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Tour de France, France

Stage 20, Saint-Etienne - Saint-Etienne TT, 55K

23 July

The Dust Devil's Daily Wrap
Big Tex-The Metronome Man

Stages and Maps, The Dust Devil's Daily Wrap

As expected, Lance Armstrong took victory in the 55K time trial at St. Etienne. What a way to go out on the penultimate day of his legendary career! But, that is what we have come to expect from the Texan, very few surprises and victory when it matters.

The big loser on the day has to be Michael Rasmussen. No surprises there. He had every imaginable catastrophe rear its head his way today. The only thing that could've been worse would have been an abandonment. But, I suppose having the Polka Dot jersey is a nice consolation prize. Not many others can say they have that jersey hanging in their closet!

And it appears Ivan Basso's education in the finer points of time-trialling continues. He started out a bit too fast today and finished slower. I was thinking to myself at around the 17K checkpoint we may have Basso on the podium tonight as the stage winner. In spite of his lack of perfection, I have to say how impressed I am with Basso. He has to feel good about his Tour this year, and has ridden his heart out. He did everything in his power to try and shake Armstrong in the mountains. Hats off to Basso! He hasn't given up and he's fought it out to the end. It's amazing how he has transformed himself in his time at CSC. Imagine how things would look if Ullrich would have went to CSC when he had the chance back when Bianchi folded.

Speaking of Big Jan, he rode very well. Getting stronger and stronger as the Tour progressed. As is his typical style. He almost truly is the modern day Raymond Poulidor. This will be his 7th appearance on the podium (five 2nds, one 3rd and a first). He does manage to have a win in the Tour, which Poulidor cannot lay claim to. But, it would take a lot of courage to be able to repeatedly face that kind of defeat. And think about the criticism from the media he gets. Remember, he won the Tour in only his second try at age 23! When you do that, people start to expect BIG things from you. Every year his team says his form is on target for the Tour, and then every year he falls just a little bit short. Seven podium appearances is nothing to sneeze at! Only Armstrong has a better record than that in recent years. And you have to go all the way back to Poulidor (who's career ended in the mid 70's at 40 years of age-with 8 podium finishes) to find somebody who can match that!

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Ullrich. Almost anybody can win. But it isn't always easy to accept defeat gracefully. No pointing fingers at his teammates or making excuses. No trash talking before the Tour about how he's going to drop everybody. He does his job humbly and accepts the outcome. As far as modern day sporting figures go, I think he sets an incredible example to us all of how to conduct one's self in sport and in life.
- The Dust Devil