I really enjoy reading the Tour de France updates every day to see what happened during each stage. 'Loved this entry today:

14 H 06 - US Postal Team Car 21st In Convoy
The traditional order of the team cars which follow the peloton is in accordance with the best-placed rider of each team in general classification. Today, however, the US Postal team car is in last place in the convoy despite Armstrong leading the race by 3'48".
The reason is that Johan Bruyneel, the driver of the team car behind Armstrong for the time trial yesterday, had conflict with one of the security motorbike riders. Last place in the convoy for stage 17 was the only real result of the argument.

And, then a couple of minutes later:

14 H 10 - Postal Team Car Penalty...
The last-place position of the US Postal team car in today's convoy was because of an argument with a camera motorcycle rider in stage 16, not a security motorcycle rider as reported in a previous flash.

Everything about the Tour is so "matter of fact" and "oh, well...that's just the way it goes." The more I learn about the insanity of the Tour, the more I love it!

Here are the last three dispatches as the lead racers were about to reach the finish line (note the 1-minute interval between each newsflash):

17 H 13 - Landis Attacks!
Landis has attacked the lead group. He has been chased down by Ullrich. Less than 1km remains in the stage and now Kloden has bolted!

17 H 14 - Kloden Lead By 75m
Kloden has an impressive lead on Landis, Armstrong, Ullrich and Basso. There are 500m to go and it looks like the German champion will win the 17th stage...

17 H 15 - Lance Wins Again!
Lance has chased down Kloden and won the stage! The yellow jersey caught the German champion in the final 25m to win his 4th stage this year.

Such exciting stuff! Reading the updates is almost as much fun as watching the race live. Almost. Heh. Here are some photos of the last few seconds as the leaders approached and crossed the finish line:

As the Greggus would say... Sweet!

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Joanna