Into the Mountains
Stage 12 Results Tour de France 7/14/2005: Bastille Day sees Frenchmen David Moncoutié and Sandy Casar take first and second respectively; Boonen has abandoned and Voight has been eliminated. Armstrong still riding strong with 38 second lead.
Stage 14 Results Tour de France 7/16/2005: Seperated from his Discovery team by a vicious team T-Mobile assault, Armstrong makes tracks while T-Mobile's Jan Ullrich cracks. Armstrong roars to the front of the leaders' pack alone to take second in the stage, while a deserving Georg Totschnig takes the stage. Armstrong leads by a comfortable one minute 41 seconds, but don't discount other contenders yet. Watch this stage if you can just for the sheer madness of the spectator-thronged route.
Stage 15 Results Tour de France 7/17/2005: American George Hincapie, loyal Armstrong domestique for the last six Tours, won the stage; "I was up there to see what would happen and to help Lance later in the stage," an emotional Hincapie told Eurosport.com. Ullrich lost four minutes to Armstrong, who holds the overall lead by two minutes and 46 seconds.
Rest day quotes from AP reports:
- Ullrich concedes imminent defeat: "Now my goal is to make it on the podium."
- Armstrong gaffe: "I think I'm going to win this Tour de France... Well, I hope that will be the case."
- Humble Basso: "Armstrong is the best and he has been for the last seven years. If he's the strongest he deserves to win. If someone is stronger than you, there's not much you can do about it. That's life."
Stage 16 Results Tour de France 7/19/2005: "I've accomplished a life's dream," stage winner Oscar Pereiro told Eurosport.com. Well deserved win. Andrey Kashechkin's nose bloodied by an overeager spectator. Barring a crash, Armstrong looking like the sure overall winner.
Stage 17 Results Tour de France 7/20/2005: Another stage win for Team Discovery by Paolo Savoldelli. The question on everyone's lips: when will Armstrong take a stage? Perhaps he'll take the individual time trial on Saturday. Who cares? He's made his mark - he's cycling's greatest hero and he'll ride into Paris in yellow for the seventh and final time.
Stage 18 Results Tour de France 7/21/2005: Marcos Serrano pulls off a great win under blistering sun. The big news: Ullrich (fourth place) gains time on Rasmussen (third place) - Saturday's time trial may put Ullrich on the podium.
Stage 19 Results Tour de France 7/22/2005: Giuseppe Guerin smokes a fairly flat stage; the question remains: will Armstrong finally bust a move and win his first stage (and first race) win at tomorrow's time trial? My magic eight ball says, "It is decidedly so." Say it with me: "No flats...no crashes...no flats...no crashes..." And will Ullrich make up just over two minutes to beat Rasmussen for a third place podium position? " "Outlook not so good."
Time Trial Stage 20 results 7/23/2005 - Armstrong wins time trial! 1:11:36. Final: Armstrong, Ullrich, Vinokourov, Julich, Basso. Armstrong goes out like the world dominator he is. Ullrich finishes 23 seconds back - heroic showing puts him in third overall, displacing Rasmussen whose luck was horrible with two crashes, a flat and four bikes. Armstrong's first stage and race win - don't mess with Texas!
Keep up with daily news flashes on the Tour De France 2005's route's stages here - stay abreast of American Lance Armstrong's bid to win his seventh consecutive Tour de France and his efforts to quash arch rival Jan Ullrich.
