentially damage the Tour campaigns of some riders, chief among them Hamilton.

A Phonak team spokesman said the 33-year-old Phonak has "significant bruising" to his back after he landed flat on it. Several Phonak riders were caught up in the crash, including Spanish climber Oscar Sevilla, Frenchman Nicolas Jalabert, Swiss Martin Elmiger and German Bert Grabsch, who were all injured to some degree in the pile-up.


by Graham Watson

Hamilton, meanwhile, got caught up in the final spill
Australian Robbie McEwen was another notable victim, losing his green points jersey to O'Grady, the day's second-place finisher. O'Grady now leads the race for the green jersey with 115 points to the 113 of McEwen who was one of the last riders to cross the finish line.

McEwen, a clear leader in the points category before the stage began, came in about five minutes down, suffering from serious abrasions on both hips and arms; he was later checked for possible ligament and bone damage.

While taking the green jersey via McEwen's demise was not the way O'Grady wished, he wasn't going to hand it back -- were that even possible.

"It is not the best way to take the green jersey ... in a crash," he said. "True ... Robbie fell today. But I have fallen three times before and lost points as well."


by Graham Watson

Armstrong took an early digger
Also caught up in the crash were race leader Voeckler and defending Tour champion Lance Armstrong.

The Texan did not fall -- although he did in an earlier crash -- but admitted after crossing the line in 34th place and well before Voeckler it was a hectic end to the day.

"You are coming in, you're tired, it's really tight, you have 200 guys racing, racing through there at 40 miles per hour," said Armstrong after finishing with five riders, including teammate George Hincapie. "I don't know what the hell they are thinking, (but) you are going to have crashes. We are fortunate that crash was literally 10 meters inside the `one K' area otherwise we would have been docked a couple of minutes. Anyway ... for bad luck and good luck."


by Casey B. Gibson

Armstrong finishes after the last crash.
Compared to the finishing crash, Armstrong's first spill at the 13km mark was almost innocuous.

"It was a typical early race crash, a lot of wind. Two guys went down in front of me. There is nothing you can do. I just fell over them," he said. "I'm not that bad, just a little bit (hurt) on the arm and stiff on the hip, a couple of little burns from a rolled tire."

Some win, some lose
Inevitably, some riders had to benefit from the drama that marred the stage finish.

Although, in light of the finish and caliber of those in the top three, those places could have been the same - perhaps changed slightly had McEwen been there.

As was the case on Thursday, an early breakaway spent most of the day off the front, although not with the leeway that finally saw Voeckler take the yellow jersey he kept today.

Friday's break formed at 21km, when Carlos De Cruz (Fdjeux.com), Alessandro Bertolini (Alessio) and Marc Lotz (Rabobank) escaped. They were soon joined by Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), who won the stage to to Toulouse last year, Kurt-Asle Arvesen (CSC) and Jimmy Engouvlent (Cofidis).

Racing into a stiff head wind, they got a maximum lead of 4:20 at 74km before the peloton started to slowly reel them in.

First it was Quick Step (for Boonen) and La Boulangere (for Voeckler) who set the tempo, then after the third intermediate sprint at 168km Gerolsteiner (Danilo Hondo) and AG2R (Jaan Kirsipuu, Jean-Patrick Nazon) joined in.

With a lead of 2:15 with 40km to go, the break was doomed. The six became four, then Flecha went for the win with just 6km to go.

It was just a few meters after Flecha was caught that the major crash occurred.


by Graham Watson

Voeckler looks as though he feels the weight of that jersey
McEwen was quick to point the finger at Haselbacher, especially as it was the Austrian who nearly took him and fellow Australian Baden Cooke out in the stage 3 finish at St. Dizier last year.

"Haselbacher ran himself into the barrier. He did the same thing last year," said McEwen. "I'm really pissed off. That's twice he's taken me out now. I'm really sore."

As McEwen and others were picking themselves off the tarmac, Boonen and about 25 others who had escaped the mêlée by being in front of it, charged to the finish on a slight uphill grade.

Boonen, 23, who is considered the heir to recently retired Belgian legend Johan Museeuw, powered his way up the incline of the home straight to easily hold off O'Grady, who trailed in a few meters behind in second place.

Six-time points jersey winner Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) finished third ahead of Danilo Hondo, in fourth, and Australian Baden Cooke in fifth.

"It's a huge victory for us," said Boonen, who said he wasn't aware of the carnage going on behind him. "The team worked really well today. The last kilometer was hard, but I like sprints like that. You had to be strong today to win here, and I was strong."

His day in yellow

Voeckler's first day in the yellow jersey proved to be something special.


by Graham Watson

Voeckler chats with 'the voice of the Tour,' Daniel Mangeas
"I didn't realize the effect of having the yellow jersey on my shoulders. Everyone was patting me on the back, and giving me support from the side of the road," said Voeckler, who grew up on the Caribbean island of Martinique. "Getting congratulated by the public really touched me, but it felt really special to be congratulated by the riders, no matter what nationality or team they came from. It was really special."

Bikes of the 2004 Tour de France: Part I

Cyclingnews tech-heads.

By Tim Maloney & Anthony Tan

There's never a shortage of new schwag rearing its pretty little head at Le Tour. In our first squiz at the bikes of the 2004 Tour de France, we take a look at Petacchi's new Pinarello Dogma, Mancebo's Opera Leonardo, Tyler's BMC Time Machine and Alessio-Bianchi's TT and road machines.
Alessandro Petacchi's Fassa Bortolo Pinarello Dogma

Alessandro Petacchi's 2005 Pinarello Dogma.
Photo ©: Cyclingnews

After winning nine stages in the Giro d'Italia a new Pinarello Dogma, super-sprinter Ale Jet Petacchi received another new bike a week ago from Fausto Pinarello. Petacchi's Dogma is made in AK61 magnesium tubing and sports a unique new bottom bracket that will be standard equipment on: Pinarello's 2005 Dogma; a new version of the Pinarello Paris with hydroformed aluminium tubes; and two versions of the Opera - a new carbon fibre Leonardo and the Giorgione with hydroformed aluminium tubes.
The M.O.ST bottom bracket

Photo ©: Cyclingnews

After spotting the trick new BB, we called Fausto Pinarello in Italy, where he was getting ready for the Gran Fondo Dolomiti on Saturday: "This bottom bracket is called M.O.ST; it's made for us by a group of engineers that develop special high-end, high-tech after-market products for motorcycle and other manufacturers," says Fausto.

"The M.O.ST bottom bracket is 55mm in diameter and equipped with roller bearings; we've seen this type of larger bottom bracket used before in BMX to provide more rigidity. M.O.ST is different from, for example, Cannondale's CODA system, which is not compatible with other bottom bracket systems. M.O.ST has been developed to compatible with Campagnolo, Shimano and ISIS systems. For ISIS, the M.O.ST bottom bracket will have a larger diameter spindle and larger bearing races."
Francesco Mancebo's Illes Balears-Banesto Opera Leonardo
Francisco Mancebo's new Opera Leonardo

Photo ©: Cyclingnews

After stopping by the Fassa Bortolo team hotel, we made it to the Illes Balears-Banesto hotel, where we checked out freshly-minted Spanish pro road champion Francisco Mancebo's new Opera Leonardo. We had a few more questions, so we phoned Fausto Pinarello once again, as Opera bicycles are a creation of the Treviso-based firm.

"The bike you saw is a new version of the Leonardo for 2005," he reveals. "The size is 53x54.5 and it has a new carbon fibre Opus fork and rear chainstays, which have a similar 'double-S' construction to the Pinarello Onda fork. Plus we've changed the shape of the rear chainstays on this bike. Mancebo's bike has a standard bottom bracket, but when it goes into production for 2005, it will also have the M.O.ST bottom bracket."
Tyler Hamilton's Team Phonak BMC Time Machine 1

Ty's BMC Time Machine 1
Photo ©: Cyclingnews

Delivered just a week before the Tour de France to Team Phonak, Tyler Hamilton was sitting on a special new rig for Saturday's TdF prologue in Liège. Made in Switzerland by a carbon fibre supplier to an F1 team, BMC's wild new Time Machine 1 TT bike sports a special integrated fork design in carbon fibre mated to a monocoque frame, eliminating the need for a stem. Other features are the aero-shaped seatpost mast and multi-shaped carbon fibre tubes.

Even the smallest details, such as the fork drop-outs and derailleur cage, are made of carbon-fiber. The revolutionary fork-stem design provides maximum rigidity with the minimum possible weight, and the patented design makes it possible to custom-build all bikes to suit the measurements of each individual. The seat post not really a seat post per se, but a component of the frame, and is cut to fit.

Other innovative details include fork drop-outs that open toward the rear, enabling the rear wheel to be positioned as close as possible to the frame, as well as quick release nuts that are integrated into the fork, another aerodynamic feature. With a total of just over 1,450 grams for the frame, fork and stem, Tyler's time machine was certainly one of the lightest hovering around Liège.
Alessio-Bianchi's TT and road machines

Alessio-Bianchi's EV3 and EV4
Photo ©: Lynn Vanbelle

This enviable stable of time trial and road machines as used by Cyclingnews diarist Scott Sunderland and the rest of the team from Alessio-Bianchi are very purdy indeed. Both crono and road machines are either Bianchi's EV3 or newer EV4 oversized aluminium models, all decked out with Campagnolo Record livery and a variety of wheels, ranging from the full-disc Ghibli (rear) and deep-rim carbon Bora (front) for time trials to the Campy G3 carbon (mostly rear) for zipping along the roads of Belgium and France.

McEwen wins mad scramble at Tour; Hushovd in yellow: Interview with Lance.

By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 5, 2004


by AFP

Tour de France archivists found themselves blowing dust off the history books and writing a new chapter after Thor Hushovd became the first Norwegian to claim the yellow leader's jersey at the end of Monday's second stage to Namur.

In a crash-filled 197km stage that began in Charleroi, Hushovd's second place behind Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) was all he needed to take over leadership in the green-jersey points competition, too.

Hushovd (Crédit Agricole), 26, will start Tuesday's third stage from Waterloo to Wasquehal with an eight-second lead over Swiss Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo), who lost the yellow jersey. McEwen moved into in third overall at 17 seconds.

Though Hushovd has a narrow lead over McEwen in the green-jersey competition, with 68 points to the Australian's 65, he said he won't set out Tuesday with the aim of bagging points and time bonuses at intermediate sprints in a bid to defend his lead in both categories.

Instead, after placing fifth, third and second respectively in the prologue and first two stages, he wants to win Tuesday's leg, which will see the peloton tackle two sectors of Paris-Roubaix pavé.

"I will go 100 percent for the (stage) victory," he said. "After fifth, third and second places I would like to have that first place."

Win or not on Tuesday, Hushovd said that his stint in the yellow jersey will be a point of reference for him wherever his career takes him.

"Today I've become a big rider," Hushovd said after donning the prized jersey

Landis leads the Postal train

Like any racing cyclist before him, Hushovd has dreamed of leading the Tour de France for a long time. "Since I understood what the Tour was," he said. "So how many years have I been thinking about it? I don't know ...15?"

Hushovd certainly earned his newfound fame. His placings so far merit it alone. But fighting his way back into contention for the stage win, and then taking the yellow jersey to boot, after being caught up in a crash and forced to change bikes in the final 20km was an award-winning effort on its own.

Hushovd praised his Crédit Agricole teammates, who dropped off the peloton to bring him back to the main pack, which was then finally racing at full tilt after a labored start.


by Graham Watson

McEwen rockets to the front for the victory
"I want to thank the team for their confidence in me since becoming a professional (in 2000)," said Hushovd, who has been enjoying his best-ever season, which includes two stage wins in the Languedoc-Roussilion stage race in France and a couple of French Cup victories.

"I want to thank my team for today. They were there for me. When I got back into the bunch I felt very tired and it would be very hard for me to have go in the sprint. But then, about five minutes before the finish, I felt good again and thought I'd go."

While Hushovd will start Tuesday's stage in yellow, his main objective is to step up onto the podium in Paris on July 25 to accept the green jersey that McEwen will wear in his place in the third stage to Wasquehal.


by Graham Watson

Hushovd dons the maillot jaune
He listed as his fellow favorites for the green as McEwen, Belgian Tom Boonen (Quick Step), Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) and Australians Baden Cooke (Fdjeux.com) and Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), his teammate (and rival) last year.

Hushovd said it was difficult last year, being on a team with two riders vying for one jersey, but added that there is pressure this year, too, as his team's sole contender for the green jersey.

"We are both the same type of riders. So sometimes it was hard," said Hushovd. "But when he went to Cofidis I had more pressure on me. I had to ride well. And what happened today showed that the whole team can work 100 percent for one guy."

For McEwen, Monday's win confirmed his belief, after finishing second to Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) in Charleroi, that his form is as good as it has been for a Tour.

Break, escape, catch, sprint

The stage itself was something of a procession until the real racing began in the last 40km. It was then that the peloton started to chase a six-man break that escaped after 10km and got a maximum lead of five minutes at the first sprint in Mons at 53km.

In the break were Jerome Pineau (La Boulangere), Jakob Piil (CSC), Sebastian Lange (Gerolsteiner), Christophe Edeleine (Cofidis), Mark Scanlon (AG2R) and Christophe Mengin (Fdjeux.com).


by Graham Watson

The obligatory early break
They were caught with about 23km to go, after which the tightly packed peloton continued to suffer more crashes that again left Tour doctor Gerard Porte with a long list of riders needing attention.

The worst injured among nine riders he treated from four falls was Italian Gian Matteo Fagini (Domina Vacanze), who came a cropper with 39km to go. Fagnini was taken to the hospital by ambulance with a probable fracture of the left collarbone.

However, the most spectacular crash came in the last 150 meters, just as the speeding pack negotiated a sweeping, 300-meter-long, left-hand bend that started with 450 meters to go.

by Graham Watson

Fagnini is out of the Tour
The riders to fall 300 meters from the line were Kurt Arveson (CSC) and Jimmy Casper (Cofidis), who both still managed to finish the stage.

However, it was a perfect finish for McEwen. A former BMX rider, McEwen had briefed himself on all the details of any hazardous stage finish in the Tour - this being one of them.

McEwen let loose with his final burst with 200 meters to go, just as the finish line came into his sights.

He burst from the middle of the pack led by Hushovd and charged past every rival to cross the line with arms aloft, nearly six lengths clear of the Norwegian.

McEwen's fourth Tour stage win carried heavy emotional importance. He dedicated it to former Lotto rider Belgian Stive Vermaut, who died last week of a heart attack after suffering from an arrythymia that halted his career.

"He was buried today," said McEwen, who shared his dedication with Australian teammate Nick Gates, who injured his knee in a crash on Sunday and was eliminated from the Tour after finishing outside the time limit.

McEwen also passed on his dedication to "all my supporters who will be out on the road tomorrow" at Geraardsbergen, near his Belgian home. "There will be hundreds and thousands of them watching," he said.

One special fan from Belgium was there to congratulate McEwen Monday - King Albert II.

The king received a kangaroo pin from former Australian sprinter John Trevorrow, whose claim to fame was to have beaten another famous Belgian, Eddy Merckx, in the bunch sprint for 17th place in the Grand Prix des Moules classic in the early 1970s.

A beaming King Albert told McEwen he kept the pin in his pocket and maybe it was a good sign for what was soon to come.

Interview with Lance after Stage 2

July 4, 2004

You did surprisingly well at the prologue. Now there is a long period of flat stages ahead, before the Tour gets to the Massif Central. What are you expecting from those stages?

This is always the part of the Tour that I like least. There's a lot of stress, especially this year with the stages in Belgium, with a lot of cobblestones and wind and rain. There is a great risk of crashes, so we have to be twice as careful as usual. You can't win the Tour here but you can certain loose it.

Loosing the Tour! Does that thought even cross your mind?

Hey, it's easy to loose the Tour. One tactical mistake, a mechanical problem, eat the wrong thing. You can loose this race every day.

Is loosing the worst thing that can happen to you?

Worse things can happen in life, but professionally speaking, yes. If you blow an entire year's work because of one mistake, the damage is huge. It's a personal defeat, the feeling that all of your sacrifices were for nothing.

Has the picture ever come to your mind of another rider in the Yellow Jersey on the Champs Elysees?

Of course, I have imagined the day when an other rider will win, another team. I'm a realist: it can happen any time, maybe even this year. But the thought just motivates me to do everything I can that such a scenario will never occur.

If you win a sixth Tour, you will be singular in the history of cycling. Do you think of your place in history?

It would be an incredible feeling. It's already very special to be in the club of five-time winners with Hinault, Indurain, Merckx and Anquetil. When I see them at the Tour I think about what they represent. They are so much a part of this race and its tradition and I am really honored to think that when I pay a visit to the Tour in 2020 I will be welcomed and treated like them. If I rise above them by one victory it will not change much. I will always see these great riders in a different light. It's not up to me to call me their equal. Of course, everyone dreams of making history. But before thinking about that, I have to win this Tour.

What are your greatest memories of the five past Tours?

The things that meant most to me - where the first time I took the Yellow Jersey at Puy du Fou in 1999, the time trial victory in Metz that year, L'Alpe d'Huez in 2001 and Luz Ardiden last year. These moments were rare.

What does it mean to you to wear the Yellow Jersey?

Not much. The satisfaction is in achieving what you work for every day of your life. Whether the jersey is yellow or blue or green makes no difference. It's only because it's a century old tradition that it is meaningful, like a Grand Slam in Golf or a Heavyweight World Championship-Belt in Boxing.

What do you regret about the past five years?

The consequences of winning: that my life is too busy. My life is much more complicated than five years ago, even than a year ago. In the beginning you have a simple passion - a kid that starts kicking a ball, gets on a bike or picks up a tennis racket. You play with your friends and then you get better then them. And before you know it it's a global business and a heavy burden on your family, your friends, your teammates.

Do you regret sacrifices you have to make?

No, no regrets. I always look ahead. And I am very excited when I think of the day when all this will be over. I have been a professional for twelve years and I have two or three left. It's good to know that the end is in sight.

Your reconnaissance trips to the Pyrenees and Alps were extremely tough this year. Don't you ever get tired of suffering on the bike for seven or eight out somewhere in the mountains?

This year we did more long rides in the French mountains than any other year. And I love it! I truely cherish these moments, especially when I'm riding with my closest friends like George and Eki. Those are very special moments when we are alone with eachother, all focussed on our common goal. I would miss it a lot, if that would be taken away from me.

How many times did you climb L'Alpe d'Huez?
Maybe ten times.

So you are ready for a big day on July 21?

I have a pretty good idea of the place now and we have worked out a strategy on how to attack that mountain.

Will the Tour be won there?

I don't think so. On the other hand, if no one manages to put in a decisive advance over the others in the Pyrenees it will be a great battle. The fans and the media will love it.

91st Tour de France Stage 1 - July 4: Liège-Charleroi, 202.5 km

91st Tour de France - July 3-25, 2004

Jaan jams 'em in Charleroi
Cancellara maintains Maillot Jaune

By Tim Maloney, European Editor in Charleroi
Jaan Kirsipuu strikes first

Photo ©: Sirotti

Despite the fact that it's only two weeks until his thirty-fifth birthday, Ag2r's Estonian Express Jaan Kirsipuu is still one powerful sprinter. On a wet, blustery day with a strong headwind that was more reminiscent of the spring classics season than early July, Kirsipuu took the winners bouquet in a long power sprint today in Stage One in Charleroi. Coming off a superb leadout by Ag2r's other sprinter Jean-Patrick Nazon, then Norwegian powerhouse Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Kirsipuu kicked it home to win a typically turbulent, tumultuous sprint, his fourth career stage win in the Grande Boucle.

"Up until the Tour de France, I wasn't really in good condition and I did a very bad prologue yesterday. But today at the halfway point in the stage, I started feeling better and when I saw that I was going well in the intermediate sprints, I got some more confidence," explained Kirsipuu.

"There was no decision before which if (Nazon) or me would be the main sprinter today. At 30km from the finish, we talked. I told him I had good legs today and he said he wasn't super... so I was lucky to get on Hushovd's wheel with 400 metres to go."

Speaking of his tight finish with Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen, Kirsipuu smiled and said "I was afraid he might have passed me but when I looked over to my left and saw him, I saw he wasn't too happy and realized I had won."

Sprinting in for third in his Norwegian champion's jersey, Viking-like Thor Hushovd grabbed 8" second time bonus and closed the gap on Maillot Jaune Fabian Cancellara to just 4". The Swiss Fassa Bortolo rider and his team battled the wind, rain and competition to hang on to the precious yellow tunic.

"It's nice to keep the jersey today, but I have to give a big thank you to my team," Cancellara commented. "I couldn't have done it without them."
Cipollini down but not out

Photo ©: Olympia

The expected Petacchi-Cipollini sprinter showdown didn't materialize today, as Petacchi's Fassa Bortolo's team may have done too much work early on defending Fabian Cancellara's Maillot Jaune.

"I probably started my sprint too soon and came out in the wind where I lost my momentum," explained Petacchi post-stage. "Today was a very tactical sprint. Still, I'm disappointed (with 8th place) because I wanted to win today."

Mario Cipollini crashed early today on his left thigh, the same one he injured in the Giro d'Italia in May. Although he didn't hurt himself badly, Cipollini still had some pain and simply didn't feel great today, finishing 38th.

Lance Armstrong gave up his Maillot Vert to Hushovd and clearly Stage One wasn't to the five time Tour de France champion's liking. "As it always at the beginning of the Tour, today was a very nervous day…lots of crashes, lots of wind. Nobody likes racing in these kind of conditions."

But Armstrong's USPS-Berry Floor team stayed close to the boss all day and maintained their lead in the Tour team GC. Instigator of the day's major break, Paolo Bettini (Quick.Step-Davitamon) took three KOM's and scored points in all of them today to take the Tour's first Maillot Pois for best climber.
Bettini sees spots

Photo ©: Sirotti

"This was our first objective in the Tour so I'm happy we could achieve it," Bettini said. "But I think this jersey is really for my teammate (Richard) Virenque."

Another black day for the Aussies today at the Tour de France, with Robbie McEwen losing the stage by a half-wheel and Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis) crashing with 4km to go and not scoring any points for his Maillot Vert quest. Then there was back trouble for Brad McGee.

"My back is rough... I couldn't feel my legs today, I couldn't get any power out of them. I hurt it last weekend and it's been on and off ever since," explained McGee post-stage.

Brad and his teammate Matt Wilson finished six minutes behind, while Lotto-Domo man Nick Gates had it worst of all; finishing last on the stage 30'38" down after hitting his knee hard on his bars after a seemingly minor crash with 90km to go forced him to chase alone all the way to Charleroi. Unfortunately, Gates was six minutes outside the time limit today and was eliminated from the Tour.

How it unfolded

Wet day in Belgium

Photo ©: Olympia

Lance Armstrong started today's Stage One wearing the Maillot Vert, the first time the American has donned the green tunic since 2000, when he was runner-up to David Millar in the Futuroscope TT. Early on, five riders attacked and got away across the Ardennes climbs in the first half of the stage. With three Cat.4 and one Cat. 3 climbs in the first half of the stage, the KOM's would determine the wearer of the first polka-dot jersey in Charleroi this afternoon. In the break were Jens Voigt (CSC), Paolo Bettini (Quick.Step-Davitamon), Janek Tombak (Cofidis), Bernhard Eisel (FDJeux.com) and Franck Renier (Brioches La Boulangère).

The front quintet was flying and after 55km their lead had increased over the Fassa Bortolo led peloton to 3'45". Bettini was raging today and the pocket powerhouse from Italy won three of the five KOM's to take the lead in the climber's competition. By the feed zone in Rendeux, a light rain had began to fall and domestiques began to shuttle back and forth with rain gear from the team cars. The gap to the front group was now three minutes.

The slick roads began to cause occasional problems for the break as Voigt and Renier missed a turn on the descent of the Cote de Borlon, and then Eisel touched wheels while he was talking to his team car and fell hard on his rear end, but got back up quickly and chased the break down again with nothing damaged but his pride.
The Fassa Bortolo gang

Photo ©: Sirotti

Behind the break, Fassa was pounding hard on the front through the streets of Huy, where the Fleche Wallonne is run every April. The break's lead began to diminish quickly and went under 30" in Modave with 88km to race at the first intermediate sprint, won by Eisel. The Silver Train was steaming away and their hard pace had split the peloton, with a 30 man group up front and then the rest of the riders, including most of the Euskaltel team, Mario Cipollini and McGee in a chase group 10" behind the main group.

Under the impulsion of Euskaltel, the second group came back to the front group just as O'Grady (Cofidis) punctured, but his Cofidis team waited for him and he got back on after a 10km chase. Meanwhile, the break was finally caught 1km the second intermediate sprint in Wanze with 70km to go after 116km of liberty. Fassa Bortolo rode right by to try and set up Cancellara for the time bonus, but Hushovd got by him to take the 6" bonus, thus closing the gap on the Swiss rider by 2".

The rain finally stopped and the strong headwinds quickly dried the roads off as Kim Kirchen (Fassa Bortolo) powered away on the front with his Luxembourg champion's jersey and kept any attacks from succeeding. At the third and final intermediate sprint in Eghezée, O'Grady took the sprint from Cancellara and Boonen, with the Maillot Jaune regaining time he lost in the first sprint.

Marc Wauters (Rabobank) and Jakob Piil (CSC) then made a classic counter attack with 50km to go and quickly gained time on the peloton. Both riders are powerful rouleurs and across the plains of the Province of Namur and through small towns like Fleurus and Jemappes, the duo gained time despite the headwind.

With 25km to race, the dynamic duo had 1'45" on the Fassa-led peloton and the Silver Train didn't seem that motivated to chase alone so the pace wasn't sustained until Crédit Agricole and Lotto-Domo joined in the effort behind the Belgian/Danish duo. With 20km to go, McGee dropped off the back and along with his FDJeux.com teammate, Australian champion Matt Wilson, finished the long, painful journey to Charleroi.

Up front, the powerful combo of Wauters and Piil went all out and increased their lead to 1'45" with 30km to go, but the sprinters' teams got out their calculators and managed to hold off the real chase until the final 1.6km, when the break were absorbed by the peloton.

Julian Dean (Credit Agricole) led out his teammate Hushovd perfectly, but the power and experience of Kirsipuu paid off in the final meters for the stage win.

Stage 2 - July 5: Charleroi-Namur, 197km

Stage Two loops south from Charleroi into France for 50km then heads back into Belgium for a finish at Namur, which welcomed the Tour for the last time in 1959 where 1967 Tour winner Roger Pingeon took the winner's bouquet. Back in Belgium, the Tour heads through Mons, a city that the race has never visited and back along the Meuse River for a finish in Namur in front of the famous Citadelle. With a turn at 200m to go on Boulevard Cauchy, it may be a better sprint for McEwen than Petacchi or Cipollini on Monday.

Cancellara takes Tour prologue; Rough day at the office for Aussies

Cancellara takes Tour prologue
Armstrong finishes second
By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 3, 2004




Lance Armstrong was just two seconds shy of winning the Tour de France prologue and taking the yellow jersey on Saturday. But by finishing second to Swiss Tour debutant Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo) in the 6.1km time trial in Liège, he still dealt a first blow to his main rivals for a sixth overall victory.

On a flat, windswept course, Armstrong took 15 seconds and more out of German Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile), American Tyler Hamilton (Phonak) and Spaniard Iban Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi).
Ullrich surprised everyone by placing only 16th, while Hamilton was 18th, conceding 16 seconds to the defending champion, and Mayo was a further five seconds back.
The U.S. Postal team had more reason to feel happy by taking the day's team prize by placing four of its riders in the top 20. They were second-place Armstrong, George Hincapie (10th at 12 seconds), Floyd Landis (17th at 0:18), and Viatcheslav Ekimov (19th at 0:19), all riders who will be strongmen for the team time trial next Wednesday.
Armstrong - who did not wear the yellow jersey, as the defending champion is supposed to - was quick to accept the early jump on the three rivals with cautious appreciation.


by Graham Watson

Armstrong blazed the course, taking early time from his rivals

"I am a little surprised but it is a long, long race," he said. "You don't know, they may be more prepared for the longer and harder climb. Jan will be super. Trust me.

"It's disappointing to lose the yellow jersey by a couple of seconds. I felt strong. I felt good. I knew warming up I was having a good day."
Also giving cause for Americans to cheer were former Tour podium finisher Bobby Julich (CSC) and podium hopeful Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank), who finished ninth and 13th at 12 and 15 seconds, respectively, after both produced fast halfway splits.
Julich started hard and was in fifth place at six seconds as he passed the 3.1km mark, where he just avoided falling. Later, he said he still had fuel in the tank.


by Casey B. Gibson

Strong performances by Hincapie and other Posties brought the squad today's team prize

"I slid out of the turn a little at the roundabout," said Julich. "Otherwise I was feeling good. But I was not 100 percent confident of giving it 100 percent. I had more to give. But it was over so quick."

Meanwhile, U.S. Postal directeur-sportif Johan Bruyneel anticipated a top ride from Armstrong. And he rated it as top against such masters of the short time trial as 23-year-old Cancellara and third-placed Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Illes Ballears) of Spain, who was at eight seconds, followed by last year's winner Brad McGee (Fdjeux.com) from Australia, who was fourth at nine seconds.
"Lance was in the running to win. The fact he almost won is a good sign," said Bruyneel. "Physically he is a lot better. Last year he was not 100 percent strong ... he never was during the Tour de France."
As last man to start, Armstrong knew the mark he had to beat - Cancellara's 6:50 - and that it was going to be a tough task. That neither Gutierrez nor McGee were unable to improve on it was as clear a sign as Armstrong needed.


by AFP

Cancellara was confident once McGee fell short

Cancellara, in his fourth season as a professional, was the 142nd rider to start the prologue. He was sublime in his performance, racing through the 3.1km mark in 3 minutes and 19 seconds.

The last rider to mark his Tour debut with a victory on the first day was Scotland's David Millar in 2001, when (in a year with no prologue held) he won the first long time-trial stage at Futuroscope
The last Tour debutant to win a prologue was England's Chris Boardman at Lille in 1994 in a record average speed that still stands - 55.152 kph over a 7.2km course.
And before that, Tour history goes back another 11 years to Belgian Eric Vanderaerden, who won the prologue at Fontenay-sous-Bois in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris.
Understandably, Cancellara had the biggest grin of anyone in the 188-strong field after watching 46 riders try to better his blistering time and its average speed of 53.561kmh.
He said he sensed he would hold on for the win after McGee crossed the line after a ride the Australian labeled as "not perfect, but solid."
Asked if he was worried about Armstrong's threat while watching the American, Cancellara said: "I was quite sure (of winning), but not completely. The favorite was McGee, but when I saw he finished at nine seconds I knew I had a really good chance to win the prologue."
Cancellara, who played soccer before taking up cycling at age 14 when he found his father's bike in the family garage, has ambitions to prove himself as more than a specialist against the clock.
"I don't want to be considered as just a time-trial specialist," he said. "It is important to win other stages and races. But it is still great to have the yellow jersey in my first participation of the Tour de France."
Until Saturday, Cancellara said the highlight of his road-racing career was winning the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar this year.
"The most important day of my career was winning a stage on the first day. It was my first win in a road race, rather than just a time trial. It is important to show I can win them."

Rough day at the office for Aussies

Two riders who were not smiling after the prologue were Aussies Matt White (Cofidis) and Mick Rogers (Quick Step), teammates on the Olympic road-race squad.
White's Tour ended before it began. He broke his right collarbone and took had four stitches above the eye after a crash while warming up several hours before the prologue.
While upset to miss out on his first Tour after near-misses in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003, White is still confident of being available to ride in next month's Olympics at Athens.
"It is not a bad break," said White, who also sported swelling and bruising to the right of his face. "I am in perfect condition and still have six weeks.
"I could also have started the Tour and maybe last a week or even two. But to do so would ruin my shoulder for the rest of the year and my season would be over. I have to look after myself and see where I go from here. But hopefully I will be racing again in three weeks."
Rogers, aiming for a top-15 finish overall, at least got to start the Tour. But he crashed at the roundabout after 3km. While escaping serious injury, he estimated that the fall cost him at least 30 seconds.
"The Tour is long and there are still plenty of mountains and a long time trial to come," said Rogers who placed 121st at 40 seconds.

Un bravo ragazzo: Cancellara crushes in Tour prologue
Armstrong strong second, gains time on rivals

By Tim Maloney, European Editor in Liège
Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo)

Photo ©: Sirotti

On a blustery Belgian summer Saturday evening in Liège, Fabian Cancellara came into his own. The young Fassa Bortolo rider, a 23 year old from Bern, Switzerland with Italian parentage, rode the third fastest Tour prologue time ever to beat five time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong by two seconds and win the opening time trial. Cancellara, considered a favourite for today's Tour opener is a two time Jr. World TT champion (1998-99) and is considered a prologue specialist.

Just after he set the new fastest time, Cancellara told Cyclingnews that "Today, my number one objective was to win, basta. I gave it everything and I hope everyone else has the same wind. For me, I rode a great time today. It's my first time at the Tour and there are a lot of great riders here but in a time trial, I'm not afraid of anyone man against man. The fastest one wins."

When Cancellara came in with a time 10" faster than leader Oscar Pereiro at 6:29pm, there were still 46 riders left to go and the big guns like Armstrong, Ullrich, Hamilton and other prologue specialists like McGee, Peschel and Moreau had yet to ride. But Fabian held on to take the Maillot Jaune, despite the final onslaught of Lance Armstrong, who fell just three ticks short of the jersey today.

As he embarks on his quest for a sixth consecutive Tour win, as always, Armstrong shows up ready to ride in the Tour prologue. He has finished five times in the top three of the Tour de France prologue in the last six years.
Lance Armstrong

Photo ©: Olympia

"I felt really, really good today when I was warming up," Lance explained to the crush of media gathered around the USPS team bus post stage. "We wanted the everybody on the team to do a good prologue today... it sets the tone of the race for the first week. I'm disappointed to have lost the Maillot Jaune today by just a few seconds, but Cancellara is a young, strong guy, a (prologue) specialist. Congratulations to him... he went damn fast."

Johan Bruyneel, US Postal Service-Berry Floor team director, was positive about the initial performance of his 2004 Tour de France squad. With four riders in the top twenty (Armstrong, Hincapie, Landis, Ekimov), USPS-Berry Floor took the lead in the team competition after the Prologue.

"You always have to wait until the race starts to see how it goes," Bruyneel explained, "but I'm very satisfied with the performance of the entire team today. All the climbers were good today."

George Hincapie, who cracked the top ten today, told Cyclingnews that "it was really windy out there and I was feeling pretty good. I was able to push the big gear today."

Third USPS man today was Floyd Landis in 17th, just ahead of Tyler Hamilton. Landis was pleased with his ride, telling Cyclingnews that "the conditions were perfect out there today. I felt great and it didn't rain so that's great." Americans in general had excellent performances in today's Tour prologue, with six out of the seven American Tour riders riders in the top twenty.

Despite his modesty, Lance went damn fast too and put time into key rivals like Ullrich, Mayo, Hamilton and Heras. Armstrong took fifteen seconds (in six kilometres) out of Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile).
Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile)

Photo ©: Sirotti

"To be honest, I'd have to say I'm a little surprised (at Ullrich's performance)", said Armstrong. "It could be an indication of other things... the way he's prepared for this Tour. But it's just the start and they don't call this race the prologue for nothing."

Perhaps Ullrich's performance could be explained by the fact that his T-Mobile teammate Sergeui Ivanov crashed earlier in the prologue and team boss Walter Godefroot then told Ullrich not to take any unnecessary risks in the six kilometre test.

Jan wasn't much concerned by his result, saying "today was an OK performance for me. At the end, we're going for minutes in the Tour, not for seconds."

Iban Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) had a good result for 27th, losing 19" to Armstrong, but wasn't thrilled with his performance today. And 35" behind Armstrong was his ex-teammate climber Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) in 104th.
Brad McGee

Photo ©: Sirotti

Sydneysider Brad McGee (FDJeux.com) was another favourite today but the Prologue winner in this year's Giro d'Italia was 4th today. "I'm lacking a bit of that top-end power," said the greyhound thin McGee, who has changed his training approach to concentrate more on his climbing. "I tried to improve my power in the last few weeks since the Route du Sud, but it just wasn't my day today."

McGee is now looking to put the pressure on Maillot Jaune Cancellara, saying that "since I'm not too far from the yellow, I'll try and go for that and switch all guns onto (helping) Baden Cooke get the Green Jersey back."

Early casualty

Although another Sydneysider, Matt White (Cofidis) had hoped to finally make it to his first Tour de France start today, unfortunately White took a header while warming up on the prologue course four hours before the start Saturday, hitting his head hard and breaking his right collarbone. With Whitey out of the Tour, Cofidis had to scramble to find first reserve Peter Farazijn.
Whitey where are you?

Photo ©: R. Sullivan

Farazijn was almost 200km away watching a car rally in Ypres with some friends drinking a few beers when he got the first call on his mobile phone from Cofidis, which he ignored. But when he answered the second time, the team told him to get to Liège as fast has he could. After a 200km ride with a police escort across Belgium, he made it with 45 minutes to spare before his start time. His case was helped by Jimmy Casper, who took White's original early time and offered Farazijn some precious minutes to get into action.

Farazijn, who hasn't done the Tour since 1999 ended up third from last, a decent result for a guy who was hangin' with his friends a few hours before with the the Tour de France far from his thoughts. He rode the prologue on White's bike, with the Aussie's dossard pinned to his back and White's name blacked out.

As beaming Fassa Bortolo team director Alberto Volpi drove away from the finish in Liège with the new Maillot Jaune in his team car, his comment to Cyclingnews was "it was a great result for Fabian today; it's his first Tour and he won the first time out…he's a bravo ragazzo (a good boy)!"

Stage 1 - July 4: Liège-Charleroi, 202.5km

Heading west across Belgium, Stage One misses the main climbs of the Ardennes by staying in the valleys on the way to Charleroi. After passing through the smallest village in Belgium in Durbuy at the halfway point, the terrain becomes flatter in the Provinces of Namur and Hainaut. Stage One may be the first chance for super sprinters Petacchi and Cipollini to renew their rivalry with Aussies McEwen and Cooke, among others. With overcast skies and cool conditions in the weather forecast, the sprinting fireworks should scintillating in Charleroi on Sunday.

Velo Monrovia Ride

Friday, you know what that means; we are going to have a special guest. Oh, I forgot, that's Tuesday. Today was the Velo Monrovia Breakfast run up to Mary's in Sierra Madre. The ride was sweet and mellow and the company even better but the coop de grace was the breakfast at Mary's.

At the start of the ride we all stood around looking dumb, smiling but a little touched. Some of these guys and gals are new to the group myself included in the really dumb Mapea blue bicycle cap.



David is one of the Velo Monrovia partners along with Stan. His back has been bothering him and his hill climbing has been off a touch because of it. You would not have known that this morning on this ride. David led the hill chase up through Serria Madre to Mary's place.



All in all it was a great morning with the group from Velo Monrovia. After riding around 20 miles with them I headed over to the Rose Bowl and Pasadena to pick up Glen for our prearranged bicycle ride.

Stan is hiding behing the women again. What are we going to do with this man?



Glen and I talked about the Big Ride across America and what it would be like to ride our bikes 3300 miles across America. We both agreed this is something that we should do before senility sets in. Who knows if we will do it but its worth thinking about. After I finish the Anesthesia program at USC I am going to take a month off and try to do this ride. I may have to wait a year depending on the timing of when they start my new job and all those logistic things. This is something that I really want to do. Maybe Glen will do it too. That would be really great.

Roche writes off Armstrong; Hamilton as leader

By Matt Majendie
BBC Sport in Liege

Lance Armstrong will fail to become the first man to win six Tours de France, according to 1987 winner Stephen Roche. Armstrong is the race favourite in 2004, but Irishman Roche believes 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich will halt the Texan's historic bid. "I would be really surprised if Armstrong won," Roche told BBC Sport. "He may be mentally tougher than he's ever been and tactically more astute, but I don't believe he's the same rider physically anymore." He added: "If I were to pick it, I'd go Ullrich first, Tyler Hamilton second and Armstrong third."

Armstrong does not appear to be at his best going into the 2004 race. He was outridden by Iban Mayo and Hamilton on the Dauphine Libere and looked as though he was struggling at crucial times. In contrast, Ullrich appears to be in good shape, close to the sort of form that won him the race seven years ago. Last year, the cracks started to show... those cracks are only going to get wider and Roche believes the German has even more "bite" after his runner-up spot 12 months ago. "People have been talking about him carrying too much weight and not looking as sharp in races as before, but that's nonsense," said Roche. "He looked better and better in his final warm-up - the Tour of Switzerland - and I think he's hitting top form at exactly the right time."

Armstrong endured his toughest Tour in 2003. Although he won - matching the achievements of five-time champions Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain - he lacked the invincibility of previous seasons. He suffered from malnutrition and dehydration, fell on the final ascent on stage 15, and was repeatedly attacked by his rivals. "Last year, the cracks started to show," said Roche. "Those cracks are only going to get wider."

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/3858759.stm
Published: 2004/07/02 06:13:43 GMT © BBC MMIV

Tour de France Cycling News

Edited by Chris Henry
Hamilton as leader

For the first time in his career, Tyler Hamilton enters the Tour de France as a bona-fide contender for the final yellow jersey in Paris. After what he calls a steady progression, from faithful lieutenant to Lance Armstrong at US Postal Service to co-leader at Team CSC to unique leader at Phonak, Hamilton has arrived at a critical point in his career with this year's Tour. The American is quite clear in his objective for 2004.

"I'm here to win," he said Thursday in Liège, Belgium, where the Tour kicks off with Saturday's prologue time trial. ""At first I didn't have the leadership skills but Phonak is 100% percent behind me and now it all comes down to me."

Hamilton developed enormously as a rider during his two years with Bjarne Riis' CSC team, during which he became the first American to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège, won the Tour de Romandie (a title he successfully defended this year), placed second in the Giro d'Italia and fourth overall in the Tour de France. Hamilton has always spoken highly of his time with Riis, but the opportunity to reach for his own Tour glory proved too insatiable when Phonak offered him the role of sole leader.

"I had two great years at CSC and I wouldn't trade those years for anything, but I'm ready to be the sole team leader and go for the Tour de France," Hamilton added.

"I'm very confident. This is the first time I've had a team entirely at my service. Throughout my career I've done things in stages, and this is the first time I've had the position of leader."

And just as his team has placed full confidence in his abilities, Hamilton has faith that his Phonak teammates are ready for the job of riding for victory in the Tour in this the team's first ever participation.

"The objective has been the Tour, and the closer we've gotten the better the team has performed," he explained. "That's what you need to win the Tour."

Hamilton, who now counts as one of defending champion Lance Armstrong's top rivals, isn't ready to offer any favours to his former leader on the road. Nor does Armstrong expect any.

"I'm here to win. Lance and I are friends, but on the bike we're rivals. It's every man for himself."
Riis confident

Despite the move to Phonak by Tyler Hamilton, fourth overall in last year's Tour de France, Team CSC director Bjarne Riis is typically confident heading into this year's Tour. Riis' team suffered another setback with the last minute withdrawal of Jörg Jaksche, who broke his arm in a training crash this week, but Riis is eager to build upon the experience of 2003, which saw the team take three stage wins and the final team prize.

"We have a stronger team than last year and we can do well in all areas," Riis commented. "We have big ambitions. If everything works out, we could have Basso and Sastre in the top ten, we can win stages, and we can challenge for the yellow jersey. The team time trial is also a big objective."

Ivan Basso and Carlos Sastre will ride as the team's leaders for the general classification, with the support of experienced riders including Jens Voigt, Andrea Peron, and Bobby Julich. Michele Bartoli will return to the Tour de France, alongside last year's stage winner Jakob Piil.

(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2004)

Coach Carmichael: Tailoring nutrition to training

Coach Carmichael: Tailoring nutrition to training
Another small step to build a big lead for Lance at the Tour
This report filed June 26, 2004 in VeloNews.com Thanks Velo.


I've heard it said that it doesn't matter if you win by one second or five minutes, so long as you win. At the end of the day, being victorious is more important than your margin of victory; but no one involved in Lance Armstrong's bid to win a sixth Tour de France wants to experience anything like last year. Lance's preparation for the 2004 Tour de France has been focused on building a substantial lead over the competition; we have no intention of repeating the "too close to call" scenarios from last summer.



In a stage race, distancing yourself from your rivals is critical for reducing stress and risk. The stress of wearing the yellow jersey, which never goes away, seems to diminish slightly with every second Lance puts between himself and the men chasing him. The reduced stress permeates through the team and increases the likelihood that everyone will successfully step up to the challenge of winning the Tour de France. As usual, a large team of people has been collaborating on individual aspects of Lance's preparation. The people at Trek, Giro and Nike have been developing new equipment to help him go faster, and Johan Bruyneel has been working to ensure that the U.S. Postal Service Tour de France squad is comprised of the athletes best able to support Lance. My job, as always, is to make sure he's optimally prepared to perform and maximize the effectiveness of his equipment and teammates.

All of our efforts are aimed at producing minute improvements in Lance's performance. Very few people realize the large impact that miniscule changes in power output, efficiency or aerodynamics can have at the far reaches of athletic performance. While a 10-percent increase in sustainable power output may be a realistic goal for you during the course of one year, the improvements I'm looking for from Lance are in the realm of 1 to 2 percent. The larger impact on performance comes with the incremental accumulation of progress from his training, nutrition program, bike frame, shoes, wheels, clothing, helmet and lifestyle.

FUEL FOR THE ENGINE
Over the past few years, I've been focusing a lot of my attention on Lance's nutrition program, especially as it pertains to his performance and body weight. Back in 1999 and 2000, he had to take some rather extreme measures to get down to his optimal race weight by the time the Tour de France started, including weighing his food and consciously restricting his caloric intake. Looking at data from the periods when he was trying to lose weight, it's clear that the effectiveness of his training suffered as a result.

The obvious solution to this problem was to reduce the conscious effort needed for Lance to reach his goal weight for the Tour de France, which we accomplished by carefully applying the concept of periodization to his nutrition program. We know that neither energy expenditure nor the balance of fuels burned during exercise remains constant during the course of the training year. It makes sense, then, to change an athlete's nutrition program so it always addresses the current demands of his or her training.



Carmichael and Armstrong have put the emphasis on training quality rather than quantity.
I started dissecting years'worth of powermeter files in an effort to obtain a clear picture of the true metabolic demands of Lance's training. How much work was he doing with his aerobic engine? To what extent was his anaerobic system contributing energy? How much recovery was he actually getting? What was the overall quality of the hours he was logging? The answers I found provided the basis for a new and more efficient nutrition program. The goals of the Carmichael Nutrition Program (CNP) are to supply the energy and nutrients an athlete needs for optimal performance, while eliminating excess calories during periods when training demands diminish. This way, we're able to preserve the quality of his training year-round, and avoid the need to waste time and effort actively trying to lose extra weight.

Lance's total caloric intake naturally fluctuates with changes in training hours, but the intensity of his workouts drastically affects the fuels he uses to power his training, and further influences his total caloric intake. For instance, the amount of carbohydrate he needed to support his training in February was inadequate to meet the demands of his pre-Tour de Georgia training camp in April. As training intensity increases, your carbohydrate burn-rate rises dramatically. If you don't satisfy this elevated demand by consuming more carbohydrate, the quality of your training suffers, and so does your ability to recover.

Likewise, adequate protein is necessary for building, repairing and maintaining lean body mass, but excessive protein intake is just a wasteful way of supplying energy. Athletes need more protein than sedentary people, and the exact amount needed changes with training demands just like carbohydrate requirements do. This increase in protein intake, however, is relatively minor and easily met without supplementation. By adjusting the total amount of food Lance consumed, as well as the sources of his calories, we were able to reduce his average caloric intake throughout the year without detrimentally affecting his training.

MAKING IT ALL COUNT
When you're looking into every possibility to find ways to make progress, you can't forget that being more efficient makes room for additional work. Lance doesn't ride for six hours if he can accomplish the day's goal in four. Staying on the bike longer doesn't always lead to improved performance, and Lance has the confidence in his judgment and in mine to resist the temptation to put in "just one more interval" or "just one more hour." Being more frugal in his training hours and efforts ensures that Lance gets the recovery he needs to make every hour and effort count. Where we used to focus on achieving high quantity as well as high quality, we've now shifted the balance to manage quantity in order to absolutely maximize quality. We've done the same thing in terms of nutrition, and I've been extremely pleased with the cumulative results.

Rather than eating a standard, high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet that is generally appropriate for athletes, Lance is specifically tailoring his nutrition program to supply the grams of carbohydrate and protein he needs for his training right now. It's a concept I believe all athletes should adopt; after all, we've progressed to realizing that customizing training, coaching and equipment maximizes performance. Doesn't it make sense that your nutrition program should be individualized as well?

Chris Carmichael is Lance Armstrong's personal coach, founder and CEO of Carmichael Training Systems (CTS), and author of "The Ultimate Ride" and "Chris Carmichael's Food for Fitness" (in bookstores June 2004). To learn what CTS can do for you, visit www.trainright.com.