Iban Mayo is LA's only challenger

It is clear now. Iban Mayo is the only threat to LA. After what
happened at L'Alpe d'Huez and the stage yesterday, the contenders and
pretenders have been revealed. Ullrich doesn't look to be able to
keep up with the big boys in the steep climbs and I never considered
Beloki to be a serious threat to LA. It had to be a challenger who
was new and whose abilities weren't fully revealed in previous Tours.
A revelation. This is the guy. Mayo has already proven that he can
beat LA in a prologue in the Dauphine, and shattered him on that climb
up D'Huez. This guy is young, climbs like a fiend, and isn't too
shabby on the TT. The only thing that might hurt him is the fact that
this Tour (those TdF idiots) is probably the easiest of the Tours
since Lance started winning. Hardly any mountain top finishes, 2 TTT
and 1 ITT instead of just 1 TTT and 2 ITT. This could really hurt
Mayo as his team is nothing compared to Postal. I don't see Mayo
winning unless he takes 2 minute chunks out of LA in the Pyrenees, and
that will be hard to do without mountaintop finishes. Its a shame,
the Tour committee was trying to design an easier course to make it
more difficult for Lance to win his 5th, but in the process, they've
made it easier for him as his main contender is a better climber. The
irony of it all, the foolishness of the French.

How 'bout the guy who won the stage yesterday, and is only 21" back
from Lance?

--
David N. Welton
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(David N. Welton) wrote in
:


How 'bout the guy who won the stage yesterday, and is only 21" back
from Lance?


Vinokourov is at least four minutes slower than Lance over the two ITTs.
Prediction: Lance to stay in yellow until Paris, Ulrich second, Vinokourouv
third.

Norm T wrote:
It is clear now. Iban Mayo is the only threat to LA. After what
happened at L'Alpe d'Huez and the stage yesterday, the contenders and
pretenders have been revealed. Ullrich doesn't look to be able to
keep up with the big boys in the steep climbs and I never considered
Beloki to be a serious threat to LA.

Yah, right, now you tell us.

... Hardly any mountain top finishes, 2 TTT
and 1 ITT instead of just 1 TTT and 2 ITT. This could really hurt
Mayo as his team is nothing compared to Postal.

2 TTTs? That would really suck for the three Fassa guys.
Norm, you are going to have to train harder to top your 2001 Tour when
you attempted to predict the entire Tour from the prologue. But you
will always be a legendary dumbass. RBR 2002 was not the same without
you - where were you anyway, knee injury, suspended for X?

I don't see Mayo
winning unless he takes 2 minute chunks out of LA in the Pyrenees, and
that will be hard to do without mountaintop finishes.

As long as we're candyassing near-obvious statements, here's my
prediction: What has been remarkable about LA is his recovery
abilities, even his bad days have seen only small losses. If his
form improves over the next week and a half, he wins, if it
declines, he loses.

I think he wins, but proves the axiom that it is physiologically
impossible to win six Tours.

In , Benjamin Weiner typed:

... Hardly any mountain top finishes, 2 TTT
and 1 ITT instead of just 1 TTT and 2 ITT. This could really hurt
Mayo as his team is nothing compared to Postal.

2 TTTs? That would really suck for the three Fassa guys.
Norm, you are going to have to train harder to top your 2001 Tour when
you attempted to predict the entire Tour from the prologue. But you
will always be a legendary dumbass. RBR 2002 was not the same without
you - where were you anyway, knee injury, suspended for X?

There is only 1 TTT and 2 ITT this year just as there are every other year.

Peter Smyth

There is only 1 TTT and 2 ITT this year just as there are every other
year.


Perhaps the original poster saw that OLN's stage preview (on OLN.com) says
stage 19 is a TTT but they are wrong. It's individual. I'd expect that from
CBS but I'll cut OLN some slack.

"Benjamin Weiner" wrote in message
...

Norm, you are going to have to train harder to top your 2001 Tour when
you attempted to predict the entire Tour from the prologue.

Thank your for the reminder about Norm T - I'd forgotten those wonderful,
wacky r.b.r. moments!

Andy Coggan

"Benjamin Weiner" wrote in message
...

I think he wins, but proves the axiom that it is physiologically
impossible to win six Tours.


That's a crock. It may be unlikely, but it's clearly not impossible when you
look at how many have won 5 in the last 50 years.

Benjamin Weiner wrote in message ...

I think he wins, but proves the axiom that it is physiologically
impossible to win six Tours.


Impossible!? For the sake of argument, Greg Lemond (if he were member
of a different team) was capable of winning in 1985. Then he wins in
86, gets shot so he misses 87 and 88 and wins again in 89 and 90. I'd
say that's six years of physiological possibility.

Russ Baxter wrote:
Benjamin Weiner wrote in message ...

I think he wins, but proves the axiom that it is physiologically
impossible to win six Tours.


Impossible!? For the sake of argument, Greg Lemond (if he were member
of a different team) was capable of winning in 1985. Then he wins in

Only if he was on another team. Were he on another team, would he have
the same strength in support?

86, gets shot so he misses 87 and 88 and wins again in 89 and 90. I'd
say that's six years of physiological possibility.

Perhaps, but who knows what unknowns would have surfaced?