TDF Update - Stage 17: Fresh Out of Adjectives
Category: Sports (Pro/College/HS)...
Posted Thursday, July 22, 2004 at 10:34 AM [GMT-6]

OK, I give up. If you have any unused superlatives we can apply to Lance Armstrong and his USPS teammates, please send 'em along, because nothing I have comes close to describing reality.

Lance won a third straight stage of the Tour de France today, nipping an incredulous Andreas Kloden at the line. Kloden had jumped out in front of the small group consisting of the top five overall riders (plus hero-of-the-day Postie rider Floyd Landis) and seemed a lock for the stage win until Lance found another gear -- physically and psychologically -- and closed the gap mere feet from the finish line.

Lance didn't necessarily want or need the stage win; he really wanted Landis to get it, but Floyd left everything on the last climb helping Lance and the other top riders blow the rest of the peloton off the course. Lance figured that if he couldn't give Landis the win, he'd take it himself.

Lance is now ahead of Ivan Basso by 4'09" and will increase that gap before the finish in Paris on Sunday. He's also setting a new fashion standard: yellow is the new black, to match his cycling socks and, of course, wristband.