Crash or no crash, Ullrich was not going fast enough to regain the 66 seconds he needed. If Armstrong takes an hour (49 kph), Ullrich must go 49.92 kph, 1 kilometer an hour faster (or gain about 1.35 seconds per kilometer) to get the Yellow. They are now chasing downhill trying to get on to the Hamilton/Basso/Moreau group.Armstrong is doing the leading down the Tourmalet, opening gaps on Ullrich everytime he takes a tricky corner really fast.Hot Diggity! At this point in the race it is clear that Ullrich has the most powerful engine in the tour. They will be hard because the racers will make them that way. His name and team were not released. Tour de France video highlights Tour de France 2003: the centenary tour — video The centenary race, which echoed the first route of 1903, provided Lance Armstrong with his fifth Tour title 3:18 Tyler's digging deep now. The race was truly beautiful.In the end, of course, Hector was again slain. Virenque dropped Aldag and rode to the summit alone with maybe 5 minutes in hand. Postal's Landis and Hincapie came off just before the summit and regained contact on the descent. The sprint was a big, burley drag race down a long, straight finish.And, Tyler Hamilton who started the race today with a broken collarbone, finished OK to keep his high GC placing.Km 8.5 - Côte de Boutancourt: 4th Category.At 17 km to go, Geslin was caught with Fassa hammering the front for Petacchi. Maybe....Ullrich came in for criticism for not riding the course in the morning, as Armstrong did. Piil and Sacchi are 45 seconds ahead of de Groot and 55 ahead of the remaining 6.Sacchi and Piil shook hands with 2 kilometers to go. The rules limit the time loss to 7 minutes for dropped riders.All the teams have passed thorugh the 18 km intermediate check point. Rene Haselbacher (Gerolsteiner), bumping elbows with McEwen (?) How many watts can the rider kick out? Iban Mayo is a minute ahead of the Armstrong group. The two Basques, Mayo and Zubeldia who sucked Ullrich's wheel up the hill try to take the cheap placings from Ullrich. The pack is 23 minutes back.16 kilometers to go. But, Achilles faltered. No one in the break is a GC threat.29 kilometers to go. Après 40 ans de bons et loyaux services, Paulo la Tyler is in the big ring and pulling away. Armstrong, the last rider, will roll off at 7:07 PM and finish about 8 minutes later at 7:15 PM (10:15 AM PDT).Bradley McGee will start stage 1 in Yellow:The race will start in downtown Paris for a 20 km promenade to the site of the start of the 1st Tour in 1903, the Auberge au Réveil Matin (Alarm Clock Hotel?) Simoni was well off the lead group over the top, but regained contact on the descent.Here's how they went over, with the Climber's points awarded:On the approach to the great Alpe, Postal's Heras crashed and Armstrong rode off the road. This was a group of fine riders who could go the distance.With about 40 kilometers to go, the leader's gap came down to 4min 30sec. Therefore, Armstrong's win is a particularly good, clean win with no second-guessing. Here's how they went over:Clearly Postal and Quick-Step were staying up at the front, keeping an eye on things. This climb, the Longwe, could be a possible springboard for an escape. The last 4, in order, will be Euskaltel, FDJ, Bianchi and US Postal. Ullrich took 1 1/2 minutes out of Armstrong. In years past Merckx's Moltenis and Indurains Banestos could set such a pace in the high mountains that almost all contenders were dropped. It cost the chasers about 1 min 30sec. A tough mountain stage has only 20 points for the winner. Seen any stress? The break group of 4 has been caught by the peloton. No regrouping after the final climb. He may take the stage.And now, Tyler Hamilton attacks! On a flat road that means a faster rider. Hot. At the base of the final climb, Postal had Heras step on the gas. Cooke and McEwen are now tied at 182 points each and Zabel has 167.Kilometer 95, 57 kms to go. Armstrong closes the gap and Ullrich motors up. A year's hard work is undone in a split second.Finot took the second of the rated climbs, so the Polka Dot Jersey moves from FDJ's Mengin to Finot.Tyler Hamilton had his bandages changed on the fly, hanging on to the Tour doctor's car door. I see Vinokourov and the Euskaltel boys. He had pulled 7 seconds ahead and went down. Ullrich goes. They figured out that with a good time trial and a successful break, Tyler's on the podium instead of Vinokourov. The strong tailwind also works in Ullrich's favor. Next week should see some of the best bicycle racing in the history of the sport.I think this Tour will come down to the final individual time trial on stage 19, the penultimate day of the Tour. 4 min 10 seconds. Millar escaped to try to get up to Jaksche. There are about 20 riders left in the Yellow Jersey peloton, with Ullrich and Vinokourov there, close by Armstrong. They are disorganized. It will be interesting to see if Postal defends Pena's jersey. The Vinokourov groups makes contact with the Armstrong group.9 to go. I think it's all that close.It was clear that Armstrong viewed Beloki and Ullrich as his prime rivals, not Vinokourov or Mayo. I believe he has been placed on such a pedestal that any flaw is viewed as catastrophic. If you look at my rest-day notes below, I was convinced that the long distance to the finish will render a successful break from a GC contender highly unlikely. He comes in 3rd. Usually stage racers are very careful about how they expend their energy. Lorsque la pluie et les orages s’en mêlent, les hélicoptères devant restés cloués au sol, il devient impossible de retransmettre une étape. The trigger fingers in the break have to be getting itchy. Pena is out of the lead chase group. Ullrich clearly is able to kick out more watts. When Armstrong, the last rider off, goes through them, I'll post the top 5 and their times.Miller, who blitzed a 54min 5sec time said that the final kilometers inside the town of Nantes are very dangerous. Sadly Beloki was put into an ambulance. But better enough?Armstrong attacked on the steep part of the climb where he could maximise the advantage of his superior strength-to-weight ratio. Robby McEwen and Baden Cooke are now tied at 169 points for the Green Jersey. Mayo goes again and again Armstrong is on him immediately. Also we have cooler, wetter weather, which is also greatly in Armstrong's favor. Telekom and FDJ are chasing.16 kilometers to go: The lead is 27 seconds.9 kilometers to go. Cet article dresse la liste des commentateurs du Tour de France en France, sur France Télévisions depuis 1959 et sur Eurosport depuis 1993. Mayo falls. Cooke wins the Green Jersey.Fastest Tour de France in history: 40.94 km/hr.These 20 stages have the following profiles :Complete 2003 Final General Classification,KOM: A Guide to His super Nike speed suit has split a seam in the shorts.Ullrich wins the stage. Postal did a good job, setting just a fast enough pace to keep things together. This is going to be hard racing.John Wilcockson of Velonews knows his stuff. in Montgeron. They look like pickpockets after sitting on for so long. He came off and regained contact with Aldag. The condition of both riders is really a cipher.My hope? Almost instantly the field is shattered and it's maybe 20 left. Armstrong can not stay with him There is a gap.Final kilometer: Ullrich powers away with Zubeldia trying to catch him, but he can't. The event started and ended in Paris, covering 3,427 km (2,129 mi) proceeding clockwise in twenty stages around France, including six major mountain stages. Il a eu lieu du 5 juillet au 27 juillet 2003 sur 20 étapes pour 3 426,5 km.. Ce Tour est sans vainqueur depuis le déclassement de l'Américain Lance Armstrong en octobre 2012.Tous ses résultats obtenus depuis le 1 er août 1998 lui ont été retirés pour plusieurs infractions à la réglementation antidopage. I want it settled with a 49 kilometer race of truth. But plans have been made...Here are the time gaps and the points awarded.Postal is leading the field down the Aspin.On the lower slopes of the Tourmalet: Chavanel has dropped Botero, who already looks out of gas. Brioches La Boulangere and Lotto were at the front trying to pull it together for their sprinters.Km 90, 63 km to go: The gap was 2min 42sec. This is not a criticism. 155 remain in the race.On Sunday, the two giants, Armstrong and Ullrich, decided to settle things on this stage. Thanks to Cycling4all.com for this info.They will do the procession into Paris, then blaze 10 laps up and down the Champs Elysées. Wednesday will be a rest day.Km 99.5 - Côte de Villedieu: 1.2 km climb at 4.8%, 4th Category.At 62 kilometers to go, the gap to the 9 riders was 22 minutes. Their efforts at the front seemed so small compared to the potential loss.This could be a matter of when the TV director showed the front of the peloton, but it looked as if the men in Orange were not riding as if 4th and 5th place in the Tour de France depended upon their efforts. The Telekom team is at the front doing a team time trial. Voeckler has caused the first selection. Bam! Several riders have said that they really, really know they have to attack and win this stage. There are lots of Posties up with him. The Postal squad is lined as in a team time trial with the rest of the field happy to sit on.With 44 kilometers to go. Over the Pailheres. In Tyler years, that was ages ago. Intermediate sprints, of which this stage has 2, give 6 points to the winner. Jaksche dropped all the breakaways but Parra. His name will be released when the Tour is over. GC riders have moved up to the front. Beloki tried an attack with 10 kilometers to go, but he was sucked back up. Bianchi had a deficit of 43 seconds to US Postal in the team time trial, much less that Armstrong's 1min 16sec lead over Ullrich. Paved Road Climbs,Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom) @ 4min 14sec,Christphe Moreau (Credit Agricole) @ 12min 28sec,Francisco Mancebo (Ibanesto) @ 19min 15sec,Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) @ 21min 32sec,Richard Virenque (Quick Step) @ 25min 31sec,Roberto Laiseka (Euskaltel) @ 29min 15sec,Jose Luis Rubiera (US Postal) @ 29min 37sec,Didier Rous (Brioches La Boulangere) @ 30min 14sec,Felix Manuel Garcia (Bianchi) @ 47min 7sec,Grischa Niermann (Rabobank) @ 1hr 0min 32sec,Stéphane Goubert (Jean Delatour) @ 1hr 5min 38sec,Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) @ 1hr 7min 55sec,Roberto Heras (US Postal) @ 1hr 14min 17sec,Giuseppe Guerini (Telekom) @ 1hr 16min 43sec,Juan Miguel Mercado (iBanesto) @ 1hr 22min 32sec,Sylvain Chavanel (Brioches La Boulangere) @ 1hr 25min 1sec,Patrice Halgand (Jean Delatour) @ 1hr 30min 42sec,José Enrique Gutiérrez (Kelme) @ 1hr 35min 51sec,Michael Rogers (Quick Step) @ 1hr 37min 28sec,David Moncoutié (Cofidis) @ 1hr 38min 49sec,Iván Ramiro Parra (Kelme) @ 1hr 44min 1sec,George Hincapie (US postal) @ 1hr 44min 11sec,Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) @ 1hr 45min 9sec,Matthias Kessler (Telekom) @ 1hr 45min 17sec,Vladimir Miholjevic (Alessio) @ 1hr 45min 59sec,Xabier Zandio (iBanesto) @ 1hr 48min 53sec,Christophe Brandt (Lotto) @ 1hr 50min 33sec,Evgeni Petrov (iBanesto) @ 1hr 52min 3sec,David Cañada (Quick Step) @ 1hr 58min 1sec,Walter Bénéteau (Brioches la Boulangere) @ 2hr 0min 9sec,Ufo Bölts (Gerolsteiner) @ 2hr 1min 38sec,Kurt Van Der Wouwer (Quic Step) @ 2hr 2min 1sec,Laurent Lefèvre (Jean Delatour) @ 2hr 3min 39sec,Marzio Bruseghin (Fassa Bortolo) @ 2hr 6min 0sec,Pablo Lastras (iBanesto) @ 2hr 6min 30sec,Marcos Antonio Serrano (ONCE) @ 2hr 7min 26sec,Luca Paolini (Quick Step) @ 2hr 10min 30sec,Aitor Garmendia (Bianchi) @ 2hr 10min 41sec,Jérôme Pineau (Brioches la Boulangere) @ 2hr 11min 33sec,Franco Pellizotti (Alessio) @ 2hr 20min 52sec,Viatcheslav Ekimov (US Postal) @ 2hr 21min 53sec,Floyd Landis (US Postal) @ 2hr 25min 19sec,Dario David Cioni (Fassa bortolo) @ 2hr 31min 37sec,Mikel Artetxe (Euskaltel) @ 2hr 34min 10sec,Salvatore Commesso (Saeco) @ 2hr 34min 47sec,Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) @ 2hr 35min 47sec,Yuriy Krivtsov (Jean Delatour) @ 2hr 36min 1sec,Steve Zampieri (Vini Caldirola) @ 2hr 40min 28sec,Victor Hugo Peña (US Postal) @ 2hr 40min 49sec,Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agrisole) @ 2hr 41min 24sec,Markus Zberg (Gerolsteiner) @ 2hr 47min 7sec,Carlos de la Cruz (FDJ) @ 2hr 47min 54sec,Franck Renier (Brioches la Boulangere) @ 2hr 48min 54sec,Oscar Freire (Rabobank) @ 2hr 51min 18sec,Cédric Vasseur (Cofidis) @ 2hr 51min 58sec,Alberto Lopez (Euskaltel) @ 2hr 52min 45sec,Bram de Groot (Rabobank) @ 2hr 56min 35sec,Vladimir Karpets (iBanesto) @ 2hr 57min 9sec,Iñigo Landaluze (Euskaltel) @ 3hr 2min 37sec,Pavel Padrnos (US Postal) @ 3hr 5min 34sec,Fabrizio Guidi (Bianchi) @ 3hr 6min 23sec,Juan Antonio Flecha (iBanesto) @ 3hr 9min 7sec,Médéric Clain (Cofidis) @ 3hr 9min 22sec,Laszlo Bodrogi (Quick Step) @ 3hr 12min 20sec,Benoît Poilvet (Credit Agricole) @ 3hr 14min 11sec,Christophe Mengin (FDJ) @ 3hr 14min 47sec,Paolo Fornaciari (Saeco) @ 3hr 20min 14sec,Anthony Geslin (Brioches la Boulangere) @ 3hr 21min 1sec,Marc Wauters (Rabobank) @ 3hr 21min 43sec,Romans Vainsteins (Vini Caldirola) @ 3hr 23min 43sec,Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) @ 3hr 25min 33sec,Thomas Voeckler (Brioches la Boulangere) @ 3hr 28min 18sec,Bekim Leif Christensen (CSC) @ 3hr 28min 23sec,Christophe Oriol (Ag2r) @ 3hr 29min 35sec,Alvaro González de Galdeano (ONCE) @ 3hr 32min 37sec,Servais Knaven (Quick Step) @ 3hr 33min 45sec,Philippe Gaumont (Cofidis) @ 3hr 34min 37sec,José Vicente Garcia (iBanesto) @ 3hr 35min 10sec,Davide Bramti (Quick Step) @ 3hr 36min 10sec,Iñigo Cuesta (Cofidis) @ 3hr 37min 12sec,Koos Moerenhout (Lotto) @ 3hr 38min 38sec,Damien Nazon (Brioches la Boulangere) @ 3hr 39min 58sec,Maryan Hary (Brioches la Boulangere) @ 3hr 40min 55sec,Christophe Edaleine (Jean Delatour) @ 3hr 45min 18sec,Paolo Bossoni (Vini Caldirola) @ 3hr 54min 39sec,Jean-Patrick Nazon (Jean Delatour) @ 3hr 56min 38sec,Frédéric Finot (Jean Delatour) @ 3hr 56min 38sec,Sébastien Hinault (Credit Agricole) @ 4hr 0min 26sec,Samuel Dumoulin (Jean Delatour) @ 4hr 4min 59sec,Dario Andriotto (Vini Caldirola) @ 4hr 14min 48sec,Alessandro Bertolini (Alessio) @ 4hr 27min 59sec,Damien Nazon (Brioches la Boulangere): 107,Juan Miguel Mercado (Ibanesto) @ 1hr 2min 48sec,Sylvain Chavanel (Brioches La Boulangere) @ 1hr 5min 17sec. The riders in this break: Carlos Da Cruz (FDJ), Ludovic Turpin & Laurent Brochard (Ag2R), Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano (ONCE), Alessandro Bertolini (Alessio), Marcus Zberg (Gerolsteiner), Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Rik Verbrugghe (Lotto), Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) and Jose Luis Rubiera (US Postal). And then at 20 km ot go, he was caught.But, Paolo Bettini, "Il Grillo" (the Cricket) leaps on a small rise and counter-attacks and takes Hinault and Vinokourov with him. Armstrong rides the final kilometers carefully, not wanting to take needless risks. Ullrich and Armstrong are letting Vinokourov go. As they shredded the field of the finest bike riders in the world riding a good, hard tempo, neither looked under any stress. Armstrong's coach, Chris Carmichael, thinks Mancebo and Mayo may lose over 2 minutes. Vinokourov won the Tour of Switzerland after holding back in the time trial to avoid crashing. There are some tricky corners that could be a problem in the wet. Didn't matter. But then, Ullrich took back about 30 seconds. 3 Hauts-de-France . All the GC contenders and their teams will have this in the front of their minds. Mayo and Mancebo are bleeding time all over the road. Armstrong, Virenque and McGee crashed but will start tomorrow.This stage heads Northeast to the Belgian border. Armstrong took off. Vinokourov can't stay with the next group of elite riders. Tyler currently has about 5min 18sec lead on the Yellow Jersey group.The Orange Basque boys seem to have been content to call this a Tour. The US Postal team is worked moderately at the front.The break sorted itself out. They are working hard together against the lone man with the broken collarbone.Tyler wins!! By coming in 40 seconds ahead of Ullrich at Luz-Ardiden, I believe that Armstrong made the race a dead heat. If Vinokourov falters only slightly, Tyler is 3rd in Paris. and Clain (Cofidis). Postal's Heras had come off, but he has returned.Now Mayo attacks and Armstrong easily closes the gap. Armstrong knows that means attack. By virtue of his 3rd place in the 1st intermediate sprint, Armstrong shifts everyone but Ullrich down 2 seconds.As we go into the final time trial, Armstrong has never been less than 5 minutes ahead. Richard Virenque joined Lucien van Impe and Federico Bahamontes in winning the Mountains classification for a sixth time. Reportage consacré à la 3 ème étape du Tour de France 2003 entre Charleville-Mézières et Saint-Dizier, remportée par Alessandro PETACCHI. Armstrong is flying up the hill. Ullrich gets 3rd in a photo finish with Zubeldia. Virenque has a lock on the Polka Dot Jersey, but he keeps sucking up the points whenever he can. Those are qualities that seem to be in short supply.Fassa Bortolo has been hit by a viral infection. They are averaging 52 kilometers an hour.Kilometer 158, 46 kms to go: The wind-aided break has 21min 15sec on a US Postal led peloton. Mayo will be on home turf and the cheers of his fellow countrymen will be the wind under his wings. Now Sastre is a couple of minutes up the road with Dufaux and Mercado in no man's land. I hope I'm wrong because I want to see a real race.Km 56.0 - Col de Portes: 14.8 km climb at 5.5%, 2nd Cat.The way it happened: Midway up the first climb, the Col des Portes, Alessandro Petacchi abandoned the race. He has to slowly grind back up to the attacker, much like Indurain.Anyone thinking that the Spaniards will let Postal lead them over the high mountains at a controlled pace, going 4 or 5 minutes slower than usual as they did in the Alps should put the crack pipe down. Because the race is so close, the aggression will continue unabated. The average for the first 3 hours of rolling country is over 47 kph.With 23 km to go, 4 of the riders in the break were caught, but Jean Delatour's Finot took off by himself with the peloton easily in sight. Un étape du tour, ce n'est pas un enterrement, un peu de chaleur et d' enthousiasme, que diable !Oui, en effet, dans son article sur Libération, Pierre Carrey a bien transcrit ces paroles qui, je l'espère, ne sont pas de Marion Rousse: The break did have over 8 minutes. Here's the race:Simoni, Virenque and Dufaux at the front and working together.The Armstrong group went over the top of the Peyressourde 55sec behind Vinokourov. The 8 dropped breakaways are disorganized. Le couple s'était rencontré en 2008 aux Championnats de France de l'Avenir. They must be saving their ammo for tomorrow's hill-top finish. Tyler is flying, but that's a tall order. The stage finish is tricky and potentially dangerous with a curvy descent and lots of corners.Km 31.0 - Côte de Champcueil: 4th Category.But, there was a Tterrible crash. That's the problem. Virenque has a 25 tooth cog on his bike today, so the riders are feeling some respect for the day's slopes.On the Bagarguy climb: Tyler's taking off. Yet they also kept their big motors available for the run in to L'Alpe d'Huez. The Posties should be tanned, rested and ready to set a red-hot pace in the mountains. Ullrich let Armstrong lead down the hill, knowing Lance's superior descending skill. He will surely pass 4th and 5th placed Mayo and Zubeldia. It also shows that the other riders are doing very well, indeed.It's not that Armstrong has shown a consistent weakness. 172 riders remain.This is a nearly dead-south shot to the Mediterranean Sea. Ullrich clearly feels confident enough about the situation and his condition that he was willing to do all the work up the mountain. That would make Sunday's criterium in Paris the race of a lifetime as Armstong and Ullrich dueled it out for priceless scraps of time. If Postal wins, Victor Hugo Pena, as the highest placed Postie will be in Yellow.They will leave in 5-minute intervals in reverse Team GC order. Vini Caldirola also started to move their men to the front.It was an insanely fast dash to the line with no team controlling the sprint. They had Rubiera up the road and ready to help Armstrong on the final climb. Vinokourov has promised that he will. Excellent.After a flurry of furious attacks almost from the gun, it all came together for the first intermediate sprint. The field is now about 24 minutes back. But, will Ullrich get those 66 seconds? Rubiera has been caught by the Armstrong group.5 Km from the top: Hamilton, Mayo, Heras and Moreau are off the back of the Yellow Jersey group!About 3 km to go. Boogerd took off on the descent of the Bargaguy:Kilometer 153, 44 to go. I'll bet the Belgian newspapers will make interesting reading tonight.