[Le Tour 2003]Stage 19 - Showdown

[Tour Reporter]

Stage 19 - Individual Time Trial

Two numbers matter for today's stage - 54.545 km/hr and 1:05.

The first is the speed of the fastest ever time trial stage in the Tour
- set by none other than Greg Lemond in his win over Laurent Fignon when
he won by the smallest margin on the final day 24 km Time Trial in Paris.

The second is the gap which remains between Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich.

There's nowhere to hide today, and before it's all over, much will be 
decided.  There no longer is any margin for error.

With all the talk of how close this race is and what a difficult time 
Lance Armstrong is having, it's a bit staggering to see the gaps back to 
the top level pros.  With a couple quick scans down the standings on the 
General Classification, you get a chance to realize how far above 
everyone else Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich actually are.

For example, one of my heros for this year's Tour:
In 20th position:
José Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor              @27.31

while a mere 40 riders back in the overall:
Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour                      1.25.35

It becomes pretty obvious that these two men have clearly brought out 
the best in one another.  This has been an epic race for the Centenary 
Edition. No matter how it ends, these will be the events we recall to 
the young whippersnappers when we're all old farts.

The rains have hit France today. Heavy rains have hammered down upon the 
roadways of today's Individual Time Trial, laying in an added 
treacherous variable in this most amazing race.

Yesterday there were dire predictions of heavy storms and hellish
tailwinds, but it seems that the just the rain is coming down and the 
winds may have lessened from their gusty peaks for now, but they 
continue to run mostly as a tailwind as the riders head away from the sea.

Last evening, the report was that Ullrich would be spinning a 56T x 11 -
a monster gear that would splinter the knees of anyone else.  Armstrong 
was a bit less specific, but he's likely to run a 54T.  He's also 
thinking of running a 19 mm front tire set up. Ye-aiy!

How the mechanics slept last night with the threat of storms and rain is
  not known - but I'd guess it was a night of staring at the ceiling and
pacing to the bathroom and back.  Tremendous pressure is on these men as
well, to make sure that all of the mechanical variables are under 
control.  It's pretty clear that they cannot be.

The unfortunate side-effect of the seriousness with the battle for the 
lead in this year's Tour is that all of the coverage is focused on 
Ullrich and Armstrong.  The other stories are being a bit eclipsed today 
as everyone frets about the effects of the rain upon the leading positions.

Nevertheless, other positions are seriously up for grabs today, as Tyler 
Hamilton executes what may or may not have been the perfect two-step 
plan to the podium.  With the stunning move on stage 16, when he left 
everyone behind to learn new levels of excruiciating pain and gain 2 
minutes, Hamilton has put himself within striking distance of 
Euskatel-Euskadi riders Iban Mayo and Haimar Zubeldia.  With some strong 
time-trialing chops, Tyler could move past them, and could even threaten 
third place rider Alexandre Vinokourov if he runs into trouble on the 
rain-slickened roadways today.

Luckily, our coverage suddenly remembers this, and we see Tyler run out 
of the slippery start house to begin his run.  Also watching him are the 
two Euskatel-Euskadi riders, who are, quite oddly, shown sitting under 
umbrellas somewhere behind the starthouse.  On this rainy, cold 
afternoon, it is deeply curious to see these two men who should be 
worrying about keeping warm until the final minute just sort of hanging 
out.  Mayo has three minutes to go before he is sent off, while Zubeldia 
will be out there for almost 6 minutes.

The winds are edging up to 35 kph now, as the riders leave the 
starthouse 3 minutes apart.

Both the Basque team's riders move out with similar levels of trepidation.

Three minutes later, Alexandre Vinokourov rolls down the start ramp.

Two minutes later, we catch sight of Jan Ullrich, looking as jittery as 
a schoolgirl on a triple espresso.  He is saying siomething that the 
cameras can't pick up, but then suddenly rolls up the ramp to place 
himself into the start house.  While he's there, someone hands him a set 
of glasses.  He takes a drink with obviously shaking hands and then 
settles himself upon his jet black Bianchi time trial machine.  Almost 
as soon, he's off on the course, immediately hammering out a fast rhythmn.

Lance appears "backstage", looking stoic and almost a bit calm.  He 
rolls up the ramp and into the covered start area.  The countdown 
commences and he slips away, smoothly gaining speed.

Word is that Lance had covered the course that morning, though they 
refer both to him riding the course, and covering it in the team car. He 
definitely did the latter, seeing where the water was pooling up and 
getting himself mentally ready to reride the course that he'd been over 
a few months earlier.

Ullrich on the other hand had watched a video taken by his team of the 
course.  Not clear whether that was today, under the influence of the 
incliment weather or from a happy sunny flowers are blooming day...

Whatever the prep, Ullrich has gained almost 6 seconds in the first 
kilometer.  He is clearly pulling out all the stops.

Lance buckles himself in for the long haul, and begins immediately pull 
seconds back - within another three or four, he's moved back to almsot 
dead even.

Robert Millar, of Cofidis, has actually passed a note to the announcers 
box that concerning the danger of the final 8 or 9 kilometers of today's 
course.  He feels that the stage should be annulled - even though he 
sits atop the leader board.

Uwe Peschel of Gerolsteiner had fallen hard after posting the fastest 
split times - they believe he actually cracked a rib after the second fall.

Ullrich pounds out an amazing cadence with a massive gear - but he does 
seem to be dancing a bit back and forth on the roadway - he's not taking 
a diret line at all times.  Armstrong on the other hand is screaming 
along die-straight, never staying on the numerous patches of road 
striping or obvious low spots filled with water.

After the initial surge, Ullrich cannot seem to pull back any time, and 
Armstrong efforts have negated all his early gains.  In fact, 
Armstrong's time has crept up a second or two.

Suddenly, sparks fly in the rain as the metal of Ullrich's bike hits 
pavement - he was negotiating a traffic roundabout and as he leaned into 
the right hand bit of the chicane, his bike shimmied and his front wheel 
came unstuck - he's slid a looooooong way across the greased roadways 
into the hay bales on the far side of the roadway.

There is no joy in the German's camp.  He immediately regains his feet 
and points the bike forward - a mechanic appears and begins to push him 
forward.  He hasn't lost much time, but what will that do to his 
concentration?  The answer comes quickly as he totally misjudges the 
next hard right and has to ease his bike around, even though he's hardly 
moving to begin with.  But, before him appears some straight bits of 
roadway, and he begins to wind it back up.

The relief is obvious by Lance's body position - he knew going into this 
stage that he chances needed to be taken by the German.  It would be 
difficult under ideal conditions to take the kind of time Ullrich 
needed, and clearly, these were not the best of times...  Lance nurses 
it cautiously around the next sharp turns, but still turns it on 
decisively in the straightaways - he had also been in phone contact with 
  teammates George Hincapie and Vlatchislav Ekimov, who literally dried 
out the course with their fast efforts.  They spoke with Lance as soon 
as they had dried their faces.

It all adds up, and when you factor in Lance's superlative bike-handling 
skills against the very good to excellent talents of Ullrich, this is 
the result...

Taking a moment from the tshock and horror of watching Ullrich slide - 
Hamilton crosses the line at 54:14 - two minutes ahead of Mayo and
just a hiccup under two minutes ahead of Zubeldia - he will move at 
least up into 4th place today!

Vinokourov comes in with a finishing time of 56:01 - faster than the 
Basques.  He does manage to hold onto his podium spot - having built up 
a 3:50 lead over Tyler in the stages to date.

But, the big German dog is licking his wounds - still straining the 
hardware to bring his rig over the line at 54:40.

A smiling Lance comes aroudn the final corner to finish 10 seconds 
faster - plenty of horsepower to spare, he punches the air at the line - 
clearly a happy, happy man.

Stage 19 - Results
1 David Millar (GBr) Cofidis, Credit Par Telephone            54.05 
(54.36 km/h)
2 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC                                0.09
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor                  0.14
4 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi                               0.25
5 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon                    0.26
6 Vjatceslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal-Berry Floor                0.56
7 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) US Postal-Berry Floor                 1.00
8 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor                  1.08
9 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere                1.12
10 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                        1.26
11 Stuart O'grady (Aus) Credit Agricole                        1.38

Overall Standings -
MJ Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor              80.02.08
2 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi                               1.16
3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom                      4.29
4 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC                                6.32
5 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                      7.06
6 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                            7.21
7 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                              10.12
8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole                     12.43
9 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC                                18.49
10 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) iBanesto.com                       19.30
11 Denis Menchov (Rus) iBanesto.com                           19.44
12 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner                         21.47
13 Peter Luttenberger (Aut) Team CSC                          22.31
14 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor                 23.03
15 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis, Credit Par Telephone     24.15
16 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick.Step-Davitamon                25.46
17 Jorg Jaksche (Ger) ONCE-Eroski                             27.22
18 Roberto Laiseka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                    29.15
19 José Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor              29.37
20 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere                   30.14


Tomorrow -
Parade into Paris and the final Green Jersey duke-out.

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