Well stage #1 is over and the big story is whether Jans Tour is already over. Lance was impressive today with his leaving Jan in his wake. It was an amazing performance. I wonder what was going through the "Kaisers" mind at that point let alone what his team manager was screaming in his ear? I doubt either where pleasant, happy thoughts. Lance definitely sent a loud message to his rivals and laid down the gauntlet. One thing to remember, yesterday Jan crashed into the rear window of his team car while scouting todays route. He did say his injuries where minor.

Check out George coming in 4th, a pretty good run for him. With Lance coming in second the Disco boys can "relax" and let CSS defent the maillot jaune for the first few days.

Stage 1 - results
1. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 19km in 20:51 (54.676kph)
2. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, at 00:02
3. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, at 00:53
4. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, at 00:57
5. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun), Credit Agricole, at 00:59
6. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, at 1:02
7. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Fassa Bortolo, at 1:02
8. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, at 1:04
9. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Illes Balears, at 1:05
10. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp), Liberty Seguros, at 1:06

Stage 1 Recap & Results / Photos

Jan writes about yesterday and being passed by Lance.

Here are two links for bingo cards while watching OLN's coverage of the tour:

This one is for Phil, Paul and Bobke

This one is just for Phil and Paul

I guess that tooth wasn't that bad. Tom Boonen who threatened not to race in this years tour wins todays stage in a mad sprint at the end beating out Robbie McEwen and Thor Hushovd. I think Robbie thought he had it there for a few seconds, but Tom, riding on McEwens wheel, put on a big burst of speed and went right by Robbie.

Thomas Voelker, last years tour surprise, was part of a four man breakaway that was caught with about 6 km to go.

It will be interesting to see how long Bjarne Riis lets his CSC team defend the maillot jaune in the days to come. It's good press, but you don't want to wear out the team before the mountains arrive. As an interesting side note - they are getting ready to renew the cycling teams contract with CSC in the months to come.

******

Stage 2 Recap & Results / Stage 2 Photos

For Team Discovery it was a three-peat, although this time it was a bit closer than ever before. The Disco boys eeked out a 2 second win over CSC in the TTT today, which put Lance in the maillot jaune.

Discovery's efforts over the course in 1hr 10min 39secs, an average speed of 57.32 km/h, smashed the previous record (54.930 kmh) for a team time trial set by Gewiss-Ballan in 1995.

I feel sorry for David Zabriskie with his fall 1.5 km from the finish line. The poor guy. Had he only made it the officials would have had to go to 100's or 1000's of a second to figure who would be wearing yellow at the end of the day. He ended up losing 1:28 with his fall. The kid is going to be sore tomorrow, did you check out that road rash on his thigh. Ouch doesn't do it justice.

For CSC team manager Bjarne Riis, the team was simply unlucky. "This is a lousy way to lose the stage, and the yellow jersey," said Riis. "David's in a lot of pain, but I don't know how bad he's hurt. We'll see that later."; "We're disappointed. We should have won the stage and kept the jersey."; "Let's say that Armstrong and his Discovery team were luckier than we were."

OK, I'm ready for the mountains now, this flat stuff is getting boring! Athough, I will give you this, the sprints at the end of these stages are crazy. Man, it is just a jungle in there with those guys. That whole McEwen thing yesterday leaning so far into O'Grady was nuts. It looked like he wanted to rest his head on O'Gradys' shoulder and take a nap he was so far over on him. Boys will be boys.

Let's see in 4 days we start to see some mountains and in 7 days the Alps are fully upon the boys on bikes. I can't wait.

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Stage 4 Recap & Results / Stage 4 Photos

© David Horsey - 07/05/2005

© Stuart Carlson - 07/05/2005

© Graham Watson

For the first time since 1999 a team mate of Lance Armstrongs has won a stage in the Tour de France. And how appropriate that it is his loyal lieutenant George Hincapie, the man that has been by Lances side for all 6 of his tour wins and what could be his 7th win.

"I'm really in a state of shock," said Hincapie, who said he had originally set out with the idea of helping Armstrong on the final climbs but decided otherwise once his breakaway group's lead had grown to 18 minutes.

"I just thought I would wait for Lance when he needed me, but once we got an 18-minute break I spoke to (team manager) Johan (Bruyneel) and he told me the peloton probably wouldn't be coming back and just told me to go for it. From then on I was just thinking about going for the win."

"I knew Pereiro was strong and that Boogerd was a good climber, but I also knew that the day I was pulling on the Galibier they weren't there," said Hincapie, referring to his efforts in the Alps a few days ago and why he didn't take any pulls today.

How to get run over in the Tour de France

© AFP

©AFP

Ouch, that must have left a mark!

This is why these crazy fools who run with the riders need to be more careful.

© Friedemann Vogel

Here is the helmet that Lance has given to George as a gift for all his support over the years.

Here are the 10//2 icons that have been on Lance's bike since stage 15. 26 icons where designed by Futura that where then developed into 40 symbols by Mike Smith at Nike. All the symbols are on the solid TT wheel Lance used in the prologue. He didn't use the solid wheel today because of the winds on the course.

Set #1 - Stage 15

* Lance grew up in a trailer park, in Texas, he got cancer - when he learned to LiveStrong, he received chemotherapy, how close to death he came, he wins in Paris less than 3 years after being diagnosed with cancer.

Set #2 - Stage 16

* Stage 10 (Lourdes to Hautacam) was a pivotal day, Lance finished second on the day to Atxoa but went several minutes up on his rivals, it was rainy weather, it was cold as well, the effort put Lance in yellow, it was a difficult day that cracked many of his rivals

Set #3 - Stage 17

* His son Luke, his three children - Luke, Isabelle and Grace, 3 children + 3 wins = six sides?, Isabelle, Isabelle and Grace are twins, Grace. Of note also in this set is that the number 3 is pink, an homage to Jan Ullrich and his pink uniformed Telekom / T-Mobile team.

Set #4 - Stage 18

Lance is the Sheriff / Patron of the Peloton, the vaunted Blue Train, Lance is the king of American Tour cyclists notching his 4th victory, (not sure about the heart and eye), and he needs 1 more Tour win to join the club of 5

Set #5 - Stage 19

An homage to the 2003 Tour de France: Luz Ardiden, bad weather, Lance got angry, off-road to avoid the Beloki crash, five wins, he joins the “club” of men with 5 Tour victories

Set #6 - Stage 20

An homage to the 2004 Tour de France: July 21 was the Alp d'Huez TT, Lance did it in 39'41", he locked up the race, it's the first time anyone has won 6 times, he's the King of the TdF, 6 wins!

** Update **

Set #7 - Stage 21

An homage to all 7 wins. The last one is the number 7 and a walking cane. Can you say retirement?

Check out the license plate on the Discovery Subaru. Number 7!

© AFP

© Dana Summers - 07/25/2005

© Gary Varvel 07.26.2005

America and it's pacifier

© Ann Telnaes - 07.29.2005

Drilling cures everything

© Tom Toles - 07.31.2005

© Jeff Parker - Florida Today - 07.25.2005