July 21, 2004

TdF Update: Lance Smashes Last of His Rivals

Lance Armstrong now has no rivals left in the Tour de France. None. Not after catching Ivan Basso and then leaving him behind in an amazing performance in today's 9.6-mile individual time trial up the steep mountain climb to the L'Alpe d'Huez ski station.

In an individual time trial, riders leave the start one by one, separated by a minute or two. Armstrong left the start 2 minutes after Ivan Basso - and caught him a little more than halfway up the mountain.

He was the only rider to finish the stage in under 40 minutes, at 39:41, which was 1:10 faster than Jan Ullrich, $1:41 faster than Ullrich's teammate Andeas kloden, and 2:22 ahead of Basso.

In the overall standings, Armstrong now leads Basso by 3:48, Kloden by 5:03 and Ullrich by 7:55, with his own teammate Jose Azevedo, in fifth at 9:20 back. With only one tough mountain stage to go, and one long but flat individual time trial, it's highly unlikely that, barring a crash or other unfortunate incident, that Basso, Kloden or Ullrich could catch Armstrong.

Thursday's stage is considered one of the toughest stages in this year's race, a 127 mile stretch of mountainous roads that includes five climbs, one of them rated as "beyond category." It's Basso's last chance, and a very slim one. He's not as a good at the individual time trial on a flat course as Armstrong. Realistically, Kloden and Ullrich are both too far behind to think about victory. The two teammates are now rivals for the third-place spot.

Congratulations, Lance. Even if this dumb collegiate columnist from Colorado doesn't think you deserve to win.