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[JimH]

Lance Armstrong, of Austin, Texas (U.S.) won his sixth Tour de France today.  There are some great pictures here:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040725/photos_sp/mdf639171

[MarkCoutinho]

Might not be something well-known for you Americans, but here in Europe we consider this Tour de France as the biggest Cycling-event of the year.
His 6-time championship is spectacular!

And... you might notice that he always has a earplug in his ear. Probably to listen to some music. Controlled by MediaCenter

So in this way this topic isn't so OT anymore

[Vorgod]

I agree - Here in Europe we consider Tour de France as one of the major events of the year.

[Rands]

You guys in Europe might be excited to know that there was a huge swell of interest in the Tour here in the States.  A cable channel had live coverage every morning with repeats throughout the day and an expanded version in the evening with more background info on the race, stories and histories of the various cities and villages along the tour, and so on and so forth.

This was my first year to watch the tour and I caught as many stages as I could.  It was fantastic and I hope they do the same kind of comprehensive coverage of the race next year.

[IlPadrino]

Lance is an incredible professional.   I'm convinced that he's not the most physically talented in the peloton - but he wins through intense year-round preparation.  I'd like to think this is an American trait, but I know better :-)

Next year might be even more interesting as Armstrong hints at perhaps doing the Giro d'Italia or maybe the Vuelta (Spain's "grand" tour).  Until he wins some other races, he'll never be considered the "best cyclist of all time".

[KingSparta]

he is a winner for sure

It is too bad he is not a winner on the home front with his wife and kids, where it counts most.

[Mastiff]

And too bad about Thor Hushovd from Norway (actually Grimstad, a town around 45 min drive from here). He lost his chain on the main street, if not he would have taken the green shirt I'm sure. Now he only became number two on that. But the Olympics are waiting...

[mindracing]

Lance's achievement is outstanding.

For another perspective on just how great this is I can thoroughly recommend the Audible book "Every Second Counts".

Listen to that and I guarantee you'll be even more amazed and what and how he has done.

[IlPadrino]

He lost his chain on the main street, if not he would have taken the green shirt I'm sure.

You're "sure" he could have beaten McEwen...  or you'd like to think that?  McEwen was riding Hushovd's wheel with 1 km to go and looked quite capable of keeping him under control.  It doesn't seem any bit obvious that Hushovd was the better sprinter on Sunday.

[TAFKAFEX]

Listening to: 'Tour de France (Radio Version)' from 'Tour de France' by 'Kraftwerk' on Media Center 11

[kiwi]

Watched almost every stage available from down in New Zealand (A most painful experience, as stages finish at 4am.)   Additionally, they only covered the second half of the 8 stages they had "full" coverage of.  But hey, they had all the MTs and TTs, so I was happier than just getting 30 minute recaps.

Too bad they didn't have Lance personally tracking down Simeoni all by himself on the 18th stage.

kiwi

[Mastiff]

IlPadrino, I'm sure. He has been better and better. He even beat him when he was ill a week ago!

[IlPadrino]

Too bad they didn't have Lance personally tracking down Simeoni all by himself on the 18th stage.

Why's that?

[IlPadrino]

IlPadrino, I'm sure. He has been better and better. He even beat him when he was ill a week ago!

Hey, Mastiff...  Did you hear about this?

Injuries revealed for McEwen
Broken back? No worries

After suffering through more than two weeks of the Tour de France with injuries sustained in a stage 6 crash, Robbie McEwen learned the extent of the damage done after a hard fall in the final kilometre of the run-in to Angers. McEwen clinched his second green jersey in Paris, but not without a good deal of suffering along the way.

"I crashed within the last kilometre and landed on everything," said McEwen, who also crashed the day before and again during a mountain stage in the Pyrénées.

"I had skin off from head to toe and then something hit me in the back," he said. "I'm not sure if it was a bike or a rider but it left a couple of very nasty bruises and fractured my L1 and L2 lumbar vertebrae."

A visit to the hospital for x-rays after the Tour confirmed the presence of two fractures, which McEwen figures were best not mentioned while the race was still in progress.

"We decided it was probably better not to know for sure until after the Tour because with or without treatment the injury would heal itself eventually," he explained. "The pain was bad and I was really suffering in the last days of the Tour but I didn't want to tell anyone because I didn't want my rivals to get a sniff of it. Victor Popov (McEwen's physiotherapist) was able to work on everything around it to get me good enough to start each day but after one big sprint my back was stuffed again and for the last sprint in Paris I could hardly ride.

"The two fractures are in the bones which are like little wings that come off your vertebrae," he added. "The scan also showed that new bone is forming so the healing process has begun."

With time to recover and the good form which helped him fight successfully for the green jersey, McEwen is confident for the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens.

"Hey if I can ride the Pyrénées, the Alps and the Champs Elysées and win the green jersey with a broken back, then one day in Athens is no problem."

It's from http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/jul04/jul30news

[kiwi]

Too bad they didn't have Lance personally tracking down Simeoni all by himself on the 18th stage.

Why's that?

Why did he do it?  Or why was it too bad they didn't show it?

He did it because they are having an off the bike disagreement about comments that are being made.

It was too bad they didn't show it, because there was very little else of interest on that stage.

kiwi

[IlPadrino]

Too bad they didn't have Lance personally tracking down Simeoni all by himself on the 18th stage.

Why's that?

It was too bad they didn't show it, because there was very little esle of interest on that stage.

kiwi

Yeah...  I'd love to know what was said between them as they soft pedaled back to the peloton.