life Around Tour de France – Stage 17
Sports Travel / Tourism
The Lance influence !!
As the tour starts of on the third of the Alpine stages, the race for the top contender is now becoming a show of team strength. With several teams totally out of contention, its Astana & Garmin Slipstream teams which are putting the riders right up front and keeping the rhythm & the speed going. To see the Astana team minus Leipheimer chugging away right in the front reminds one of the Discovery team & US Postal team days, when Armstrong, in order to make sure that he doesn’t get caught in any untoward incidents used to ensure that his team rode right at the front, even if they had to lead the peleton.
Now with Astana adopting the same strategy it’s the fans who are reaping the rewards too!! As Armstrong & Contador with Kloden & Popovych are always in the front and very much visible for that one photo of a life time. We were talking to some of the fans here and almost everyone here wants to get a glimpse of only one person – Armstrong!!
Right from the start at Monaco, I have maintained that this race is all about just one man & his fight to show the world that he is the best. And that is not a comment about the Yellow Jersey, but about Lance Armstrong. Every media person wants a quote & a photo of him & so do the fans. Armstrong keeping in his mind that he also has his LIVESTRONG foundation to promote is doing his best to be with everyone while keeping his attention on the race. His tweets have kept over 15 million fans updated daily. While standing on the roads, 90% of the conversations we have had with fellow fans has been about Armstrong. (Contador, Cavendish & Hurshod are the other riders with big fan clubs)
Today’s race was all about youth & the spirit of the tour. Many a rider tried to race away from the peleton but no one could stand to the power of Team Astana & Saxo Bank, who just swallowed those who wanted to break away.
In the end it was a battle between the two Schleck brothers Andy & Frank with Contador, as the two brothers teamed up to break down the Yellow Jersey holder. The Saxo bank riders are natives of Switzerland and their superior Alpine riding skills were on display today. But after each of their attacks, Contador had the energy to be still there with them afterwards. It was a see saw battle where finally tour etiquette also was on display, as with 2 kms to go, Contador patted Frank Schleck & asked him to go for the Stage win. This was done as he is the Yellow Jersey holder right now and a stage victory would not mean much for him, but for someone who has worked the whole stage and never won a stage so far it was a fitting reward. Andy Schleck in turn allowed Contador to come in second, the time credited to all three being the same.
The race also saw Armstrong sticking to Wiggins as planned in the team and not allowing him to combat Contador. As Contador was moving away with the Schleck brothers Armstrong didn’t follow them & sacrificed his podium position sticking to his team’s requirement of not allowing Wiggins to ride away. A move which is going to cost him very heavily as he now has to pull out almost 3 minutes on the Yellow Jersey. Finally, after Wiggins dropped off the race pace was when Armstrong started out and with V. Nibali of the Liquigas team and rode an astonishingly fast descent to cut down the deficit.
For the record in Stage 17 – the winner was Frank Schleck of the Saxo Bank team. The individual standings of the top changes though the Yellow Jersey remains with Alberto Contador. The two Schleck brothers Andy & Frank come into 2nd & 3rd position & Lance Armstrong slips to fourth spot. The Green Jersey remains with Thor Hurshod of Norway & Andy Schleck retains the White Jersey.
Report from the hospital about Jens Voigts is that he is out of danger after falling face down on the road at over 70kms per hour speed during the descent to Bourg St. Maurice yesterday.
Au revoir!!…
Email : mrq@planningfactory.in