The 2000 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 1 July to 23 July 2000, and the 87th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced in August 2012 that they had disqualified Armstrong from all his results since 1998, including his seven Tour de France wins from 1999–2005; the Union Cycliste Internationale has confirmed this verdict.
The Tour started with an individual time trial in Futuroscope (not an official prologue because it was longer than 8 km)[2] and ended, traditionally, in Paris. The distance travelled was 3663 km (counter-clockwise around France). The Tour passed through Switzerland and Germany.
Before the race started, there were several favourites:[3] Armstrong, after his 1999 Tour de France victory; Jan Ullrich, having won the 1997 Tour de France, finishing second in the 1996 and 1998 tours, and not entering the 1999 Tour due to an injury; and 1998 Tour winner Marco Pantani. Richard Virenque finished 8th place in the 1999 Tour despite bad preparation, and for the 2000 edition he was considered an important rider. Fernando Escartín, Bobby Julich, Alexander Vinokourov and Alex Zülle were also considered contenders.
[Applause] hello and welcome to futuroscope on the outskirts of quatier and to the 87th running of the tour to France well over these past few years especially this event has delighted occasionally disappointed shocked and surprised us and there’s no reason to think now as we go into the next 23 days of racing
Things will change the greatest annual sporting event is about to go on the road to France yes indeed and we can expect more fireworks before Paris on July the 23rd the race this year is over 3,600 km and after the time trial here in futuroscope we have the return of the team time
Trial on Tuesday next week we are in the Pyrenees and in the final week we cross the difficult Alps on route for the traditional finish on the shanis in Paris last Thursday the Stars appeared a fit and indeed slim Yan urick Walk Tall affording private thoughts of a second
Tour win the tiny climber Marco Panton affording a smile after a fraud 12 months of little competition yet cannot be discounted and a relaxed defending Champion as American L’s Armstrong breeed into town ready for action but he’s well aware how important a good start is in the time trial
Opening um the first day is an opportunity to take what I consider to be serious time because it’s at 16 km you’re looking at 18 19 minutes that’s a chance on on some climbers to take close to two minutes so Lance is the last to
Start of the 180 Riders and we can now go to the action in this first a time trial in the comment box with me is Paul shery so the arrival of David Miller as he lines up for the finish here now he set the best time at Midway through the
Course is he going to produce the surprise now for Great Britain there it is a one against the leader on the board Miller is in with a chance here now it’s not going to be by very much it’s a long way up this home straight Miller is challenging the longtime leader of the
Former world champion Lauren jalab his first tour to France can he do what Chris bourman did and go out with a win in the opening day and claim a lead’s yellow Jersey we’re going to know very shortly now because a lot of riders have finished only a few to start as Miller
Comes up to the line he’s got the target 19 minutes and 3 seconds now the rest have it all to do Miller has set down the best time well call that was an outstanding ride by Miller and one we expected I think well I expected him to get high
Filled many many people really felt that this man could finish in the top 10 but to put the fastest time in so far is really quite remarkable out on the course though rri has now gone in at the first second time check here with the
Same time as jalb and Miller as well and this is on the climb of the coat toj a Clan which is a 3.7% 1 km climb and there’s nothing in it here between the top three now the winner of one year to go Lance Armstrong makes a depart he
Started winning in the first event last year Well in fact you notice Armstrong is not wearing the yellow Jersey as defending champion from last year because this stage today Phil has been classified as a stage not as a prologue it’s 16 1 12 kilometers long Armstrong
Is out on course and he’s trying to go go out there and rival the times of David Miller we swinging around a bit now and we’re back here to number 57 Abraham Alano as Yan urick the world time trial Champion there’s a little bit of a nasty surprise he’s catched he’s
Caught rather Marco pantani well pantani didn’t start off very well in the p in the prolog a couple of years ago today and for him at the first week is trying to survive trying not to lose too much time the next man we’re looking at here
Is Alex zulla and you can see nowadays all of these bicycles resembling what the union CLE International regard as bicycles you know though to have to say Phil rri is looking very strong he is looking very strong and the liks of zulla is losing seconds not just to orip
But also to David Miller who is still the leader back at the Finish now one man I thought might have challenged Miller is Kristoff Moro and he’s not going to get even near conceding more than a minute there as he comes in 24th at the moment now look at this at the 8
Kilomet check Miller best through there as well and he’s still looking good Armstrong running him close well 3 seconds at the moment David Miller is the fastest time of the 8 km time check out on the course 6 seconds ahead of jalab rri now Phil closing in on the
Line Yan urick is looking extremely good and a surprised many by how fit he really is looking now Mr por Pai they used to call him just a couple of months ago he’s had a reasonable tour of Switzerland where he was the race leader
But he seemed to me to let that race run away from him but now he’s home and ol is in and a good ride one a 197 17 is time the arrival of pantani will be considerably slower an awful long way down but that’s not what is important
For Marco pantani it’s the rest of this toour of France Abraham Alano is the next man to come to the line and he too Phil has faded over the last few kilometers another former well time trial Champion will not be happy with his opening stage of the tour to France
The 162 kilometers and that is 1942 for him well he really has faded over the L part but this man is at the moment rivaling the time of David Miller Miller is already in with the B best time so far another man on the start line this
Year mck Bartley good ride by him to Phi inside the top 15 new champion of Italy by the way just wi his title just on a week ago as we’re now looking at the legs here of Lance Armstrong and he is running very very close to Miller’s time
Now and realistically Paul this man is the only Rider now who can stop Miller winning because here is the arrival of Alex zul and for a man who has won the prologue time TR in the past which this is a little bit further of course it’s
Not a great ride for zulla but he comes in fourth just now losing 20 seconds on David Miller’s time but this is the last man who can beat him L’s Armstrong has posted great times out on the course field coming up to the line that is the
Time to beat and in fact to the 13 kmet time check they’re saying Armstrong was ahead this has come to a Sprint to the line here and Lance Armstrong could well be doing the ride of his life to win the first stage and take the race lead his
Yellow Jersey it is all on this finish here as he comes up the straight in futuroscope but it’s going to be desperately close now there’s the leading time of Miller it survived all day as Armstrong 1 second down and a few kilometers to go is he going to build on
That or is he going to slow down and he isn’t going to do it Paul David Miller has won and Lance Armstrong will finish second well that is amazing over the last few kilometers Armstrong slowed and it would allow David Miller the early starter to take out the victory by a
Mere 2 seconds over the defender Champion well the big pumping legs of the defending tour Champion Lance Armstrong his form definitely coming good doof as he now looks forward to three weeks on the road in the Tour of France but he must be a little bit surprised by the ride of the British
Rider from cofish David Miller one of the youngest riders in the race and coming to the first tour to France and he gets the victory over Lance Armstrong still there’s no doubt that Armstrong has laid down the gauntlet here for others to see look at at this now it’s a
Good start for your defense just two seconds off the win jalur taking third place but in his first T to France David Miller has done what Chris bourman has done in the past and pull on the leaders yellow Jersey so this was a superb ride by David Miller the first leader of the
Tour of France a Powerhouse all of the way as he thumped around quite a difficult course here at the theme park a futuroscope on the outskirts of quatier and now it’s off and around Applause from the race director Jean Marie leelon 1210 in the morning futuroscope to ludan
Now 194 km and David Miller in the yellow Jersey how does he feel well he must feel absolutely fantastic but such a slim margin fi just two seconds and out on the course there are time bonuses and as you can see an excellent day today a 20 km wind from the southwest
And 24° C these guys will enjoy their racing today and three Riders not allowed to start the tour to France by the way yesterday sery iov the champion of Russia and hman and also ran brassi with the two high hematocrite levels Breakaway here this is Eric DEA and who
Else but Jackie Duron the lantern Rouge of the toour FR last year they are out on the attack well out on the attack Jackie Duron Not only was he last last year in the Tour of France he was voted the most aggressive bike rider of the
Tour of France and he deserved the title too but Eric Deca having ridden the to of Italy also there in that Breakaway we said only to Jaan joined the medical test that he really we wished him well on his Lon Scapes here is the spint at chatow at 1382 kilometers now the field
More or less Racing for third place because of a couple of minutes behind and David Miller the cheek of it is going to take himself at two second time bonus now that’s a little bit of a turn up for the books a two-minute Gap because DEC has already gone through
With Jackie Durant as they continue on the way there’s the result of the Sprint well one big man missing from the race this year is the Sprinter big Mario himself let’s go now to Gary imlac who will update us on that Cho’s absence will be significant
Less for the lack of costume changes and dodgy publicity stunts we’re going to see as for the effect it’ll have on his perennial rivals in the first week Sprints Robbie no chip this year no s Robbie mchan said it everyone else just thought it beating your Rivals is one thing doing it dressed as Caesar could be construed as taking the postrace urine sample anyway mchan who won last year’s final Sprint on the Shan
Su is just one of a bunch who’ll be jockeying to take Mario’s Place on the podium during the flat opening stages the Estonian Sprinter Yang kipo won the first stage last year and held on to the yellow Jersey for a week Belgium’s Tom Steels won the next two who then got
Disqualified to hand chiellini the first of his record breaking four in a row he has to be considered the leading Contender your own BL leens of Holland was averaging a stage a year before missing the race last year and the senior member of the bunch is Germany’s Eric zabble with seven career wins
Although the last was in ’97 but although they may be happy to see Mario go there are mixed feelings about the loss of the big red sco train that used to deliver him to the finish and keep the race under control in the process it’s a big difference or not because uh
It was the only team with with a lot of experience and all thewi is uh yeah they were used to it now and now uh it’s going to be difficult to control the the bench for the for the last kilometers now I think uh this year we
Have a a more open situation in the race so it’s it’s hard uh especially for my team to control the the bunch of course less control means more danger in a race that already has the most dangerous Sprints in the world it’s going to be some some difficult Sprints
I think in the tour they’re always a little bit over the edge I think but now uh if there’s only one team that that is trying to control the the last 10 kilm it is much so let’s hope that uh that we can uh survive it well whoever wins
Today it’s unlike they’ll be using the opportunity to dress up as a Roman Emperor at tomorrow’s stage start although Chip’s latest uniform violation actually consists of getting his kit off Al together in an advert for a shoe manufacturer anyway the key thing for cofidis and David Miller is that it’s a
Nice bun Sprint today with a bit of Glory for the fast men and no change in the overall classification well I’ll tell you what Gary that’s exactly how it’s going to work out now because it looks Paul as we run down to the finish here at Luda that
The Telecom team again are trying to bring their man to the front Eric Zabo 1,000 M at the last kilometer for these Riders now but you can see the organization is not here with the absence of Mario chiellini the pink and white jerseys on the front half was Eric
Zabble but on the right hand side the mape Riders are also trying to line it up there is Paulo betini taking the line around the corner first looking over his shoulder Robbie mccuan is right in there as well and so is Stuart O’Grady well the first stage for the sprinters of the
Tour they’ve averaged 4 and a half kilometers an hour today to keep this race together now but poo Lan Franky it is who swings off the front and the Telecom boys are now looking around for zaral Tom Steels in there but not looking too content at all as they now
Move up towards the line here now and it isan Mato Panini who again is looking to lead out zaral this is the man who was brought over from a chiellini Seiko team this year and zaral is now in a perfect position here as they run towards the
Line but Tom Steels has pushed his way out of the pack there Roman ve stains on his wheel as fenini launch is z for the line this is going to be a very tight Sprint because we’ve also got Stuart o Grady in there as well as he comes on
The left of our picture but I think on the line Steels has stolen it from ogrady and Eric zaral but that was a royal Sprint with all of them desperate for the first big win of the tour very nervous Sprint as well Phil we saw a lot
Of arms and legs coming out of the the way there as everybody tried to go forward Marcel was caught in the middle there as well almost losing it this is the lead out here you see that almost losing it Tom Steels comes right around fanini loses a lot of impetus V Stein’s
Moving up around the outside as well but once he gets the acceleration going it’s all the way to the line for Tom Steels there in the middle was wor in the king of the mountains Jersey a lead that he took in the opening time trial and St o’
Grady on the inside by the barriers field throws it at the line but just a little bit too late well oh Grady be quite pleased because he’s aiming for the green jersey that Eric Z has won for these past four years and that’s a good start for the Australian getting second
Tom steel said before the start of the tour he’d be content with one stage win so now I guess he can be content Marcel wust by the way weing the king of the mountains Jersey there he finished his fifth here because he was the best time
In the time trial up the small climb he went out in the time trial just to be the best time there and then EAS back as he raced towards the Finish but he’s got himself a Jersey to where there is the confirmation of that result well that
Was a great result but you know because the time trial was so long for there’s been no real ch in the overall standings ogrady and Zabo very happily up there in second and third place but the next Sprints are announcing that they’re going to be fairly aggressive the overall standings you can
See Lance Armstrong losing a couple of seconds there 4 seconds behind David Miller Lauren jalar 15 seconds back but for David Miller it’s another day in the yellow Jersey out on the road a title he hopes to keep hold of Phil until we get to the team time trial in a couple of
Days time hello and welcome to stage three now of the tour to France the ride is heading for non and into Western France well yesterday David Miller found the true value of having a strong team about him he’ll expect the same again today one thing’s for sure he’s not
Overwhelmed by wearing the leader’s yellow Jersey as he told Gary imlac everybody in the bunch is coming up and saying well done and it gets like having a VIP pass and you’re in the bunch you just go wherever you want and do whatever you want everyone lets you
Through and Life’s a lot easier basically plus I got a whole team riding in front so I don’t have to do much and at least one more day of it before the team time tra yeah yeah yeah I think so no problems well that’s certainly very confident Phil no problems because there
Are always problems out on the roads of the torto France the yellow Jersey of Miller alongside the king of the mountains Jersey of wuss the green jersey on the shoulders of Tom Steels the white jersey at the moment well that is a jersey that is being worn by the
Best young rider in the Tour of France and it’s the first time it’s actually been reintroduced after an absence of many years that for the moment is being wared by David canyada there’s the weather today very low wind speed 15 km an hour coming in from the southwest we
Are racing actually in a Westerly direction today so it’s going to help them a little bit I think glorious day here as we race now towards n and the coast and the Riders There’s Tom Steels already in green the jersey of course which Eric zoral wants and zel has
Plenty of time yet well there’s going to be a big competition for the green jersey because Stuart ogrady the Australian has already announced that that’s the title he wants to take back to Sydney that he wants to ride around the streets when he’s going to defend
And try and get himself an Olympic gold medal Stewie is still the only Australian ever to have worn that Jersey which he has done bedly now this is Yen Zabo here in the green very ad call and with is Michael blowen of the memory card Jack and Jones team they’ve been
Away they got away at the 27th kilometer but they are now all back together it’s been a long chase down but you know Paul we’re heading up here for possibly another Sprint finish now well they had a maximum advantage of over 6 minutes at one stage but you know it’s a strange
Tour the opening couple of days so far because with the absence of Mario chelini from the race none of the sprinters at the moment Phil really seem to want to control the race we saw a lot of work done early on by David Miller cofed his team but the big teams for
Tomorrow’s team time trial the on Squad the US Postal Service team they’ve been completely absent but coming into the streets of town it is all together it’s a nasty approach in tonight this is one of two tricking little bends the field is all together as they get under 2 km
To go there now and that’s the sort of example of the traffic Furniture put down in the French streets now it causes quite a few problems and this Pelon is absolutely flying now it looks like Freddy Rodriguez on the front doz rid has gone down there Phil right in the
Middle of the road some of the sprinters have gone down there on the yellow on the yellow Jersey is David Miller he too has been caught out by that accident well it was some sort of Ricochet crash a touch of wheels in the middle and down
Has gone a long laf fron is the rider Miller is on the side of the road there now we’re not inside the last kilometer pole which means he is losing time he’s got to get back well his teammate is right up there alongside him he’s going
To have to get back very quickly this is Marcus zberg on the floor the new champion of Switzerland he doesn’t look too good for the moment he looks as if he might have a problem with his collarbone but for David Miller the important thing is to try and get onto
The back of the main field but that crash May well have caused a small split well this is a desperate Chase now for Miller to get back on Jean Patrick Nazo was the rider who seemed to cause the accident his teammates are waiting for him but Miller’s not waiting for them
That is a very fine piece of riding because he is tacked on here it’s taken him about half a mile that’s all at the front end now the Sprint is starting Miller is on the back end of the bunch but I do believe the bunch is slightly
Split Stephan bessman here now and on his wheel is Freddy Rodriguez the new champion of the United States a trying to mix in Rodriguez now looking for Tom Steels he’s in the green jersey but there’s a couple of lead out men lining up a Ste Ste now and this could be a
Very good approach cuz I think that’s fenini in second place Tom Steels in third zal’s Got a Good Wheel in fourth and so too steuart ogrady is lined up once again a Sprint Royale here as the Riders head up towards the line now and they they’re trying to launch Tom steel
Here to the Finishing Line surely he is not going to make it to look at the face of Steels as Steels comes off the wheel of fenini now zaral has got him lined up on his shoulder as Marcel V comes on the right of our picture but no doubt about
It Paul Tom Steels has done it again he’s got a big thank you there to say to Stefano zanini I didn’t think he was ever going to come past his Italian teammate there he was at full speed right on the wheel but he was holding back and waiting this is a very
Difficult Sprint to judge you can see how long it is the important thing now though Phil looking back down this line is to see just where is David Miller and the yellow Jersey there was a split at the front of that main field what we
Have to know now is was L Armstrong in the front there’s Miller the yellow Jersey of Miller coming in at the rear end of this bunch and it’s going to be a long time for him to count and see if he’s going to keep that yellow Jersey
Because at the start of the day his Advantage was a mere 4 seconds well in fact Paul the first 25 Riders have been given a 9C advantage over the Miller group but that will not lose in the lead because in fact in that group was also Armstrong so he will keep his race
Leaders yellow Jersey rri was paying attention though because he was in the front split well Oli being very attentive and I have to say I think Yan olick is in excellent form there the grayhead gentleman talking to David Miller is his team manager Alan bondu a former two-time champion of the world
And here is confirmation of that stage result Phil Steels ahead of v and zabble the big sprinters are all there Jan courts in fourth place stward O’Grady in fifth and there’s the confirmation the overall Armstrong now second of 4 seconds as jalur six rri closes in to
Fourth place now 7 Seconds back and the race now making ready for the team time trial today as we leave n heading for s nazer it’s a 70 km team time trial reintroduced into the race but before they get to the start David Miller can
Smile the French is saying well he is a little bit Dandy which is a fine English phrase and he says yes I am and enjoying it but how this crash almost robbed him of the yellow Jersey and what great courage he shown and sense of positioning as well to get back on his
Bike and save the day he’s now achieved his ambition Paul he started the team time trial in yellow but the Cofe team here have done a ride the best team in his credit agrial cedes are going to come in a best third well this has been
A very difficult race you know 70 km a lot of the teams have been built specifically for this team time trial which has been reintroduced this year Miller has looked strong throughout although his team have lost one or two Riders over the last climb of the day
The pond sanzar Miller is going to lead them over in the yellow Jersey they will lose some time but feel the best teams are still to come they are there are still four teams to come telec confest on and US poster who are leading the team so they get to start last David
Miller has done his best there with what we think is a reasonbly good ride but it won’t be good enough I don’t think to give him the leaders yellow jersey for another day this is the next team in zal’s team and they’re Racing for different reasons right now they’re
Racing now to put Yan olrick right up on the leaderboard well basically the way the races at the moment Phil any one of these teams that gets first man across the line is going to look at getting the new yellow jersey in the Squad Deutsch’s Telecom are going to push credy agricol
Out of the first position what a great ride V nuker off is up there in first position Yan rri is safely in this group at the moment and Deutsche Telecom fi are going to come in here with the fastest time the new best time on the
Day well the faces on these guys set it all because the ride over the bridge and we’ll see it shortly is so difficult it’s causing a lot of teams to fragment up there there’s oric on the left of our picture and the set fur here for the
Best time they’re just going to creep inside credy agrial 12701 let’s go out to the bridge now and look at US Postal and Lance Armstrong is having to slow down to regroup the team well they’re having a hard time keeping all together this is Frankie andreo
Riding the tour to France for the ninth time Phil in succession the greatest thing an American has ever done at the tour to France and Frankie has ridden and finished every one of his tours so far Armstrong now is having to slow down for the rest of the team here because
The time counts on the fifth man across the line he cannot ride away on his own to Pro prove how powerful he is he’s got to wait for the team well at all of the time checks so far on who are in front here of US postal and heading for the
Finish are setting the best markers and US postal have been a 3 seconds behind at the first check and 133 seconds behind at the next they’re just slipping away slightly that’s the latest now on are still the best deut Telecom in second but on Phil here we are looking
At them now I’ve got all Riders together there’s still nine men look at this speed over 50 km an hour at the moment the white Jersey in that group was kyata this now is the US Postal Service team they are down to six Riders and look at Tyler Hamilton wearing number four at
The back of the group here he’s all over his machine he’s trying to stay in contact this is the man who earlier this year won the doof Liber and they are losing time 38 seconds behind on but they are ahead of Team Deutsche Telecom well on are now heading into the finish
And here they come David Canady is the rider in the white Young jersey at the moment that’s another reintroduction into the tour this year now this is going to be the best time because it’s been indicated throughout the course now it’ll set the marker for US Postal to
Follow the clock stops on the fifth man 12535 that is the time and a whisker under 50 km an hour all nine men that was the important thing they save themselves over the final few kilometers to keep the nine men there and in the last 10 kilometers that is what counts
To have a full team working together the face of Laurence jaler there in the middle tells it all as does that of Abraham Alano coming across the line right now this is the time of reference for the US Postal Service but there’s no organization at all in this team now
Phil they are all over the place this team was looking extremely fluid till they started the climb of the Ponto San Nazar and since then they’ve been a little bit ragged they know they’ve got to finish five men one or two of the Riders have been openly struggling
Including Tyler Hamilton now they are racing to finish second team here and they may not ConEd too much to the onsay the ons of course carrying two possible candidates there for victory in Lawrence y B and Abraham Alano but they would like to score over the Telecom team at
Least now here they come as they’re being led up to the finishing line by big George hppi and racing akimov in second wheel here remember they tried to bring home the defending tour Champion to keep him high in the overall classification well as we said they’re
Not going to match the on Deutsche Bank but they have got second conceding 46 seconds George takes off his helmet well I think they’ll be reasonably happy with that they knew they had to beat torture Telecom they may well not be too worried about Abraham Alano and Lauren xaler but
For this team they were in serious difficulty fil over that pond sanzar but this out on the course was a serious incident the onsay team were actually waiting for their man to get onto the back of the group here and this is maros Sano wearing number 59 a man who could
Make feature highly when we get to the mountains the team car here has come alongside now bear in mind the wind is coming from the left hand side the race referees have decided to give every man in the team a 22nd time penalty well I’m afraid that was a s move but he
Might have saved more than 20 seconds because he was able to get him back in the group and this happened to the on team about 3 kilomet after the start there was a number of workers here protesting about the closure of a local disco and made a deliberate attempt to
Stop the team they didn’t even hesitate although they’re saying they lost maybe 10 seconds but they still won the day finishing 26 ahead of US Postal in the end a minute 6 over telekom and ulri and 112 over C the agrial with Bobby julick and Jonathan BS in that the yellow
Jersey changed his shoulders and now it is a Frenchman in the leaders yellow Jersey and Lawrence jalur is back once and for all canat is in second place Armstrong has dropped to third Abraham Alano is now in fourth Marcus Serano did well to hang on because now he is up
Into eighth place overall pole well the team time trial certainly has formed the top of the overall standings for the next few days and I don’t expect that Phil is going to change very much on the stage from Van to vitre a fairly flat course fairly flat course indeed as
We’re heading out as we continue now right uh Inland again from Van we just moved up the coast from saner for a lovely start here at 12:40 in the afternoon in France and the days have not been really hot and sunny but they have been quite Pleasant at the moment
And the new man on the Block Lawrence jaler didn’t ride the tour the far last year and just that scant 12 seconds and not surprisingly either all of the Telecom boys are claiming a lot of the overall classifications now well the strange thing is Phil in their morning
Press they had said they weren’t going to defend the overall lead but we have seen a lot of onsay on the front of this main field well the weather has changed the rain has come down it’s still fairly warm at 23° C and still the wind a
Slight problem 20 km an hour from the southwest well I shouldn’t have mentioned the weather pool as usual of course he does what the commentator says it won’t do we’ve had a little bit of a shower now they quite heavy storms when they pass through as we come to the
Sprint now at Mo 52 km covered and Yen Voit on the attack again here with Sebastian Demar Bay and uh in fact these two Riders Paul have got away a again and vo lining himself up for the most aggressive Rider the main field is only just behind some sorry yes 15 seconds
Back at the moment well there’s David Miller he started this tour off in the yellow Jersey he’s now down in 24th Place overall and Marcel Ville is the king of the mountains which really is quite humorous for him because he really has a hard time going over even the
Slightest mounted on this course well Marcel’s last tour to France by the way was in 1992 so at least he’s back here as we continue on now to the arak Sprint and again a little breakway here with CR runout going through but what about the
Man who is in the overall lead he still sat back in that main field doesn’t seem too keen on um trying to stop these attacks today as we C through these beautiful villages on the ELA vain in France as we Race Across the Kore and
Onto the e aain let’s go to Gary imlac now who’s going to tell us a little bit more about the return of L jaler to the tour to France so the French have their first yellow Jersey for two years and joy should be unconfined throughout toot Lael France things are never that
Straightforward on the tour though and this yellow Jersey belongs to a Frenchman who lives in Switzerland rides for a Spanish team and has a very complicated relationship with his home race laen jaler started life in the tour as a sprinter and almost finished it the
Same way oh Nelis goes on the left the rest of following Martinelli is here too for the py team as they come up towards the line Nelis is taking oh and they’ve gone they’ve gone one after the other they’ve hit the barriers Nellis was not looking where he was going that crash in
1994 the fault of a policeman who stepped out into the road to take a photo put jalab out of action for months when he’d recovered he was a different Rider the top speed was lower but the fuel economy was up he’d become an allrounder on his return to the tour the
Following year he took the yellow Jersey on stage two but although he changed his luck apparently hadn’t they realize that Mario chalini has got a chance to win this stage and it looks today as if it will go and there’s somebody gone down in the corner oh my goodness me that was
The roundabout we were warned about and they’ve gone straight on into the barriers and I have a feeling feel there it may well be that the yellow Jersey went down there Lauren jaler was the yellow Jersey on the right hand side he’s outside the 1 kilm sign so it may
Well be he’s going to lose it today that crash no police officers as implicated lost him the yellow Jersey but that year he wore the green of the points Competition winner won a stage in Mond on bastile day and finished fourth overall his best ever tour Shala went on
To be National Champion world number one and along with Risha Veron one of the twin Heroes of French cycling Veron Flash and flamboyant jalar stoic almost Jurassic a rider out of the old mold which made the events of 1998 all the more traumatic for him and his fans
Unlike for long jalab was never implicated in the drug scandal that engulfed the 98 tour but he was a spokesman for the Riders who felt harassed by the police tactics and eventually he left the race in disgust along with his onsite teammates afterwards he fell out badly with the French cycling establishment
Snubbing the national championships last year and boycotting the tour tempers have cooled since then this year jal’s back and he’s taken the second yellow Jersey of his career this one though is perhaps less as an individual French Rider than as the leader of a foreign Team well there he is and he’s riding his ninth tour to France Lawrence jaler now and looking pretty cool in the race leaders jersey could take this all the way down to the Pyrenees you know the Gap is a minute and 32 seconds for the Breakaway really having got away today
With that attack by Yen vo and dear after about 51 km but they’re just hanging on here now and the bunch they don’t look around because they’re almost up behind them this is unbelievable Deckers the man in first position there Yen voy is the man in second position
And the Sprint is led up the front there by the pink and white jerseys of the Telecom team of Eric zabble these guys Phil have been trying to hold on to the slenderest of advantages and it’s coming down it’s going to go down to the last few hundred meters the two survivors of
A fiveman breakaway and the Finish is inside the unfortunate thing is it’s aot long straight road and as you can see it is also slightly uphill and again it is fed Rodriguez the US champion who’s doing so much hard work and I think this time they’ve got them well vo looks over
His shoulder there Freddy Rodriguez out of the saddle now this man has really become a top professional this year Phil he digs deep for him the Sprinter to the back wheel of Eric deer and then he will swing off and Lead it all up to team Telecom in second position is Jan Mato
Fanini on his wheel is zabble right in there is the green jersey of Steels well as they come up to towards the line now it’s going to be a very tight Sprint indeed this one but again fanini is giving zaral a perfect lead out Steels is running behind and Steels also got
His lead out man but on the left of the picture Z and W’s gone across there now Marcel W who’s never won a stage of the tour I think he’s about to change it because he’s got the measure of zaral so he’s had a third a second and now he’s
Got his first ever stage Victory absolutely unbelievable what a dangerous Sprint though fenini fanini moving across the road there just sitting up as soon soon as he launched Eric zabble into his attack but this man winning the lead as Jersey of the king of the mountains competition Phil he’s going to
Have a real laugh about that well he’s had some regular appeares on the podium if only to get a new king of the mountains Jersey every day because we’ve had no mountains to contest since the prologue time trial but look at the way he realized that zarola got the jump
Over Tom Steels on this occasion dived across to the right picked up the Germans wheel and this is a German one two and the history books show there are very very few German onews ever recorded in a stage finish of the tour to France it’s unfortunate zabble would have liked
It to have been the other way around and in fact Stefano anini the lead out man for Steels finished in front of him and got the third place can you believe that looking at the face of Steels there he wasn’t happy with his Sprint today the confirmation of V Vin ahead of zabble
Zanini third and Tom Steels fourth but what a great job done there by Freddy Rodriguez the US champion and a bunch Sprint and this is how you do it when you want to win a Sprint but there’s a little confusion as to which domestic was leading out whom on this occasion
But even so they found the right winner in the end because Marcel was absolutely delighted with that Sprint Victory the first ever in a tour to France but the long Breakaway today Yen Voit was part of it and he really was the hero of the
Day I think and so does Paul Yen that was that was so close yeah today I was really disappointed because uh it looked really like just until the very last end it looked really really good for us and I really thought we could make it and
But finally they just get us like it happens almost that’s a shame because Yen voy is really a very aggressive ride in this year’s tour this man cannot believe this opening few days of the tour to France he’s never come off the podium Marcel V getting the Winner’s prize but Lawrence
Jaler keeping the mayos jwn no change overall at all with The Big Field coming down that home straight all together there so jalab ahead of canyata and Lance Armstrong looking extremely good in third place there’s the kisses from the young ladies in yellow and Laurence jaler salutes the
Crowd here he is still a very popular figure here especially in this part of France which is a cycling hot bed onto stage six now 198 kilm saying goodbye to vitr and on to the famous cycling city of tour and sadly with 80 kilm to go Paul this crash involving Stuart ogrady
Well that’s bad news for the Australian he’s looking like a serious candidate for the green jersey which has been Eric zbl for the last four years but the way he was holding his shoulder there Phil I do happen to think that he has got a problem with his collar bone yes it
Doesn’t look good at all in fact and the lantern R so far is also in trouble Matos he doesn’t look too good either but the Riders slowly are getting themselves underway and Stuart ogrady looking with the best part of 85 km still to ride to the finish and that
Might be a tough call judging by by the way he’s looking anyway he’s underway and as he’s on his way we can now go back again to Gary imlac who is now going to tell us a little other Fable that he finds out about the tour to
France and he really does dig deep for them so let’s join Gary now in American television terms cycling has a profile somewhere between tempin bowling and competitive aerobics but the Americans do love a good human interest story so the fact that Lance Armstrong came back
From cancer to win the Tour has made him a huge star and to his credit he’s capitalized on that to raise awareness and money for the fight against the disease the first toast and I would like uh all cancer survivors in the room to stand up Lance Armstrong was on his hind legs
For most of the offseason spreading the word and swelling the coffers of cancer Charities cashing in on a public profile even Greg lamond in his Heyday never had because he’s an inspiration to people everywhere we chose to tour to France winner Lance Armstrong as the most fascinating person of
1999 ladies and Gentlemen please welcome 1999’s SB comeback athlete of the Year T def FR Champion Lance [Applause] Armstrong it was uh it was Major for cycling but it was also major for cancer and I think that the combination of the two uh made it a story
I think had I just won the Tour to France and never had an illness like cancer perhaps it wouldn’t have been told as uh as much but the Lance Armstrong comeback tour started with a parade through his hometown of Austin Texas continued with the ceremonial appearance for the local
College football team and finished up where all celebrity stories do on the talk shows what has your life been like since then just nuts I guess huh nuts yeah just basically nuts and just to keep life from returning to normal a second generation Armstrong celebrity arrived
In the shape of Luke David conceived by invitro fertilization from sperm that had been stored before Lance’s chemotherapy it was hectic I mean there were times where I really wished that I had a whole month to stay at home and just be with my family but at the same
Time that I have a responsibility to the cancer community and to the cycling Community to to tell the story not to mention the responsibility he has to himself and his family to cash in on the Rel ly short shelf life of an athletes marketability which he’s been doing with
Ads for everything from breakfast cereal to Pharmaceuticals he even manages to get copy out of the whispering campaign conducted against him in last year’s tour everybody wants to know what I’m on what am I on I’m on my bike bused my ass 6 hours a
Day what are you on now as well as dealing with everything else Lance of course is also trying to defend his title and we’ll hear from him again in a few days talking about the race his rival and especially the upcoming Mountains for the moment though let’s go back to
The race on the road so as you look down from the helicopter now we’re looking down on the leaders of the Tour of France and these 12 Riders are still there the reason being the bunch has turned off again and this Breakaway now leading by about 7
And 1 half minutes they are set fair now to take out the stage and the overall leader of the Tour of France will be either Alberto Ellie for deutche Telecom or fabri goo for the C credy agrial because they are split overall by just 12 seconds and that 12 seconds is on the
Finishing Line fil because it’s 20 seconds for the first man to cross the line but Alberto Ellie is a very crafty bike rider he knows all he has to do is keep an eye on the cred Agri call Rider fabris gugo and if in fact he finishes
Just in front of him there’s no problem for this man who is almost the oldest bike rider in the race on the front though you can see the acceleration is coming from Mark valters the rabo bank Rider keeping the Pace High I think they’re trying to sort it out for Marcus
Zberg the champion of Switzerland well the one thing’s for sure now Paul AR jaler meant what he said when he would not defend that leader yellow Jersey because the on team were called off the front of the bunch and this Breakaway has versally been away right from the start well they went
After 14 kilometers but the big Advantage here is for the rabo bank team feel they’ve got three riders in this Breakaway and I cannot believe a man from France in the yellow Jersey has led a group go off the front he has thrown away the lead in the bike race to the
Man at the moment in second position or the man in third I’m not surprised at a big Counterattack coming here from Jose Lis arieta and they’re all now chasing him this is one of the most famous finishing Straits in the world of cycling and Paul Sharon himself has
Raced down here in the par tours classic all of these Riders know this sort of finish including Mark wouters who is in this Breakaway because he was the winner of the last edition of Parry tour and he’s just tailed off the back of the group now as he watches his teammate
Come clear so there he is Leon vanon has won the stage and in the distance there you may have noticed the hand going up of Mark wouters because that was the plan and Leon Van Bon has got the stage but the high finishing Alberto Ellie
Will be the new leader of the Tour of France and really that was not expected it certainly wasn’t but what a great career for this man the main field field coming in 7 minutes and 49 seconds behind and the yellow Jersey of Lauren geler has disappeared from the top of
The leaderboard but what a very sad day for steuart O’Grady he will be taken to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone well and he’s com in all the way to the finish on his bike with his arm draped over the handlebars unable to pull on those bars a brave man indeed is
The on top and gets a second stage victory for him in the tour to France he won the last time in Po in 1998 the race goes on hello again and welcome back to our coverage of the tour to France the Riders on stage seven now leaving tours
And heading to L Mo 205 kilometers for them today and sadly without Stewart o Grady and when Gary imlac caught up with Stewie last night in his hotel he was understandably pretty despondent yeah I I knew soon as I landed like on My Head and Shoulder that
Something wasn’t right and I was pretty dazed at the time and uh someone just kind of picked me up and put me back on my bike and you know on you show I couldn’t couldn’t even put any pressure on it that something wasn’t right
And um kind of gred to the finish and uh yeah it’s broken collar bone on the shoulder joint or something so what were those last 80k like I just wanted to get off but I don’t know just kind of just telling myself like um you know just few more K and I
Couldn’t pull on the bars so every time we coming to a little even a speed hunt P just getting dropped and one of the other guys was just pushing me back on and just I don’t know just thinking this will finish and you know everything will be
Okay it’s always a shame when a tough bike rider has to pull out of the tour but the x-rays Phil revealed that his collarbone was broken in three places and he’s now been transported to bordo for a special operation and there’s the weather 20 km per hour coming from the West today as
The Riders head due south more or less away from tours down to L Mo so they’re going to have a crosswind but it’s not that strong the Telecom team are trying to get zaral points at the intermediate spring competition and here’s the first one now at Lo and let’s have a look if
He’s in the action he certainly is in the action he’s just behind the motorbike here he gets the six points for the Jersey ly o is second and Marcel V still challenging in that competition he is third so that’s a good start for the Telecom and for zabble in particular
Well Eric zabble knows how to battle for this competition Phil he will go out for all of the intermediary Sprints and try and be consistent as he has been over the last four years but the big attempt attt now to make him number one is this man’s addition to the team Jam Mato
Fanini the former leader lead out man for Mario chalini and he certainly is a super asset for the team well he led out Eric zal indeed to the win in Milan Sano this year and now we’ve moved on to Mar Martin Z at 75 kilomet and Jackie Duron
Is causing a little bit of a ripple of concern here with anelo and venti Garcia aosta next in line so no points for zaral and the man who has ignored them all now gone off on his own in the rain this is Kristoff anelo former winner of
The tour of Switzerland and now heading off in rather a dreary set of circumstances up towards the third Sprint here at rusak and his last time check Paul was 6 and 3/4 minutes ahead of the main field so they’ve really allowed him his head well you know what
He may well just get France their first victory in the Tour of France since 1998 but still Eric zabble is willing to go out and fight for more points on the road he wants to try and get himself that green green jersey and he comes across the line nicely beating Marcel W
There is now out of the lead in the king of the mountains competition so there’s the result of that the bunch time through at precisely 6 minutes 40 seconds so zarel is the man of the day again he’s picked up at 10 points towards the green jersey competition but
He’s still not done what he dreams of doing every tour he hasn’t won a stage in fact since 1997 the bunch all together with the exception of this one Rider Kristoff anel luto got away at the 77 kilm point and his lead has gone up now to in
Excess of 8 minutes and the pelaton do not seem concerned with chasing him overall he’s 82nd 11 minutes behind let’s hear more about zabble last year the green jersey competition was a straight fight between Stuart O’Grady and Eric zaro with the German eventually coming out on top to take an unprecedented fourth straight
Points title well of course stward O’Grady is already gone this year sadly and although will take no pleasure from that it certainly increases his chances of doing what no man has ever done either consecutively or otherwise and that’s when five green jerseys the zarel family don’t bother
With pencil marks on the kitchen wall they just put Young Rick on the podium in Paris every year and let the world’s photographers check how much he’s grown his dad on the other hand appears to have been on a sort of brilliant Plateau the last few years as the tour’s
Most consistent Rider but really that’s not the whole picture when Eric Zabo won his first two green jerseys in 96 and 97 he was out sprinting the likes of Mario chiellini for stage wins in the last two he’s been shut out of the Sprints but still had enough overall strength and
Speed to rack up the points long after chipo packed his hair gel and gone home maintaining that kind of effort for a fifth straight year is going to be hard yeah maybe too hard that assessment is a combination of genuine modesty and the knowledge that the green jersey
Isn’t his team’s top priority we have also with Yan uh the man who have the possibility to win the Tour in overall so Eric may not have the whole team riding for him but he does have some very specialized help last year he was second in no fewer than
Four Sprint finishes usually to chalini this year Telecom signed Cho’s lead out man jamini I think he’s the best man in this position uh in the cycling world and so we wait for the chance the chance looked like it had come a couple of days ago in the Sprint
At VR Pini doing his usual kamakazi job of setting up his man and sitting up with 200 met to go and getting in everyone else’s way unfortunately for Eric his fellow German Marcel V was the one to profit taking his wheel then him in quick succession for most of the Season though
The partnership has been working perfectly sble stormed through the classics winning the likes of Milan Sano in the amstore gold race as he goes through for a fifth green jersey the question is how long can he stay that strong I don’t know uh I hope that uh the legs are still
Good enough to to win but uh it’s also uh possible that uh I’m going too tired and that’s the tour so we see well we’ll almost certainly see Eric zaral in contention for the stage win today because it’s his 30th birthday he’ll already have told J F what he
Wants and I don’t think it’ll be a record Token well indeed thanks Gary as we’re now going back to the lone leader of the race he’s under the 10 kilometers to go Banner here his Gap has come down Paul and he’s being chased at the moment by Michael sod but he’s still enormous he’s struggling now Kristoff anel luto but
You know he’s being drawn by the fact that Frenchman hasn’t won a stage at the Tour of France for two years and the last man to do that was Jackie Duron there’s confirmation of the Gap Michael Sod at 2 minutes 49 and the mainfield at 3 and A2 I can’t really understand that
Maneuver by sod he’s been caught in no man’s land and he’s actually at the moment not actually approaching the lone leader as he now can see on the horizon the Finishing Line and he’s still riding fairly well just over 70 kilm an hour on this flat piece of road here and this is
Michael sanod himself a very good Rider against the watch from Denmark but as Paula said I think it’s more the case of in publicity rather than hoping he got away with 35 km to go when the Gap up to the leader was 725 he is pulling him
Back but he’s pulling him back nothing like quick enough well when your Gap is that big what you really have to do is go across a gap like that and a small group of riders at the front of the main field is controlled by US Postal Service
But Victory today is going to go to France and he’s going to enjoy this every minute of it because they’ve always said the first Frenchman to win a stage in this year’s tour is going to be remembered a big time this is the third tour the France for Kristoff anelo he
Was 94th in 97 31st in 98 but he’s never before has featured as a stage winner he’s putting that to rights now and he’s going to go down as the first man to win a stage since 1998 and he keeps looking over his shoulder he knows the field are closing
The last check we got it was 1 minute and 30 seconds and that should be clearly enough plenty of time to enjoy it absolutely even D Mari Leblon the director of the society T of France in the car behind was out of this out of
The car as well happy to know that the French have broken their duck at last because last year not one solitary stage Victory well there’s the clock on the right as the Riders come over the top of the climb here I think that’s Anthony Morano swings off has coped his look
Over the shoulder very strange bunch of spins here but now Robbie MC’s trying to break in on the action on the far left has all of it start gain now and Marcel wers hit the front on the left of our pict as well and zaral too has come so
It’s w zal and it was was the order over the line W zaral and Roman V stains two three and four but about a minute and 11 seconds down well that was a great Sprint there by Marcel wer but a great day for the French as well Phil Marcel W
What an incredible character he is he races all over the world and he really is a man who has got a a special talent for languages so there’s the winner Kristoff anelo a minute and 11 over the rest of the race today just a couple of
Riders off the back and he is all smiles I’m not surprised celebrations tonight this man is always on the podium he gets a green jersey now as leader of that by three points and as he when Susie gets down off the podium Paul Shan will be
With him it’s a bit of a ding-dong battle between you and zabble though because the lead actually changed uh changed sides a couple of times today yeah it’s true Eric was really flat out competing the Sprints in the first one I just know I just followed him and then
In the second one I tried to come around but I couldn’t but uh basically today I had uh one of the worst days I had this so far this year I’m uh I know I have a little throat infection my nose is sort of blocking up and when the team was
Asking me how do you feel should we bring him back I said no I just said I’m I’m really stuffed I’m I’m really tired my muscles ache everywhere so well finally I won the Sprint and now I’m second so it’s kind of a bummer but uh
You know the two is three weeks so you don’t want to really stuff up the team in the first week it’s good that the boys had a rest so because you weren’t feeling so well that’s why the team didn’t chase but why didn’t some of the other teams Chase like m
Well I’ve seen Tom Steels today quite quite a few times and uh well he was he was not feeling much better than I was you know we were going backwards both of us in the hills and uh you know the tour is like uh it’s like it’s like the serve
In Australia it’s uh up up the waves and down the waves and today I was really down so it can only go up again and then and this green jersey I think it helps a little bit well what a great first week marel wor is having Alberto elido is
Still in yellow heading towards the Pyrenees Fabo in second place 12 seconds down Mark valters having a very very good talk he crashed out remember in the passage du gu last year when he broke his collor bone so Ellie in yellow be careful how you say that as he now heads
Off today from L Mo to vot normally an area which is very hot and humid but the weather is so strange this year it’s not that way at all and David Miller in the field of 174 leaving lamos this morning in overcast conditions about 5 hours
More in saddle for them on the Fairly hilly ride down to V nerve and one man beginning to sharpen his spining legs is Robbie mccuin here he is as we roll away I’m I’m going to ride my own little tour to France on this side of the
Street see mostly I do these little interviews during the neutral cuz after they dro the flag I normally can’t speak anymore but uh one week gone we’ve only had three Bunch Sprints which is really not many uh uh I guess there’s a little bit of lack of sprinters there’s a couple
Missing there’s a couple sick Tom Steels is sick go has a problem with his back Telecom don’t really want to ride hard to keep everything together so uh think today there’s even bigger chance of a group going away everyone’s seen that telecom doesn’t want to use too much energy so
Uh Here We Go Again attack attack attack hopefully some someone will bring back Together and we’re at the back of the group here now and they’re watching the leading group right away from them oh camera seems to be convinced that that that they’ve gone as he goes up towards the leaders here good split done primarily by the superb hard riding of
Deca who has just put himself on the front and kept himself going and a question of anybody who can reach me can join me well it was the bonesta Ryder who made the junction there he is the other white jersey was savier hon but then there is the Counterattack going
Off the front of Eric Decker the rabber bank Rider has put the hammer down completely and he’s decided he wants to make sure that this is the decisive part of this bike race well he’s having a superb tour so far Eric decka and determined to stick at it here as he
Races now thinking of the third and final climb of the day which is only 12 km ahead of him well I’m not to sure he’ll survive this one but he’s taking a big gamble here Deca but he is a time trial champion of the Netherlands and he’s holding off the whole field this
Breakaway pole of some 17 Riders got away right at the start and now Deca himself is not going to be caught he has put the best part of a minute into the remnants of that Breakaway which has split up on the run to the Finish well he’s ridden the tour to France seven
Times but he has never ever won a stage and he is absolutely delighted there’ll be no change overall tonight because that was well controlled by the Telecom boys but Deca doesn’t care this is a breakaway he is going to remember for the rest of his life as he now gets
Ready to give a two armed salute here in V shot not many bik R get a chance to do this Phil a stage victory at the Tour of France and it is a lot sweeter for this man because earlier this season in Parry he broke his elbow yes and he’s come
Back big time I guess he’s softened his form up in the zalia and now it’s come good in the tour to France for Eric Decker great day out for him by the way because he’s also taken the lead in the king of the mountains competition here’s
The Sprint now which will be for fourth place because Rodriguez is heading up the line here and he gets into fourth place and behind came savier yon and Garcia aosa they got the major places there’s confirmation of that and there is the man in the new leader Jersey of
The king of the mountains and again once he stepped down off the podium Paul Shan was waiting for him what a fantastic win for you today but to attack almost 30 km from the Finish must have been a pretty brave move yeah it’s incredible it’s uh a
Dream come true it’s my really first first big win and I’m so happy how was it riding down the final 500 MERS there you seem to be pretty much enjoying it yeah a few days ago I was caught back 400 me to go and
I knew I I I needed another chance to to prove that I can win a big racing I suffered a lot uh this year I broke my arm in per knees and it’s unbelievable an emotional occasion certainly and why not Eric deer getting the biggest win of his career today
Overall in the end though no change in the top five and Alberto Ellie keeps his lead for a third day but Yen’s Voit now appear appears in the top six in sixth place among those who fall back for the moment at least are Lance Armstrong to
16th Yan urick to 28th David Miller down to 40th and Marco Panton down to 87th Eric Decker’s win well hasn’t really helped his overall position another good day though for Alberto Ellie just a minor fright at the Midway point when that lead was well in excess of his
Overall lead of the tour but tonight he’s still on top hello and welcome now to Stage Nine of the tour to France the Riders pedaling the way to Dax in the southwest corner and then they’ll be in the shadow of the Pyrenees so far we’ve had six stage
Winners of the tour the road race legs and they now know what it’s like to join the elite band of riders who’ve won stages in the tour and experienced that great Emotion hey Yeah [Applause] well the joy of Victory but you know Phil this is the last day before the Big Mountain stages and all of these Riders will be worried about that because For the First Time The Big names of the Tour of France will have to come out and play
Tomorrow but still another day in the yellow Jersey for by Alberto Ellie and the race now heading towards the first Sprint at naak all together at 23 km not much wind blowing again today and pleasantly warm at 24° C heading into the southwestern corner of France just
North of the Spanish Frontier and the field have made a very rapid start today and this should be one for zaral if he’s chasing points for that green jersey and I’m sure he is currently warn though by Marcel rust and Marcel is going better and better rust over the line first and interesting
Yan KY poo second there and Robbie MCU of Australia getting third Yan ol looking very concentrated before the big mountains Phil he’s at currently 28th overall 6 minutes and 37 seconds down but he has slimmed down a lot since we saw him racing in South Africa in the
Early part of the Year also the big question mark over Marco pantani 87th in the standings but he’s certainly going to fly in the mountains well he has improved from 136 I suppose which is what he was after the time trial moving on now to the second Sprint of Paul BOS
68 km in now and this time zoral gets the points back appollonio and Manion no sign there of wor in the points at least this is an interesting move at this point as well because the group had actually split but the big crashes happening once again and we can see
Several Riders going down there and many of them all over the road well that was a real shun it happened a Ricochet effect right in the center of the field there Paul and as so often happens on the stage of the tour to France it’s on
A long straight road and when the field are not racing well that’s the most dangerous time everyone relaxes just a little bit as we come up to the next and final Sprint point of the day and now Festina completely in control trying to set up this Sprint for them man Marcel V
Who currently is looking very comfortable in the top of the leaderboard with the green jersey on his shoulders well let’s see now because this is a real challenge coming from Marcel vsta against Eric zarel two German Riders fighting out the green jersey it’s almost unheard of in a tour
To France zaral is just back there with fenini keeping an eye on him too as 132 kilometers is where we are now and attack on the left there by Jackie Jon Festina seemed to be all over this race right now well Jack donon stolen a March over the field here we surprised
Everybody there the response behind coming from morrow he’s the man from the Festina Squad who is actually looking for a high place in the overall standing fi but I think a little despondent after a not very good performance in the opening time TR he’s onto the wheel of
Dur and the Sprinter started in Earnest well Kristoff Maro is gone is going to get over the top of Jackie but that really spoiled the sprinters at their own game with that attack Maro has done well to take the points away from the lotto Rider and in third place Mark
Wouters keeps it in the camp of rabo Bank all of the field still together on the run into the Finish though this is the situation on the course four Riders have managed to get just off the front of the main field Paulo bettini is in this group gett vahan is the rider from
Lotto Jose Vidal is the kelme rider and Didier Rose the man from bonjour and bonjour looking for a win here now a French team brought into the tour to France and they really want to give themselves some credibility there’s dier ruse on the far side and a little man
From Mapp I suspect he is the most experienced here paa bettini winner this year of Le Baston Le well their advantage inside the 32 Mark at the moment all of the cars have been brought out and in fact less than that 11 seconds as they are now inside the
Outskirts of Dax and the crowd is absolutely unbelievable but Phil in the main field behind the hammer is on and I think these guys just might get caught in the final straight well let’s hope not because it looks like we’re being treated here to a carbon copy of the
Situation the other day when Eric deer and Yen Voit were swept up with about 500 Kil 500 meters to go now they are wasting time here because they are so close to the Finish Freddy Rodriguez is trying to H up with Tom Steels he keeps looking for him in that blue jersey he
May have him now and dider ruser goes underneath the Spanish bask flag there he starts the spin for the line now but that field is coming so so quickly and betini is gambling but going off bei’s wheel is V in the red and Videl in the kelme colors and V the started the
Sprint and the speed behind is zarel on the left and steals as they come up to the line betini is going to get it right on the line but you know they’re so close Paul they at the same time well zabble came out of nowhere there right
Onto the tail of that group and I think they will all be given the same time a perfectly time Sprint there by Pao batini getting himself across the line ahead of vgea and Jose Angel Vidal zabel in fifth well that’s the result and it was an excellent race but they were all
Given at the same time they crossed the line together and what a result though for paa betini finally a stage winner in the tour this is first tour to France by the way and there is the race approaching the line we can now go and
Speak with G imlac nice job you seem to come to the front there and slow everything down for pao yeah I just got to the front act like I was going to lead out to Sprint at the same time I was just waiting for surges and I just
Go in front of him and act like I was going to keep going and and they kept on falling for it and there was a lot of Corners so I was able to take the front and maintain a slow speed and then I mean we had confidence in pul patini
That he could pull it off and he pulled it off so was perfect work sneaky it was sneaky but it works congratulations well I’ll tell you what he is having a marvelous tour to France and a great season but Alberto Ellie has brought the race now down to the first
Big mountains of this year’s tour leading a Fab gugo by 12 seconds and Mark wouters by a minute and 15 seconds well he wanted to lead to the Pyrenees he’s done just that but he’ll have a fight on his hands now because this is a real tough day but no time to think
About that just yet he can collect his fourth leader yellow Jersey the Pyrenees have awaited the tour to France every summer since 1910 and today their angry mood promises a difficult day for most of the field Heavy Rain threatened on the Calo Beast possible snow storms near the high peaks and cold winds have been forecast the
Tour to France now is ready to reshape its leaderboard 171 survived since futuroscope 10 days ago and their departure from Dax at 10:45 local time heralded the toughest days so far with climbs of the cder Mari blun the CUO Beque the cuul and the finished mountain
Of hot Camp enough to frighten the most experienced overall it’s the Italian Alberto Ellie the surprise leader for four days who heads fabis gugo mark vouter and Pascal shant but today the favorites must come forth names like defending Champion Lance Armstrong Spain’s Abraham Alano former winner Yan
Urick and our own David Miller who knows what Little Marco Panton will try over his favorite terrain hello and welcome back to our extended coverage on tour plus of the race in the Pyrenees today we’re at the top at otam and as you can see despite the weather here a large
Crowd waiting to see the Riders come up this will be the third time we finished here and without doubt this will be the toughest we coming through the heart of the Pyrenees to get to the line well for the last nine days Lance Armstrong and indeed all of the pre-race favorites
Have remained somewhat Anonymous but that hasn’t stopped Lance making a few notes here he is now assessing his main Rivals and also the chances he has himself there’s no doubt he’s a serious Contender he’s anybody with Talent like that uh and experience he’s won the Tour
To France before he’s been second to two times he’s he’s a young kid but he has a whole lot of experience so of course he’s a favorite and his team is I think the last time I checked they’re the number one team in the world so there’s plenty of depth Alex is
Uh is is going to be a a threat he’s going to be a factor in the race because I he has the talent he has experience I raced with him in dolphing a I saw him I know that he’s strong he has a strong team he could Win he’s clearly the best climber in the world and uh and this tour is a lot harder and has a lot more Mountains than it did last year so it’s uh yeah he’s a threat it’s uh can he put it all together for three weeks and climb consistently I don’t I
Don’t know what he’s been doing I I didn’t he hasn’t raced in a month so jro form isn’t how does it uh transfer to this I don’t know but um we have to keep an eye on him and it’s something that that there’s not an individual time trial before the
Mountains so he won’t be at a deficit trying to make up time make up time make up time he will you know technically he could have the yellow Jersey going into the last time trial and the time trialist could be trying to make up time you get into the Alps and climbs
Like the land like zlan um coraville moring those are hard climbs they’re a lot harder than what we did last year and the stages are the stage to brione 250 km over over the isir just before the Finish it’s it’s a heavy heavy course and
So you know we’ll find out if if if uh if I’m a balanced Rider if I can truly climb in the high mountains and the action today coming to you from a wet and dreary Pyrenees here it’s the only day the Riders are in the Pyrenees and they are far from happy
Because on this 205 km ride from daxa to the top of otam just outside the city of Lords the rain is falling steadily the Riders having left Dax in the rain had a couple of little bits of respite but since then it’s come down again but it hasn’t deterred an initial attack coming
From Jackie Duron who got clear after 32 km he was joined about 8 km later by the Spanish Rider jav atoya and Niko Matan of Belgium and the biggest Gap 17 minutes and 30 seconds over the field as they pass through the feeding Zone at 95
Km it’s good to see that Vesta have come out with some sort of a plan here they hav’t had a great season but in fact they are trying now to establish them as a force to be reckoned with in the tour to France they one of the few teams
Who’ve got two likely candidates with Jose Maria gimenez who certainly was riding well just before this this tour started but like uh many of the big nades we haven’t seen him since the tour did start so we don’t know quite what his good condition is like right now
Another big name being dropped from the main pack here in fact Tom Steels the man who took out the first two flat stages of the Tour of France he also has been dropped behind they’ll soon be forming at the back of the race field the autobus as the man at the front here
Is going to go over the top and get maximum points of the cem Mari Blanc so a good climb then by the kelme rider getting his own back after all the pain they’ve caused him to suffer on the flat roads and I think he’s going to probably wait there for Nico matam
Because no point in going on alone at this stage the bunch is thinning out Paul we’re getting down to about 40 Riders here well another attack going off the front there from team py I would think the py rider in the middle of the group there is going to be rard Veron we
Haven’t heard his name too much on Race radio at the moment but he shouldn’t be put into difficulty on this first climb of the race just trying to catch a glimpse of the yellow Jersey of the tour Alberto Ellie don’t see him there in that initial shot but I think he’s pretty
Much there back together on the way down sorry about the pictures we’re going to have a few problems I think we’re in the woods as well which doesn’t help with the uh links that go up to the aircraft above the race but here we have Matan
Has come back up to the Spanish Rider he knew he’d rate uh and now they’ll head off across the valley the next one they’ll go down to lens and there’s a Sprint down there then we’re back onto the climbs with the calois another move trying to get a
Little sauty off the front of the main field there that looked like a rider from the Seiko team he’s only got about 40 or 50 meters off the front at the moment but you can see the the main field has reduced in size sensibly no major attacks yet Phil coming from the
Big contenders they will wait until the latter part of the race we might get a couple of tests of the waters on the ascent of the cual obisk but I reckon the big fight will really come on this final climb up to the finish here at
Hotam the man going off the front here for py in fact is Pascal Ave who wears 156 and he will be looking to get into a small Breakaway group off the front of the main field to be of help to rishar Von laser in the stage there’s the summit Banner
Indicating 1 kilometer to go so Pascal a has put in a fairly fine performance here on the uh early slopes of the first mountain of the day well we’ve got uh Hoy back in we sanded or sod rather we think must have gone over the top of the
Climb already and it’s going to be bero and er racing out fifth and sixth to the top of the mountain ER is riding very strange race here he’s looking back over his shoulder all of the time he really wants to know what sort of reaction is
Going to come in the main field and he’s looking back to see if rishar bank is coming forward he wants to check and make sure the position of the Frenchman because he wouldn’t want to take the points away from his challenge to try and take that King of the mountains competition
Again but it’s almost as if he’s a reluctant boy on the attack there Pascal ER as we see Riders now that’s Frankie Hoy the man who was caught in the middle he’s about to get caught by the the group of favorites the next man coming through there is manabo and these Riders
Have got a a nice advantage over the the group of contenders for the tour the France at the moment they’re all pretty content to just watch each other and stay together until we come to the bigger mountains later in the day well these two Riders feel they actually have
Kept a fair amount of their advantage because over the uh the summit there they still have an advantage of 13 minutes over the rest of the main field so they’re doing a good job they’ve only lost four minutes on that climb so I don’t think the major contenders yet
Have really turned up the gas no it’s good because they came to the start at 1620 so a very good climbing by AOA he’s only lost three minutes to the main part of with the peleton on the climb of the mountain that’s very very good this man
Now has had trouble with his knee since a bad crash on the right of our picture in the tour of Germany last year mik laart has come back with a win just before the tour started in the year italan that looked like theen sprinting forth and just sneaking a couple of
Points I think he’s gone over in Seventh welcome back to tour plus our extended coverage of the tour to France action every day we try and bring you a featured Rider and as we head into the mountains here’s one man we’re likely to see a lot of today Fernando escartin was born in bsas in Spain 32 years ago he
Measures in at 1 M 74 and 63 kg he’s actually been professional since 1990 with 25 wins to his career the early part of that career was spent as a domestique for Tony rominger but he soon learned that on the big mountain passes he was often stronger than the Swiss
Leader he’s ridden the tour to France nine times but over the last four years he’s been the most consistent man in the overall standings in 1997 he was fifth fourth overall in 1998 when he withdrew with all the other Spanish teams in a protest he was third in the Tour of
France last year at the moment he’s 100th overall almost 12 minutes behind the leader but everything shows is in perfect condition for the Big Challenge this year and conditions on the CUO Beast very similar to that on the climb of the Mari blong here this is the main
Part of the peleton riding some 15 minutes still behind a number of riders out front now none of them the likely candidates of final victory in Paris but they are causing a number of surprises mainly all of the projected favorites still in this big bunch and including
The yellow Jersey of Alberto ellip Paul because on the decent of the Mari Blanc he has got back into this group well you can see this group has actually swollen in numbers since the called the Mari Blanc a lot of riders really taking risks on The Descent to pull themselves
Back into the front part of the main field this main field though I feel once we start climbing more up to the summit of the calois will explode once again because the weather conditions out here really have been atrocious it’s only around about 6 or 7° Celsius over the
Top of some of these mountain passes and it’s not much more than 14 or 15 in the valley roads below two more Riders have given up that we know of uh Meer from the Seiko team has gone he’s taken with him his teammate I’m surprised at this
One Dario Pier he’s also abandoned the tour and sad for the credy agrial team out with a crashing in the ambulance is Jonathan vs crashing on The Descent of the C de Mari Blanc and he crashed out last year as well well swinging off the front of the main group here now having
Done a stalwart job as a pacemaker is the young newcomer to the US Postal Service as stepan jerard he’s now done his job and he’s fallen back and he’s left the rest of the strong men of the team to keep up the tempo but we poor
We’ve lost now I think it’s five riders that we know of out of of the tour today and before the end of the day I reckon we’ll lose an awful lot more there is Marco pantani the man who is really looking to try and shine again when we
Got into this final climb of the day but you can see who feels that he can win the Tour to France because on the front of the main field lans’s Armstrong has put all of his teammates right there in first position is Cedric vaser a man who
Many years ago was a leader of the Tour of France and wore the yellow Jersey before it was ripped off his back almost by Yan rrick but you can see this is a drilled Squad now now they’ve sat down in the main field for a long time in
Fact nine days since we left the very first stage of the Tor France and the individual time trial of futuroscope and now they are coming into their own this is the mountain terrain and this is where the to tto France is won or lost well let me give you an update of the
Ride as we know are ahead our cameras are concentrating here on the main part of the pelaton because that’s where we expect to see the counter moves coming from but as we start the climb here of the obes we’re a couple of kilometers up it’s still out front it’s AO haveo
He’s dropped again NCO matam and then the third man on the road at around about 7 minutes behind is Jackie Duron and that despite a fall himself on The Descent of mar blon then we’ve got Michael sandstead who’s been on his own for the whole of the day so far in
Fourth as salvator keso is in a group of three with bero and manabo of banesto their 12 minutes 40 back audreio Zola and vyen the rider who was in the break the other day they are next at 30 minutes and they joined by Pascal lente in the same group then Pascal erve moved
Away towards the end of The Climb of the Mari blanes on his own almost 14 minutes down and then comes a group of George hppy Antonio Toler and Paulo salvad Deli and Britain’s David Miller they are in a group some 14 minutes behind the leader while the peleton are just over 15 but
Back into the group now this very select little group as they continue the climb look at the face of r we’ve seen that face a few times over the years in the toil of France and it usually means he’s in very determined mood and I think that Lance Armstrong possibly now has only
Two men alongside him from the team the man on the front is garini winner last year of the alz stage the white jersey there of banesto isula this is veren in the middle bobbing out of his saddle all of the time the climber from France and rri himself looking very concentrated
Armstrong in the black and whsh Jersey there in the middle has certainly used his teammates a little foolishly I think on the early slopes of the climb maybe over assuming on the strength of his Squad because now the only two men who could be remaining in this group to help
Him will be Tyler Hamilton and Kevin Livingstone as we sh Veron going through and then goes there’s Michael Bogart here there’s a real good chance today this Dutch Rider and but I don’t know whether he’s got the form pole it’s a big question mark on Boger he’s having not a good
Season last year he had a brilliant season came to the toour of France and as it was a disaster for him maybe he’s going to reverse the trend this year this is him here having had a poor start of the Season maybe it’s now he’s going
To come good one other Rider who’s the big star of the toour of France Abraham Alano I haven’t caught a glimpse of him we haven’t heard from race radio whether or not he’s been left behind but this is for the moment is a very large group of
Riders still around about 25 men Alex Zula will be very happy though by the performance of his teammate here number 15 Jose Maria gimnez he’s out on the attack putting all of the other leaders under a certain amount of pressure as’s a on the py colors at the back of this
Little group now further up the climb looking to see he’s always looking behind and he is expecting to see sooner or later the arrival of rishard Veron his teammate but at the moment Veron is a captive of that group well Fernando escartin certainly had to do something very special on a
Day like this which is why as soon as the slopes started to get difficult he went out and launched the attack the main group the main contenders at the moment Phil are very content just to watch each other and Mark each other and you can see that the breakup really is
Quite awful it’s because we’re not able to use the helicopters out on the course at the moment and the reason that we are actually getting these pictures is because they’re being beamed up to a fixed plan fixed wing airplane flying more than 10,000 ft up well let’s hope
He can locate the race below him through the cloud because it is getting pretty bad down there the headlights are on the vehicles now and remember what goes up has to come down and that is when the danger Bells will ring we’ve already had at least four Riders fall on The Descent
Of the mar BL one of them Jonathan vs reportedly in the ambulance and out of the tour to France I’ll give you a little round up but I be honest with you now it’s getting rather difficult to know exactly who is in the front on today’s stage in the Tour of France our
Computer is got blue smoke coming out of it here but o we haven’t seen anything of him is still ahead and then he’s been chased by Niko Matan they were the two men that started all all this chaos many kilometers ago now then there is a group
Of Francisco mano yon adrio Zola two benesta Riders there then another kelme Rider Santiago poo a Seiko Rider Daniel atenza and two of the SEO boys have abandoned today by the way and the Lotter Rider girth foren uh then we’ve got uh George hppy Pascal lente Antonio Toler and Salvatore keso and David
Miller was in that group as well but I think he’s in a little bit of trouble I think David Miller has actually been picked up by the group of the main contenders here I caught a glimpse of a tall lanky coffee dis Rider and that could only be David Miller he’s around
About 15th position at the moment and riding in his first tour to France with a certain amount of authority alongside some of the great names of the sport of international cycling I think also G and has long since left the company at the been a crash here a who’s had a problem
Very quickly changed of machines there by his team mechanic who was right up alongside there he hasn’t got too much to worry about he’s at the front to the bike race at the moment around about roughly 10th place on the road uh but his major concern really is the position
Of Rish Von I think that was a plan change because we saw a py team car stopping earlier and that might be while he was looking around because he had a problem but we’ve now got an attack from the front of the group by Veron and here
He is trying to ride away now from that group this has to come sooner or later I think and uh we know that Lance Armstrong now has been left alone in that group all all of his teammates have been dropped at the minute this has been completely planned because in fact he’s
Right on the back wheel of ir already they’ve both changed to lighter machines and they’re going to try and do something pretty special here on the Calo Beast now he was obviously looking over his shoulder all of the time waiting for this move by Rishad Von which is why he wasn’t really insisting
In the Breakaway that he was in there Phil he wanted to be there as a leak FR for rishav Veron and now he will give his all to try and open up their advantage over the main group this is the leader of the tour to France at the
Moment on the road as he’s about 3 kilometers from the summit and he looks so in fact he’s coming up to the summit here and he is of the CUO Beast so he has a lead of some 4 kilometers over the principal Bunch which contains Lance Armstrong and Yan olrick but this group
Has got away from that Bunch now and contains rishard bank and Fernando escartin and kimz so three very good riders in this group and they are riding ahead of the Ock Armstrong pack py obviously had a plan too because that was a very clever move just a few
Moments ago Pascal Ave since he’d been in front of the race was consistently looking over his shoulder waiting and looking back to see if he could see the shape of rishar verant coming up through the clouds and the mist and once he did he just opened up the throttle and
Accelerated away dragging veren up to that leading group there where in fact they joined Fernando escartin and Jose Maria gimenez the banesto rider as well Lotto Phil must be pretty happy CU they’ve got their overall man up here in this group as well Mario SS is the rider
In the red and black Jersey of Lotto the leader of the Belgian Squad really a man who in the past has really revealed himself fairly well here at the tour well here we are now with rri in the second place here being paced by gini David Miller was up the road he was
Caught by this group and I’m not sure whether he’s still in here if he is he’s right on the back of it uh but certainly it is a very very select bunch of riders now as they try to limit their losses because they’ve watched Riders go off
The front and form a group ahead and they haven’t been able to react to it on the lower slopes of the CRI it did look as though Lance Armstrong’s team had control of the day but one by one they have been jettied and only Armstrong is
Out now as we’re looking up here we’re looking back at Mario SS here and I can tell you which isn’t good news we’ve had problems with horses in uh single day races this year including get wer when one knocked Eric zaral off well there’s now one been reported loose on The
Descent of the CUO Beast well if they haven’t got enough problems with the wet slippery roads Paul the last thing we want to see now is a horse running loose down the mountain let’s hope they can do something about that let’s hope somebody can get out there and catch it this is
The group of the the major contenders in there Kristoff Moro that’s why earlier on in the day we saw a bike change coming from lauro madas to the man who is now becoming the leader of the Festina Squad out on the road and this group really has been whittel down over
The last four or five kilometers and you’re right US Postal did an awful lot of work for at the bottom of this climb and it got rid of a lot of uh members of other teams as well because even Yan rri only has one teammate with him for help
There but he’s got a very good one in the name of gepe garini the winner last year of the stage of the AL Duz Mario SS here little pack on his back there for his but his lunch but he’s no time to eat it as he T his racing Cape actually
As he tries now to limit his losses because he’s just cracked here as he comes up towards the group I think in fact he’s about 2 km from the summit here and he’s just about to lose contact but he is a very good climber especially for the Belgian and don’t get too many
Good climbers from Belgium and uh it looks as though David Miller now just as he did in the route to S has lost ground towards the end of the big mountain in the Pyrenees and he’s lost contact with the Armstrong group well the last few names that were I was given from the
Group of the uh the main contenders in fact there is a coffee dis Rider in that group but in fact it is David Miller’s teammate David Monti the French Rider so uh looks as if David Miller took us somewhat of an advantage on the early slopes of the calois and now he’s been
Caught up by the group and probably left behind but for David Miller today really is a question of experience he’s learning about the tour to France after having led the race for the first three days gosh what a day to go out and have to learn your tour to France because
That is is a shame here’s moutier further down the climb here talking to his team car I think as uh now be coming up towards the top of the climb here and in fact that is Nico Matan the other cop of dis Rider so he looks absolutely
Shattered here Paul but he’s still going over the top in second place but 4 minutes and 3 seconds behind uh the leader of the race on the road a choya well we’re nearly at the top and thankfully we can still see the Riders which is a great bonus because the cloud
Is also clearing miraculously from the final climb of the day which is the climb of otam they still on The Descent of the uh CUO BL they make a change of Direction they have to climb over the top of the CUO Su before they come down
To start the final climb 1 kilometer to go for this group of climbers here pH and what a remarkable movement it has been really they have come out and played on the first time they’ve come into their little playground the playground of the climbers is these
Slopes of of the Pyrenees and what a day to do it the weather conditions have been absolutely appalling it’s freezing out on the course of the Tor France today but these guys certainly knew they’ve got to take every occasion if they want to Dethrone the big leaders
Well take heart in two days time they’ll be inovance and having a day off and uh unless the weather’s gone completely crazy they can reckon they’ll have nice warm sunshine as we’re watching here Pascal a keeping the tempo Beltran is here as well and this little group Are
Climbing nice and steady now a free of the stop go tactics of the earlier parts of the climb as they find their Rhythm uh don’t expect to see IR on the front when he gets to the top though but I’m just looking where rishard bank is Paul
I don’t spot him at oh there he is tucked in there so he’s still in this group behind gimenez and bank will be looking for a finish and a few points over the top he’s quite happy at the moment just to sit in this group and
Allow his teammate Pascal a to do all of the work but I reckon to some of the guys in that group behind will take few risks on on The Descent off the cder sua fill because they will possibly see the chance of riding themselves back up to
The group of climbers men like Yan ol and Lance Armstrong are Daredevil descenders and in conditions like this you can Bridge three or four minutes if you take a few risks on a descent off these big mountains well it doesn’t really be thinking about going down these mountains uh with a horse
Reportedly running loose on The Descent of the obisque and the rain taking care of the rest it really is going to be a very hazardous descent for every body and the back markers will take risks because they know that they can get themselves back into the action if they
Take one or two on the desense well over the summit of the Cal lusan these guys are not too far away from it right now they don’t really have the initial descent as you would do off most of the big climes they drop down onto a false
Flat which links the calois to the summit of the cuu and that’s then when they will start the Manu the big maneuver of The Descent on the way down rishar veren no Phil can can sense now that there are points available at at the top of this climb here and he’s
Moving forward to go over the line when we reach the summit and try and get himself as many points as possible because for him one of his major goals apart from trying to win this bike race is also to take the king of the mountains competition for a sixth time
Well gone is everybody in between now this is the race for third place at the top of the CUO Beast over the top has gone ooya Matan has gone over four minutes after him and I think we’re going to see around 8 to nine minutes for the appearance here of the varen
Group and rishar varen the King of the mountains four time five times in the last six years he’s now looking to join the great as one of only three Riders who would have won the title on six occasions I’m not so sure uh he’ll be given an easy ride though because choer
Is getting himself into the leaders jersey tonight laoa should be the man getting maximum points out on the road and this man caught in the middle of nowhere here I would think is Paulo savelli we’d actually forgotten about him because this race really has been all over the place place and it’s
Interesting to note that it really has been an aggressive stage so far Phil people have been out attacking all of the time these small bags that are being handed up by the uh the race the team helpers at the moment they will in fact probably contain warm drinks warm tea
That the r that they’ve prepared especially for this situation yes in fact there are still some survivors we forgot about little keso and manabo and B butaro because they’ve gone over 10 minutes down but the varen group is almost on the now this is the Bobby julick group here
The group of yan rri and Lance Armstrong julick just at the back there in the cred Agri call jersey in the white shirt with the green [Applause] Shorts well Mario s has gone over at 11 minutes to back of the leader the ven group’s gone over 10 and 1 half minutes behind the leader and we’re waiting to see what time Gap it is for Lance Armstrong’s group there they are just under 12 minutes is the gap from the
Group containing Lance Armstrong this is the lone leader now he’s on the slopes in between the two big mountains C deis has been passed by Javier Ooa he’s now on his way fil to the C so as he goes on this rather false flat on the Cole dois Javier AOA still
Leads on the day in the tour to France Nik Matan looking a bit shaky is second at 4 minutes and then comes a small group now been joined by sh Veron they are around 10 and 1 half minutes back Armstrong’s group a minute and a half back of them at approximately 12 minutes
And so there are big splits today in the tour it seems as if in fact Melly Bartle has had a problem one of the the corners here on the the calois but he’s actually back up and riding again sensibly as we approach one kilm to go to the summit of
The CU for this man Javier Ooa who’s been leading this bike race over all of the major climbs so far today and if they don’t do something dramatic behind he could be riding himself to a very good victory here at the summit of hot Camp well let’s hope that he can do this
He’s still 11 and a half minutes ahead of Lance Armstrong’s group on the road today and riding superbly um Nico Matan We Believe now has been picked up by the Chasers Francisco manabo and Santiago bero and so he has got company Al I think T is in terrible trouble now his
Legs have gone and he’s still got to go over the top of the finishing climb of Course let’s have a look here it’s time to grab a little bag here before they start the long descent apparently rishard Baron is also put in an attack now as well well that’s the sort of move I would expect rishard Baron to make but I would have thought he would wait until
He got to The Descent off the cuul because the climb the in between between the two t climbs fi the calois and the suor is not really an ideal place to make an attack and certainly if you want to take risks on a long descent he should have waited 3 or 4 kilometers
Further to attack on the descent from suor down into the valley below this is what you can see this is what all of the pyrenean climbs are like they are so scary you see there’s no protection at all at the side of the road here and uh if you do happen to go
Round to the one of these corners and you lose it the best thing to do is to drop the bike as quickly as possible and hope that just by sliding on your backside you can start slowing yourself down because if you do go over the edge
It really does plum it right down into The Valleys below it’s only a short descent as you can see here now the leader going over the top of the C and uh it’s a short descent and then a little stabby climb of a couple of kilometers and you’re over the top still
Hovering at 1,400 m above sea level here now he begins the plunge away from the big mountains in the heart of the Pyrenees as he swings down towards the little town of arile gazost and there he will start the final climb to amp he’s still a way to go yet before he’ll feel
As though he’s won today’s stage of the tour he’s still got around about 20 kilm of descent Phi before he gets down into that town of aile gazost and then he’s got that 13 kilm climb up to the finish and behind the attacks will certainly
Start to come now one or two Riders will take risks off the summit of the suor and I didn’t think rishard bank’s group really had that much of an advantage really over the Armstrong rri group and those guys who are very big strong descenders May well find themselves
Closing in on the Climbers on this descent no change in the weather as we go down though Paul looks look at that now as the riders or the lead starts The Descent some herp and bendz on this descent too down the OB Beach go he
Really does want to take it a little bit easy but at the same time he’s thinking if I can just hold away to the next climb I’ll get away from them and he will know the time checks but not very often unfortunately because nobody can get up alongside him especially on
These descents which far too dangerous to try and reach the rider well on stages like this normally the Riders uh on the dry races will actually have their tires pumped up to eight or nine atmospheres but on a day like this they will have them quite a
Bit softer knocking them up to around about 6 and 1 half to seven atmospheres the reason for that is because if you have them too hard on a descent like this they really become very slippery indeed and the speed that this man is going downhill I would think he was very
Attentive this morning Phil to his tire pressures we are looking at the second group being 10 minutes 18 seconds behind on the road that is behind zavier Ooa and 2 minutes further back is the group of Lance Armstrong and Yan rri this is the very tricky part of the C deis it’s
Been a dramatic scene of some most magnificent photographs taken of the tour over the past years the great history of the tour to France has been written on these slopes and now we can see I think this is probably fill the group of yan rri and Lance Armstrong as
They go into the tunnel a brief respite away from the rain but not for really very long the second group on the road is this one there is Pascal a he’s in the group here but as you can see rishard Bank SE certainly has flown and
He’s no longer in the group with the rest of these climbers the man at the back there in fact is Jose Maria gimenez escartin is in here as well in the lime green shorts of the kelme squad and they now are reaching the summit as well of the cuul
And they too will begin the plummet down into the valley below in aile gazost RAR Ren what a superb planned move that was by him and the py squad the man at the back we’re looking at right now is the man who helped him to set it up Pascal
Erv he was kicked out of the Tour of France in 1998 in the Festina affair while he was wearing the king of the mountains leaders jersey at the moment though he’s switched across to ride for PTY having spent one Le a last year riding for Festina and the reason he
Came to py was so that he could ride alongside rishard bank one more time in the tour to France well pull I take my hat off to Niko Matan right now because he’s just G over the top of the cder in second place and only giving a few
Seconds as well and there’s the yellow Jersey of Ellie just coming over the top of the CUO Beast so he’s a little bit way behind the leader now 4 minutes 4 seconds was the gap for Niko matam and we’re waiting now to see the next group
There there is Eric zaro in this back group as well along with the yellow Jersey of ell I think he’s losing that Jersey now but to who well we’re not quite sure yet because there are so many riders out on the attack but in second place the second group rather of manabo
Bertero and baron they will be approaching the top of the cuul very shortly and I reckon they will be closing in on the Two Front Runners well there’s going to be a serious calculation trying to figure out who’s going to lead this bike race at the end
Of the day because looking down the list of riders who started the day in the top 10 places I’d be surprised if many of them are still in with a Chance of taking or keeping the yellow Jersey today Alberto Ellie there Phil was an awful long way behind I haven’t seen
Very much of fabis gugo or even Mark valters Pascal Shanter in fourth position certainly will have disappeared and it may well be a day for a man like Jose Luis arietta to cause the surprise but this man from meron Uno has decided he’s not going to take any risks of
Taking his hand off the handlebars on The Descent and he’s going to keep himself as warm as possible because on The Descent Phil it really does get very cold the chill factor is phenomenal it really really is and uh very wise decision there Riders stopping and putting their coats on uh because
They’re not going to win the stage and they may it makes sense to wrap up for The Descent otherwise on the last climb today you’ll lose even more time but now the Front Runners of the tour to France today are over the top of the C and heading down towards the valley before
The last climb of the day Javier AOA still heading up the race 4 minutes 4 seconds ahead of Niko matamp and we’re now looking at the next group of three Riders here approaching the top of the call and Risha Veron is going to have to keep scoring best of the rest I think
Because AOA is building himself quite a bagful of King of the mountain points today P gets the summit of otam in first position as well he will certainly be the leader of that competition for quite a long time to come because he will have got some serious points in today’s stage
The man in this group with Risha ven wearing 22 is Santiago bertero and he really has put in a fine performance and Matan feel I really have to take my hat off to that man because he is surviving Against All Odds at the moment he’s not
A great climber but there’s a in true Belgian style he’s a tough man absolutely and now Rish varen here setting a pace came out with a well thought out plan today with his mate Pascal ER they’ve executed that plan they didn’t figure on jaio AA being
Quite so far ahead I don’t think uh and it’s still a real problem for them because that man doesn’t look tired to me he’s still riding extremely well try and recuperate as much as possible on The Descent and hopefully take on board plenty of f food and fuel to keep
Himself topped up you use an awful lot more calories on a stage like this as well because not only are you producing the effort to actually keep your bike going forward you’re using calories to actually keep yourself warm on the bike as well the bonesta rider in this group
Here fil with Rish bank is mano he was a man in one of those earlier attacks up the road so now we’re looking the race situation should be Ooa Matan and then this group here with Mano rishard bank and then Boro and here goes rishard nobody going to have the strength to
Challenge him as he chases up to the mountain I think he’s third over the top but uh I I believe they’ve swept up everybody in the team in inside uh in the last couple of kilometers soent goes over third and I think just pipping a for second was probably
Poo now he’s going to start The Descent now of this second category climb the calois and he will take an awful lot of risks he wants to try and put time as well not only between himself and Armstrong and rri but also between himself and the other climbers the
Climbers who are in the group behind and that is in fact Fernando escartin and Jose Maria gimenez but the organization is actually coming into this group now because you can see Yan rri has given the nod to his teammate G gini to go forward set the tempo on this easier
Part of the climb in between the two Summits of the obis and the suor and they really are hammering along well escartin headed up the rest now gone over the top of the mountain in sixth place 9 minutes 21 seconds down and 25 seconds behind the group being led by
Rishard Veron so they may get back together well Armstrong is comfortably in this group nardello is in the group as well there with Zula going through there Marco pantani in the pink is the next man to go through and Mel Bartley who earlier was seen on the attack has also
Been picked up by this group so this is a pretty serious group of some of the major names here at the tour to France and pantani riding sensibly right now Phil because he’s letting the other guys do all of the work and he’s going to sit
Back and wait until the final climb of the day there’s no Riders from none of the leaders from on here but in fact David asaria is three from the back there you can see him with the the on Squad name on his back there but his two
Leaders The Men Who were earlier in this tour were looking like big contenders for the overall win Alano and jaler were there absent well there rather I’m just wondering if that’s David Miller on the back it looks like he star but I think it’s his mate David
Moutier he’s just tagged on the back as coming up from the rear here is Bobby julick as well uh bad news for him today with the loss of Jonathan BS in a crash on the cemar Blanc and these Riders now coming up over the top of the climb and that’s the cder
Su and they are 10 minutes 30 seconds down on the leading Rider so they haven’t gained hardly a thing after the climb of the obis well they’re around about one and a half minutes behind rishard Bon which is the sort of deficit that could be made up on this very
Tricky descent off this mountain and I think we may well see one or two Riders trying to push it forward a little bit to try and reduce the uh the advantage that bank has at the moment but Bank does have himself in a pretty good situation Phil because he’s with boto
And mono and so they will be able to share the pacemaking on this descent the first part of the descent is a descent where you actually have to use a pretty big gear it’s not quite that Technical and you can keep the pace fairly high but in these conditions you have to be
So careful not to overshoot a corner because if if you do you’ll drop down quite a few feet well varank is getting some last minute information from the team management up alongside him here they just brought him a drink to keep him topped up with his Fuel and uh
Unfortunately he’s actually losing an awful lot of impetus because he’s getting information that the group of escartin is coming up from behind and in fact the group of Armstrong is also closing in pretty rapidly so we could see a general regrouping of all of these groups Phil right at the bottom of the
Last climb of the day what is happening here all of these cars have got to move out of the way the group is coming up and in fact the team car the py team is slowing down and causing the junction to catch his own man because they are right
In the Convoy of cars and there they are so escartin and the boys are back up now at the moment they are racing here for third place but off go the kelme again well these guys will work as hard as they be harass I would think they
Certainly must knock it off a little bit now Phil because they’ve got a man up the road at the moment although they won’t be too worried about chasing him down because his advantage on the road is so huge that even his own teammates can’t really pull him back that’s the
Armstrong group there now and they are under 20 km to go so they’re approaching the last Cline there’s not a big gap between the two groups [Applause] now 20 kilom to go for this Armstrong group still on the front just one man doing the work and that is gig gini but
I’m pretty certain this group will smash to Pieces once we get onto the slopes of otam but the major cont Defenders Phil today really as you said earlier have been pretty happy just to watch each other it’s the climbers who’ve gone out onto the attack it’s the climbers who’ve
Tried to shine on their terrain and really it’ll be interesting now to to line up Yan rri zulah Alano Armstrong and pantani on this final climb of the day pantani I think will as soon as we get to the bottom of this climb launch an attack because he needs to put a
Couple of minutes between himself and Armstrong and rri before we get to the next Mountain stages could well be here is Baron sitting at the back of his little group and 110 behind comes Lance Armstrong’s group with all of the stars they could be back up here before the
Finish Well it’s been an awful hard ride here for escartin and his boys at one time they were almost 3 minutes ahead of L’s Armstrong group on the road and the Armstrong rrig group really are closing it down and they really appear to have timed it to Perfection they’re around
About 1 minute now and they may well just make the junction at the bottom of the climb well as we look here at Risha Veron about to start the climb of otam I understand you may be getting a little bit of disrupted commentary from paor showing and myself sorry about that but
I should imagine water is in the system somewhere now because it has been a very very wet day in the Pyrenees I’m amazed that we’ve managed to keep the pictures so well and so clear a great tribute to the technicians out there on the course
24 Comments
Great watching the old races. Thanks🚵🏻
hate lance Armstrong
Funny how all the "strongmen" look like total narcotic users.. Oh wait..:p
Millar total on "the juice " here too..
Lance Juicestrong ;).
Where is part 4 ?
Someone catch that horse, Lol!
The Once team all look like body builders FFS!
The TDF needs to run at the Futuroscope again
Thats the way it gonna be little darling
Disco's must have been really popular in France in the early 2000's
Thanks for the upload- had a good time watching it!
Fascinating to see how Lance totally dominates, and also Phil and Paul’s total disbelief about possible doping. Great drama!
It’s crazy how Armstrong won even though he was losing for most of the stages.
"Le Steroid De France Part II:These Steroids Help"
How many riders rode clean in the '00 TdF?
The UCI back then was like a
Maffia family. Cosa Nostra. Hein Verbruggen. Don Hein
The former East German athletes were quite familiar with dope. The. Telecom team was also still using dope. Later on all teams were takin or using dope and bloodtransfusion
Finally! ENGLISH!!! Thank you sire
I threw Armstrong … he was a great cyclist in the professional peloton 🚴🚴🚴..
The took the win from Lance then no one won the whole peloton was doping
Very good condition cycling Tour de France cool time, place, etc.
Every time Paul Sherwen pronounces the name of "Guyseppe Guerini" there is a unicorn dying somewhere in Italy.
I loved them all. Such incredible athletes doped or not. To survive heat cold mountains sprints and the incredible distances every day. Respect