Stage 15 - Ullrich on the attack

uberwolf · 20-07-2004 2:26pm #1

So early enough days in the context of this stage, but the most aggressive move by any pretenders to Armstrongs throne so far this tour.

This is the race description from one source although it doesn't compare to my man Dave Dufield

127 km Virenque wins the mountain sprint ahead of Rasmussen.
122 km Ullrich attacks in the peloton. Mancebo is dropped. Basso and Sastre are with Armstrong right behind Ullrich.
121 km Michael Rasmussen attacks, several riders are dropped. T-Mobile now leads the peloton. Thomas Voeckler is dropped.
120 km Hushovd is back in the Virenque-group. Scott Sunderland is back in the US Postal led peloton.
118 km The leaders have started climbing the category-1 mountain.
115 km Stuart O'Grady wins the intermediate sprint ahead of Hushovd.
110 km Aitor Gonzalez and Charteau have bridged up to the leaders on the descent.
100 km Hushovd bridges up to the leaders. O'Grady has escaped on the descent, Hushovd goes after him. They will fight for points in the intermediate sprint after the descent.
92 km Virenque wins the mountain sprint. O'Grady, Vandevelde and Garcia-Acosta have bridged up to the leaders. Thomas Voeckler is having trouble keeping up in the peloton.
87 km Rasmussen tries to escape. Voigt, Virenque and Santos Gonzalez bridge up. Brochard has also bridged up.
83 km The riders have started climbing today's first category-2 mountain.
76 km The leaders are at the feedzone.
56 km Several riders try to escape.
45 km The peloton has regrouped.
38 km Axel Merckx wins the mountain sprint, as Thomas Voeckler is in trouble in the peloton.
37 km Michael Rasmussen tries to bridge up on the category-3 climb, but so far he is not successfull.
34 km The leaders pass the first intermediate sprint. Robin wins the sprint.
23 km Rabobank leads the peloton.
17 km Klöden crashes on the descent, but he is back on his bike. He seems to be OK, and is on his way back to the peloton.
15 km Several riders bridge up to Merckx at the summit of the category-3 climb.
13 km Axel Merckx counter attacks, as the leaders are just about to be caught.
12 km Michael Rasmussen has bridged up, so has Bettini.
10 km Several riders try to bridge up to the leaders.
1 km Today's first break away attempt. Tombak, Virenque...
0 km Welcome to our live update from stage 15. Team CSC's Jakob Piil and Iban Mayo of Euskaltel did not start the stage. Piil has injured his knee - Mayo is not happy with his form.

uberwolf · 20-07-2004 2:28pm

oh and the time gaps as it stands @ 127km.

Rasmussen
Virenque

Voigt
Brochard 00:30

Ullrich
S. Gonzalez 01:23

Armstrong, Basso, Sastre
Klöden, Landis, Azevedo
Leipheimer, Sabaliauskas 00:47

uberwolf · 20-07-2004 2:54pm

coming back together now, Ullrich only has ten secs on the peleton

uberwolf · 20-07-2004 3:53pm

180 km Armstrong wins ahead of Basso, Ullrich and Klöden. This means Armstrong captures the yellow jersey. Basso now sits in second place overall.
178 km Sastre and Voigt are dropped, just like Virenque and Rasmussen.
177 km Three kilometers to go. Team CSC is driving the peloton.
175 km The lead group approaches the foot of the final climb.
168 km Voigt and Rasmussen are back in the lead group.
164 km Virenque wins another mountain sprint.
161 km Leipheimer is caught.
160 km Leipheimer attacks, Virenque joins him. Sastre attacks in the peloton.
152 km The Ullrich trio has been caught.
149 km Rasmussen and Virenque are at the foot of the next climb.
137 km Virenque wins another mountain sprint.
130 km Voigt - on purpose - drops back to the Armstrong/Basso group in order to help US Postal catch Ullrich.

Trojan · 20-07-2004 4:11pm

Very smart riding by Armstrong. He's now last to start the TT at L'Alpe D'Huez. Want to put money against his retention of the yellow until le fin?

Stage 15 - Ullrich on the attack

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