2003 Tour de France

[Music] [Applause] [Music] on July the 1st 1903 the Tour de France set off from Paris and apart from a couple of world wars and the occasional French labor dispute it hasn't stopped since so to mark the historic milestone of the Tour centenary the organizers decided to make life miserable for parousia motorists twice in one month by starting as well as finishing the race in the French capital great for the fans and great for the riders all 198 of whom could say that they've made it to Paris even if it was only for the start while the tour was celebrating its centenary though Lance Armstrong had other anniversaries on his mind after all it was the 4th anniversary of his first Tour win and the first of his fourth which in plain english means that he came into this race with a chance to join the exclusive club of riders who'd won five when everybody talks about victory and what's going to happen and what are you gonna do it gives me a bad feeling but I have to stay realistic and understand that you know nothing is given in this sport and anybody can win well not anybody a lot of guys I think the race has everything I think it has difficulty it has joy it has excitement it even has death which I've seen up close but to me it's event that that I wasn't born with and I wasn't raised with but I've learned a lot I think Armstrong is head and shoulders above the rest but this year there are a lot of challenges who really feel they can put the American into difficulty and in fact if you put them man against man I don't think anybody is as strong as Lance but there are so many possibilities of a combine out on the course that that may well be where the threat comes from indeed this is a great field as we will see over the next three weeks of racing we are going to be treated to I think a very memorable race indeed and so it should be in the centenary year Paris is on holiday they're ready now to see the prologue time to another prologue Time Trial just about 5 miles and that's not much when you're talking of a race of 2,100 over the next three weeks but there are so many possibilities Lance Armstrong we think will start favored in the prologue but there are others who can beat him but you've got to think about the Australians it could be an english-speaking top three in today's stage because in fact Brad McGee a former world champion of the pursuit is a hot favorite to take the title David Miller of Scotland really a former winner of a prologue Time Trial he too will be looking for the win and of course the man who's been on fire this year on the European circuit Michael Rogers and this for Michael he's only a young man it's his very first Tour de France he wants to pull on the first yellow jersey of the tour and remember this year especially it burns the initial two HD four on integrins the man who started it all let's go to the route before tomorrows official start at the cafe there'll be a 90 minute lap of Honor around Paris which is handy for those riders will be an overage state to do it in three weeks time then the race heads northeast to Menace the Belgium border with some traditional first week sprint finishes the matching skin suits will be out for the team time trial on stage four then the collective foot goes back down as the race rushes south to pay its respects to the tour's first-ever stage finish town [Music] in 1903 it took the winner maurice garin 17 hours to ride the 476 kilometers from Paris to Lyon this year the pack takes the scenic route a thousand kilometers in 7 days from Leon the race heads into the Alps a greatest hits package of classic climbs from tour history where Lance Armstrong status's favorite will be underlined or undermined the high points will be the SOR the gala ba and ALP d'Huez the second of the tour's 1903 stage finishes was the port city of Marseilles and the Shia's itinerary it's stage 10 and after a day shore leave in narbonne there's more historical sightseeing in Toulouse the tour's first individual time trial comes on stage 12 to cap take aver that is another three days of gradients and grimacing in the pyrenees culminating in the climb up to lose Rd den where Janna where it conceded the race to Armstrong two years ago Bordeaux has hosted the tour more times than any town outside Paris this year as always it'll be a classic sprinter stage for those sprinters still left in the race heading north the second individual time trial will finish in the last of the tour's original 1903 stage towns normed before the historical circle is completed on the sacred cobbles of the Shah still is a now though it's time to get out onto the roads of Paris for the prologue is a look at the course flat as a puncture and extremely fast starting at the foot of the Eiffel Tower crosses the Sen rounds the gardens of the Trocadero and follows the river almost to the foot of the shot Solis 8 where the race will arrive in three weeks time before crossing back over the river and finishing at the other end of the Eiffel Tower Gardens well that's a look at the route and here's the state of the race so far i'm Arzu bel DIA of the u.s. cartel Ascari team leads he's in with a time of 7 minutes and 28 seconds behind him both 9 seconds back a Germany's Michael Rick and George Hincapie Lance Armstrong's teammate let's get out on the road now and join Phil um Paul Tyler Hamilton is the man that the United States wants to see finish high in the overall classification and many people really do believe that he can finish in the top three well Tyler Hamilton is underway and he's having without a shadow of a doubt his finest ever cycling season despite the fact he left the side of Lance Armstrong there he made great friends these two but they're going to be a bitter rivalry between them over the next three weeks keep up with that camera sir because you just see a white tornado go by this is the seventh tour Paul for Tyler Hamilton in his first tour back in 1997 he finished his 69th while he's had a great finish on the 13th in 99 and he promised a lot last year with 15 years arrival of Rick pilgrim wherever blogger wrote a time trial of 58.8 kilometres an hour in the Giro d'Italia he's put in a very fine performance here but he too is going to slip outside of the top ten and maybe step outside of the top 20 as he hits the line here for 27th place at the times I think Phil will start to change right now because as we look at Yann all rikiya this is the first time we've seen a time so close to six and a half minutes and I think we could see the fastest time now go to Yan already well the one man in the world Lance Armstrong has always said he repent he respects and fears is this man he is the classiest bike rider in the world but there are times that when he lets himself down if he's come back then hats off to him Jan Ullrich is receiving the applause of the crowd now I think he's got the best time it is not far to the line the big man is back Ulrich has had fourth place finishes in the prologue he's going to slot in number one of the moment listen to the crowd seven twenty eight point six that is a real beating of Suburbia justice just read one fifth of a second believable Billy isn't a big beating of zoo Bell dia but look at the face of young Orie look at the legs Phil there's absolute power in those pies of the big German rider here right now and that is a surprise to many people but this is a good ride by Rashad be wrong the darling of France the man who will lighten up I should expect the mountain stages is coming in with a pretty respectable time for a man who doesn't like riding on his own ah but again you see once they get into the realms certain the seconds in those places it drops rather quickly as he's now been shouted down towards the top hundred finishes as the is the 8-minute Parker he's gone over 801 so resharper Rock is in never was a great time silo when he is battling with the yellow jersey miserly tors he had to produce a very good time trial then well everybody waiting now to see what Bradley Magee can do at the moment here we're looking at Tyler Hamilton though and this is another man while waiting desperately to see him at the first check he has done big time Stars big prologues and he is looking for a big result today as we switch to the finish now Magee is going to topple yeah toric as well as Bradley Magee takes the lead seven twenty six point one six now he's going to have to wait and see what David Miller can do well Bradley don't so don't salute the crowd so soon because there are still some very big names to come and Miller is five seconds faster than Brad McGee at 3.2 kilometres that's off song as cool as you like is just looking there he knows what everybody is those who have reached the finish house he will know that his friend David Miller the British rider on a rival team has also turned in the best time at 3.2 kilometres by a full five seconds the countdown Lancers on launches his bid for the fifth towards Armstrong right now is the last man to start here on the roads of Paris he's wearing the yellow jersey from the winner of last year and he in fact has said that he would win wear that yellow jersey in honor of the organizer or read a garage the fastest time at half distance is that of the Scottish rider David Miller three minutes 41 seconds and we look now at Tyler Hamilton coming into the finishing straight he's not gonna go best time but it's gonna be a very good ride by Tyler Hamilton he's the best of the Americans so far fifth place for him Tyler has started well problem for David Miller on the course so what is this problem here his chain has come off Phil he had the fastest time and that has blown it I would say for David Miller he was five seconds up at half distance and he will happily be crying with that but he's trying to get back into his rhythm well he could have lost five seconds though this is gonna be the ride of his life whatever the problem was he is still driving for best time Bradley McGee has got it he's finished seven minutes and 26 seconds for the Sydneysider now David Miller into that last corner it is going to be desperately tight he needs to get out of that saddle as fast as possible and kick for the line it to be a countdown that little fault could cost him as millet dries for home now a huge effort by Davey Bella he is going to be so close to the line as we hit 726 he's going to do it 720 6.24 he hasn't that has cost him at the victory whatever was wrong he has gone outside the win by point zero eight of a second and he will rue the moment that that chain came off Phil he lost that he was trying to flick the chain back on in complete and utter desperation that was a very sad moment look at his face it I think he knows it he's sprinting for the line he knows he had to beat the time of brat at Brad McGee it was an unbelievable right now a gill be on tenterhooks here now as the rider who finished second at the toilet passed last year Milwaukee hits the line he is seventh that's a great ride by beau lucky he'll be pleased with that just losing nine seconds to a specialist like Brad McGee McGee now Phil will be on tenterhooks because he knows to come to the finishing line his name is Lance Armstrong he wears number one he's won the Tour de France on four occasions and this year he's dreaming of winning it for a film the key is not to very far away from us here right now a storming ride by the man who is the world pursuit champion he'll be looking at this clock main think there's going to be rather close on the line but I'd have to give right now the advantage to McGee but Armstrong will sprint with his heart in his hand he will indeed because he comes off that final Bend where David Millar saw his time tick over by fraction of a second the six seconds five four has arms on Tracy to the line is this going to be a perfect opening and no it is not Bradley McGee is one for Australia but also has made it perfectly clear he is very much in for a fifth win in this year's taller frauds he crosses the line in NOLA clock continues to count so I can't tell you but about six or seven well it was seventh not the most authoritative start to Armstrong's title defense in fact he wasn't at the top place US Postal rider coming in one second and two places behind his teammate for Hugo Pena the win and the first yellow jersey of the race though went to Australia's brand McGee eight hundredths of a second and a split chain ahead of Britain's David Miller by Marzu bel dia of Spain was an impressive third Leonore it was early indication that he might be back to something like is best with prologue done that the overall contenders slipped back into the pack for the next few stages make way for the sprinters the first road stages are always flat always fast and centenary tour as you'd expect stuck with tradition starting with stage 1 - mo [Music] into the 1 killer bee - the go this is a win all sprint here for about 10 men well Pataki's got his men there right now 1st 2nd 3rd position this is the ideal lead out he'll be and further some if somebody's gone down there there you can see patina on the right-hand side of the road champion of Italy won that title in a sprint just over 7 days ago again confused and nobody's got the power McHugh and Phil is up into third place McEwen is holding batini also trying to get there on the back wheel in example I think Stewart o'grady has moved too far back now there's been a mass pile up there I think in his towel that went down at the peloton completely crashes on the line it's pop forward now about 15 men here and once again Pataki as mr. McEwen has missed it McEwen is still poised for the best sprint here now it's Robbie hunter who's lost on the left of our picture but out there in the center is still mature Pataki's go example he comes from him accurate now but he's been pushed down a bit Alessandro Pataki is coming like here cosmic tyranids arbol I think it's going to be bent a key on the line hopefully been teenys arbol McEwen they were right there as well for the game poor the crash and look at this the peloton are at a standstill now just to quickly tell you the rules everybody will be given the time of the winner because they are inside the final kilometer yeah but the one or two riders they're seriously injured on the ground there now if Lance Armstrong is in this group at the moment the referees tonight who give all of the riders who are in the main field at the one kilometer to go banner exactly the same time there should be no change at all let's just have a look here and see how that crash went down it was the big Kelm a rider his foot came out he went immediately down onto the ground and then it was pandemonium behind you could just see over on the left hand side there ol Rick was caught out behind the crash as well but all of the riders behind the crash field today will be given the same time now those US postal there's a lot of confusion there I wonder whether or not Lance Armstrong was involved in that crash well let's certainly hope he was not but I think the ride that went down was Tower of the Kelm a squad first to go and then a massive massive pileup now overall the shoulders there he is and he was obviously involved there propagate but he won't lose his yellow jersey he's inside the last kilometer this rule was brought in many years ago because of situations like this in the last kilometer so they don't lose time the clock stops at the kilometer to go for all of the riders who are together in the event of a fall McGee quite clearly has fallen but he'll still keep his yellow jersey well what a crash that was towards the end and that's all it takes when you're full-on at 65 kilometres an hour you just do not have time to get out of the way the majority the main field is starting to come in right now and I'm not sure whether or not Lance Armstrong was just stopped at the side of the road there are one or two riders there Phil have been seriously injured by that crash they will get the same time as the winner at the end of the day but I tell you one thing this looks as if this could very well be Jimmy Casper's being with a fairly nasty crash there he will have taken a lot of risk to be towards the front well a look at the replay actually shows there was nothing Jimmy Casper could have done to avoid this injury it's the man in green on the extreme right of the picture Kel Mae's Jose Enrique Gutierrez of course is all the mayhem pulling his foot out of his pedal as he sweeps wide around the corner Casper in white is right next to him and has no time what ever to react or protect himself as he goes down Lance Armstrong himself went down in the aftermath of the crash surrounded at the top of the screen here by his US postal teammates and he finished the stage on the bike of his teammate chechu ruby era complaining of back pain and for five minutes or so after the crash the walking wounded and the damaged machinery continued to cross the line followed finally by the man who'd caused it all Jose Enrique Gutierrez looking a lot better off than many of the men he brought down thankfully David Miller had avoided all the trouble and spoke to Ned bolting as he came across the line I knew crash just knew so I just sitting just behind or favorite keeping it safe I think every single favor went back he was pretty impressive the soldiers behind us watch them go down one by one and in the midst of all the chaos of course there was actually a staged result and it belonged to Alessandro Pataki of the Italian fast bought a low team who took the sprint ahead of Australia's Robbie McEwen and their example of Germany he's having a fantastic season Alessandro Petacchi six stage wins in the Giro d'Italia this year and now his first ever in the Tour de France no change at the very top of the overall standings except that Brad Magee now has four whole seconds over David Miller rather than the eight hundredths he had before thanks to his second place at the intermediate sprint today [Music] as they line up now for the finish there'll be no complaints about this finishing light it is dead straight and it's the brioche team now trying to lead their sprinters the line there's only one of them left that's Tammy and I here goes buggy buggy is broken early but he is a pursuit er he has terrific speed in those legs now hot he's chasing him the lime green jersey there's Freddy Rodriguez he's well up there for the Vinny Calvin role or team up into third place you can see all over the front of this main field is Eric's Armel McKee has led them out but he's not going to win the stage right now there's a moment of hesitation victini's in the middle Oscar Freire is starting down the right-hand side this is going to be a bolt for the finishing line in fact there's some confusion moving up there right now you can see our example in the middle hobble is in the middle but Jonker see poo is also breaking in the center now so too is Jean Patrick Nash and they're all getting in on the act here a final Dash for the line now is John Patrick has all those lords himself and I think that's kursi poot challenging on if now comes the sprinters to from and he's got it and I'm talkin baby it's paid cook I completely forgot about baby cook and he was continues the happy saga of the font-size d'Azur comm team because with baby cook getting the win then his teammate McGee will keep we think the yellow jersey it has to go to the second on the calculation but what an unbelievable finish and just when I thought y'all Kersey Pugh had got it up came cookie and took it off him here's the finish baden cook is too far away gets 20 seconds for the win he'll move to within four seconds of yellow he'll be second tonight with David Miller what a terrific race terrific for the Aussies and for F de jure comer baden cook with his first Tour de France stage win ahead of John Patrick Nassau and yanker simply with their example edged into fourth not be of a cure and ever really in contention placing six behind the big sprint all the contenders finish safely Lance Armstrong David Miller and the injured Tyler Hamilton among them ten minutes later though rolling in on his own with just his neck brace for company was Jimmy Casper looking extremely uncomfortable but conceding nothing so in his second tour Baden cook banks his first stage win and keeps his mate Brad Magee in the yellow jersey as an added bonus or was it the other way around whichever it was he was delighted and afterwards he spoke to Ned what a race-baiting your time to your attack perfectly on the line there so so many times I've always misjudged the sprints and I go too early and I get passed in the line and today it was me coming from behind I just stayed so calm and left it to the last minute pay it off it's like the jackpot an enormous amount of teamwork there for you to get that stage win enough for Bradley to keep the yellow ship yeah well normally I should have been on Brad's wheel but coming into the corner I got swamped and lost the wheel and so he just pulled the sprint to keep it lined out anyway and at the last minute I went to move up and someone moved too so I got on the wheel and just I just worked out like clockwork just comes I came through right at the right time and hit out and it was unbelievable now as well as preserving the race lead for his teammate they didn't cook stage win moves him up to third place overall just behind David Miller and John Patrick Nazz on second place on the stage installs him in the top six no change in the time gaps for Tyler Hamilton Lance Armstrong and company while Robbie McEwen is still within stage winning distance of the yellow jersey just 16 seconds back [Music] into the last 1,000 meters to go last 1,000 meters to go there's going to be a long sweeping Bend these riders will move all the way across the road Vinnie Cal the roller on the front and they'll be looking after their man Freddy Rodriguez they've got a big nice long line it's nice and organized for them moving up lay on Van bond is there 14 lot oh but I can't see Robbie McEwen I can't see Stewart Oh Grady though well as we come off that bend now Vina Calderon are still trying to work it out and it looks to me as though CSC are even getting involved in this this could be a good lead out though for Fred Rodriguez where Pataki is not far away either and now as they come into the last 500 meters it looks as though Oh Grady has fallen away from it here and so to the yellow jersey Apogee an example on the Left saw [Music] [Applause] right on the side of the world as comes Pataki don't think anybody would Hatake has just taken it looking for as another hits the great and on the road there the rider down his Reni Hasselbacher very nasty four let's see if we see it on this picture here being a counter Ola looked as though they were doing it well but watch there in fact Hasselbacher pumps into the queuing there's a big sandwich out there our very nasty fall by Rene Hasselbacher well it was and it also ended any chance Robbie McEwen or Baden cook had of contesting the Sprint when Hasselbacher eventually trundled over the line trying to keep the cameras out of the ripa d shorts he wasn't able to shed much light on the crash do you have a clear idea what happened in that crash not really if I think the one guy in front of me was under break and I was the first who was lying on there on the grounds for second and third opinions we asked the Aussies Hasselbeck er almost brought down I was riding the wheel of Pataki and then on the right came Hasselbacher on the left came cook and a puzzle back has just come up reading into a gap that wasn't even there and dropped himself and you know that's when bill all started I lost the wheel from there and could only come back and see see what I could still do in the finish but the first guys were gone so it made a dangerous turn it's it's to focus on how the bucket does that a bit I found it saw a gap with a three or 400 to go I jumped past in the left and Robbie went to great pass he hit my owner bars and that's where my foot clicked out and that was the end of that I was I'm pretty lucky I didn't fall off I was a groaning on the barrier with one foot outs I think the guy behind me fell off I'm not not the mood to fall off so that's a that's one thing there's confirmation of the result Pataki ahead of Romans vine Stein's and Oscar Friday with our example fourth and Robbie McEwen fifth wrap Magee was in the main bunch and right behind him was John Patrick Ness on the man who'd overtake him on the road in the overall standings all the other main players finished on the same time which meant France had finally retaken control of its national sporting treasure from the Australians John Patrick Nizam the first hope rider to wear the yellow jersey for C Mon in 2001 so they're at the standings nazan now leads the race from Bradley McGee by 8 seconds which shunts David Miller down into third Robbie McEwen and yankor SIF who have sprinted themselves up into the top 10 with Lance Armstrong dropping out of it to 12th however the general classification should be unrecognizable by the end of stage 4 [Music] for the first few stages at Lance Armstrong have been so much even a place in the crowd [Music] helicopter shot he was over to some facetime at Stage four was going to make sure that when it came to getting his teeth for a lot of it it was the team time trial 69 kilometers of serial suffering as the nine man teams set off at five-minute intervals to power their way around the course and after three years of trying and failing to win it US Postal was motivated as they'd ever been CSE's Tyler Hamilton of course used to be part of the postal machine knows what it takes to win a team time trial you know you can have nine of the strongest riders in the peloton but if you don't work well and if you're not disciplined and you don't work very efficiently you're not gonna win the race and you're not gonna ride fast the most important thing is working on a cohesive union like with a good flow and you know the weaker riders take shorter pulls and the stronger riders take on their posts that's about it if you're not disciplined and stronger riders are surging too much it can really disrupt the also when there's some crosswind you have to be a little bit more careful and leave a little bit more room because with a disk wheel on the back of the bike is not so stable and there's very little talking within the teammates but yarn races behind and in the car speaking with us telling us what to do but you don't really have the time or the energy to talk yourself to the other riders that's pretty much byung-hyun recent leading the way and although this is a team event it often has a big impact on the individual standings in 1994 Chris Boardman x'g and team lost him the yellow jersey with a disastrous team time trial performance the day before he was due to carried across the channel to Great Britain a couple of years earlier Stephen Roche was eliminated from the race when he missed his start time the rest of his team set off without him and two years ago Christian van der Valda clipped a team mates wheel and came up forcing the team to wait and costing Lance Armstrong and US Postal the stage win well this is what's to come a 69 kilometers one vl2 sand is EA with what looks like a nasty little climb at the start so no chance for teams to ease their way into an early rhythm now here's how things stand going into the stage John Patrick Nassau is in yellow but it'll take the ride of their lives for jean de la Tour to keep him there David Miller would be well poised to take yellow if confidence could only generate some sense of team unity but ya know Rex Bianchi team look better equipped to move him up from sixth place as you can see Victor ooh go Pena is ninth at the moment three places up on his team leader so if US Postal win the time trial he'll be the one in yellow not Lance Armstrong right behind Armstrong is your Sabre below key who's on se team won this time trial last year and Santiago Botero now riding for telecom of course and they should be pretty strong too so on say arrived at the 44 point 5 kilometer point they're sprinting now to top the leaderboard and bring back the reputation they are the experts at the team time trial I'm not sure sure they're gonna get there in the next 10 say yes they've gone through just inside 51 minutes 50 59 on say now setting the trend so we strum to the finish to see the arrival now of CSC they were a little bit off the best time at the previous checks I don't think we can expect and a great ride now by this team but they brought them injured a team leader to the finish today there's no point in this rider going clear in the field because the clock won't stop until the fifth man that crosses the line wait that's why the rides have fanned out and on the line 1 2012 not bad 15 at the moment and after that then here comes falsies this year the little rainbow colors on the far Jersey there is of a world champion badly in his normal strip having Anthony's yellow over to John Pat's week Naza now they completely throw this one away for they've kept the team together but look at the time 18th now and slipping away well I think this is a tactic they've decided they've had a brilliant start to the Tour de France they know they're not going to rival the big teams they did not want to eliminate their partner Jimmy Kasper who had an hour Matic crash on the first day he's back to stay in the bike race so I think maybe they said well ok that's the end of our challenge in the overall race right now let's keep ourselves together there's a lot of good fighting days to come as we're now looking at the US Postal Service squad still heading out so Bianchi then will next team to or 44 kilometers and then that will come US Postal here comes Bianchi they'll be the next team through and then this will give us some indication they were running two seconds slower than US Postal at the first yet so this will be interesting Paul it's going to be very interesting indeed because the time to beat is that of on-site 5059 and in fact team Bianchi are threatening to come through they're very close to the time of once' but they're not going to do it this time but they still have a lot of strong bike riders and there's a big possibility that they could accelerate towards the end second place for team Bianchi in fact dropping down to third there it's a long way to the that clock stops at this intermediary time point there's yan Alric just on the left hand side what a picture of concentration this man surrounded by his team the team that he hopes will in two and a half weeks of bike racing make him a challenger to Lance Armstrong superiority they are coming in to set the new market now the only team who has improved quite as much as they have is US Postal up to second fastest behind on say of 44 kilometers this is the 69 km/h on site as they continue to run best time at all of these checkpoints out on the course they just need the confirmation now as they get through to the finish it will be a new best time because there were 18 seconds quicker than answer than Ibanez dope at the last tactic of the day six miles back so I think that Manolo science has really done the trick a game of these boys only US Postal it seems now I've got the power that might topple on saying there are trials in the team title on say these last three years have either won or finished second and I think they're going to do the same again now on the line Paul yes 118 57 now look at this we've just gone through in one 727 Paul it is the best time over on say by 17 seconds now we never saw that time check until then well that really is remarkable that will go straight into the earpieces of the US Postal Service team you can imagine your ham Brunel must be going absolutely ballistic right now because he has just heard that his team has gone through the 59 killing me to checkpoint with the fastest time so far they are closing in on young Ulrich steamteam Bianchi who looked good themselves but it could well be all for one one for all towards the end because US Postal still have their nine men and all Rick I think has just got that information himself he's gone to the front he is the captain of the ship he's picking up the pace he'll do long turns or towards the end now he will do everything he can to keep the team in with the chance of winning this stage but what a comeback for young Ulrich and what a great comeback to the top of the sport 14 Bianchi but these are the boys at the moment waving the flag they still dare not panic though because they've still got around about ten kilometres to go that six miles should take them not very much more than 12 minutes Victor Igor Pena well that's a name that if they do stay in front will become the first name from Colombia to have a yellow jersey on his shoulders and I'll tell you one thing the first man who is going to congratulate him will be the man who wears number one Lance Armstrong his teammate for this year here is team Bianchi now getting toward the finish this is the time they need to be this is the big battle now starting to set up the battle that we predicted before the start of the tour could very well go down to an Armstrong Ulric battle against in the big mountain passes well the big man is back anyway he's come from deep in the depths at the first check now to challenge for the lead here team by Ankita Bianchi they won't get to the on save time but they might well arrive with second best to the US postal finishes it off and as they come off that final Bend it's so nice to see this color which used to be on the shoals of the great Fausto coffee now it's on the shoulders of the great Yahoo Licari is on the front powering the way he knows he's running close to the leaderboard second place for the moment 52 Killam it's now 119 10 postal could well be sitting in first they're aiming for one hour 18 minutes and anything less than 57 seconds will the time right now on the finish line clock is an hour 16 minutes and 58 seconds and these boys are absolutely hammering they know what the time to beat is they will in fact have it in their helmets right now it will come from their man in the team car Johan Bruyneel the winner at one stage of the fastest ever rode stage of the Tour de France a brilliant tactician and I think he's the man who went to the boys this morning said take it easy over the first few kilometres now just one kilometer to go a thousand meters and these riders should accomplish that between 59 and 61 seconds and that will give them an emphatic victory margin they might even shed one or two riders here but I've got a feeling this team has got a pack going they're gonna come home together even though the clock will seek out the fifth man for when it stops there's the time they want to beat one 1857 Vyacheslav a Knopf nicknamed Slava smile until almost silently they go got it this is remarkable Landis Phil I didn't think you'd be at the Tour de France this year but he's still with the boys this is an exhibition they've come from the back and built up the speed all the way there is Lance Armstrong up in the second place in the Tour de France tonight gave me the first of his bike to congratulate victor hugo pena because he overnight is the highest place to this team he will be the next yellow jersey in this tour he is Colombian and no Colombian has ever led this race in 100 years as they come to the line now watch the clock it's the best time he kept he's mixing up the front he ways there you go 118 27 that was a superb demonstration absolutely remarkable for that is incredible they've really stunt the superb time that they wanted to do they've dreamed about this since back in the year 2000 when they finished second big pavel pedro knows on the frontier he was brought into the team specifically for the team time trial specifically for the flat stages roberto Harris I would think cannot believe this an icky mob hand in the air the winner of the Olympic Games in 2000 with the team of the winner of the team time trial here at the Tour de France and with that a brand new yellow jersey so there's the result US Postal with a clear half minute on the next quickest finishes your same abilities on say team with yeonil Rick and Bianchi another 13 seconds behind them David Miller scored his teammates held him back he and they finished over two minutes down well Victor ooga Pena may be the best place US Postal rider in the classification not on the podium Lance Armstrong conceding the top step for the stage win presentation although he did sound genuinely pleased afterwards when he spoke to net congratulations you're coming to the for great team performance I said so I mean the team wins we started with nine we finished with my and everybody was everybody really did their job I mean you had we taken designated five guys to sort of carry the team and they did that and two guys that were sort of our wallet car two who really came through and and Roberto you know they never missed the pool so for our two climbers it was special as well so perfect and how does it feel for the u.s. postings to be top of the tree but for you not to be in the yellow jersey for a change you know that's not a problem at all I mean it's we wanted to win and we felt like we deserved to win we felt like we had the best team and we felt like we've you know sort of not not ridden our best the last few years so to win is is a real real satisfying feeling and it says as he crossed the line it looked like you said to Victor Hugo go on you enjoyed I mean the whole day the whole ride I kept down there you know because sometimes people have bad patches and I just say hey Victor you know what Jersey do you want at the finish line and he was he was super well other Colombians have won stages and the king of the mountains competition but none of them has ever worn the yellow jersey the true go Pena has now and he told Matt Randall how it felt giganto la linea Lance TT who algo that the main tequila motor Santa's make a necesitar low maximum e boutique area were made Amarillo area area finalmente ver el equipo de Letran over key booze carefully see that come up with this Calif Acosta momento que sera esta mi Pais ahora me Rondo haciendo parte para ninos Elvina sameera television para para ver era apparent a door meant a hickey out of ways we're ok melanoma tambien akia autos Columbia nose kaida pronto operating luchar para el lugar entry los primeros yes who stayed no yo estoy para la lucha para que el mejor SI es el mundo finalmente consiga su Quinto t to loyal to so the standings tonight are radically altered as they always are after team time trials the top eight places all taken by US postal riders the first non post E is your savable aki in ninth with Yunel Rick now 12 38 seconds behind Lance Armstrong Santiago Botero now a minute and a half down the Tyler Hamilton at 145 and David Miller two minutes back in 56th after his team's poor ride this morning's yellow jersey John Patrick Ness on he's a hundred and twelve over three minutes down [Music] between the team time trial and the Alps there were two more flat stages which meant two more chances for the rest of the sprinters in the race see if anyone could handle the finishing speed of Alessandro Petacchi the whole pack now are passing at the front again a little tumble might have disrupted the positions of some of the riders well they're all over the front in fact this lot of Domo this is Leone fan bond he'll be thinking about Bertha his man Eric probably mercury Kunis right in there there's the green jersey McEwen there are or Z's all over the place right now cuz baden cook is in third position the anchor see poo is on the sambal is riding with the mix too and they're in occurring in fifth place Bradley McGee was first round the big lead a man who can turn up the speed towards the finish but Stewart O'Grady's going something a good place we got baden cook second wheel on Grady third wheels árbol fourth wheel these are the big sprinters and the Aussies are leaning this time here comes the lead out from the leader the tour for the first three days brandy McGee trying to launch bill took three second statement but steward O'Grady this time I think might have other ideas baked along the left I've made the bridge on the left now Alexander but Jackie comes that he's so fast Pataki is got it three in a row Pataki as he pointed me in the comedy box that that baby's expensive he is so fast I think we're seeing the birth day of the new mario Cipollini from italy but he called Alessandro Petacchi he was a long way back when that sprint started he came from a long way maybe six or seven place he's a brilliant sprinter win number three he is now the new sprinter on the block hey is this his been his year of turnaround he never went to stay to the tour mentally until this year he's won six this year he'd never won a stage in the Tour de France in this opening week he has now won three unbelievable the speed is he came through that field just it looked as though Baden Cooke might have got himself another winner pora yonkers if he was looking for the win as he had done the last couple of years after the team time trial he's going to have to settle for second place he's right on the wheel there of Alessandro Petacchi sweeps around Robbie McEwen there but he just doesn't have the big gear ability to come by a flying Italian because look at that Pataki there Phil showing everybody a clean pair of wheels incredible results as he comes to the line with a fantastic turn of speed there's the results Pataki ahead of yanker Cebu and Baden cook with their example fourth and Robbie McEwen out of it again in fifth behind them all the big names finished safely in the pack except for Alsace and Hill Visio so came over the line after his crash nursing his arm and what looks suspiciously like the broken collarbone position three kilometres to go and 25 seconds advantage for these guys when they get to the end of this small Avenue they will take a right-hand turn and then it's the 2.1 kilometre finishing straight they dare not look back right now Phil as the time check comes to 20 seconds advantage over the main field the sprinters are going to have their day they will catch these guys I would expect right under the flam rush it looked on it's another crash there's another rider got down two riders on the side of the road they are so desperate to reach the leaders on these bends they are falling off let's have another look again overshot the core happened in the center of the pack near the front again and they look okay but they will again have disrupted the chase this is all because of the fatigue this has been a tough day in the saddle here we've had 230 kilometres of racing in temperatures soaring up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit there is the corner when they around this corner to the right they will seek if they've got good eyesight in the distance the finishing banner they are still holding in that close teens seconds advantage over the main field these crashes might go to the advantage of the breakaway they're 12 almost as it were wishing it will aren't we were why shouldn't we because if they lead to a lie they've been in the front for 200 kilometers at the moment they've been in the front for exactly one hundred and ninety eight kilometres the longest escape we have had and they are two kilometres from the live the gap is about 12 seconds it can't be done 12 seconds is all they've got that correlates to around about a hundred and twenty meters advantage it's the F desert comp team on the front getting your organization right now right up there in third position you can see Bradley McGee for Mature I should say reigning champion of the world at the individual pursuit the Italian champion is there in the red white and green jersey paolo Bertini he's looking for the win as well it's so hard when you're Australian mates are old rival teams and they have to chase you down but that's what's happening McGee tried to counter now that move here by Stuart O'Grady our camera panted long did it these two riders that pick up the heroes of the day everybody outside of our comedy position is willing them on but I think it cannot happen they are just behind the doubt and I think they might even get picked up and the sign one kilometer to go but there is always a psychological moment when sprinters look at one another and the need a two-second hesitation it's not going to happen it's not going to happen today as a long finishing straight they've not quite got to the 1,000 kilometres banner right now Rabobank trying to sort it out this guy's feel fee meters legs 50 meters advantage over the main field they're not going to do it right now because the sprinters are really picking up the pace Oh Jess last October shoulder of Grady has the sweep of is coming in sight at the banner how cruel is life as a pro bike rider as the sprinters now look to reassess a pill batini launches the attack and look at that upgrade try again to mix it at the front they're not gonna have their day taken away batini I think has made the move too soon Bradley McGee [Applause] Dave here he comes Pataki is making the move win number four but on the right in his badly the game win number four what the Saudis second but he can't believe it it wasn't his victory one kilometres out unbelievable sad day for Stuart our gradient is Jazlyn but what a move again by Alessandro Petacchi it really has been a tough day in the saddle field for these bike riders it's one that would leave severe traces on the body for tomorrow's the first incursion into the mountains look at this acceleration here from Alessandro Petacchi Hayden cook thought he had the wheel there but all of a sudden this man he likes to sprint right down the middle of the road he looks back to see what the other guys are doing in the race he's got enough time to cruise here at the finish line win number four what a remarkable Giro and a remarkable Tour de France for Alessandro Pataki and once he decides to go nobody can go with him there's the result Alessandro Petacchi winning comfortably ahead of Baden cook with Fabrizio GD at tires word ahead of tour push oft in third after 199 and a half kilometers out front Stuart O'Grady and Anthony's years lon ended up 20th and 59th respectively while the rest of the big names finished safely well actually not all of the big names are example and Robbie McEwen weren't even there to be beaten in the sprint and here's why if you watch the rider in white here on the helicopter shot it's Eric Zabul who just seems to lose it on the corner bringing down Robbie McEwen as well as one of his own teammates well McEwen came in a minute 17 down in what remained of his green jersey knowing that it's the last one he's gonna wear for a while knowing you've lost it's one thing though sharing it the world just after it's happened is another do you have a clearer idea what happened there Robbie [Music] zarbor was even further back 708 to be precise escorted in by his team matches every good evening so Pataki wins his fourth stage of the tour first in the special centenary competition for victories in the 1903 original stage towns he got a trophy for that the next one on offer will be in Marseilles and if he can survive the mountains don't matter gainst him winning five and hanging on to the green jersey that he took off McEwen with today's win the Alps spectacular to look at spectacularly uncomfortable to climb the opening day in the mountains had been decisive in each of Lance Armstrong's four previous Tour wins and he usually followed a brutal but effective strip first he had his henchmen soften up the opposition with a relentless tempo that no one but the hardest of the hard men could live with then having escorted him to the foot of the final climb the bodyguards would back off to crack their knuckles in a corner on the boss personally took care of anyone who was left Stage seven featured five climbs on the way to a downhill finish in more zine and with the US postal threshing machine setting the pace from the start all sorts of big names were in danger of getting caught in the blades and spat out of the back Alessandra Pataki don't never actually got close enough weaving like a drunk on the colder port before putting the finishing touches to his mario Cipollini rise the Tor impersonation or doing his only serious climbing of the race climbing off his bike and into the team car for stage wins before abandoning on the first day in the mountains she fo couldn't have done it better himself he wasn't the only struggling sprinter yanker sir Poole was doing the same climb in slow motion and it wasn't only the sprinters who were struggling Kel Mays Hayes was Manzano collapsed with heat exhaustion while his teammate Anthony Taylor took out his frustration on the team car after coming off in a crash I put the front the last man to win it more zine with looking like the next man to win it more zine rishabha wrong road away from his rivals on the biggest climb of the day the cold alarum as it was threatening to take the yellow jersey along with the stage one kilometer to go and this is going to feel a marvelous moment for recovering he won amor zine in 2000 you might hear that public applauding outside of our comedy box this is a great victory for him then the clock will tell us Paul if he's got yellow well he's got yellow Phil there's no problem at all about that because at five kilometers to go the group containing Lance Armstrong on all of the other favorites in the Tour de France was still four minutes behind he's gone round those corners and absolutely ballistic Manet's inside the area now where he can see the meters ticking by he spin up this finishing straight before and he's just gonna give it everything but he will enjoy this victory he won't salute until the final minute cause he knows he needs every second possible the crowd are cheering along the barriers all the way the moment every Frenchman dreams are very few habits he'll be only the 82nd frenchman ever to pull on at the myojin as he races up towards the line now he looks at the crowd he gives them a smile he gives them a gritting his teeth he's still looking for that banner when is it going to come this is rather a nasty little hillock by the way they come in these days it wasn't the way he came in when he won in the year 2000 now's the moment almost exactly the same salute he gave when he arrived here in 2003 Shah of Iran takes stage 7 of the Tour de France the clock starts now and he is looking for yellow this is silver shovin el he's just jumped away from the group of Lance Armstrong trying to get himself a little bit of last-minute glory but in the main field behind they're not too worried about sylvain chavanel they've lost themselves an awful lot of time on a certain Frenchman by the name of riche RB wrong still in the middle of nowhere let's not forget the man who's gonna cross the line in second place is Rolf al Dec he's about 2 and a half minutes behind but it's an emotional finish here for this man resharper ROC he's come back to the top of the sport he's put in an unbelievable escapade today he's garnered everything he wanted to get but most importantly he's got himself the yellow jersey here for me has been one of the heroes of the day if ever you're a cyclist at this level you suffer like al daggers suffered you are left behind you go back to the man you are left behind again you hang on this has got to be his finest ride in the Tour de France this man is a true professional right now he'd hoped to try and stay in contact with Rijo virag he loses two and a half minutes after six hours in the saddle but this is one of the stages he can write home about I think Benoit poivre L the man from credi a grito phil has been brought back into the fold and third man out on the road is sylvain Chavanel of brios let Boulanger and the main field are not too far behind only about 30 seconds well this will be a celebration in memory of Fabrice Amazon their teammates who died of a heart attack just before the tour start of the tour of Germany for that reason the team pulled out a competition they've come back in for the Tour de France now they will remember it because this one this rider here was thought to be the star of the future along with Salim Shah who died of a heart attack as a sufferer and had many post-mortems and it was a death by natural causes a great tragedy and I'm sure that sylvain chavanel will be thinking of that as he comes up the home straight here he's gonna take third place he's got away from the big bunch nobodies chased him down he looks over his shoulder he's learning to be a good professional making sure nobody is coming back look at the time gap fall is he's still quite big here time gap is huge is still around about 3 minutes and 50 seconds back to the main field so there is a new leader of the bike race this afternoon the charnel gets the cheers of the French crowd the main field cannot be very far back 350 that's the time since we shall be wrong cross the line right now so he's the new leader of the bike race is the new king of the mountains and of course the winner of the stage this is Rogers well if this is Michael Rogers from Australia that is the ride of your life the first man ever in the Tour de France and that's a superb result for Rogers as he crosses the line there then comes the rest of the group as they're led in their stepfather gods early very very close indeed but Michael Rogers done an incredible ride there for Australia and the gap is counted out on four minutes plus there yes maybe Armstrong did allow it to go and maybe reshelve rank is tired but a four-minute gap is big and it's gonna take some pulling back yep 406 on the stage between V ronk and the chasing group with Rolf al dag sylvain chavanel and Michael Rogers spanning the gap David Miller right up there - in eighth place in the same group as David were most but certainly not all of the big names Lance Armstrong was 15th yeah no Rick 21st and your silver blocky 32nd all on the same time as David Miller came in dead bolting was waiting for it well on David you start with the pace how did you feel the top of the client seems stars push has some food in my pockets otherwise I've been dead but yeah I was being good apart from that is blue completely at the top anyway nonetheless to do what you done on a day in this heat you must be you must be reasonably happy with your day's work yeah no it's good I'm happy I was feeling at the end well however he was feeling it can't have been as bad as Santiago Botero touted as a challenger to Armstrong it's sadly for him his customary bad day in the mountains coming on the first day in the mountains he came in 10 21 behind the winning time and his tall challenge is over the autobus the big group that gathers at the back came through almost 25 minutes down and somewhere in there was the yellow jersey of victor ooga pena well we said he was desperate to make his mark on the centenary Tour and he has the most popular rider in France except for an office complex in the Paris suburbs where the tour organization is based resharper on takes the stage the king of the mountains jersey and the yellow jersey as race leader there's the confirmation Armstrong remains second but by two minutes 37 as opposed to the single secondly trail by this morning ya know Rick lost no time on Armstrong today he's ninth and David Millar moves up to 23rd but the big losers are Santiago volterra who's now 68 zero winner gilberto Simoni 74th and this morning's yellow jersey victory over Pena now a hundred and third Matt Randell spoke to the man who took it of him a foolish attempt of escape as coach parte de la Plata Aunt Mary Powell bikini in Martinsville Felicia para economy Montoya blessing Downey kilometric second year it's a magic well he must have had an inkling a bit earlier than five kilometers because he'd shipped the family in today to the VIP area she'd had a premonition the celebration was certainly well rehearsed a carbon copy of the one he used here three years ago the last time the tour finished in more zien so the first day in the Alps is behind the riders Lance Armstrong didn't live by his own tradition he did not attack anybody he just looked at the group around him and he's allowed resharper on a grand moment in this year's Tour de France now of going to outdo as the 22nd time the race will have come here since Fausto copy first one in 1952 will Lance Armstrong attack Bernardino says he won't I think he will because you know he likes to win here he won last time we were here in the year 2001 but ronk though can he go with him he won't have to worry about I tokens Ollis he's failed to take the start Simoni again is in trouble so it only has to look out now for one or two riders well at the foot of the final climb up to help to Ayers at the French champion Didier ruse and Spain's Macau Oscar lothal were out front together with a lead of two and a half minutes behind them though US Postal were upping the tempo just looking at the face here of Miko asta Loza he's made a brave move away from the giant called AG Olivier he's got to the slopes with DDA ruse but here comes the cavalry the US postal boys are heading the race now they've got six men down there and the five men are working for one they want to launch Lance Armstrong into the attack two years ago Lance Armstrong wasted no time looking for the attack they put in the pressure on right now Armstrong has sent his men to the front this is a Roberto Harris kept in their ears all day Philly's been sitting behind Armstrong he's been taking the pace from his leader Armstrong right now they want to do something special but the fact these boys have done the job this man has disappeared Georgi Hincapie said an unbelievable pace he's out of it right now he's just going to cruise to the summit they've hit him hard in the first killer meeting but this is such a typical move by the rider from US postal he's told his boys flat-out peel off and get out of my way Armstrong sitting third wheel here and just waiting for the move resharper wrong the man who won yesterday rapidly losing ground if he loses two and a half minutes Armstrong will be in the lead arm from has got three very good climbers around him Manuel Beltran of Roberto Harris and his old teammate Chet your hubiera the race is blowing apart ruby era looks like he's taking over the pace making now Armstrong cool as a cucumber right on his shoulder there Alexander Vinokourov this is the damage that's being done at the back well David Miller got into this group after a great descent of the quadric Olivier he's just ahead of his teammate here number 66 he's damage Mon Cuchillo Miller just ahead of him but already under pressure alexander vinokurov they're in the center of our picture is defying the attack here by Ruby Ola and Lance Armstrong recovering trying to recover here from the early acceleration the big two men we have yet to identify and that is Jose Eber below key and Ulric but they will have been shocked by this move they will have been surprised by the viciousness of the attack in the first kilometer of the ascent look at that though Phil not too far behind the man who has been riding this broken collarbone throughout the Tour de France Tyler Hamilton is not far off the lead I cannot believe that Tyler Hamilton who crashed on stage one e-flat fractured his collarbone in two places the doctors keep taking x-rays to make sure he's not doing long-term damage his right there at the head of this race it is totally incredible now Yan Ehrlich he's just gone through our picture to the right but that wasn't him I don't think I think that was his probably I tore Garmendia who just went down there we're looking now for the number off of the yellow jersey there he is rishabh rom it'll take a while for our motorbikes with the cameras to get to the leaders there is half a million people on the roads of outdo as today Armstrong has got his faithful left right now still in their ears there to the right-hand side was Roberto Harris Christophe Moreau is there in the green and white jersey of France and again they kick deep they're looking for something special yeah norik is not anywhere therefore Tyler Hamilton accelerates to get onto the wheel of Armstrong's train but I haven't seen young alright yet and that's why they've gone hard Armstrong is not really worried about rishabh baroque he's got a two-minute 37 second advantage in the overall classification but Armstrong knows this man is not a long-term threat the man he's worried about the man he wants to put time between himself and today is Jan Ullrich now team of Lance Armstrong turned up the screws on that final climb there to the summit of the col du galibier it was because they wanted to make the race difficult for the finalists sense of the day we're now looking here at number 28 riding for Team telecom Alexander Vinokourov he a few moments ago was wid lines Armstrong Armstrong must be just around the corner the two leaders I don't know how they're doing it but they are surviving their advantage over the group being led by Armstrong Mao is now less than one minute he still got a teammate up there alongside of and this time it's going to be British Brooke Brooke Milwaukee has gone below key has come back from nowhere and he's now launched the attack he said he would attack Armstrong in the Alpine passes and this is quite remarkable to see that he's doing just what he said he would do [Applause] well Paul now it's up to Lance Armstrong Harris was the man who started all the work at this bottom of the climb well there's the attack Harris is there an arms from the scene the attack coming from your Shiva below key the once' riders have been sitting in the wings all day they've been sitting there in great numbers they've been waiting to come up with this attack and right now your Sheba vilaça has gone put the hammer down Armstrong is gonna ask a lot of Roberto Harris this afternoon but Roberto Harris has been sitting in the wings just waiting to try and turn up the screws when he could this is a great and brave move by your Sheba burlock he's second in the Tour de France last year Hamilton is in this group and the two riders from Oscar Telus could they are also a major threat Yoshi Bobo Loki said this morning he's ridden the tour three times he's finished third twice last year he finished second to Lance Armstrong he says if I can't win it this year I shall reassess my chances in the future I may never ride the race again so this is a big attack for him it's a huge attack he wants to attack Armstrong anywhere that he can but the damage is doing the damage of the attack is incredibly Scott the two leaders he's number one on the road right now this is a superb attacked by Joshy bubble lucky the man who could haunt Lance Armstrong second to him last year if he wins this stage if he drops Lance Armstrong he'd be one of the first men to do that for a few years he will be one of the first men to put Armstrong into difficulty at Armstrong didn't look like he was panicking there right now he'd allowed the attack to develop he was using his teammate Roberta Harris to the maximum of his advantage he's got her ass up there alongside him even Mayo is very comfortable Tyler Hamilton is looking great this man is going to ride high into the overall classification at the end of today Armstrong is just sitting and waiting well look at the face to the right of Armstrong Tyler Hamilton here is pulling out the performance of a lifetime on out doers where is the best place to do that in the Tour de France it is right here we're climbing it now for the 23rd time in this race it has never failed to produce a dramatic finish this rider here has said he doesn't want to ever finish second again the Tour de France he wants to win it we didn't believe he had the legs to attack Armstrong he has proved us wrong at 10 kilometres to go riche arirang has already lost two minutes on the group containing Lance Armstrong he's only got 37 seconds left to keep himself in the yellow jersey he's going to lose it I thought he'd keep hold of it he's on the eve of Bastille Day the couturier the yellow jersey of rich re-rank has popped but right now Armstrong is being put under threat by Yoshi bubu lucky he needs to pull him back before the summit let's not forget to our camera staying with that likely rejected final winner of the Tour de France but there are still two riders leading the day and asked the Loza and Didier Rousseau they've already been passed by so happening so fast on this climb we're looking at Arthur I am begin to think Paul I don't believe Armstrong is going as well as we thought because this man is too proud to allow an attack he's too proud to allow an attack from your Sheba the lucky he's always reacted to them in the past this is the leader of the bike race this is Rustavi rock he's way down the course right now he's being joined there by one of young Ulrich teammates who's coming up alongside him this in fact is Felix Garcia Koz ass but but lucky has now got a 12 second advantage over Armstrong that is not a major panic and in fact Armstrong himself race Radio is telling me Phil has taken up the pace making himself he's got no choice now he's used all of his teammates up there all Judah for behind but look at Tyler Hamilton hanging on to the coat tail of Armstrong as he continues with his broken collarbone if he jumps out of the saddle you'll see his face wince with pain the doctors take him away at night they examine him and tell him if he is doing any long-term damage and he comes out of those examinations smiling comes out of each examination smiling he's got a joke for everybody he's raised the morale of the team I cannot believe the way he's sitting here on the shoulder of Lance Armstrong and if you get a glimpse of his jersey there which is open to try and keep him cool he's got a bandage right across his broken clavicle which is quite remarkable for down the road though this is Rob anta Harris he will try and ride himself back up to arms from to help him but I think your question here Phil has been answered Armstrong is slowly pulling himself back to the attack here of your Shima bill Aki well your Shiva bowl Aki is on the attack and it's up to the others and Armstrong now to bring him back [Applause] spasiba by Loki now is being chased all the way to the line by Lance Armstrong but what a remarkable performance by Tyler Hamilton the man crashed [Applause] the Loki is now seven kilometers from the summit the Lisa people at the side of the road will support anybody Armstrong is slowly but surely tickling away and the pedals he's come closer to your Sheba by lucky but lucky had opened up an advantage of 12 seconds over Lance Armstrong but Armstrong didn't worry at all he used his teammates he is such a master tactician he allowed them to set the pace for as long as he could and once they were no longer able to lift it to the pace that he wanted he closed the race down completely he is brought it all back together the race now is made up of four riders it's all together [Applause] Paul this is unbelievable Armstrong won't remember this before as the catch and comes the attack he banned Mayo well in a great cyclist Pedro Delgado who won the Tour de France in 1988 has said to us yesterday Mayo he won't win the Tour de France he might try for the stage win I think he's found his legs we've always talked about this man as a star of the future he's a star of the future that's for certain Armstrong is not - what we have today oh just yet not a problem Mayo is a long way down in the overall classification Philly six minutes and 11 seconds down on Lance Armstrong Armstrong was more worried about the tack coming from your Sheba below key but what really amazes me is Tyler Hamilton this bar is doing an unbelievable job e staying there in contact with the big guns of the Tour de France and there's another move by blocky but lucky is trying again to get rid of Armstrong Armstrong will react to this one though now he has to react to every move that comes look at the time gap this is the gap now between eben Mayer and Armstrong is 10 seconds it's two minutes and 22 seconds back to the group of rich RV rock and he Oh has gone this time he's attacking Lance Armstrong it hasn't worked Armstrong's reacted but lucky also going once you have one attack you have another we've never seen a climb like this before we've never seen anybody attacking the leader quite as repetitively of this as with a blaze he's vulnerable that they actually believe Armstrong can be beaten the only way he can be beaten as if several riders attack him consistently over and over again and that's what they've decided to do that's what the big leaders of the Tour de France say that they will do to try and dislodge Armstrong from the top you don't catch him out like that though they are building building building from behind we've never seen that before either because by now Armstrong has finished off the opposition it must be an indication that Lance is not in the condition of the previous years and there's no doubt now the rides around him as somebody is going to that's for Newcombe I think Alexander Vinokourov has had a move from the front you see they're sensing there is a chance to beat Armstrong they are going at him like a automatic rifle is bang bang bang as soon as they feel the slowing down somebody else goes off the front end of the main group here with all of the challenges at the Tour de France Alexander Vinokourov had felt that the tempo was slowing down a bit this crowd is the most monumental crowd we've seen here at the Tour de France at least since I've been coming anyway they're all over the place and they're encouraging everybody in this hundredth anniversary of the Tour de France Armstrong has been attacked today more than he's ever been attacked before he's ridden a very defensive race so far in the Tour de France and it may well be that he's not in one of his great days and you have to save it for the Pyrenees but Iban Mayo is revealing to us that he is a star of the future he is ripped up this climb right now Lakes are ticking over as if there is absolutely no effort but Armstrong has been challenged by his men by his rivals vinokurov his weaving his way through the huge tunnel of people and noise Hiba Mayo in his first Tour de France last year finished a rather indistinct 88th place overall but we know he's worth a lot more than that this year I think he's going to come of age he won't take the lead today but with two weeks to go who knows because Armstrong is not the man of the last four years at the moment and the riders will have searched that out better than any television commentator this is now Roberto ly Secor twice a stage winner of this race and looking to to weaken but not chase down his teammate who is running away to the victory just now go Lance go says the clown on the left well he's going but not as well as he normally does he certainly isn't the one thing that Armstrong did over the summer to the coldest Kelly ba was put the pressure on had his team set a very hard tempo the reason they did that was to get rid of yeah nori but they've not got rid of your Shiva be lucky but lucky feels today may well be the big day for him to try and put Armstrong into difficulty they pull back Tyler Hamilton in third position they're in the red and white jersey Hamilton has got a double fracture of the clavicle but he's still hanging good in the front end of the Tour de France which is absolutely remarkable we're inside of four kilometers right now for Alexander Vinokourov the race was toughened up by US Postal Service to see how the challenges were going to be to Lance Armstrong but maybe yards Armstrong himself is actually paying for the work that has been done by his team further down the slopes the new young Australian on the left in his first Tour de France now told to look after the fallen race leader here and resharper Inc Michel rajasam camera on the left is beginning to look like Australia's first-ever future winner of the Tour de France now yesterday we finished the stage in more Zeen and if we to realise what it really did tell us because only a month ago to the day yesterday he won a stage of a race here in France beating Lance Armstrong now a day after that hearing is running with the state he's got it surely three kilometres from the line inside of three kilometres to the line he's got a massive advantage over Lance Armstrong he's given as a serious demonstration on how to go rapidly up the alder West this afternoon but this man has showed his courage too he's had a great season this year that let's not bet he was Harry nice in the month of March he won the Tour of Switzerland and now he's trying to dethrone Lance Armstrong Oh see Bubba Loki who really set the rotten for the other riders on this climb many lords and the audacious attack on Lance Armstrong Armstrong has control him but the writing there I think is for all to see as Eva Basso has tagged on to the back that talked in banning orange team a to the rider out front that's Robert Lee Secor and Tyler Hamilton I cannot believe that Hamilton is still there Hamilton is doing an absolutely phenomenal ride he really has done well to stay in that group again there's another attack coming I think at the front end of the group here I have a feeling that lie Secor has actually been draw from this group and he's been replaced by hi Mizzou Belle dia on the left hand side they're also draw from this group is Francisco man saber and saber went about 500 meters ago from the tail these five men now have come down to a little bit of sanity I think Armstrong knows he's got what he sees as his main rival on his right shoulder they're just she bit below key in the pink he's lost another man II feared young Ulrich who has not come up with the goods today's found this mountain too difficult this rider is absolutely flying away to the summit now even Mayo he's going to not take the lead yet but if he could increase his lead as the race goes on he would be a very popular man in the pyrenees on the borders with northern Spain which is where he lives well it's gonna be a big festival down there I think when this team will Scott Ellis Cody came they very often been brought into the Tour de France as a wild card and the reason they're a wild card is because they will go out on the attack oh man recovering right now yeah Nora has ridden we'll race here felt he's trying to ride himself back up to the wheel of Lance Armstrong well this is remarkable the man at the front of the race even Mayo now has a one minute 45 second advantage over Alexander Vinokourov who's almost a minute in front of Lance Armstrong he started the day a minute 58 behind Armstrong Armstrong's gonna have to turn the gas up over the last two case Hamilton tried just notes they're little then Armstrong was on him straightaway look at the face here yeah norik has never finished worse than second here goes below key another desperate move Armstrong not up not as a sign on his face of any effort he's out of the saddle and he's straight onto the slipstream of Milwaukee and Hamilton's gone Hamilton's been put in difficulty this time by that acceleration but he's been brave he's attacked but right now he will ride himself back up to Lance Armstrong if he can as we go to two kilometers from the summit this man is going through the part where the crowd is at its wildest they're encouraging a man from Spain from Oscar tell who's ready to get himself the victory eben Mayer is the new kid on the block this year he hit the had hardly any wins when he went to the tour of pay Baskerville and he really opened up his account here is an Oryx still struggling to limit his losses but at 3 minutes 17 he'll have to think of a likely possible third or fourth in Paris he won't get much better than that now we're inside of who as now and very shortly this man will be able to see the final kilometer he's picking up the pace all of the time he has showed not one ounce of fatigue up amongst the chalets of out the doers now the first time we came here 1952 when the great Italian DAT legend Fausto copy1 this has been one of the most magnificent climbs today the riders have hit each other at every opportunity these four have survived and Lance Armstrong has been frankly magnificent if he is having a bad day well he's made a pretty good job of it but further down the road yo you can just see Francisco man Sabo and of course Roberto lie Secor the French hero Christophe Moreau he's a long way back but battling to stay in contention he's pulling himself up to the rear end of the cars and I think he's about to make contact with Yan or Rick or Rick just around the corner they're really today trying to keep himself in contact at the front end of the Tour de France but what a glorious sight for a man who lives to climb even Mayo sees the sign indicating he's at the final kilometer of the ALP d'Huez one kilometer 1000 meters and it doesn't get much easier as a slight plateau and then you climb gently up to the finish as a sharp left-hand turn just before the line this has been a superb climb by this man he's made it look so easy he possibly knew it being hit by the other riders would not counter his move because so far he's lost just a little bit too much time but he's gaining time now and from tomorrow his number will be on Lance Armstrong's handlebars as a marked man he will be a marked man he's always been a marked man he lost all of his time in the team time trial what his team did not really perform they finished a long way down the overall classification but this is a phenomenal performance he's going to run out more than two minutes ahead of Lance Armstrong and as a true professional he's going to do up the jersey before he gets into the finishing straight there's a lose him a couple of seconds but gain him a lot of publicity it's a big win for this team from the best speaking area of northern Spain this is the wonderful moment when you come alone to the summit about duis he's not the first Spanish rider to win here but he's going to make sure everybody sees him time at this minute is not important when you're winning at the stage and outdoors it's all about the success the 23rd time that the race has come to this mountain and have this man be banned Mayo making the victory the first families of ACA as and that was so up to the line now nearly six hours the day in the saddle he's going to make the most of this it always seems a long way to the finish the other riders though are gonna have to sprint it out but the Spanish it will enjoy this moment and in particularly those who come from the Basque Country not the sport of cycling this man now is an absolute hero back home and absolute hero the man who's attacking though here further down the slopes is Alexander Vinokourov he's inside the last kilometres well but I tell you one thing he's not got very much more than about 20 seconds advantage over the group containing Armstrong burlock Isabella and Tyler Hamilton but it's been a glorious day for us Katella Scotty they have done what they wanted to do at the Tour de France shine in the mountains one day in the future though Phil Iban Mayo is going to come back here to the Tour de France and think about overall victory the group of Lance arm from has swelled over the last few kilometres man sabers come back so his even Basso number 81 on the right hand side and just getting onto the back end of the group there is the man Roberto like second what a great ride by himitsu Bell dear is there two alexander vinokurov started off with his second win in the pair first big race of the year from paris down denis he scored in the world cup classic Amstel Gold Race in Holland that's their biggest one-day race and now he's coming home in second place here this is a good ride by alexander vinokurov he could yet be a man for a place in Paris in two weeks looks very very determined waited till they'd all attacked one another chose his moments and went for it he'd left it too late to catch Mayo but look at the clock - these are big time gaps Mayo is moving up the overall classification tonight the new cloth heading up as the clock counts him down but a good move by Renuka off he's got himself an advantage over Armstrong he's not done enough to get himself into the yellow jersey this evening because he started the day minute and 58 seconds behind Lance Armstrong and in fact we're getting news that the yellow jersey is an eight minutes behind the leading riders Armstrong and your sheep of the Loki are in the finishing straight right now I'm front lining himself up in second place six riders aren't supposed to come together on a climb like this and Armstrong is determined now to take the third place and this is for the yellow jersey as well he may have been beaten on the climb when he will be the leader of the Tour de France the American that's a matter of Honor I think has taken their place at about two minutes and 13 seconds and here are the hard facts of a dramatic final climb even Myo putting a minute 45 between himself and alexander been a core off on ALP d'Huez climbing in a full two minutes 12 faster the Lance Armstrong and the chasing group which included your saver below key and the heroic Tyler Hamilton another 124 behind Armstrong's group was yeah no Rick not a terrible day for him but certainly not a good one David Miller came in 22nd 609 behind me Oh watch he caught his breath II spoke to Ned Bolton yesterday you told us he had nearly died and you saw stars in your eyes and all that sort of thing same again today yeah today was probably worse actually dying was really hard for everybody went to half from the gun so long there you know after yesterday as well with the heat and the length of stage and those are the demands don't go any bigger than they do today so today was forty one of the hardest days for me so I kinda its first I got into it I've gone out outdoors I kind of happy it's done now well bodies that like I mean it's unimaginable for those from the outside but I mean on the inside what does it look like tomorrow um I mean it's good so many people you know Spanish the people cannot go outdoors but crisis size hurt so much horrible nine and a half minutes behind the winner was this morning's yellow jersey we shall be wrong committing that he knew it was pointless trying to match the pace of the front group today but he was far from the worst off on the stage Gilberto Simoni lost nearly 13 minutes Santiago Butera who's clearly now lost the leadership of the telecom team to Alexander Vinokourov was a colossal 42 minutes 19 seconds down Heba Maya though confirmed his status as a future tall challenger the future may be sooner than he thinks he spoke to Matt Redman be a lad they trust everything see us on the corner every one hour okay if you tell a story as Yvonne was led away to the tune of que sera sera Lance Armstrong was taking one of the less triumphant yellow jerseys of his Tour career dad spoke to him as he came off the podium Lance you're wearing the yellow jersey but that did look tough you had to respond on several occasions yeah that was tough as for sure tougher than I expected so I don't know if it keeps going like that it's gonna be a long tour but I think you know the first true true day in the mountains is sometimes strange and definitely didn't have it today but I'll get better now even my Oh got away but they were substantial challenges it was enthralling to watch between below key there and and Tyler Hamilton can you describe that battle from the inside yeah you know I don't know what really honestly what they're racing for because letting a guy like Milo just continue to go up the road they in dangers their chances for the classification as well so if there is the objective to ride the Tour de France or is the objective to race against me so in the future you know we need the they have to be aware that you give a guy two or three minutes it counts and so we'll see the later stages whether that was the sound of a rattled man we'll see over the next few days as things stand though Armstrong has an advantage of 40 seconds over your Sabre be lucky with my Oh now up into third at one minute ten we record off another seven seconds back in fourth Francisco man Sabo is fifth Tyler Hamilton attacking with a broken collarbone is a phenomenal seventh with Yunel Rick now two minutes ten adrift this morning's race leader recovering is down to 18 s now with David Miller 22nd the Giro winner deal Berto Simoni is now with 20 minutes in arrears down in 47th but the biggest bust of the race to date is santiago Botero over 48 minutes down and barely in the top hundred riders by the way after two days in the mountains we are now down to one hundred and seventy nine riders 198 who started one final piece of ceremony before the day was filed in the tour archives a group shot of outdoors winners up to and including today's July the 14th of course is a day of national pride for the French and understandably they'd like to see that reflected in their national race unfortunately for them their Maori Shabba Ranks lost the yellow jersey yesterday to a rider from the non french-speaking part of Texas however the big news wasn't Lance Armstrong taking the race lead it was the relentless pressure he was put under on one of the great days in Abdo s history there's the route to 180 4.5 kilometers and the main feature of it is the massive call to his or are one of four climbs on the route these are days but no uphill finish today it's on the flat down here in Gap just 15 seconds the man from Kazakhstan has advantage over the group of Lance Armstrong and today Armstrong has shown he has no friends in this peloton nobody else has come to the front of the main field to help him out five kilometres to go around about six and a half minutes at this speed because we are touching speeds of 65 kilometres an hour this is the lone leader of the Tour de France the winner of the Amstel Gold Race in the early part of this season but probably more impressively in March the winner of Perry nice and of course just a month ago the winner of the tour of Switzerland 1-0 10 seconds is the advantage of Alexander Vinokourov unbelievable day nobody expected all of the big attacks to come on the small climbs towards the end we've had two huge climbs in the early part of the race today the col de la terre a 38 kilometres of climbing followed by the Col deze Awad 15 kilometres of climbing but the two small climbs towards the end are where all of the action appears to have happened Unni Lille lost his front wheel they're going round the corner little twitch of the front wheel he's taking a lot of risks here he's only leading by 10 seconds the difficult thing on a day like this is in fact the toe and B lock he's never lock he's going down Armstrong's off the road as well Armstrong complete control there he's into the field but it what a great bike rider he's gone across this is unbelievable I've never seen this before Armstrong went across the field there he's back on the road at four kilometres to go what great reflexes from the man from Texas Tyler Hamilton coming along they're touching him on the shoulder this isn't believable that man in complete control there watch this again this is your she bevel aki locking up the back wheel his tire has come off armstrong is gonna cross alexander vinokurov her thing has gone down as well this is unbelievable arms from riding across the apex of oh this is incredible Armstrong is such a star the yellow jersey of the Tour de France at four kilometres to go has in fact shown us that he's an unbelievable bike handler let's calm down below Keys down below he's injured he does not look good at all no baloney Pogo he's down here's her I think he could very well be out of the Tour de France what happened there Phil was he locked up his back wheel that no they went sideways the tire popped off and then he just couldn't control he was sliding on the metal if he got too after up but what about arms from Armstrong was unbelievable he saw there was only one thing to do there was only one place to go I hope the judges don't penalize him for taking a shortcut so forth dick crossed my mind but this is a very very sad sight we have been watching the greatest Tour de France for years and here Vinu Qaddafi's racing now probably toward the stage win and they're closing any certainly up to second place overall but lucky because I was telling you seconds before it happened how dangerous the loose a him in with the Sun melting the tar was and then he was out of control that I have a feeling that the Loki is either broken his collarbone or his pelvis he fell very very badly badly but that chaos has given the advantage now to Alexander Vinokourov he is thirty seconds ahead of the group of Armstrong and now Armstrong has found a few a lows because the other challenges now have decided to come forward set the pace making tyler hamilton eben mayer high mizu belly on the far side in the lime jersey there but at the back further back I think it's the end of your Sheba but he started the day in second he's not going to finish the tour jose eber's ii Acevedo is asking shall I go on what shall I do he's waiting here to pass your GATS cos well with him the man of the here of the day staying he can't believe what he's seeing as we move forward now it looks as though achievable Aki is out to the Tour de France that for us is a terrible terrible shame not to mention what it means to be lucky because it was the fault of the melting tar on the road Lance Armstrong took the journey of a lifetime I cannot believe what he did there to get across her but he's packing the race it just goes to show it just a lot of good riding cyclocross which Armstrong does in the winter and of course riding mountain bikes as well because that decision was unbelievable he never panicked he knew exactly what he had to do he looked at the road in front him and thought I can go there and he did I know I'm the last kilometer race indeed indeed one kilometer to go Alexander Vinokourov new crop is looking where they all are and the answer is that they're in a rather to say the least big trouble now as we knew clock is running down here to win the stage and to move in the second place it is touch and go whether indeed he will take the leader's yellow jersey this a man riding his fourth Tour de France he's never finished lower than 35th overall but he's never won a stage until today now whatever happen behind it wasn't his fault this is a well-deserved stage win he worked so hard for it as he comes to the line he won't take the yellow jersey because the yellow jersey group of Lance Armstrong is under the flap Rouge already themselves they can't be very much more than 30 seconds behind what's important for vinegar off though Phil is the stage victories digging deep right now he'll move up in the overall classification to second place for what a dramatic stage he raced right to the line Rhodes it seems the Navy takes the stage with a brilliant late attack but here comes the sprint now for second place and Yoshimura melaque is not in it and that is a terrible terrible shame now the seconds are ticking away nearly twenty half passed by he gets 20 for the win they've got to finish it off inside 30 seconds otherwise here Kampala batini in this sort of a group they'll never get there but the champion of Italy batini Lance Armstrong knows a bonus may prove extra special here as batini goes for third place he gets it on the line the third place will be taken by eben mayo and he gets the bonus about 40 seconds was the gap Paul and a 20 second win bonus he will keep his yellow jersey but we are talking of a few seconds now well while Armstrong was preserving his race lead the man who'd started the stage in second place was still being helped to his feet and into the ambulance that would take him out of the tour your yak sure and Jose Acevedo the team mates who stopped to paste their leader back into the race had been forced to leave him still coming to terms with the fact as they crossed the line yo did you get a clear view of the accident no no you stopped for your saber to give them a hand did you say anything to him he was on the floor he was on there on the street and crying so don't say anything as we see the crash again it seems as though it's perhaps the sticky road surface half melted in the heat that catches below key out becomes agonizingly close to writing himself before finally going down and then Armstrong with nowhere else to go he's riding on reflex and muscle memory from cyclocross now at a certain point he obviously could have stopped and turned back but he continues through the farmer's field that could so easily of course have been a dense wood or a steep drop and cuts the corner now technically that's a breach of the rules but it didn't take the race comer says long to look at it and reach a verdict this ad all safe to follow the right cause but of course he couldn't do anything for there then we do that and we don't do anything on this point because it was not his fault he couldn't do anything for that it was the crash of below key and there was only one possibility for him it was to go down and then he followed the race also no problem first of all the incident from upon view is extraordinarily dramatic how did it look from where you were was dramatic for me being on the bike I didn't I didn't expect that to happen and you never you know you can't train for that so it's just a reaction and then you get off you know when you see something like that happening that the first thing you do is you say okay where am I gonna go and I couldn't make it to the ride I couldn't go over him and so I could only go left and so when I went left I was looking left looking and then I found a little a little path air into the field and just just continued on presumably the time you have no idea what happened to she'll save a below key and now that we know the injuries are quite serious how does that make you feel no it's like I said a minute ago I mean he was he was racing the race and racing aggressively I mean we were both you know we're both riding on the front to bring back V know it was at 20 seconds at the top we got it down to 15 and then down to 10 so we were you know look like we were gonna bring him back so you hate to see a guy who's who's out there you know doing his best and a real threat for the race to go down like that he's been on a real threat for the rest he's yeah his he's appearing to be as a former mountain biker did it bring back memories I don't know maybe as a former farmer and it brought back memories of course overshadowed in all the drama and sadness of below keys for was a brilliant stage win by Alexander Vinokourov the Cossack has had a brilliant season so far and there's every sign of it getting better as the tour goes on he put 36 seconds between himself and the rest with that late attack and picked up a 20-second bonus for winning the stage Lance Armstrong was edged out of the sprint for the third place bonus so then a chorus win was worth the best part of a minute Yunel Rick lost no more time today finishing with that lead group David Miller after his excursion off the front came in a minute 47 down yeah slightly misread the profile I thought it went up that climb descended then went up the next one I didn't realize I had so much flat and headwind a bit of a tactical error well despite his mistake David moves up three places to 19th tonight in the general classification but the big move is Alexander Vinokourov he took time off Armstrong on outdoors he's taken more today and as a result he's in second place now 21 seconds behind the leader even Myo Francisco Mantha Bo Tyler Hamilton and ya know Rick round out the top six so yesterday Lance Armstrong took the yellow jersey on a day of high drama in the tour today he keeps the yellow jersey on a day just a traumatic after the Alps there was the relative calm of two days on the flat both finishing in cities that had hosted stages of the first race in 1903 Marseille and Toulouse and with a special prize on offer for the most consistent finisher in the original tour towns breakaways were coming thick and fast now looking at the home straight in the distances the killer made a bit further on is the finish this would have been a wonderful finish for the likes of Baden Cooke and Robin McEwen but they are 20 odd minutes back in the main pack it is just two men on this wide open Boulevard that was a nice gesture brilliant that is just goes to show the solidarity of these professional riders the fact they've done that they might go side by side and have a pure sprint well you don't see that very often just look at this again that's good as quite remarkable that's what men did in the old days of cycling they would work together until the finish and then they will drag strip and not try and outmaneuver each other and it's it's gonna be a great finish and one man unfortunately after a 25 mile breakaway has to lose well I've never seen that before the path from here must one a couple of years ago when Lance Armstrong shook hands with Yan Erlich at the top of lose Rd den the mounted there behind them and only because acknowledging our song was going to go to Paris as the winner but that was a really nice gesture from sake to yak appeal now they're approaching the last 1000 meters just look at the crowd here all of France is watching the Tour de France this year I think and that now I was just wondering if they were just going to go side by side and race it out but it looks as though sake is now waiting and it looks as though Jakob Phil is having a quick word with his team manager there to know what to do it's a little race radio transmitter under his racing jersey what to do that is so difficult in a situation like this they've got plenty of time to play where they don't actually have to worry about a return of the chasers the last time chip we got back to Graham de Groot was a minute and seven seconds and almost two minutes back to the the remnants of the breakaway which is still five riders and 23 minutes back to the main field on the front it's Yakka file this is a nervous moment he's right up against the barriers right now he's making sure that the wind doesn't have any effect on the sprint towards the line he's looking he's waiting for the shadow he's waiting for the sound of the whistle coming from the acceleration of the tires of Fabio sake and second position he's got to go sooner or later and it's just like you in a velodrome here high on the banking because the rider on the front is just turning his neck to wait for the move and hope he can beat him by a fraction of a segment here it comes and I don't think he's got chance he's gambling on a quick release as he comes up to his back wheel a quick deep breath and then can he take him and Fabio Saki is racing to what would certainly be the biggest result of his life a watch out yak appeal is fine in the legs to the line and that is a tremendous result for yak appeal he did turn on the style he led to the line he force a key to make the move and yak appeal has got the win for Denmark and for the Tour de France winner of 1996 Briana Reese because he manages the team yeah congratulations like that was fantastically close wasn't it yeah was you've caught your breath now what about that gesture a kilometer and a half from the end where he offered you his hand yeah but that's because we spring for it and we worked hard for it may the best man win you've done what you've done well to hold your own there you saw him he was on your tail for so long that was that was close yeah but I felt I had them the best leg in the end so I was pretty confident third place is going to go to Bram DeGroat from Graham de Rodes of Holland Rabobank team agos ripped apart from the very first road race stage of the loss of the American Levi Leipheimer and Marc lots with serious injuries in the race and a mass pileup out of MO go mala go next watch Philippe going on the left here he's really on the rivet but he's having a go for anything get up fourth place finish in the tour be great baby gear comes dummy Nizam he'll be kicking himself now the fastest finisher of the group of pure sprint of this man and he had a great chance at winning this stage he's throwing the way Hasselbeck is gonna try and run into the lie but no nays on Hasselbacher fille goemon as they come over the line so there's the result Jakob Hill winning on guy'll more than pure speed from Fabio Saki with Bram the road nine seconds behind them dami and a song comfortably winning the Sprint for fourth from the survivors of the original breakaway crew but before pill contained the podium he had a 20-minute wait for the rest of the field and you can see now the boys in white are trying to lead out baden cook also trying to get involved his Freddy Rodriguez as well his team the green jersey though of Baton cook is having to launch this one now David Miller it looks as though he's going to give a perfect lead out here to Bradley Magee as they head up towards the line now it is David Miller of Britain doing the lead out followed by Bradley McGee and followed by the green jersey a baton cook now Robin McEwen is gonna have to profit from this there is McEwen still dodging amongst the wheels wanting to keep riders away from him Eric zorbel is also there and McGee looked to see you punched him then he was there example it pushed him out the way Zabul is still on the wheel of Freddy Rodriguez it's going to be in fact I think that his Roman vein stains has got back there but as they lead towards the line 300 meters to go now this is the final lead over baden cook and serve others got bacon cooked wheel and then comes i'm McEwen is on the left cut this making the cherry finish but love the Rumba McEwen as he puts it to the line McEwen and cook and I don't know how they are going to split them well when they were split the decision went to Baton cook who picked up the 16 points on off of the 10th place Robbie McEwen got 15 for 11th and he now trails cooked by 9 points in the race for the Greek Jersey all big names Armstrong included finished in the bunch along with the tour's new freelance lead out man David Miller afterwards we asked him what on earth he was playing it well MacEwan cook you to my best friends you vote for someone else for there for the final few hundred meters pulling to 70 kaiser now on that straight put on the fastest lead out Sarah Heiser with me and Marco they don't come any faster me and Marco leading out guys oh it's good fun well with a bit of luck some of David's excess energy will find its outlet and a stage win before the end of the tour today though which he had called pills day right up until the last 100 meters just about everybody at the finish had their money on Fabio sake afterwards he spoke to Matt Reynold fabulous in question Tomy 3 de la linea avvocato mani perky my Jess Tokyo beautifully didn't got some integrity a similarity that called the final areevo a per diem Estrada to tomando Katie Chris member ozpaula Michi Tia and also you called the Parana Mari a request to pay so very much Toronto in once a drop of the lose or Queen D their son Arthur Coronel Evita well that might have been sakis only chance to win a stage and just for the record this man has yet to win one himself he's leading the race though and looking forward to the time trial on Friday to open his account a classic away day in the tour then one that has absolutely no impact on the overall standings it's still Armstrong from Villa caught off by 21 seconds and even my Oh Francisco man stay Bo Tyler Hamilton and Yunel Rick David Miller remains 19 while yak appeals day out moves him up 30 spots into a menacing 100 third place an hour and 12 minutes behind Armstrong [Music] this man has 1,000 metres to go for what would not only be his biggest victory but probably the biggest surprise for the Ibanez doe team it is a superb result here for one that don't heal flag he still looking very good you see him just looking underneath his arm there he was looking to see if there any shadows behind him the red car is the ref referee sparring looks back he's a tree from space he wants to make sure that nobody's going to make a surprise comeback and he's still got a lot of power in those legs but he is worried about the return of the rest of the group behind him he still got 15 seconds advantage over knows all the Spanish chasing when he's a thousand meters longer than a thousand meters when you're riding the Tour de France and winning euro but the peloton chasing you down on a bunch of riders in this case he is checking checking checking as he's got no more speed left in those legs and that ballot will it ever come towards him here because he wants a long time to enjoy himself I feel pretty sure that this is a wonderful victory for Spain and for one Antoni Flicka there's the bunch behind they're still coming at him but he's starting to smile that is still and no Zell who's coming up behind there I think he's going to hang on but he still needs to do it it is going to be a very very difficult finish as this is the moment of celebration the biggest win of his life he turned professional in the year 2000 look at that straight as an arrow as Bram defrocked comes clear paired into Marseille getting closer second in to Toulouse ahead of a nose al and then that comes the race then comes the race for fourth this will be and the copper des rider who is finishing in digo cuesta he's normally a climber as well there's the pack coming at them that crews finish it off taking Oliver every day that makes no difference he's beat him again at the line now the lead out men here and the boys in green but here comes the white jersey of Bradley McGann they were looking for the green jersey of vanish on the far right of main cook he wants the ninth place finish for the big points shown the Jolla with McEwen these two riders has matured not at this time revenge is sweet from Rama McEwen he pimped him on the line the big three pour the kizomba was right behind him and they're in the pack safe and sound all of his 21 seconds now we'll go to the tyre trial tomorrow with Lance Armstrong still the leader of the dawn when Antonio Fletcher though is the winner of the stage ahead of Brandon road and Isidro knows down with steward O'Grady and disappointing sixth on a day he must have fancied his chances Fletcher as the linguist among you all know is Spanish for Aero and if he hadn't been concentrating on getting his celebration right his winning margin would have been comfortably more than four seconds the archery demonstration also meant that the main packed were only 42 seconds behind him in the end with Robbie McEwen edging out Baden cook for the ninth place and trimming cooked lead in the green jersey competition by 1.28 the most disappointed man of the day was to lose resident Stuart O'Grady who seemed to be the victim of a conspiracy in the break and his defeat capped a miserable day for crédit Agricole who lost two riders as well as the stage ends what we saw abandon out on the road while Stefan Ogier Kevin outside the time limit along with Matthew Wilson of F Dodger calm to buy a Steinhauser at being he also abandoned to bring the day's casualty list to four it was a big day for Spain though two days ahead of schedule the Spanish flag will be out in the Pyrenees and possibly now giant inflatable arrows after he came off the podium when Antonio's lectures stop froward this is mummy - ah - moaning keep but Cosima Victoire t1 esto then city keep this until the Chilam under the the money keep massage your a tooth taught entirely Basque a non Kapena you see at Ellucian salah la vie palpable the maybe say semi Mokpo la victoire Levite whoppin geoffrey de Foix celibacy aime je crois que puta - the centenary to the aphasia what a nice thought certainly Lance Armstrong will have appreciated for an Antonio taking the strain for a day as he and the other contenders rested their legs for tomorrow's time trial because his win leaves the top of the classification completely untouched so coming into stage 12 Lance was leading the race without actually having won a stage and you could argue that he owed the yellow jersey pretty much entirely to the strength of his US Postal team his advantage over Alexander Vinokourov remember it was just 21 seconds with Spain's eben Myo third just over a minute back on Francisco manthe bow and Tyler Hamilton rounding out the top five both within two minutes of the race lead however take away the result of the team time trial on stage four and things would look substantially different Eva Meyer would be leading the race thanks to his aerobics on ALP do as if in a core off who also took time from Armstrong in the Alps would be second and the man himself would be third two minutes 20 off the pace now of course all that's hypothetical because if the team time trial hadn't been ridden then perhaps Armstrong would have behaved very differently in the mountains however it makes fascinating reading and we should have a fascinating stage today Armstrong as leader will go off last so he'll have all his rivals split times in his earpiece and among those rivals may well be Britain's David Miller well this is the course he'll have to win over if he's going to do it 47 hilly kilometers from guy a key to cap de couvert well the best early time and it was early was set by of a Peschel of Gerolsteiner he was the 16th man to go and came in with a time of 1 hour 1 minute and 58 seconds well the battle is still between the men at end of the star's house today Alexander Vinokourov is was second overall still is second overall but he could concede that to yan ulrich were waiting now for the arrival at elite at thirty three and a half kilometers and alexander vinokurov is holding off remember fancy starting and having a rider like lance armstrong chasing you just two minutes back it's a sobering thought here is ulrich now heading up to the turtle turn to the check at thirty three and a half kilometers sibel dia has set the best time here at the moment of 42 minutes and 20 seconds yeah but Yann all rig was 26 seconds faster event at the first time check just 13 kilometres into the race Ulrich started a minute 59 seconds behind of vinegar off in second place and two minutes ten seconds behind Lance Armstrong and look at this as he comes up there the time to beat is 42 20 well it's a long way inside match ouch this is going to be very difficult to bail dear is done 40 to 20 Armstrong has eaten him on the road here unbelievable this is an incredible performance by a bigger pardon yeah Ulrich is eating him and he goes through with a new standard set therefore 40:28 unbelievable rider for young Ulrich now as Lance Armstrong kept up a similar tempo to Luke's tamir's of renew Kirov is catching eben mayo here and that's Mayo just ahead an incentive there's a great incentive that's the important thing about an individual time trial if you could bridge the gap to your Minuteman or in the Tour de France it's your two-minute man it's having it's almost like having a carrot in front of a donkey you can just dick that little bit deeper into your reserves and he will be very pleased with his performance here to have come across to this man who many see as a great rival for a top three position but today he is losing two minutes already before we get to the finishing line to Alexander Vinokourov Lance Armstrong is losing to yan boric as he comes through the checkpoint here of 33 1/2 kilometers Honda is going to go through its second best time for sure now how wise was he Paul to get rid of all the gone out do it because he's gonna it could mean the difference today between ciggies yellow jersey go to the German and not Armstrong coming up to the line the time of Unicode of his 4130 Lance is gonna beat that 4108 48.8 kilometres are now he's lost 39 seconds over Yan auric at the moment and we discussed the tactics on the day - the ALP d'Huez when Armstrong used his team to take up the pace on the slopes of the col du galibier and then accelerated rapidly at the start of the ALP d'Huez the reason was one to get rid of this man this was the man he's feared of more than anybody else in the Tour de France yan Ulrich is an unbelievable in dual time trailers he might be a bit limited in the mountains but he'll gain confidence with this ride still riding up to the line it's an awful long way when you come into that final corner he will be able to see on the finishing line the digital clock indicated the time that he has to be the one underneath is his own time and he will realize that he's put in a sterling performance today new best time for high marzu Bell do 101 twelve point three one Hamilton lose - give me the ground there by the way - sir build it was ahead of him as now strip two seconds behind him but this is the big finish now of young Oregon drought have we got a man who can take on Lance Armstrong in the pyrenees he's certainly done it in the time trial this is an absolutely incredible ride we have ridden a 47 kilometres almost 30 miles and over terrain that you really wouldn't drive without getting out of the saddle and this man is going to break the our Yahoo or it comes the line inside one hour for 47 kilometers look at his face this has been a special day out for you Eric he's won four times on stage of the Tour de France in his career this could be his [Applause] up the street in our fifty-eight 32.9 two now Lance it's all up to you here's Tyler Hamilton right now fourth and the final time check out on the road but right now he's looking to keep himself well up in the top ten and he's finished very fast as well he's going to be outside the hour though but still this is a great ride by the men from the United States certainly yes because he was yo-yo Isabel dia and he might well have taken him here with a fine effort two seconds behind him at the last check is wheeler to fry up and down without putting it that's for sure he's got third place he just slipped behind at the last minute one that 1.15 these times are remarkable would look at the speeds as well 46 kilometres an hour for Tyler Hamilton this man said he wanted to stay in the Tour de France to help his teammate Carlos Sastre but right now he's number one on the team but he's not number one in the overall standings because that at the end of the day is almost certainly going to remain on the shoulders of Lance Armstrong but what a great ride and what a great return to the top of my yang Alric Armstrong has gone through their fill and a remarkable time gap already he's one minute and nine seconds behind yan ulrich at 41 and a half kilometres covered but we better start looking at the overall situation now because let us not forget the yang or it was 2 minutes and 10 seconds behind and that Lance Armstrong has now lost a minute and nine it's going to be very very close and you know the 21 second that lineker off had at the start that could be still a 21 second gap in it could be yellow right there doubt we have to remember that less than 40 seconds is all Lance Armstrong has recovered from Alexander Vinokourov and that tells us that Lance isn't riding as well as he usually does here is the rider of a man szabo coming in he still right up there in single figures for the ride for the day and this is a good climber remember as we go into the pyrenees these are the usual pyrenees on this year's Tour de France we are there for four days these are real tough climbs ahead for strong men they will have a field day in the Tour de France this has been an incredible race this year thanks to the Riding of about six riders it's been an incredible race and it will continue to be an incredible race because we're facing up now to four very difficult days in the mountains the Spanish will go ballistic when we get down to the pyrenees because it is right on the border of their country and this man will be fairly pleased with this ride but look at the time that he's lost that's almost five minutes on the line for francisco man Sabo swinging it towards the finishing straight he was closing in all the time on man Sabo and remember them being a cutoff also caught the rider who went off ahead of him a bat male and this is really a typeface for Alexander Vinokourov he has had one of the rides of his life here he's not going to win he probably is just going to sneak into top three we can sprint and the moment in third place is Hamilton with one wall at 15 and he's going to beat that this has been an outstanding ride here by Alexander Vinokourov he is going to stay a challenge in the toilet France and softer him to have Armstrong behind you and the crowd looking at you in second place he has pulled off one of the greatest time Taj he's ever ever done and it's gonna stay second at the roll I will probably be good enough to take third on the day listen to the crowd look at his face 1 0-0 38 and we're now looking at eben Meyer coming up to the line let's not forget him and Mayo started ahead of Alexander Vinokourov he is losing quite a fair amount of time on the roads of this 47 kilometres time trial today but he will be pleased tomorrow because we're going into the big mountains the mountains and the Pyrenees which this team will certainly adopt as their own he bam Mayo comes up to the line now he's conceding in time almost well just on three minutes he's conceding Divina cool off remember the minute cool off caught in for two and he's now conceding almost another one and a half here as he races up to the line so by oh not noted as a Time Trial is but he is great in the mountains and he crosses the line 11th good right here's officer on right now he was on the tailcoats of Iban Mayo is accelerated towards the finishing line he's not going to beat ya no Rick look at the time 5832 Armstrong is well outside of that but you know what Phil this is not a man who is weak this is not a man who is giving up but he's actually fighting to keep himself in the yellow jersey he will do that without too much of a problem but ya know Rick is going to be within one minute of Lance Armstrong in the overall classification tonight but nobody has broken the era except young Alec for the ride today Armstrong has made a race of this it's been a huge struggle him one hour and eight seconds as Lance Armstrong crossing the line he will keep his leader's yellow jersey but he is yet again reminded he is in the toughest scrub of any Tour de France he has ever won [Applause] not to mention the most exciting that many of us have ever seen only Lance Armstrong second defeat in eight long time trials the other was by 11 seconds today ya know Rick was a minute 36 faster than the defending champion with Alexander Vinokourov turning in a brilliant ride himself to place third ahead of I Mars who bailed dear Tyler Hamilton the early leader of a Peschel and David Miller well he's beaten Armstrong to the first stage win of this year's tour cannon used that as a springboard to beat him overall afterwards ya know where it was wearing his words and zika's ever good and he's been here come on the Gouda to it so far and he's happy when it happens ich on the cabin side found only in Lance Armstrong Slam by the Torah and yet to mine come back yeah for a nice formal I talk about world of aneesa's yeah feelings me on the thus far I've been swallows morning fun keep you in a non mistake my children teens and is highlighted the two of us I'm about socially as Fiat Fiat our country and it's Canisius Maha think Anakin Wang by yeah this is Alice Mukesh Jesus movie so here's what today has done to the overall standings all Rick up into second place 34 seconds behind Armstrong then a core off fighting his bike to the finish to limit his losses 51 seconds down and it's Tyler Hamilton now fourth with a broken collarbone and I'm Arzu bell dr tied with his team made even Myo at four minutes 29 off the race lead just ahead of another spanish climb out francisco man Sabo well what we are witnessing is one of the greatest tours for many many years when we lost just shiba below key on the road to gap we thought we'd lost a big slice of the interest in this year's Tour and the opposite has been true this really is a great race now the next question is canyon ulrich take away those 15 seconds and become the next leader of the tour the race now continues in the pyrenees it stage 13 the first of four very nasty days climbing in the pyrenees and if is up here at the ski station of actually 2000 Maine now just to underline the importance of yesterday's time trial win by yen or ik let's have it before and after look at the standings going into that stage he was six two minutes ten seconds behind Armstrong coming out of it he was up to second and trailing by only 34 seconds now of course all Rick isn't the only man that Armstrong has to worry about on that leaderboard there's Alexander Vinokourov in third place who attacked him effectively in the Alps Tyler Hamilton in fourth and then a trio of very dangerous Spaniards my Ma's new bailed dear Eva Mayo and Francisco man Fabo all of whom can climb well and all of whom should have massive support up here in the pyrenees on the spanish border however the reason that armstrong needs to worry most about auric is simple there's another big individual time trial coming up a week today and he simply can't afford to go into it with a lead of just 34 seconds if he does there's every chance that Ulric will take the yellow jersey off him the day before Paris leaving Armstrong no time to take it back and Lance I'll have a bit of time to think about it on today's stage because there's a fair old ride from Toulouse before the riders hit the climbs having driven it I can tell you they'll be able to see the Pyrenees though looming from a long way away there are a couple of Sprint's before they get there then too first catenary climbs the porter pi air 1 meter over the 2000 mark and after the descent into actually term the final climb up to AXT one domain massive crowd now cheering through the first three riders till today's stage of the Tour de France Ruby Ellis asla a mare car though but there's going to be an enormous cheer and the yellow jersey of Lance Armstrong and yeah early comes to an Alexander in a cool-off all of the leaders at Hamilton zoo Bell deer biome ansible Basso mint choc Moreau Harris touch sneak belch and they are all in the group behind every one of them and don't forget lowland info is still trying to bridge the gap the last time check 36 seconds but he's gonna have to bridge now on the climb because the three leaders have just started two minutes and five seconds back to the yellow jersey group containing nearly all of the pre-race favourites this man - getting rid of the helmet he's got a hard chase to try and pull himself back up to the three leaders and the three leaders are no slouches at all when it comes to climbing because a ruby arrow Mercado and sastra um amongst some of the best climbers the world has to offer Riviera by the way as one a couple of stages in the Giro d'Italia so he's not a bad climber to get so high up in the overall classification just goes to show that you are a man capable of Ryle of rivaling anybody in the mountains and in fact a couple of years ago he finished eighth overall in the Giro and backed that up with an 11th overall finish in the Vuelta a Espana now will they push it hard at the bottom because it gets hard pretty quickly described and that you've seen that that do foe now helmetless - is now starting to ride very quickly a bit lower down a very talented climber surely ruby era is so exhausted by now here we are over the river down below at the 14 just men and two riders now from US Postal Harris and Beltran have got themselves back into position as Ofcom the helmets - the helpers they must be pretty good to catch three at the same time as they now begin at their assault of the climb well this group has swelled quite a bit after the last few kilometers of that climb in fact the pressure was turned off somewhat when the big leaders like Armstrong vinokurov an Oryx saw that they were not getting the time yet free team their challenges so I think they just slowed the tempo and waited for a showdown on this first big mountaintop finish in on the slopes of the Pyrenees that is Christoph Moreau the best Frenchman at the back and there's the summit indicated at nine kilometres from here that's five and a half miles uphill and it's around about an average gradient of 7.8% at the back here this is patrice al gore and he's the leader of the jean de la Tour team Beltran now picking up the pace making they're asked oh sorry people asses started to go here now he's been hovering off the back this has got to be a hundred percent effort and then move over this is not this is a hundred and ten percent for Roberta Harris he's had an unbelievably difficult time this afternoon he's been off the back on several occasions and Armstrong has asked him to come forward he will give everything that he can this man is lying in eleventh place in the overall classification and the first acceleration has said goodbye to Gail touch Nick the Austrian champion it's also said goodbye to the to Jean de Latour endures as Patrick's al gore going out of the back there and the other rider is stefan who beared video so the champion of France has popped because of the pressure well that was a cruel acceleration and it looks to me as though her ass might have gone there no I'll try belt alternates company with his bad news but surely couldn't had any more strength left he was so good on the last climb but again that the team has tried their best and it has not worked here Armstrong has still got all of them any hope to get rid of sitting right behind him when Sabo on the left-hand side there resharper ronk is just out of the saddle in that strange gangly style of his trying to stay in contact with this group Beltran has done a sterling job this afternoon for Lance Armstrong and now all he can do is just ride to the summit his best as you can there you are well done thank you very much now it's all up to you just to stay in the bike race I always amazed at how these boys get to the finish when they've done what they have done in the terms of helping their team leader and he still got a ride home himself his legs are gonna take all the way up the mountain take him 45 minutes or more now Armstrong still on the wheel of her ass Oh Rick look at his face on Oh Rick is waiting he knows he's under pressure he knows he's under attack Armstrong may still believe in fact that he's got a problem there as sastra goes here so ruby era has a problem further up well sister has really dug in deep the man trying to get across from his man Sabo from Ibanez TOCOM these guys are looking at eight kilometres to go to the summit fact the official time differences six point nine which is a bit of a surprise they've gone up two kilometres very quickly indeed ruby era right now just riding his tempo but as soon as he gets caught by the yellow jersey of lance armstrong and roberta harris he will find a new lease of life he will dig deep to try and help his teammate it's looking like an all spanish finale today and it looks as though lauren hufo may have cracked - he's gone back to almost a minute here with the accelerations of the leading group shasta has really looked good today he came across to the leader so well did most of the work and now he's put them both in trouble behind so Mercado is being dropped as well and call us after doing the team lead here the world of good because if he wins the stage they're gonna move up nicely in leti now another attack and this time it's coming from I think it's pastor he's Al Gore well I can't believe that he was dropped a few moments ago and as soon as he saw the set the slowing down of the yellow jersey group he came straight by them well you never know these boys just will not give up they reach the limit of their ability they lose contact they find the feel slows down they rejoin and the don't say horn thank heavens I'm back with the leaders they go and hit him an attack you should never give up in a bike race like the Tour de France and this man has come straight by the yellow jersey group of Lance Armstrong they're getting all of the motor bikes out of the gap right now but this is where the race is happening this is where the big challenges are going to come and in fact it looked as if Denny meant of the leader of the white jersey competition is also going off the back of the yellow of the yellow jersey group the white jersey by the way is the race for the best young rider a rider who is less and 26 years old at the start of the season this is a surprise two months a bow there Phil in fact this is manse a bow at the back and that is a surprise to see him because he's the leader of vibe Ernesto calm but this the whole tours a surprise ball everything has gone the way we never expected it's been a magnificent race these riders all since they could do something in the Tour de France and they're keeping on trying to ferret it out and see what it might be Carlos Astor for example this is the rider that Tyler Hamilton said he was staying in the tour for with his broken core fractured clavicle because he wanted to repay sastra for the works Astrid dumper Tyler Hamilton in other big races this year and now sastra has come big today he's come huge today's a great bite rider in fact a Tyler Hamilton when he was involved in that crash that he wanted to stay in the Tour de France to help this Manuel Hamilton is in front of him in the overall classification but this is all about team tactics right now this man is moving up the overall standings at the end of the today he will move a lot higher than his 16th place at the start of the day Oh Carlos Sastre no wind - Toby had a very good sixth place in the Tour of Roman D is now 28 years of age with a very very strong all-round bike rider but he doesn't win many races only wouldn't want in fact in his career but I think now he might be heading to what will be a glowing victory because it looks to me as though Mercado here has now found the pressure just a little bit too much the big select group of 14 so mansae bar thing as ed megiddo and looking at this little group here it is thinning out but you know riche are veranke at the back who was in trouble on the last climb he's now seemingly okay on this climb I'm pretty impressed with rich over on because he's done well to stay with this group he's a man in the - part of his career he's the leader of the king of the mountains competition he really dug deep to get himself points on the summit there of the code the PI air and right now he's in with the top men in the Tour de France it looks like how guy is about to get picked up and it's amazing how Roberto harasses dug deep he's found something very special here - just keep setting the pace making for his team leader Lance Armstrong how guys back in the fold and he will pretty soon get ejected from the rear of this very select group Rustavi rock I think giving up the ghost here right now but what a courageous bike rider he's trying to win the king of the mountains Coe there's a problem there Hara those legs have gone those legs have gone on Roberto harass his legs certainly said ouch the cramps have come this is held down climbing past in our Eris takes a good look at him he's just gonna have to struggle over now the end it just goes to show you how far into their reserves these guys can push themselves for their leader when the lights go out there is absolutely no light at all and no sound and there's nothing able to come into the body from the engine room now you saw the race referee through the roof of the car there he is making sure those vehicles stay behind now don't form artificial leapfrog stepping stones back up this is a resharper wrong now his day is done as well as he now tries to get up there man Sabo is just up the road in front of the rock they're calling through neutral service cars now just to go up to the leaders and this is now when the legs crack you see the referees allow no cars around the riders Tyler Hamilton is in difficulty to the back of the group there with Lance Armstrong that's coming through on the race radio as is also Christoph Moro the Frenchman we're not too far away from the group right now this is carlos sastre at the front of the bike race while his teammate Tyler Hamilton is going off the back end of the group of the yellow jersey of Lance Armstrong but I still have to say Armstrong's team today Phil have done a superb job in looking after this man who everybody feels has got a problem but let's not forget he's still leading the fight I shall only know Lance is fighting like a real champion this year and if he does win this tour he loved one his best tour de france look at this now six riders are left seven just peeping in and they're the two important Roger Goodell Ascari Isabel dia and Mayo that is a falsies over christophe Marvin he's not going off the back wid there Tyler Hamilton has got that deadpan pace but he's concentrating but he is going off the back now six of the best of right going past Laura doof oh well I take my hat off to the tactics of US Postal they put a true biella up front he has been at their last post down here the last man to hold Armstrong and he's been out front since the 22nd kilometer hopefully feast their last post he's stamping his authority on the front end of this group he really is doing a great job for Lance on from and look at this mano-a-mano side-by-side Lance Armstrong in the yellow and the blue jersey of yeah norick the two former winners of the Tour de France lights right shoulder to shoulder on this final climb of the day and Eva Basso in that white jersey there as well he is also looking for a nut job the overall classification could be 706 tonight but these are the cheers for the man whose battle to conquer the climb of burn asked tonight and this is Carlos Sastre here it's hard now and he's so steeped just before the end and it's only nine kilometres but it must seem like right now he's around about four kilometers to go in between there's still Medicare though this is a return now Abe and Maya went through a very difficult moment the racists leveled off slightly it's easy to say it's leveled off sitting here in a commentary position but the tempo has slowed down somewhat Armstrong is keeping a very close eye on yanil rhetoric moving across to the left-hand side of the road they wants to see what the faces are like on the other riders in the group fit man they're that steer on the left hand side they're flying the flag for the Texan Armstrong who has had I think a very tough day but he's been up to it he has marshaled his troops he has had a brilliant day in the Alps they've tried to attack him and they have not been able to at four kilometres to go chechu ruby era and I gained Armstrong the first person he's gonna thank will be Beltran and then he will thank Ruby Ella because they've written so well today this is still the man hanging on but I'm not sure how far ahead he is I don't think he is that far Paul any time checks no the computer just gives us a question mark when we want to know the answers but Carlos Sastre is now heading up to the finish but I think the field that select little group of seven men is probably around a million a halfback they're a long way down this man if he doesn't crack he should ride away with the win but this man Mercado is around about thirty five seconds in the rears and he's losing a lot of his impetus right now sastra is going to walk away with the victory at the summit of this climb because behind the big challenges are still watching each other Odin I've surprised to see that the attack hasn't come from vinokurov he's probably pretty happy with the way the race is opening out for him just now everybody Phil is worried about tomorrow's stage with four big mountain top finishes and this man's worried about winning this days now he's made all the right moves there's another banner it'll be three kilometres to go for him now the boys behind them inside for so they're inside the last thousand meters behind him it is going to be a desperate finish I reckon they'll about a minute 15 back of Carlos Sastre at the moment and this is the hard approach to the line now we're coming right up to the three ski stations up here and sastra is trying to get the win while behind is team leader Tyler Hamilton is in a little bit of trouble and he's probably going to lose is a fourth place now attack and this an attack by zobelle here this time the building has now got a reaction from Ulrich now where his arm song he's gotta shut his eyes suffer and grab that wheel because Armstrong is only separated by 34 seconds from Ulrich and remember there's a bonus for the first three riders here comes all something to cool off his first across Lance without his team has crossed the gap this is a marvelous race a marvelous races coming up alongside Vinokur off there just takes me inside that's a brave move a rather dangerous move as well but he's straight yes to the will of all desperate move and this other rider the new sensation of the Tour de France himer Isabelle Lea had started it Ulrich was up to it now Armstrong the game has mastered the occasion the new Clough still just about getting on might be struggling a bit now Alexander he may well be just in a spot of bother right now but he's written so well so far in the Tour de France and we've still got three more days of Pyrenean mountains to go all right now is controlling this is the way he bro when he rode to victory in the Tour de France he's looking down to see if he can see the shadow of Armstrong well yes mr. Armstrong is still there eben Myo has been put into a certain amount of difficulty too because of these accelerations and the acceleration that came from his own teammate high mode yeah I was sorry about that but that guy almost took our camera out and I was afraid he was going to take out my oh there and that was he really shouldn't be in such a situation there's a massive crowd up here we knew there would be Carlos Sastre is still clear looking for two to go and the gap is now worth paying at one minute 40 seconds I'm pretty sure it's less than that but here comes a big high tempo attacked by an ulrich armstrong still controlling it he's never spent so long on the defense in all the years he's won the Tour but he's up to it and again another attack now coming from a zoo bell dear Lance has got a bit of breathing room on zobelle dear he doesn't have to answer him yet but Vinick oooff is gonna hang on and if he gets away then Lance could well find he's back in trouble let's not forget that we've got a look at a third-place print as well and there's still a time bonus for the third place rider across the line there are two riders in front of the Armstrong group Carlos Sastre about 45 seconds behind Juan Miguel Mercado and at a min 40 seconds the group of the yellow jersey he is going to have to sprint it out at the end of the day to try and get himself it might only be eight seconds but the end of this race it could be a very important eight seconds to I can't believe we're talking a second spoil remembering the first week of our commentary we talked a second saying don't worry next week we'll be talking about seconds 51 across the top three rides of this year's Tour de France it will be virtually the same or even closer by the time we crossed the finishing line this is an amazing tour we know there's another attack vibe in the crop here it comes now this is where he looks for seconds he needs a 51 and if he can afford to get less him he wins the stage because he gets 20 for the win Alexander Vinokourov said he would attack in the mountains he's waited all day and this is his move this is a great move this is a move that will get him a few seconds but look at that power of yang auric Armstrong in second position even Basso just hanging on to fourth place in the line that a gap is opening Armstrong has been put into difficulty there he's lost the wheel of Oracle just closed the captive inner core of Armstrong is having a terrible day well you say it is a terrible day but it is a great day because he is holding on now Oh Rick has taken over and there's a huge shear gone up here when they seen young Ulrich attack in the finishing zone and Lance Armstrong is in trouble he wants that we love even Basso he needs that way that Basso Armstrong in the last kilometres of the climb is now very much on the descent defensive the yellow jersey is up for grabs if there is a vacancy for a leader of the Tour de France Armstrong is on the defensive young Ulrich needs 34 seconds beniker off needs 51 less if they get in the first three because of the bonuses Armstrong is down and he's on the wheel here of even Basso now if ya know Rick was to cross the line in third place Armstrong only has 26 seconds to play with this man knows it he's played in the Pyrenees before and that was when he first won the Tour de France back in 1997 the big man from Germany is back in everybody including xub Elia is having a hard time staying on his wheel Armstrong is out of the saddle now and this is unbelievable Armstrong would have expected in the Pyrenees to try and put time between himself and young all right but now he is completely and utterly on the defensive he has done everything right all day with his team Lance Armstrong but this year his legs haven't finished it off like they have in the last four years young Ulrich is sensi carlos sastre he's gonna win now he's in the last kilometer but he'll only win the stage who will win the Tour de France there is still a huge question mark over the race after this first day in the pyrenees it's the best result in the twenty eight year olds career for CSC Sasha deserves the victory second place on the road to Mercado might hang on but there is going to be one huge battle that's about if it's all over and now the second place bonus could decide the destiny of the yellow jersey here second I've ever heard Cheers allowed here they are watching this battle of the mountains there is 12 seconds of bonus for second place which means that Ulrich must only beat Lance Armstrong by 22 seconds to take the yellow jersey it's gonna be a big battle for Armstrong and you can see the acceleration determination on the face of Ulrich that's not affecting the overall stage win today because carlos sastre of spain is gonna get him the win for CSC hey you know Armstrong is beginning to recover race radio saying he's starting to come back to the group of yeah norick he maybe didn't panic but right now he's digging so deep to keep the yellow jersey on his shoulders behind the win for this man well we've overshadowed this man's victory by the incredible race behind but let's give him his Jew accolade now Carlos Sastre only the second win of his career he finished in 97 he puts a dummy in his mouth and he has finished with a great win here Carlos Oscar gets the victory will this man get the yellow jersey he thinks he will he's clipping these corners like he's going down just a little descent here Armstrong has got back up here now with Mercado but it doesn't matter because this man I think is looking for second and here comes a belly as well and the belly is gonna steal that second place bonus that will help Lance Armstrong this is unbelievable here comes he digs deep now only kicks again that big man from Germany is looking for a bonus now of 12 seconds then we wait to see if 22 more ticked by they do we have a sixth leader of this year's Tour de France and the record by the way stands at eight here comes a Jan Ullrich to the line now a final kick of determination has destroyed Belle's Abell dear don't weigh the camera makes him look closer than he really is has now again and then that the clock will start your icky seconds ooh Bell dia gets a third that sounds like you are brilliant that is a recovery for you he saves the day for I was just working the calculations he needed 123 to stay in the yellow jersey the man did not panic he did not throw it away he's got time over Vinokourov and even Bassam he could see the race disappearing in front of him but Phil he is a true champion he's not gonna throw away the yellow jersey like that he battled all the way to the line he saw or ago he didn't panic he knew he was going through a hard time but he recovered and pulled himself back up but this race is gonna go right down to the wire Carlos a stray with what amounts to a home win for Spain ahead of all Rick and I'm Arzu Bell dear and look Armstrong for 10 seconds worth of clean road between himself and Alexander Vinokourov over the final meters as he fought to limit the damage even Basso was 6 the head of one Miguel Mikado and Iban Mayo who lost nearly a minute to all Rick and to to the stage winner further down the mountain the time gaps were bigger Tyler Hamilton two and a half minutes behind Francisco man Sabo 309 king of the mountains leader resharper wrong three and three-quarter minutes and Jose Luis Rivera who was out front for so long losing nearly five minutes after giving everything in the Armstrong cause David Miller fighting his bronchial problems finished a respectable 30th 938 behind the winner and Baden cook the green jersey came in one hundred and fifty seventh well on any other day SAS Dre would have taken the headlines for a great solo stage win as it is he was almost forgotten in the excitement going on behind him a pity because I'd be interested to know how long he's at that dummy in his jersey pocket on the off chance that he might win a stage anyway as I say for else astray as a sidebar today the lead story is the slicing of seconds that's going on at the front of the race Yunel rig only beat Lance Armstrong by seven of them on this stage he picked up another 12 seconds as a bonus for finishing second and that means the Americans cushion is now down to five Dean he's actually gained time on Alexander Vinokourov though he's now just over a minute back and it's a three minute jump until you get to the next man I'm Mizzou Bell dear with Tyler Hamilton and eben Maya rounding out the top six even Basso last year's best young rider is an impressive seventh and thanks to his stage win carlos sastre has written himself up from 16 into the top ten David Miller is currently 20th 1804 off the lead by stage 14 the centenary tour was starting to look like something from the archives turned down the color ignore the carbon fiber frames and the helmets and it could be one of those epic head-to-head battles from the 40s or the 50s after 2293 kilometres of racing Lance Armstrong led ya know Rick by just 15 seconds and there was still three more days in the Pyrenees to go stage 14 didn't have the previous day's uphill finish but it did have six giant climbs the biggest of them the col de Paris or now one of the races within the race is the race for the king of the mountains competition for the man who collects the most points for being first over the most mountain summits while the Frenchman Rishabha rank started the day with a big lead in that competition and he obviously went out with a mission today leading a 17 man break over the first four mountain climbs and clinching that title on stage 14 wait now for resharper on to make his move he's allowing this is your Berto Simoni to go up through this massive crowd of people it's hard for us now to show you where the riders are so concentrate because somehow Virant is going to have to fight his way out of this melee of people most of these people by the way are Spanish they're looking for the Spanish colors they are not just Spanish they often the Basque Country as they always remind us and the best cyclists are even mile angie bell DIA the pad the crowd parts here for the man who won the toilet italy so well this year by almost two double figures Simoni and this day at last he has put himself into a position to win a state he's not disgraced himself in the end in the Tour de France he almost abandoned on the road to Marseille because he was disgusted at losing an hour and a half now furlong comes up to the summit is he gonna have a go Paul or allow him just to go over the line in first place I think he's pretty happy with the work that was done there by Alberto Simoni so he knew that second place was good enough for him to build up that massive advantage he's got in the overall classification we're now looking here at Alexander Vinokourov with a bad mile sitting on his wheel this is MP Airy who they picked up and passed but the crowd are going ballistic look at all the orange jerseys the pass flags they are cheering for the man who's in second position they're a band Myer but the man doing the job is the man in the pink jersey Alexander Vinokourov he is currently six seconds away from taking the lead away from Lance Armstrong and of course the second position away from Jung auric as well and this is Walter Bennett Oh still riding to a fourth place incredible by this young French rider and he descends like a stone he'll get back to those three maybe overdo it and let's hope he doesn't do that come on Walter you can see the summit now one big effort and you're over the top and you're less than a minute behind and you descend better than those three men in front of you if he won that would be unbelievable absolutely because I don't think his teammates on Rene Bernardo everybody say Ronnie he's done acclaim right this is brilliant he was in the low early breakaway as well and he has managed to find his rhythm and he too is in with the chance of pulling it all back together in the final 11 and a half kilometres through the crowd as the crowd opens their this is the man who may well be the new yellow jersey at the end of the day if they stop the race at the top of the climb he probably would be but he still got eleven and a half kilometres downhill into the finish in Lew Donyell to keep hold of that 61 second advantage Armstrong is used now to losing his yellow jersey on the road and getting it back by the finishing line and it could well be that way today 141 to the leader over the top who was your Berto Simoni who's not affecting the destiny in any way of resharper ons king of the mountain competition Hema Schmidt he just made sure that the foe was behind him and that's given him an enormous lead overall these are the riders now and this is why the people love the Tour de France they don't barriers to whole the cloud back they just go through a corridor of noise and the crowd pull away and the riders move on if it's 2 minutes and 42 seconds on the clock when this group gets to the summit of the climb then we do have a new leader of the bike race at the moment with eleven and a half kilometres to go there is the clock ticking away on the left-hand side 222 and these men are approaching the summit of the climb and still Armstrong sits there dances away the time that we're looking for is 242 and as they come up to the line it's armed from accelerating over the summit and he's going to stop the clock ville inside of 242 he's still the yellow jersey but only by a fraction we're talking I think 5 seconds at the moment now which man is going to make a descent of his life here and lead the Tour de France by the end of this day I wonder now well this is going to be a rapid descent right now as these riders charge off the summit of the Col de Paris Ord and it will be a lot of risks taken by the man in the pink jersey because over the summit of the Col de Paris sword I made him just six seconds of the overall lead of Lance Armstrong Armstrong now taking up the pace making on the descent of the col de Paris sword and you can see here that yan Ulrich finally taking up position number four well this is something special witnessing today the storms that appeared to blow in blew out at least as far as the weather was concerned the storm is all down there on the highway today these are the three men the survivors of a breakaway of 17 that went after 12 kilometers the three climbers conquered the mountains and they're going to fight out the stage they also carry the all-important small-time bonuses of no interest to these three but a vital interest to vinokurov Lance Armstrong and young Ulrich and they are chasing about two and three-quarter minutes behind these men should survive right now because we're facing inside of 11 kilometers to go to the finish and they will be charging off this mountain at around about 45 miles an hour this is the chase group of Vinokourov he's chasing to try and get himself into the yellow jersey by the end of the day and Armstrong getting some help here from Jan Ullrich himself or Rick must cast his mind back two years because it was on this very descent that he missed a corner and went off into a hay field he's down in a very low aerodynamic position he's got the advantage over Vinick or off of being a slightly heavier bike rider there is the gap between the chasers and the yellow jersey group and this is quite remarkable because Armstrong is still in the yellow jersey there's the rider who leads the white jersey competition for the best young rider there is Hamilton he started the day well up in the overall classification in fifth place but he just could not hurt his body anymore this afternoon he's been riding this Tour de France with a double fracture to his collarbone and still keeping in with the men at the top the other ride on the right hand side is Francisco man Sabo the leader of the Spanish I burn esto comm these are the three men who has shaped this day's racing for a great battle behind the 35 seconds advantage that they have by the way is over Walter Bennett oh he's already Paul knocked off 25 seconds on the descent he will be going six picture this is Simone II this is sorry I ever looked down when you come to take James of the jerseys before the Tour de France brioche leather lingerie because so often they were confused with team psycho of Jabez that's the corner right there when Yan or it went off the road two years ago 24 months ago when he was trying to stay with Lance Armstrong on the descent and it's my Oh taking all of the risks well we've got to see ya know Rick got yet to go around that corner Lance Armstrong saw him go waited for him he said you don't beat a man when he's down well this is a very very dicey corner it is high-speed of course these riders coming in at around 75 and don't forget Leia young Alec when he went down that ditch we feared for his life but he came back up armstrong waited for him and they continued that was one of the most famous gestures of sportsmanship i think we can recall for a dramatic moment in the sport of cycling i remember on that date was also kevin Livingston who waited for his leader by the side of the road right now the gap is down to just 40 seconds between Alexander Vinokourov and Lance Armstrong the group of Ulrich Armstrong are really putting the hammer down on the descent there you can see all Rick he did everything he could today to put Armstrong into difficulty but mr. Armstrong from Austin Texas is still sitting pretty at the top of the leaderboard these two have got a ticking time bomb in their back pocket and tomorrow on called the tormal a or the ride of toulouse rd den it is going to go off they wanted an easier ride today and despite the attack by vin the cool off they have not reacted now the chasing him down the mountain they might well save the day lance may yet be starting tomorrow in yellow well these corners are treacherous on the descent of the col de Paris or but Armstrong is taking them to absolute perfection he slowed down a fraction to come into that corner he used all of the apex and accelerated right out to the left-hand side of the road making sure that he did not lose too much impetus at all kilometres to go well that was been a cool off that was five kilometers to go for been occurred off as they come down the mountains as we're now looking at the riders sped up on the descent here this is the I'm not sure that's the second or the third group we're calling it on the road now if this would be the third group exampie arey is MP Aires in the group with Vinokur off its eben Mayer who's really doing them work on the descent trying to add oak cloak close the advantage this is the yellow jersey group of lance armstrong they're going down this hill absolutely ballistically ulrich is in second place even Basso is in third place and right on the tail there is a Mazda Bell do they won't get any help at all from him because he's got a teammate off the front who is climbing slowly but surely of the overall classification this now is the leading group of three they're off the slopes of the mountain but they've still got a pretty hard ride to get themselves to the finishing line in Luda VL it is still possible to chase down these riders not so much these riser might get pretty close because it's a nasty approach for the finish steadily uphill a wide dead straight road down in the long valley here this is not over this race even this close to the finish no Lance Armstrong knows that Ya Allah cannot descend so he's taken control of that descent himself and the gap is holding they could still bring back Alexander Vinokourov before they get to the finishing line and then it will be just a big waste of energy for the rider from Kazakhstan maybe that's Armstrong's plan at the end of the day allow all these guys to attack me they'll use a lot of energy on the roads of the Tour de France with moves like this especially the nervous energy which will occur off is actually using right now this is the yellow jersey group as we get to the straight two part of the course even yanornis come forward this is hi Mazz ability it has come back he must have got unhooked somewhere but he's got backup to Lance Armstrong who's accelerating the and just sits there pumps those two big Pistons he calls legs and gets back on the wheel layer of the yellow jersey hi Marzu Bell dear something a revelation of the tour here has got back on as the leaders are now approaching three kilometres to go I always think race organizers are very mean when they've had a long day stories there inside two kilometres to go in the organization just thank you very much have thrown a nasty little climb in there to make the leg out at that bit more but it could be a springboard for somebody like Simoni but I think they're just about spent all their energy today they have been in the lead since the 12th kilometer that's a breakaway of a hundred and seventy nine kilometers today this is the race for the yellow jersey right now there is a ban mile getting help from alexander vinokurov he was the man who attacked on the final kilometers of the col de paris or they've got a man who has probably never seen the front in the big mountains with them let's see Steve's mpre this is the chase though from Jan Ullrich and Lance Armstrong the two most talented men in the world of professional cycling a pop song has got the power again I come back I push it there I thought he was going for the attack but he's just to keep the pace high they have been racing today for five-and-a-half hours as we speak another five and a half hours of non-stop attacking and attacking just how much more can they take two kilometres to go now for vini cool off have you got a loop all the starters watch now between him and Lance Armstrong vinokurov cannot ask help from anybody it's down to his legs now he's got to keep on racing he'll finish last of those three when he gets to the line but it's time that counts now he's got to recover 61 seconds well the girl Jersey group is being led there by Armstrong and Alric these are the three leaders they're well inside the last one and a half kilometres to go three savvy rock is so happy to be here these guys now can play the tactical game they know they're not going to get caught at all this is the group Armstrong's group is being led here by even Basso the clock is ticking by but it's safe for Armstrong at the moment because I make it just 40 seconds up to Alexander Vinokourov 40 seconds he would still be in by 21 seconds while young Ulrich puranas called the leaders Andrea piranhas caught the leaders inside the final kilometer well that's an amazing result now this could be the result of the day as he's come from Noah somehow to remember he must have got mixed up with Walter Bennett oh and Benneteau hasn't come back when we thought he was the descender param was catching all the way off the para sword we've cameras we didn't know where he was we knew is up there somewhere now with fresh legs and adrenaline pumping can he do it well he's not a great sprinter he's got a slight advantage veranke is in the best position right now he's in second place you're better Simone he's in third do foa's up into fourth Simoni adjusting his glasses Piron is leading it out he needs to look over his shoulder he doesn't have a gap he hasn't got the gap and varrock is sitting pretty that is a mistake and repair on could have got a nice double here because here goes we sharper on I think Simone is going to get this Simone he's not a bad sprinter brakes are on very type in now the lining up for the finish now resharper on can he make it to wall in the ups but here comes now Simoni he wants this win is a matter of prostheses you'll bear those Amore's and clearly old neck-and-neck now Barack still money and here got to vote to vote though he's gotta damn what boy am i relieved gilberto Simoni has got it Walter Beneteau in the distance there just couldn't hold that man care on on the chase well as you're Berto Simoni has won the day a big relief to say go and him but now the clock really starts because this is the race for the yellow jersey and now we have alexander vinokurov his face a pic jay is not leading the race like he was when he won the staging gap that doesn't matter time is what matters in the Tour de France and the clock will really start when he hits the line he's going to finish here in sixth place on the line maybe seven maybe eight he'll be challenged [Applause] I already did it as well so the clock has started and now we wait needs to be 142 on the line if Armstrong is going to lose the lead in the yellow jersey competition but they are in the streets of Lou davia right now and they are pumping to the line it's amazing how this man has controlled the race so far since it left Paris he's always been there always been in the action he's hardly made a mistake so far the only mistake is made is letting yan Alric beating by a minute and 36 seconds in the individual time trial but look at that clock it's Armstrong on the front he too is not worried about his position on the state he's worried about the clock as the clock ticks by that's what is important for Armstrong he's inside the final finishing straight right now and he's kept it it needs to be 142 and it stopped at 123 19 seconds all unofficial of course he keeps that yellow jersey but with Oh Rick alongside him at 15 seconds every new kalam at 19 I can't believe is a blanket over all three as we go to the high climbs of the ponies again tomorrow and the blankets the last thing you want to view in the high climbs of the pyrenees there's the stage result Gilberto Simoni winning ahead of Lauren do fo and Rishon drunk with Alexander Vinokourov sixth and even Myo seventh both 41 seconds behind the winner the group containing Armstrong all rick i'm Arzu bel dia and even Basso was another 3/4 of a minute back Tyler Hamilton and Francisco Mantha Bo lost three minutes to the Armstrong group on the day but the big loser on time was David Miller fighting illness and coming in a hundred and forty eighth nearly 33 minutes after the winner how much did he suffer out there today throughout words and vocabularies and sufficient so it's getting worse rather than better well yeah it's normal last three days been horrible today was far over again it's just horrible so if your hearts still in this - are you gonna make it to the end he think that hearts and it my lungs the restaurant boy don't seems to be but your soul Jerome starts here so drunk and with that he sold it off to dish out a few autographs possibly signing the malli G all credit to him though for refusing to give in seven men did today and that means there are now a hundred and fifty five riders left of the hundred and ninety eight who started the race a few days ago there were rumors that this man was going to be one of them but he's hung on for a stage win oh it doesn't really make up for his failure to challenge Armstrong in this race the way he declared he would in advance Lance of course has other things to worry about the Jill better Simoni Lance the GC is still very close but that was a better day for you you looked a lot stronger I felt better as I say yesterday it's hard to you can't recover from from a time trial like that with such severe dehydration in one day so I was lucky yesterday to limit my losses to a few seconds and today I feel better and hopefully tomorrow there's another uptick buta Quarles attack surprise e is aggressive but I'm not I'm worried about already not me no well maybe it's time he was if people keep under estimating Vinick or off it might underestimate him all the way into the race lead he remains third but he's closed the gap to 18 seconds on Armstrong our Ulrich remains the same 15 seconds back that he was this morning he bout my O's ride on Vinokourov scope tails takes him past Tyler Hamilton who also drops below even faso to seventh riche RV rank has almost written himself into the top ten with his performance in the mountains then his menshov leading the best young rider competition is 12th david miller though dropped to 29th after his long day in the saddle Gilberto Simoni stage win moves him up 19 places to 54 we shall be rocked by the way cannot now be course in the king of the mountains competition he has that one as long as he makes to Paris of course [Music] when the tour came to lose I'll attend in 2001 it marked the end of Yan Ulrich's challenge for overall victory he'd stayed as close as he could to Lance Armstrong for as long as he could and as the to cross the line together here he conceded the race with an outstretched hand to the American however this time with only 15 seconds between Ulrich and Armstrong and only another three between Ulrich and Alexander Vinokourov no one was going to be conceding anything at least not voluntarily [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] top-3 in the Tour de France are now separated by 18 seconds 15 between the defending champion and the German former champion another three to the kazakh challenger actually cuz that challenger sounds like a maker tank doesn't it which is quite appropriate really because vinegar offers rolled into the reckoning for overall victory in this race by means of relentless forward progress regardless of terrain or climatic conditions and he's clearly benefiting from the fact that all reckon Armstrong are more worried about each other than they are about him well this is the route they'll be fighting it out over today a hundred and fifty nine kilometers in them over the cold air span the cold of Tor Malay and the final vicious switchback climb up to lose Adi den 438 is the gap from the shaveh Nell to these riders and it's going to be tight as shavano has just nine kilometres left to climb to the summit he's holding his lead really they're not coming up on him just yet Denny's been chav here and there's been an attack by by oh there it is as he makes his move and look who goes Armstrong and look who follows yeah know it but not as sprightly not as sprightly the big thing about Armstrong he has the acceleration when he when he could do it he has now decided I want to go you can see the yellow jersey is opening up a slight advantage my oh now has to dig deep or it has got the big gear going coming up to the wheel of the Basque rider but Armstrong wants to go right now our song was waiting for somebody to pull in the flag and now it was evil what has happened there it seemed quite a normal call that he must have hit somebody in the audience Mayo is gone now the situation remember the Paris sword went over it crashed Armstrong waited but what let's have a look at this now it I still is unclear here exactly what happened I can't see I think he just touched somebody with his handlebar there but his chain is off his chain is stuck and it's a complete and utter chaos at the back end of the bike race can he recover he's on his same bicycle his teammate is there right now he's changed up onto the gear that to try and get himself is got a teammate there there is check to Riviere calm down don't panic glance he seems putting his hand down huh don't worry you can get back into this the adrenalin will be pumping now like you will not believe here he's got to control it otherwise he'll take himself over the top he's so look at ever teammate and I think he's waiting well alright Ulrich is now think he's a takes place I can't believe he will take advantage of this he's looking over his shoulders he knows there's a possibility of winning the Tour de France right now but he's not sure what's happening there has been a core up in front there is a ban Meyer he's the man who went down with Armstrong as well Oh what is going up there's a problem with his pedals at this hazwoper these pedals this is what happened I think his pedal mayor broke up this happened he didn't hit anybody but it wasn't with his pedals was very strange to see that he's looking down he now knows he's got a serious problem watch this now Alyssa's off digging deep and his footage just come out and his heart he's managed to keep it up right there and how did my Oh must have panicked as well there well what is this Tour de France going to end with every day is something different or it will be totally unaware and probably be totally perplexed as to why Armstrong failed I think that is positive proof that it was nothing to do with respect a he is not far behind he's in the cars they're just behind yet oh it is not pushing it off Hamilton here speaking of Basso saying slow down unbelievable the man in the yellow jersey and he's come back has come back it's still gonna have that mechanical problem he's gonna need to change his machine because his pedal has come out on two occasions look at the burn on his back they where he went down very sharply indeed as another move comes this is Iban Mayo now has seen the yellow jersey back in the group and he puts the pressure on once more well twice now we have seen that problems here for Lance Armstrong clearly is right pebble we've seen penny polls before the big races but what a day in a place to have a pedal problem ulrich did not want to push his advantage hamilton spoke with the others but really is nothing to do with them they wanna win the tour let me cast your mind back in a remember exactly where it was was but there was on a mountain like this where Yan Alric had a flat tire at the bottom of the climb he was a challenger I think tonight goes out front at the time and he actually waited Armstrong waited for yen all right to get back into the race situation you know in the silver professional cycling there's always payback time you can never burn your bridges don't ever make enemies well that's absolutely true of course Oh Rick wants to win this Tour de France more than anybody else and probably certainly as much as Lance Armstrong wants to win it but how lucky was Armstrong to have ruby era alongside him to help him out of that mess and this drama in acting on one of the steepest climbs of the Tour de France they are now climbing steadily they brought themselves in their composure but Lance now will be feared to get out of the pedal he won't be pushing down on that right leg too hard in case whatever is happening happens again it must be his cleat somehow twisting out the fitting but the faithful check to ruby era is always there Armstrong is out of the saddle again he's jumping onto the tail here of nibel goes again but you know thinking back to that crash I think he managed going again he's accelerating again Phil this is amazing this man has been on the ground he almost lost his manhood on the cross bars a few moments ago and he's decided he wants to go nine kilometres to go to the Senate the leader is just on seven and a half kilometres from the summit don't forget sylvain Chavanel he's doing the ride of his life but even though he's French or French host with the cameras know that this is the battle for the winner of the Tour de France and what a race this is Lance Armstrong now the Adrenaline's still pumping from his double accident and rick has gone off the defensive completely here he comes this is fabulous this is unbelievable the man was on the ground he's had problems with his pedal and he's now decided to go out onto the attack and put auric onto the defensive Alric now has to try and get into a rhythm so he doesn't lose too much time on the yellow jersey of armstrong he wanted to do something very special this afternoon and I wonder what the problem was with his pedal it could just have been slight nervousness because I think the crash was formed when he just clipped his arm on the right hand side and his spectator look in the opposite way armed Iran just touched him and he went down and the driver was taken from underneath him well let's have a look at the picture tonight because what's happening at the moment is the drama of Armstrong riding away with the bike race there you can see this is Alexander Vinokourov he'll is got the pink jersey on his shoulders but that is of team Telecom not as of leader of the Giro d'Italia right now this man is trying to stay in a podium position for the moment the drama though is at the front of the biros look at the blood on Armstrong's left arm there he went down very hard indeed he didn't have time to even control that crash because his front wheel just flipped around and he went right over the top but he's bounced back and he's put the big German into difficulty well it is unbelievable but now ulrich who was on the attack on the tormal a is now on the reverse here on Lou's Rd dead Armstrong has just doubled his lead in the Tour de France he was 15 seconds ahead overall he's now 30 but Ulrich knows he's got to monitor that attack this race is not going to end on Lazare lead on today because Ulrich will go to the time trial maybe with 30 or 40 seconds deficit he could possibly reverse that in the last time trial in Paris that's what he's thinking right now here is Lance Armstrong now we have had the privilege of having a look at the slow-motion replay of the situation looks Paul as though Armstrong did hit the spectators you said because the spectators hat rested on his handlebars what I think it was was the tape over of the handle of the musette that little feeding bag hooked onto his handlebars a snatched his bike away from him the face of yan ulrich he's digging deep he's looking for power but there isn't enough power to respond to armstrong on the slopes of this climb he knows right now he's got to try and nail back the american as we bob up the slopes here to see silver Avenel Phil he's just said Bridge to engine room more power and there isn't any we're getting fancy addresses every day with of a haunting man on the climb there because Lance Armstrong now there's a flotilla of motorcycles just in front it could well be he's now seen the man who's led this race out from the beginning today sill and 7l and won everything these boys are still making young Ulrich do all of the work because they've not a lot to gain if they don't and they keep looking at him Ulrich isn't asking for help now this is one on that one and the gap is opened in the other way that everybody here thought it would and in fact when Ulrich attacked on the colder topple a we did not expect to see a reversal like this on Lizardi den he was worried about this climb of lose I did and he thought by attacking so far out he could put Armstrong into difficulty while he did for a few moments maybe about three or four hundred meters but Armstrong did not panic he picked up his pace rode back onto the wheel of the German and since then they have dominated all of the pace making of the front of this race looking down there at the wheels of Lance Armstrong they're ticking bike he's using a fairly reasonable gear right now but this is the face of the big game he's definitely got the face that we've seen so many times in the past in it in five seconds he's opened up now so all Rick is losing huge time here now and this could well be the left next few days could be the victory of Lance Armstrong as he keeps his yellow jersey all the way to Paris this is the big effort now there is the it's the first time anybody has seen this map for hours and hours today he's when every prize on the road but Lance Armstrong is going to half didn't I'm a win here because he needs that win bonus of 20 seconds as well and of course he needs the prideful of winning a road stage of the Tour de France because not very often two riders win the Tour de France without winning a road stage only four times since the tour will allow O'Brien's member stage was great Lamont there's four of them Gaston in Cheney Lucien a barber - I can remember at the moment but after Roger Wachovia was the other one so those four eyes pat on the back very sportsmen live by Lance Armstrong he's no choice but to go on I think if it wasn't such a matter of time he would have let this man continue what have gesture two kilometers it will seem like 20 miles now because it kicks all the way to the line that's the difference in this time and out doers it doesn't stop until you're over the line right people will be caught waited to catch the riders when they crossed the line because there's no free will it is staying uphill land the young Earl Hickey he looks to the right they're deceiving catch a glimpse in the crowd line of brought exactly is Armstrong he'll look for the helicopters too he is still immoral is now dangling off the back as well well I'm not surprised because yeah Nora cos pull back a further five seconds on Lance Armstrong it is now 45 seconds the difference between Armstrong and the ulrich group and the time bonuses are going to be very important all right we'll have to try and get himself second place because there's a 12 second time bonus for the second man to cross the line well in real time at the moments of the differences exactly one minute in the overall classification at two kilometers to go now [Applause] Ulric and he's still closed you see the difference in the pedaling ratios here always fast cadence for Lance Armstrong and it or it can get a little bit of a faster Cades on his bike and then of course you go quicker because he always pedaled to higher gear yeah ulrich now he has given everything that's left in his body to try and keep this man in his sights he is convinced if it can keep him in his sights he will win the tour in the last time trial though our stock might have other ideas about that look at the perspiration just running off his face he's gonna lose another seven kilos today and body fluids I think but for this type it's gonna be a special thing I was heading now to his 60 stage win of his tours de France I don't think they'll ever make that mistake again Phil they would pay very much attention to temperatures out on the roads if your Tour de France and I think next time they come Lance Armstrong will probably have himself an air-conditioned warming up room ulrich is going through all kinds of pain right now just to keep himself in with a chance of winning the Tour de France Armstrong felt that even with a 15-second advantage going into the final time trial he could still win it he looks back at his old performance over the last few years when in fact out of the eight Tour de France time trials he's ridden he's won six of them he's only been beaten by two men in the time trial one with Santiago Botero the other was young Ulrich the gap is still now at 50 seconds but this man's face is a picture of agony this must be the hardest kilometre in the life of young allelic the same might be said for Tyler Hamilton who still hold him the only group in his sights he too might move closer to the leaderboard tonight this Ben exception a good day for him but this is the man trying to write his name as equal only to McGill in Durai with five straight wins in the Tour de France he has gone a long way to doing that today and he's done it in the most bizarre of circumstance falling off when he was popped off his bike by a spectator and now he's gone away and Ulrich slowed the group down to let him back in so they started the climb again together and then an Armstrong went inside 500 meters to go right now he's still got to keep that cadence as high as possible he has to make sure that he doesn't lose very much time over the last 250 meters because this Tour de France is all going to be about seconds seconds will decide this by race at the end of the day but what a brilliant performance and he still you know Phil this is an interminable climb it's a beast of a climb and it does not finish even after the finish line it kicks up right towards the summit towards Spain as people waited to catch the riders a controversial answer they come through here the misters come over the top what an incredible day this has been for 15 days we have shadowbox one of the greatest tools to France any one of three men could win it they knew this climate was going to prove who was the best man Armstrong I think in a week's time he'll look back as winner of his fifth Tour de France but I think we'll still be talking about who will win it when we get to the times are because Ulrich is a superb lead good time trial rider the American flags are flying now though this is a matter of pride again for our song a massive round of applause no victory salute from Lance Armstrong it's who's going to get hold of me because the clock has started the two riders from Pocatello spur they're trying to get themselves the bonuses and that's going to steal that away from young auric the two men even Maya and xub Elia in second and third position but these men have closed down an unbelievable gap over the last few meters well they've done the dirty there Ulric because he's not going to get a time bonus which might be the difference between winning and finishing second in the Tour de France they're all round the corner but they feel that applies to do this to show their best friends and countrymen that they were there and fourth place for Jan Ullrich and I'll make it about 42 seconds 40 42 it's not official but that means Lance who a 40 55 at one minute 15 approximately Lance now leads the Tour de France surely that's enough well that remains to be seen Armstrong's advantage over Alexander Vinokourov though certainly will be enough he came in 2 minutes and 7 seconds down not quite v no collapse though but after days of attacking on sheer strength of will the superiority of the two men in front of him finally told so there's the stage result Armstrong with his first stage win of the tour and Janna which group closing to within 40 seconds at the finish give up my Oh took second Ulrich edged out I'm a zoo bell deer for third so well Armstrong picks up a 22nd bonus for winning or with limits that damage with 8 seconds for third Silvan shavon al has to be content with a pat on the back from a passing race leader after his long loan break he came in 10th nearly three minutes down david miller was a hundred and eight in the large group of riders that sticks together to avoid missing the time limit so was the green jersey baden cook they came in over 34 minutes behind the leader axel merks though struggled in another 20 minutes later he was eliminated on time and another three riders abandoned the race today now if you think Armstrong's not counting every second at the moment look at this before he got off his bike he went straight to the nearest TV monitor and there's his reaction when all it picks up the bonus Ulrich himself meanwhile seems surprisingly happy when he got off his bike she was just beam used yet another bizarre turn of events in a talk that's been dishing them up daily first we had the prospect that the entire tour might hinge on the handle of a spectators food bag as the defending champion interpreting the racing line beyond the limits of personal safety snagged his handlebars and hit the ground then frantic seconds while he tried to get the chain of his bike back on unaware that yeah norik was doing the sporting thing and calling a halt to hostilities while his rival was down Armstrong going crotch to crossbar as he pulled his foot out of the pedal and narrowly avoided going down again and finally rejoining all Rick's group and launching the attack that may in the end win him his fifth Tour de France that's the bare bones of the story anyway here the protagonist now to put some flesh on it starting with Lance Armstrong explaining exactly what happened in that crash there must have been some spectator had something probably like a bag or like I'm sim who's that the feed bag and the handle was just swinging around and caught in my handlebar and when when something like that happens suspected or holds on to it and it holds on to your handlebar and immediately you go down as we saw so scared the hell out of me but I was lucky that the bike wasn't messed up because I got up and I thought you know if I have to change a bike or change a wheel then it's gonna take some time but the only problem was the chain came off put the chain on and 50 turns off La Veta extremes very timidly absolutely should happen and if it has my beauty that Azula office lens I'm Stuart sales is attacked in a gang my you with the hair in coffee Titano and then it's a duty to show a graph on how the FCC enjoyed on the thing he had seen he could teach Rotondo Valen our founders on the captain Oh Nick right at akhirin ya Yin is this thing a little nudge foot on the air good lens for - Dexter we got we came from a lotta kids take its own dehydrator half of aunt amélie phobia extra comma how Buddha does it wasn't only for boy it's the way that it should be you know it's when somebody in my opinion when somebody crashes whether they're in the yellow jersey or whether one of the favorites you don't attack and then you know if we remember two years ago ya know Rick had a big crash on the Descent of the pier sword went off the road looked looked awful and I told that at the time you know only three or four guys left I said look with we have to wait for him because he's okay we don't know if he's coming back so the race is neutralized until he gets back and so you know yon was perhaps had that in mind today and and and that was my payback and I appreciate it hi scaredy I can kinda get a begin on lens have security care for it Alice off whom 1.08 aerobic Alex glamour on the expenditures in equal good as fun as an additional bonus buy me Newton force from peers on small scale that's a ganglion Yaga when an dock in capital physique when you go on the bus being busy Haggadahs he had the chance that's why that would mean I think young probably still thinks he's he's his chance and he may in fact have a chance he's riding very strong he can time travel fast so it's not over well it's not but it's looking better for the defending champion that it has for some time and having attack today all he has to do is defend between now and the final time trial and at the end of another astonishing day this is how the standings look Armstrong leads the race by a minute and seven seconds from Yan or Rick Alexander Vinokourov remains third but he's now two minutes forty five behind in fact the order of the top seven remains the same with just the gaps opening up down to Tyler Hamilton who's now nine minutes back David Miller is 39th now an hour and 24 minutes behind the next three stages were all flat finishes as the race came down out of the pyrenees and started to head north and just the final time trial and the showpiece stage in paris to come and were the last chance for the opportunists to break away and take a stage win tyler hamilton has done the ride of his life as a professional cyclist today one of the greatest escapes we've seen in years in the Tour de France 142 kilometres from Andy were 141 but when he gets under the arch it's 142 he'll almost feel as if it's a local win for him as well because he's not too far away then lives during the racing season not too far away from him just over the border in Spain so where the crowd for getting completely and utterly behind him right now this is a brilliant solo effort like you do not see very often in the Tour de France these years he's just kidding himself fer dressed up for the final victory salute but he's still about 750 meters from the line well this has been one of the great escapes of any Tour de France it just adds the annals of the Centennial Tour de France we have had so many things that have happened in this race that have been so unpredictable and all tile is done is caused even more confusion he is going to win his first stage of the Tour de France he's pointing back at his team managers and it worked your idea worth there's be honoree sums up from the car they discussed this they worked it out he has delivered with a breakaway of 142 kilometres he becomes only the sixth American to win the stage the Tour de France it's his first in seven tours and what's more he is still heading for a very high finish in Paris he has beaten all of the brains of the peloton today and he's thanking his teammates because of it I've never seen this before either poor we thought he'd race for the seconds we stowing them away and enjoying the moments as he comes up to the line he's still keeping the pressure on look at that smile it goes almost across the Atlantic right now as he comes into the last 200 meters this has been a magnificent performance Phil you very rarely see a performance like this for a man so high in the overall classification and it's paid off he claps he believes in himself he broke his collarbone on day two of the Tour de France on stage 16 he is the day's winner and now how high up the overall classification will he climb well our cameras will probably stay with the race but I would dearly love to see view on the reefs leaping out of that car now and just getting hold of there Tyler and I hope he doesn't squeeze him too hard it's hard to believe this because on stage two nobody knew that this man was actually going to come out and start the second stage of the Tour de France out on the open road because he had such a bad accident at the end of stage one it is an incredible performance that he's still in the Tour de France and coming out with a stage win as well is remarkable but what is important right now is the time as the top clock stops on the finishing line because it really has been a superb performance by this man I would say they're about a minute and 15 seconds away from the finish line because it's quite a tricky run in over the last kilometer and Alexander Vinokourov has come up to the front to make sure that he still keeps a bit of pressure and they're trying to lead out there examples and few nasty little flicks there too I think he'll cross the line with just about a two minute advantage here as Georg tots on the wheel there of Alexander Vinokourov that's a strange thing isn't it been a of at the front now at the sprinters domain trying to save time so that he can keep the time limits a decent before that last times out watch out for Powell of 18 he's our bell is mixing in the scent in the white jersey as well as judo great he's trying to get in onto the scene but they're pushing him around a bit and also there is damien lazon off though brioche team they're so greedy with the yellow flashes now as the lead out is coming from Georg tonic this is going to be a very tight sprint damn Ian as on trying to Oscar Ferreira off to the right of our picture and it could also be Marcus a burglar as well who is the rider from gelo stylos trying to break him the peg now can any cans or we'll get through and continue his great towards the front that example is coming to life get it on the line just about and he's going to be extremely annoyed that Tyler Hamilton stayed away so Paul showing he fancied Zabul for the wind today and you can see from his look of utter disgust at winning what he knew should have been a sprint for the stage when what Zabul thought about it well two and a half weeks ago Tyler Hamilton was coming out of hospital with his arm in a sling and his tour apparently over on stage one but this is a man remember who had 11 teeth capped because he drowned them down writing to second place in the giro d'italia with a broken collarbone and today he and his double fracture crossed the line for his first ever Tour stage win a phenomenal turn of events in a race whether phenomenal as long since become commonplace afterwards came perhaps the most serious threat to his collarbone since he broke it a grueling sequence of congratulations from the boss the wife of the yellow jersey [Applause] he survived though just like he had all day one minute 55 ahead of our example whose telecom team seriously mistimed the chase with your encrypts off the gondola tours ukrainian rider taking third the advantage now has tipped completely and utterly towards this man saturday's Caernarfon a thousand meters to go well he's gonna feel pretty good he's looking over his shoulder underneath his arm they just wanna make mistake of it losing in the last 900 meters as he races towards the line here in Bordeaux a man who has denied the sprinters their day because the breakaway has been in the lead for 181 kilometers the exact distance of the day's race no one was ready for the attack from the gun except these 10 men and this man has finished it off surveys cannabinews now riding his seven Tour de France just as Tyler Hamilton was yesterday and like Tyler he is now getting his first ever stage win nopal he's going to enjoy this he's this a great windfall it's a Belgian team but he's very much a Dutchman and it's going to be a great relief to to Holland because they now have a victory in the Tour de France he is thoroughly delighted to have some wonderful races it's his 22nd win as a professional he's 32 years of age until today is big the classic race but Paris to Roubaix and it's going to enjoy the moment time on this occasion is not important two surveys can happen very clever tactical movie attacked before anybody else in this metric clay here in the middle leading them home but watch out for Salvatori comeso the sony is going on the far right of our picture here is look too got the edge perhaps here magic clunks our - he shut out my enjoy is coming - little didn't movement their badge on or the Sony I think for Sony think but Sony just got it in the lime green jersey in the middle left he did and he probably would have won the stage if that group would work together to bring Carnarvon back as it was the Dutchman won by 17 seconds from bar Sony and Christophe Morgan third [Music] daba Kangana is holding off and I really thought that group was going to come up to them but no he is hanging on in there it's a long straight run down the main national highway any Levin here this is the second ever tour for David and in the year 2000 the last time he rode it by the way he was amongst the riders for a high finish he finished in fact in 33rd place and fairly nondescript never looked like winning a stage but today I think he might but he still got a bit of power in those legs you can see his legs almost knocked me against the bike right now is Pablo last race from Ibanez dough.com comes through these guys are looking over their shoulder Daniella now dela is thinking about the stage victory if he can just pull it back to the man who leads the race at the moment they're around about 75 metres behind him but it just is an Unterman interminable effort for these riders just to try and catch him and they are still not closing it down quickly enough there's got to be a huge effort they're saying it's six seconds that's all but they are so committed six seconds you know can be wiped out in the last kilometer especially when it is downhill and those boys have got some big gears on the bike now but the trouble is they've got to take a move and psychologically they know the first man to chase him won't win the stage has just found a bit more extra energy from somewhere he looked over his shoulders in knew he still got the 75 meters advantage he will have his chain right across to the right-hand side at the moment trying to get all of the last big energy he can the last desperate effort here by carlos de cruz he's been closed before he's going across to try and get some slipstream 100 meters to go the Cruz has been beaten an incredible ride by Debbie Kang added look at second doctor but it's a long way too it's come round and on the outside and got like an express train the last desperate effort in sight of the line and the cruise is himself now beginning to defame as here comes back a little less stress and on the inside he tried to take him he never got it on the line last class has got it we are being treated to a tour de france that does never exist it is incredible less stress in his first Tour de France now adds to stage victories in the tall Spain a stage victory in the Giro he's now going to stage win in the Tour de France he the strength from the rest here taken out by Massimiliano Nellie I think it was there he gains most from of the day at the big time gage we don't know what they are yet of course here comes her old greedy as he tries now from a pillow a gay with a village a is the rider her taking run nobody got him he'll be kicking himself because he was the best sprinter in the group well Pablo last rush rode that last kilometer in 57 seconds which is the fastest final K of the race so far and overall today it was the second fastest stage in Tour history forty-nine point nine three eight kilometers an hour there's the result last dress taking it from Carlos to Cruz and Danielle in Abdel Oh with all three of them passing David Canada in the final straight now nobody expected a change at the top today it's only two seconds but who knows how important they might turn out to be Yann Ulrich's deficit on Lance Armstrong is now down to 105 and here's why in the kind of nip-and-tuck racing we haven't seen for about 20 years on the tour he jumped Lance Armstrong or the first sprint of the day picked up a time bonus and who knows perhaps a little psychological edge on the race leader [Music] Armstrong against Ulrich against the clock with overall victory on the line the sequel we'd all been waiting for and as if the final time trial wasn't going to be dramatic enough in its own right the centenary tour had decided to throw in a twist of its own in the form of a rain-soaked road surface so who was going to be able to cut through the conditions better the fuel-injected Ford or the Volkswagen diesel Armstrong with his small gear high revs approach or all Rick glued to the saddle and grinding out the kilometers on pure power well Armstrong of course had a head start the 65 seconds by which he led all Rick in the standings but it was all Rick who set off first with the defending champion three minutes behind him 49 km/h but much flatter and of course much cooler and wetter well with the riders going in reverse order of their overall placings David Miller left 56 from the end and set the best time at the second and third checkpoints we are seeing the arrival now of David Miller he has set the best times at the second and third checks he's won the few men to defy the rain today and not fall down as they approach their line there's the other rider waving him through he knows now that Miller is on a great run for a time here as Miller comes it will be the best time and day laughter sit and wait 5405 Miller number one so David in with a very impressive time and after he'd finished net bolting caught up with him David well done you got the best time yeah 26 seconds how is it out there I fell off once it's absolutely a nice drink the lustre 15 k's how did you fall you just wheel it I mean it's so slow okay okay did you do any damage when you when you fell babe didn't know I know this couple of leg up and I think but it's a incredibly dangerous just stupid you think it's safe to ride in these conditions those last 15 clays it's a it's not I was going taking zero risks I mean going around so slowly like upright and the wheels prompt slide away there's nothing you can do you have to let you come to a standstill just ridiculous so you think they should actually call it off at this point they should neutralize they should put the finish like 15k for coming tonight this it's just stupid guys hey Lansing young they shouldn't have to tell you risk like that well here comes Lance Armstrong there's the time to beat at 32 kilometers leaving him just as 17 kilometers to ride to the finish just about 10 miles to go on the speed he's going he'll do that 10 miles in roundabouts at 16 minutes Armstrong and heading up it's going to be close but I tell you what this is a most incredible Time Trial the fastest ever times are fifty five point one five two kilometres an hour old ik has gone through with a fifty six point nine one kilometer now now what is Lance going to do as he races up now searching to beat the time of 35 19 he goes around the corner he's got ten seconds to hit the line he's getting desperately close one thing's for sure they are still virtually identical in this time trial as we enter the last few kilometers and the clock stops at 35 at 21 it is incredible Paul it is just over a second difference only just over a second difference between Armstrong and Orick it really is an unbelievable battle look at the concentration though on the face of Armstrong the time trial result Phil is going to be decided on the run into nard and who has got the chart of the ability to take the most risks going round the corners in the outskirts of this very dangerous last ten kilometers well Larry's Lance Armstrong riding that like a dream at the moment auric looking for that little bit of extra energy there is a huge David Miller the British rider is in 5405 Hamilton is not going to beat that but if he can just squeeze out a spin d should whole second all oryx going down all rig dispatched well we can't see how mother finish because this is what everybody is worried about Oh Rick has gone down and he was in the lead by about six seconds when he fell we can look at this now these are the grease on the roundabouts and they saw the sparks flying unbelievable it is a very dangerous time trolleys gone into the bales thank goodness there were bales at the side of the road and it was just the front wheel that was lost the team manager was there very quickly indeed the mechanic was up alongside now that's the same place with a petrol crash paula broke his ribs so Ulrich is up and away oryx up and away doesn't seem to be injured but what that will do feel that will make him very nervous coming into the next few corners he was going so well he was two seconds ahead of Armstrong these roads are becoming very slick as we get closer to the finish line here in nods there are so many riders have gone down in this time trial and it is quite rare to see a time trial with so many crashes he's got to take it's definitely well it's got to take a curved you can see the glacier now and a David Miller said it was unfair these last 15 kilometres far too dangerous far too slippery and he thinks they shouldn't have subjected them to this course towards the end of the course he will loses right now a crash like that completely takes the nerves away from you for four or five kilometres because you're always looking down at the bike wondering if there's a problem with it he needs now to get back up into his aerodynamic position this is drama on the Tour de France er that is so sad that he has gone down because this man was winning the individual time trial and in a couple of minutes time Lance Armstrong is going to come into that very same corner well I can tell you in the drama there that as Ulrich crashed Hamilton finished with the second best time nine second slower the David Miller 5414 but you know as he fell the computer for the race for yellow was indicating he rose to the good by six seconds on the course he'll have lost all of that and quite clearly now he's got to show respect to these roundabouts well it's very dangerous that we haven't even got into the real center of norms and that's where it is even more dangerous because there are so many of these white pieces of paint on the road which er that caught crossings for pedestrians and those crossings are unbelievably treacherous every bike rider who races in Europe knows what they're like but there's nothing you can do you can't lift them up it really is quite remarkable he's got to find something now and he's set coming into these corners fully so I'm looking over his shoulders he's lost his nerve completely right now because of that crash well there's no choice but to take those corners kurpius problem he's wages he I think he's saying stay further back from he's worried about the proximity of the team car in the event before because the team carnal slide as well he's into the last ten kilometres now Jan Ullrich I think was six seconds quicker than Lance at this point but that'll be swept away and Lance Armstrong's too has still to enter this corridor of great danger it's unbelievable right now is he pricking his way around this cut this port very precariously indeed it is such a shame for the organization that the rain has come down over these last few kilometers it's only in the last 24 hours at the great weather has changed as dramatically as this going through the 42 killer me to check Armstrong's picking his way through he's fine he kept upright but did you see how slow he had to go around that corner he realizes how dangerous this race is turning out to be that crash of young Ulrich's reminded me very much of a crash by Abraham Olano some time ago and I have a feeling the team manager is driving much too close to and I think the team manager is probably making him nervous going around these corners right now well here comes win the kirov he's made the city of Narns as far as we know without falling off he's sprinting for his third-place finish 5804 is what he doesn't want and he's welling 56 0 he gets his third place confirmed with one day to go great ride by vinokurov he will be third tomorrow on the Sean's Alizee as the battle continues now between the last two men to come on to the finishing straight inside of 1000 meters for Jan Ullrich and this has been an incredible battle at the moment the overall classification if we stop the race right now would be Armstrong Ulrich Vinick or of Hamilton and zoo Bell deer but these two men still have to finish you know when Greg LeMond won the Tour de France in 86 and the hamster got the fourth place with amazing here it's amazing how history repeats itself on so many occasions Armstrong is not taking any risks at all right now he's listen to the warnings of his teammates who started earlier on in the day well there's no doubt that young Eric will be a very very disappointed rider at the finish because he hasn't closed the gap in fact the Remi may find out very shortly the opposite has in fact half he did seem to be getting into his rhythm he did see me pulling away very slightly from Armstrong not enough to win the Tour de France but maybe to have won the day but he hasn't recovered from that rather nasty fall and slide he's coming now towards the finishing line there's a big applause already started in the home straight you can see the crowd for yourself well one things that Shore yam is back and he be here too another Tour de France in the future years only third on the line though 54:30 he never recovered from the crash well you know what we've kind of forgotten about the man who's leading the race at the moment David Miller because everybody else seems to slow down dramatically over the final few kilometres and David Miller looks set right now to get himself the stage victory because I think Armstrong is just gonna cruise over the last few meters well Oh Rick even slowed down I fell behind Tyler Hamilton they're ripped open as well yeah well I'm not surprised that we burned off his back as he skidded across the road we saw the sparks off the back end of his bicycle now one man left out on course his time everybody wants to see we all feel it must be good enough to confirm him now as the winner of the Tour de France tomorrow when we go to Paris and boy are there some celebrations for the Tour de France tomorrow on the famous Sean Solis a no he didn't want to take any risks at all but he is actually a much better bike handler on which situations like this than yang or Rick in the past we've seen him would go downhill very fast on stages of the tour but look at him picking his way precariously around these corners these white and fans that you can see here right now are unbelievably lethal on weather conditions like this Armstrong again accelerating out of the saddle he knows the time to beat is that of David Miller of Great Britain fifty four minutes and five seconds but that's not important for him what's important is the time of young Ulrich which is fifty four minutes and thirty seconds that's when he's aiming at we started the day with that advantage of a minute and five seconds one kilometer to go should taking about bout a minute and five seconds right now but the way is riding the final kilometer of this race through that little bit of floodwater there the USA flag flying off his left shoulder indicating the tail to crosswind that's blown for much of the day was tailed for most of it we swung round a little bit now towards Lord it's become a crosswind Lance Armstrong who looked very shaky in the early days of this year's Tour de France is now sure of making it five in a row tomorrow in Paris it has been exactly what he hoped it would be his own words he can walk in the hotel tonight he can look his team straight in the eye because tomorrow he will go to Paris in yellow and David Millar by the way will be only the twenty have British rider to win a stage of the Tour de France but this is the man that this tour now is confirming in the 100 year and even in this last 500 meters he is taking absolutely no chances even freewheeling on the slightest of bends to make sure he doesn't slide goodness knows how many riders still off today including Jan Ullrich but Armstrong comes home he looks like a third-place finish and he knows it's nothing he's won the Tour de France with 54 19.6 6 rarely you see Armstrong show that kind of emotion fill at the end of a time tour he looked up at the clock in you the time that yeah Nora could come in but watch this once more the concentration and the power on this man's face look at the smile appearing he's looking up at the finishing clock which every rider can see as they come into the finish line the joy is there and the moment that he comes up to the line rarely do you see him just show this kind of emotion that's for him and that's for the team yes indeed just look at those eyes he's still concentrating though because he wants to make sure those brakes work his wife Kirsten as a now Lance Armstrong is ushered into the camper they're ready now for a quick wash and brush-up now this is the yellow jersey Paul he really wanted because he knows now he's gonna win the tour David Miller however won the stage exactly three weeks after his chain stopped him doing the same in the prologue he'd had a long way to the team campervan to watching everyone else failed to beat him Rendell nabbed him on the walk to the podium this was the centenary tour as the races had absolutely everything and now it's got a David Miller stage win you must be delighted I'm not walking now I'm floating I'm just making food I think if it makes up for it oh it's just [Music] I'm just happy all right let's have a look at the stage result David Miller first nine seconds ahead of Tyler Hamilton thank goodness he didn't go down on his broken collarbone Armstrong third another five seconds back Endora who had been fastest at the time check before he crashed 11 seconds behind Armstrong in fourth Alexander Vinokourov 16th place was enough to hold on to third overall with both I'm Arzu Bell D at the about my O conceded the best part of two minutes to Tyler Hamilton well he's had a miserable last ten days or so David Miller he was back at the tour's top table tonight congratulations from the race leader race organizer jean-marie LeBlanc and then on to the podium to make sure his underwear sponsors got their air time having softened him up with Matt we sent Ned in for a second gun so we need to know how fast you can go when your chain doesn't fall off and when you don't come off your bike because I that today was a second fastest time trial in Tour history yeah and it was raining and wet and we had lots corners yeah I would say but we had an incredibly strong tailwind but um I'm happy our it's pretty cool it's pretty just a word on that man who I saw embracing me there Lance Armstrong it looks like today was decisive he's a friend of yours someone you respect but what about his achievement he's a friend and I love the guy I think he's great and I think what he's done this Tour de France is probably his greatest Tour de France you know it's like people have doubted him he's had moments of weakness he keeps coming back he's just goes to show them not only physically but tactically he's the best I mean head and shoulders above the rest you know I mean I said to him I said I'm a message after loser d-delenn saying you're an inspiration I mean that was inspirational what he didn't lose idea and was inspirational well David's win doesn't do much to his position overall but it confirms him has one of the big talents in the free agent market at the end of the season and he'll have teams queuing up for him the big story in the general classification of course is at the top where Lance Armstrong is confirmed as the unassailable leader of this race now with just the final stage in Paris to come and his winning margin will be one minute 16 seconds over yeah no way Tyler Hamilton's excellent ride today moves him past sueb el dia and Myo and he will finish the tour an astonishing fourth behind Alexander Vinokourov in third well they were separated for a spell earlier in the year but they thought the picture of happiness in the rain outside the US Postal team fan let's hear for a mystery mrs. Armstrong Lance first and he's with his old teammate Frankie Andreu I don't think I've ever been that nervous before a bike race I was nervous because of not certain advantage on Yan and also the weather you know the difference between and not winning and losing with a crash it's just so fun so I start take it easy when I heard he crashed and I just basically just sat up and said I'm not taking any risk there's strategy today with it to take a little bit easier because seem like you were dead even at the start and then made later on it looked like at least your expression in your face you seem to be going harder yeah yeah yeah you don't told me after a kilometer and a half I lost six seconds and then I brought it back to three and then two and then even and then went up by six or seven or eight or ten seconds and then and then at that point I just said I'll just go my go my pace and then I already crashed just a little tour of not it's been so stressful and exciting but I'm so proud of him and so happy and excited Benna decides you know all throughout this he's really had to dig deep isn't he yeah it's been the hardest year yet but I think probably the victories the sweetest as well knowing him what's he gonna do now will he find it in himself to put his feet up and relax so we'll be straight back out training and thinking and the next thing I think the kids will tackle him and pin him down so I don't think he's gonna have much choice you have uh some ice cream or beers tonight come on I'm definitely having beer I don't know but yeah I mean you all know how much I like beer so happy I told the boys last night I said if I make it through tomorrow I said we're gonna we're gonna have some beers tomorrow night so beers are on me all right bottoms up thanks Lance Thanks I suspect yen or it might have a couple to along with a handful of painkillers all credit to Lance Armstrong for winning but without an opponent like all Rick he would never have been pushed to win it in the manner he did a cabañas kind of music quite a good as far that's lenders had lamina chelating couples of ish take a good fitness cook took on this data by super-move I've gotten about my suicide and refute spiritually um B's I'm seeking sunshine dick me about we get again a site fungal one and I would so beneficial side we come up mimics keep walking to and paraffin and XY dinners are better been your no pin on her isn't always the only real sadness for the rest of us is that the epic battle between the two of them is over but it is and in Armstrong's favor there's one stage still to come that he'll ride it as the latest member of the twelve which up until now has had four members Honka teal mercs Ino and enduring the five-time winners of the tour do here Robin what about this man you've seen him ride often enough but the things he's achieved over this tour and today what do you make tour has been the toughest I think the best the toughest him in with full of accidents and you know ups and downs and great moments I mean it's it's been the best I've been to four of them you know I know haven't seen all of 100 but I think this one show ranks is the best of the four I've seen he's a big day present he's really he's had a piece of everything yeah I mean there's also been great moments of you know great sporting moments for like when yarn waited for him after the forum and minis waited for you on a couple of times so you know did payback payback bro but it's I've it's been astonishing to watch and a great thing to watch it you know but I was watching a lot of it from Vancouver I was doing a movie then coming in and seeing it in person it's the best it's got everything it's got you know down to seconds and you know curves and you know Falls and getting back up and it's all of it after three weeks of sort of sunshine and how about the drama of a sudden you know 110 degree heat and now rain and cold it's God having fun with everyone but it makes it part of the race you know it makes it like the one guy's his sport to say to Joe sport it's like a French thing a guy with a girl well thanks really sport net know the fourteen eleven fourteen element14 yeah and who are you jack so you've got a six to women and I just bear shikaka we are so lucky again yes he's the one man who's ever won six I think if anybody can you've got it wants to keep going you know be nice of what this page is this better probably will I keep trying to make it harder and harder the toll do Lance proof it's but he keeps coming back good method oh thanks thanks thanks for showing it all heading on to the shots alizée the stage when most riders usually have the monopoly sets out celebrating the last day of school this torte was still hard at work making history the average speed coming into the final day was forty point nine kilometers are now which meant unless the riders slowed down significantly we're on course for the fastest tour ever and weather permitting they weren't likely to slow down because the green jersey points competition race between baden cook and robbie McEwen was still so close it looked like it was going to come down to the final sprint on the show still easy just look how the masse across the road they're poor now the waiting for a change of guard at the front here one and a half laps to go to the finish Armstrong has stayed away from the action now he's called his team off to look after him in the center of the peloton there he is in fact he's nearly at the back of the peloton here he's a wise old owl his knees keeping away from the sharp end now well you know it's one of the rare occasions throughout this last three weeks and one day that we've seen him near the rear end of the main peloton because he's always ridden this tour in the first 15 to 20 places he's not too worried about anything right now he wants to stay in the peloton he doesn't to get involved in any of the RG bargee on the running towards the finish because he has to keep upright let's not forgot forget that the clock actually stops when the riders crossed the line there has been no need to use that special rule this afternoon the Sun has been the order of the day is blown away all the rain clouds that dampen everybody's thoughts yesterday on the road between poor Nick and aunt and we have had a great showdown here in Paris and it's not quite over yet but these eight riders are down to 14 seconds now it is very very close there they are and still the charge is coming after them they are going to time this catch and I think they will catch them because they won't control that big pack when they go towards the final lap not with the pressure that's on the shoulders of Baden Cooke and Robbie McEwen and the third intruder is Erick zarbor because zorbel wants to win a stage for Germany well this is a nice look at the eight boys who are clear now they're saying it's 11 seconds so the gap is coming down rapidly they're going to go past our commentary box there's a look of concern on their faces it is vincentio Agosta I'll ask Acosta Gus garcía Acosta thank you Paul I've got dead lost in that one as we now see the main field try to pulling them back in here now as they go out across the plaster la Concorde it's not very far is it when you look from this position it's not very much more than a hundred meters difference between the eight men at the front and the whole of the rest of the main field here at the Tour de France they will certainly pull them back in it is down to ten seconds team telecom are on the Front's of they're trying to set this up to be a first win on the seans Alizee for Erich Savile he would certainly love to win here but the speed is unbelievable Paul has been watching the head of the race here there's a call to back for the problem for the teammates of Robbie McCune a lotto rider has had a flat tire it's a front wheel I don't think it's for McEwen our cameras of course are right here on the front we'll have to take our word for it just now but whatever the problem is is that the rear of the peloton there is well that's not Robbie McCune it's one of his teammates it may well be one of the lead out men but we haven't seen a lot of the lot of DOMA riders on the front end of the peloton here but it's almost certainly going to come back together inside of the last lap it's going to be a dramatic finish when the German flag is flying high they're just about over the head of young ulrich as the bunch comes underneath these are the eight escapers the gap is still there they are now swinging down underneath the tunnel again then they will go past the carousel the go under what is the killer meter but there's still one full lap to go ten seconds Paul Maher going to come together as we hear the bell as they hear the bell I hope everybody hears that bell because sometimes with the roar of the crowd you don't get a chance to hear it but that will indicate this just six and a half kilometres to go here on the final stage of the Tour de France and what a stage is going to be these guys somebody in a short while I think may well try and surprise the rest this is Vicenta Garcia of Koster looking over his shoulder just to see what the gap is between the eight men at the front and the main field behind but you can see that pressure is coming into the main field right now because they are scrambling one by one in a huge long snake-like line and there is the red kite but it's not for this lap by the way let's not get too excited because we still haven't heard that Bell must have been a clever man that climbed up there last time around put the kite up but it's up quite the right yet there's the gap with the eight men they made a real race of it here there was a moment when they pushed it out to 45 seconds it is now just 8 seconds to the peloton they know that they are going to get caught on the slope up the towards the arc the tree off this time once they are caught there will be a flurry of attacks in that peloton this is the psychological moment now whether they don't really want to form the gap don't want to catch up because they know that countermoves will come and look at that studio grainy now the champion of Australia moving up looking like he might be looking to go out of this Tour de France with a victory as well there's so many riders now want to win oh great he's not a bad bunch finisher but they've got to bring this group back first they'll swing on to the chanson II say now they'll see the finishing line they're gonna see want to go they're going to hear the bell as they go by they are also nervous right now in that group they know they're not going to survive you see the nervousness in their heads they're looking over their shoulders they know the main field is coming I've got the clock starting right now as they go by the commentary position and the main field is about 12 seconds in their ears but you know they've just slowed down a fraction before they pick it up for the final charge so the field are out on the final lap Lance Armstrong is going to find these the fastest six kilometers and that the most pleasant he will win the Tour de France for a fifth time but he won't take part in the sprint that is about to be enacted because this is for the race for the green jersey this has been an incredible competition this past three or four years and all because it's been animated by Australians that are certainly broken in to what has been a European competition Mario it sets the pace there now if the teammates at Baden cook also therefore Oscar Freire the third man in line is a Rabobank rider well they're all lining up right now the frilled are just waiting to nail back the final seven seconds deficit they have on the leading group of eight but they seem to have slowed down just a little bit too much they need to keep the pressure they need the organization on the front end of the main field if they're gonna pull these men back Mikkel Astra Loza feels the panic now he wants to slip the coop but he hasn't done because the reaction came immediately from CSC Michael cloudy Loudon jumps on asta lozer the RAM de haut gets on top of those two and they're all together again now in the breakaway telecom are looking for more help from other riders now they seem to have given their all and they haven't got a lot left this is going to be a desperate finish here now Timur Bianchi have come to the front the team of yan all right but they're not riding for Alric at the moment they're riding for Fabricio greedy's a very good finisher he was in the breakaway two days ago on the road to max only call and he was hoping that we'd get the win but in fact somebody slipped off the front before the finish the group has split Vincente Garcia how Costa has gone clear right now covered by Bram DeGroat and of course CSC always present always looking for the move michael blouson in third place well Garcia cost has gone off our screen to the writer the Jota is in center left now clouds and gives it a little kick himself another great team a great tour three stage wins for CSC a fourth place finish for tie lamilton they're winning the race on team blouse and first around he's taking a look over his shoulder at the top of the Arc de Triomphe half a lap to go they know that they're all there but they've still got to track them and they're going again there are five riders left at the front from the original eight and they're only three seconds off the front end of the main field this move coming now from Sebastian Ino no relation at all to Bernie no the five-time winner of the Tour de France look how he's hugging the barriers that's the smoothest part of the chanson easy there there's no cobblestones at all he's pushing it up to 60 kilometres an hour well the name Ino has scored twice here on the shots Elysees maybe there will be a third one after all with the same name just a different guy but that moved up there are five riders still leduc wrote Mikkel austell osa is there and then the rider at the back is Garcia Acosta they're the men who stayed up at the front but I think now it is all coming to an end and it's coming to an end with just four kilometres to go to the finish Lance Armstrong sitting near the back of the race now he doesn't want an accident to spoil his brilliant day he has been a fantastic winner of this race always on the defensive and yet he's coming out for the fifth time yes with his smallest winning margin but the first American to win five times he's watching now at all and act and unfold in front of him this now is a battle of the sprinters and we have some great sprinters here well in fact David Miller had moved himself up into fifth place there this gives you an idea of just how fast we're going on the final lap we are touching 65 kilometres are now on the downhill slopes it is all together they've picked up all of the breakaways the whole of the main field is one charging pack right now let's not forget after the second sprint McEwen led Baden cook in the points competition bike to Mir points and they all led Erich Savile by about 17 but it's all going to go down to the sprint on the line it's all going to be 435 points and the glory of winning on the shores of Lee's a now the winner gets 35 the second place gets 30 there's five points different so they if either of them wins finishing second is no good to either of them so cook or McEwan for the stage victory that's about what it comes down to I think just now it's gonna be very complicated to keep an eye on this looking over the shoulders this is Alexander Vinokourov he's in third place in the overall classification he's not riding for his position right now he's looking over his shoulder he's totally dedicated to his team captains árbol and he's finishing third in the Tour de France he's done this before he's looked after Eric Sowell they don't want anybody brush are they're trying a last-minute burst not going to get off the front of the main field here this afternoon Furio Grady they're in the Australian national champions Jersey is up into fourth position he's all over the front of this and he's all over the back wheel of Eric's arbol they're great mates arbol and McKenna rubbing exterior Grady but in the middle of there somewhere I can't see the green jersey of Robbie McEwen well you never can Robbie McCune as always is a great artist hiding till it matters believe me he will be there as we look now at Alexander Vinokourov taking second wheel here now looks like Michael Rogers going around in third place Luca Paolini he's not very far away from the action about fourth or fifth place he's also a good sprinter now more so because some of the sprinters are out of this race underground we go briefly there at the back of the pack yeah nor Rick not far away from the yellow jersey of Lance Armstrong they will not get involved in any of this fighting at all they don't want to go down inside the last kilometer they've fought it out over the last three weeks at the Tour de France it's the sprinters the madmen the men who will take risks the men who have absolutely no fear when it comes down to the last charge for the line Alexander Vinokourov has been crowned the most aggressive bike rider of the Tour de France this year and this is one of the reasons why this is now David from quickstep trying to take up the pace he's looking under his shoulder where is his teammate they're inside the last kilometer now of the Tour de France this year there is Paolo batini moving up as well the champion of Italy sent a left of the green top to his jersey the green jersey all of a sudden is right there of Robbie McEwen about 5th wheel down this could be a perfect approach the line though for Eric zorbel Baden cookies also there to Stuart O'Grady everybody is in the mix for what is going to be an incredible ride to the live the man giving them a ride is Alexander Vinokourov O'Grady is locked in behind baby cook as we test early McEwen is locked in behind babe cook now the crucial right turn to the finish now McEwen has won here twice he knows it well Bradley Magee brings them around the corner into the home straight he's got the lead out crooked on the right McEwen is on his way love great he goes on the left weeds arbol on his wheel Demi and lass on is coming towards us now and tórshavn is leading through push shot is going here comes clunky with his pretty that his team and McEwen is going with him van McEwen is coming on the right McEwen is gonna get win number three beat on the lights on Patrick that's on John Patrick Nizam gets it but I think Paul it will go to McEwen because he was right on the side of cook and I think there'll be nothing in it it's on count back it's going to be able to count back the difference between second and third is 4.8 at this level but that man Patrick now song came right up through the middle and I have to tell you that we have to count back to see just exactly what position let's have a look from the top here this is Nassau here who's charging up to the lime tour hasad is leading the sprint out there you've got made and cooked coming around the outside then all of a sudden is Robbie McEwen and look at this charge for the line here right up through the middle the pink jersey is John Patrick Nassau Oh Phil it's folks we have to look at it from the side it's gonna go between baden cook and robbie mckuhn if baden cook is second robby McEwan's third then the result of the king of the king of the sprints is going to go to baden cook [Music] well when the race jewelry had studied the photo they did eventually give second place to Baden cook which gave him first place in the points competition and this year's green jersey and there's the confirmed result Sean Patrick Nizam getting the win of his life on the Chantilly say Baden cook giving the second place of his life and Robbie McEwen a desperately disappointed third incidentally stood a great sixth place was enough to clinch him at the special centenary prize is the most consistent finisher in all six of the tour's original 1903 stage finish towns with Paris of course it was the last then here's a strange thing the yellow jersey losing 15 seconds on the final stage usually of course the riders in the main Bunch all get the same time but today there was a split in the bunch ruyan auric in the front half and I'm strong in the back meaningless of course in the grand scheme of things unlike Baden cooks second place this is only a second Tour de France and he was seen as very much the junior entrant in the points competition it was the health of his team he's taken it off Robert McEwen should be a great battle again between the pair of them next year here he is with men did you perhaps it was gonna be close but I thought you know Robbie's been so good over the last three days he's beating me most times we've lined up and this was going to go out there with no pressure today the team told me that didn't they didn't care if I want to last they said I've already had a good tour I could see Robbie was stressed blood I hadn't had a win and I think it played in the mind but hands that I just took it easy now let's quickly wrap up all the competitions within the race for you the king of the mountains was decided long ago Rishabha rank had that tied up well before the race left the Pyrenees Russia's Dennis men shot won the white jersey for the best rider in the race under 26 the team prize went to CSC who's tall looked over on stage one when Tyler Hamilton broke his collarbone bounced back with three stage wins for Carlos astray Jakob field and Hamilton himself the final overall standings look like this Lance Armstrong first a minute and one second ahead of yanil Ricky while Armstrong racks up his fifth tour when all Ricci is coming to terms with his fifth second place Alexander Vinokourov wrote a great race to finish third and of course Tyler Hamilton that was never expected to finish let alone place fourth behind him come who's Gail tells two Spanish riders I'm Arzu Bell dear and even my oh it's at least even Basso was seventh and Christophe Moreau was top place Frenchman in this year's tour he finished eighth there's my CSC won the team prize it's taken on the times of the three best place riders in your team as well as Hamilton in fourth they place Carlos Sastre ninth and Peter Lewton Berger 13th David Miller finished 55th with a superb time trial into his credit and the last man in the race of whom 147 of the original 198 made it to Paris his hands de Klerk of Belgium he came in over 4 hours and 48 minutes behind Lance Armstrong and there's the final standings graphic comes to life Armstrong or Rick and vinegar off and between them they help drive the race to a new record speed 40.94 zero was the average speed for the 3427 kilometers and as armstrong headed off the podium and into tour history is the latest member of the five-time winners club ned grabbed a word with him tiring but excellent that's about as good as it gets surely that was a tough one and when it's close in tough holiday now so the centenary tour is now history and a much bigger part of it than anyone could have imagined beforehand Lance Armstrong has already declared his intention to go for six for however many he eventually wins in his career it would take a phenomenal race to prevent his fifth going down as his finest Emma [Music]

Channel: Classic Cycling

Views: 70,283

Rating: 4.8496242 out of 5

Keywords: classic cycling, Tour de France, bicycle racing, grand tour, Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich, Alexander Vinokourov, Tyler Hamilton

Id: 8Vvj2NHuSKk

Length: 237min 17sec (14237 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2019