Stage 16 & 17 - Tues/Wed - The Alps

The 96th running of the Tour de France has been impressive on many fronts, but none as impressive as Lance Armstrong. Lance has used the Alps to put on a clinic for the rest of the riders, which is amazing considering his departure from the sport for four years. I can't think of a single athlete who left their sport at the top of their game and then returned to compete almost exactly where they left off, especially after a three year hiatus. It's simply amazing.

I know what you're thinking...Lance couldn't hang on Stage 15...lost more time on Stage 16...and was dropped on Stage 17...what's so great about that?

Lance has admitted that he isn't as young as he used to be and can't match the explosive sprints of the younger mountain climbers. But he hasn't given up, when the attacks come, Lance lowers his head and works at his own pace to slowly but surely drag himself back into the leaders group. Granted, he had a bad day on Stage 15, but he was back in true form for Stage 16. When the big attack came on the second climb of the day, the leader group was blown apart and Lance was dropped as well. It looked like the 7 time TDF winner had had enough, but not so. He kept on his own pace while leading the remains of the peloton up the mountain. He was just bidding his time waiting for the moment to attack the small group in order to pull himself back into the Yellow Jersey group. Lance waited for a steep section of the climb prior to launching his attack. By doing so, it would be much more difficult for the others to follow. The tactic worked and Lance was able to leave the others in his wake, and bridged the 30 second gap on his own. Unheard of! As he joined the Yellow Jersey group Andy Schleck looked over at him and you could just see the look of "Jeez, where the heck did you come from?" across his face. Priceless!

And then came Stage 17, brilliant racing by the ultimate domestique! Contador has a substantial time lead over the other Astana riders which makes him the natural team leader. In order for the team to win, they must protect him and that's exactly what Lance did. The biggest threat to Contador is Garmin Slipsteam's Bradley Wiggins. After Stage 16, he was sitting comfortably in 3rd place, but being an excellent Time Trialist, Bradley was the biggest threat to the GC. When the explosive attack came on the final climb, Lance amongst others was dropped. But here's where it got tactical. Lance had the power to pull himself back up, albeit at a slower rate, but with Wiggins on his tail, doing so would favor Wiggins. And believe me, once you drop the Wiggins, you never want to see him again. So Lance was forced to sit on Wiggins tail and let him do the work. Unfortunately, this created a pretty big time gap between Lance and the Yellow Jersey group, but there was nothing Lance could do to stop it without jeopardizing Contador's lead. So Lance continued to look for the right opportunity to attack Wiggins and then the moment came. Lance attacked with a vengeance. Wiggins didn't stand a chance. The attack was so strong that Lance was able to bridge a minute and 20 second gap up to his teammate Andreas Kloden prior to the end of the stage.

Lance may not finish in Yellow this year but Wow!, what an athlete. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Time Trial.

The leader board is much different after Stage 17:

1 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA
2 - Andy Schleck - TEAM SAXO BANK - 2' 26"
3 - Frank Schleck - TEAM SAXO BANK - 3' 25"
4 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - 3' 55"
5 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 4' 44"
6 - Bradley Wiggins - TEAM GARMIN - 4' 53"
13 - Carlos Sastre - TEAM CERVELO - 11' 39" (last year's tdf winner)
22 - Big George Hincapie - TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC - 25' 38"
32 - Cadel Evans - TEAM SILENCE-LOTTO - 37' 06" (GOODBYE)