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July 23, 2005
Stage 20 ITT profile
Today, it's 55.5 kilometers, 34.5 kilometers all out, man against man. The Tour's 155 remaining riders cover a rolling time trial course, going out at 2- and 3-minute intervals, on a circuit that starts and ends in Saint-Etienne.
Armstrong and Ullrich are the odds-on favorites; both of them are still seeking an individual stage win this year, and Ullrich needs to make up time to pass Michael Rasmussen and move onto the final Tour podium.
Jersey Update:
Posted by Frank Steele on July 23, 2005 | Permalink
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Comments
Where are the t-mos in the team classification? Did they get that back?
Posted by: DL Byron at Jul 23, 2005 9:12:36 AM
DL_Byron: T-Mobile retook the team lead by 11-plus minutes over DSC after stage 18, as a result of their having had a man (Matthias Kessler, a.k.a. "Matze") in the big early break, whereas DSC had no men up the road in stage 18. T-Mob gained another 4-odd minutes in stage 19 due to having had another man (stage winner Guerini) in the winning break. The nearest DSC rider in stage 19 was Jose Azevedo (4'31" back), who also was in the early break but nearly got caught by the Peloton at the finish. So as of stage 19, T-Mobile leads Discovery by over 15' in the teams classification, which will likely be insurmountable (Don't have the exact numbers as of Today's ITT, but didn't see anything that would change the difference by much in either direction). At least they'll win the teams and put a man on the podium, which to them will help salvage another disappointing tour - Ullrich (although he showed great fighting spirit and came on strong in the latter half of the race) won no stages and Vino's Alpine-escapade stage win on the Galibier stage was somewhat tainted by his announcing a few days later that he was leaving T-Mobile at season's end. And of course they briefly had a man (Jens Voigt) in yellow, but he blew up on the next big mountain stage and had to abandon a couple days later after fracturing a wrist in a crash.
Posted by: EWM at Jul 23, 2005 3:37:14 PM
Whoops, got my T-Mobile disappoints mixed up just now - in fact it was last year's Tour 2nd place finisher Andreas Klöden who was forced to withdraw early in stage 17 after hurting his wrist in a stage 16 crash. His teammate Voigt had been DQed from further participation in the Tour after just missing the time cutoff at the end of stage 11. Jensie V. apparently fell ill shortly after the great effort that got him into yellow after stage 9, finished a half-hour down (but still inside the time limit) in stage 10, then missed the cutoff in stage 11.
Posted by: EWM at Jul 23, 2005 4:28:44 PM
Voigt is with CSC, not T-Mobile.
T-Mobile looks likely to take the team competition, a podium spot, and 2 stage wins. A lot of teams would trade with them.
Posted by: Frank at Jul 23, 2005 4:30:09 PM
