Lance Armstrong's first ride at Tour de France: neither bad nor great

[Bike_Tyson]

News Flash: Leipheimer out of the Tour with broken wrist
By:CyclingnewsPublished: July 17, 15:06, Updated: July 17, 13:08Edition:First Edition Cycling News, Friday, July 17, 2009
Levi Leipheimer crosses the finish line after being involved in a crash during the final kilometres of stage 12.
Bitter disappointment for Astana

Levi Leipheimer has been forced to abandon the Tour de France after breaking his wrist in a crash on stage 12 of the race on Thursday.

Cyclingnews spoke to an Astana's press officer, Phillipe Maertens, who confirmed that Leipheimer would not start stage 13 on Friday.

"He wasn't too bad last night but this morning, the pain was too much," he said. We took him to the hospital in Vittel, where scans revealed a transversal fracture of the scaphoid bone of the wrist. He is still in hospital now. He will certainly want to go home as soon as possible, but we haven't organised a flight yet."

Leipheimer sustained the injury in a crash 2.5 kilometres from the finish of stage 12 into Vittel. The Astana rider, who was in fourth place on GC, described the incident after completing the stage. "I was a bit surprised by a left corner and my tire was sliding. I couldn't quite save my bike from sliding out...so I slid out and hit the curb."

Cadel Evans of Silence-Lotto was also involved in the crash, but came away relatively unscathed. "My knee hurt. So instead of taking the bus to the hotel, I rode my bike," said Evans. "It was only four kilometers but enough to feel that there is no problem with the knee."

A disappointed Leipheimer, 35, confirmed the news on his Twitter account on Friday morning: "My wrist is broken. I can't describe how disappointed I am" read the post.

 

[BlueCat]

not good for Lance.
Leipheimer is his hardcore supporter.

 

[Baimi]

Yesterday Stage 14 Yellow jersey almost changed hand.
George Hincapie(former Armstong teammate) and a group of
breakaway riders finished more than 5 mins of the
poloton, he did not win the stage though.
His time now 5 secs behind Rinaldo Nocentini
in 2nd place.
Russian Sergei Ivanov of Katusha won stage 14.
Stage 15 will see more attacks and changes in positions
With Nocentini expected to lose the jersey
on Sunday's first day of three in the Alps.

 

[Baimi]

Stage 15 has to be one of the most exciting.
The breakaway group was some 3mins 30 secs ahead
towards the final 20km. The peloton managed to close the
gap steadily. Meanwhile A.Schleck was far away from the
small group of breakaway. Inside the final 10km,
when the peloton caught up with the breakaway group,
A.Schleck was still ahead.
A. Contador finally made his attacked from the peloton
no rider managed to keep pace. This was followed by a small
group of breakaway including L.Armstrong.
During the uphill finish, several attacks was made but disappointed,
L. Armstrong did not respond.
A. Contador caught A.Schleck in the last few hundred meters.
He won the stage and now wear the yellow jersey.
R.Nocentini dropped to 5th.

 

[Leongsam]

Meanwhile A.Schleck was far away from the
small group of breakaway. Inside the final 10km,
when the peloton caught up with the breakaway group,
A.Schleck was still ahead.

You must have been watching a different race in a different dimension. Andy Schleck was never in any breakaway.

 

[Baimi]

You must have been watching a different race in a different dimension. Andy Schleck was never in any breakaway.

He was in a small group of breakaway early in the race.
He later brokeaway from the group and no rider responded.
A. Contador caught him in the last km.

Results Sunday from the 128.9-mile Stage 15 from Pontarlier to Verbier, Switzerland

1. Alberto Contador, Spain, Astana, 5 hours, 3 minutes, 58 seconds.

2. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg, Team Saxo Bank, 43 seconds behind.

3. Vincenzo Nibali, Italy, Liquigas, 1:03.

4. Frank Schleck, Luxembourg, Team Saxo Bank, 1:06.

5. Bradley Wiggins, Britain, Garmin-Slipstream, same time.

6. Carlos Sastre, Spain, Cervelo Test Team, same time.

7. Cadel Evans, Australia, Silence-Lotto, 1:26.

8. Andreas Kloeden, Germany, Astana, 1:29.

9. Lance Armstrong, United States, Astana, 1:35.

10. Kim Kirchen, Luxembourg, Team Columbia-High Road, 1:55.

11. Roman Kreuziger, Czech Republic, Liguigas, 2:06.

12. Tony Martin, Germany, Team Columbia-High Road, 2:13.

13. Vladimir Karpets, Russia, Team Katusha, same time.

14. Maxime Monfort, Belgium, Team Columbia-High Road, 2:23.

15. Christophe Le Mevel, France, Francaise des Jeux, 2:32.

16. Igor Anton Hernandez, Spain, Euskaltel-Euskadi, 2:33.

17. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Belgium, Silence-Lotto, same time.

18. Peter Velits, Slovakia, Team Milram, 2:36.

19. Rinaldo Nocentini, Italy, AG2R-La Mondiale, same time.

20. Jose Angel Gomez, Spain, Cervelo Test Team, same time.

 

[BlueCat]

can they be playing those mind games ?
Lance said he will support Alberto Contador from now onwards.

 

[Leongsam]

He was in a small group of breakaway early in the race.
He later brokeaway from the group and no rider responded.
A. Contador caught him in the last km.

That's a load of bull. Schleck was never up the road. The peleton would never let him get away. He's a GC contender.

If you want to know how the stage unfolded, go to http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/96th-tour-de-france-gt/stages/stage-7/live-report

 

[Bike_Tyson]

Tom Boonen out of TdF, not sure why. And Jens Voight also out due to yesterday's crash.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/voigt-in-hospital-after-horrific-crash

Voigt in hospital after horrific crash
By:Susan WestemeyerPublished: July 21, 21:40, Updated: July 21, 22:13Edition:Second Edition Cycling News, Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) is always popular


view thumbnail gallery
(Updated) German considers himself lucky

Jens Voigt of Team Saxo Bank is doing "OK under the circumstances" after his Tour de France-ending crash on the final descent of stage 16, his team announced late Tuesday. The German appeared to lose his grip on the handlebars after hitting a bump in the road on the descent from the col du Petit Saint Bernard and he fell to the ground while going an estimated 80kph.

Voigt was taken to the University hospital in Grenoble and diagnosed with a fracture of the right cheekbone and a concussion. He will remain in the hospital for observation.

The father of five sent a message to his teammates from his hospital bed: "I think I was very lucky not getting severely hurt from today's crash. Now I hope that you can focus on the race and I wish you all good luck with the hard stage tomorrow”.

The crash, which occured near the beginning of the final descent of Tuesday's stage, could have had much more severe consequences. Voigt landed hard on his shoulder and head and slid several metres along the road. The race doctor who attended to him at the scene said that Voigt briefly lost consciousness.

"He is seriously injured, but conscious. He was able to move," said a visibly shaken team manager Bjarne Riis to the German press agency dpa after the stage.

A motorcycle carrying a photographer narrowly avoided hitting the fallen 37-year-old. "I saw him laying there with closed eyes and blood on his face," the driver said, adding that he had suspected the worst.

Voigt's fellow German Linus Gerdemann of Team Milram said "When you see a crash like that, nothing else much matters. It gives you goose bumps."

Voigt was part of the race-long break which went clear in the opening kilometres in advance of the Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard. Voigt was dropped on the day's second climb, the Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard, but fought his way back up to the yellow jersey group containing his teammates Andy and Frank Schleck before crashing on the descent.

 

[Baimi]

That's a load of bull. Schleck was never up the road. The peleton would never let him get away. He's a GC contender.

If you want to know how the stage unfolded, go to http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/96th-tour-de-france-gt/stages/stage-7/live-report

Perhaps you are right,
When the race was beamed live on Eurosport channel 113 on SCV
it has completed 3/4 of the race.
As i re-collect, one small group breakaway was some 3mins 30secs ahead
in the last 30km, this went on for a while until a group of saxobank riders upped
the pace and closed the gap steadily, and i was thinking it is too little too late
for the yellow jersey group to catch up.
And inside the final 10km A.Contador attacked and left the rest in their wake.