Tomorrow begins my 1st week of vacation time off work in a long time, I'm so pumped. I am leaving tomorrow morning with my family to head to San Juan for an eastern Caribbean Cruise! It is going to be purely amazing. We fly nonstop to San Juan where we board, and make stops during the week to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and back to San Juan. This is my first cruise so I am sure it is going to be one of a kind. We will be cruising on the Golden Princess, which is part of the Princess Cruise Line for our 7-day carribean exploration. Be sure to check back in a week for an update on how it went. If you need to get a hold of me you can try my cell phone for when I'm in the states, other than that I will only be reachable by e-mail. :-)
-TDF Final Update-
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 79:27:17
2. Andréas Klöden (G), T-Mobile, 06:38
3. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 06:59
4. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 09:09
5. Azevedo José (P), U.S. Postal Service, 14:30
6. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 18:20
7. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 18:46
8. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 20:10
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Rabobank, 20:31
10. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 23:13
Any questions? Armstrong heads to Paris in yellow
American beats second-placed Ullrich by 1:01 in final TT
Armstrong powers to another stage win and virtually cinches a sixth straight TourVictory for Lance Armstrong in Saturday's stage 19 time trial at Besançon was a fait accompli. So much so, that at his press conference afterward, the man behind what has been dubbed by at least one media outlet as the "Texas Chainring Massacre" was not asked one question about his terrific ride in the 55km time trial.
There was really no explanation needed about Armstrong's winning ride over the T-Mobile pairing of Germans Jan Ullrich and Andreas Klöden, who placed second and third on the stage at 1:01 and 1:27 respectively.
It was expected. It was provided. And it was so very conclusive. And it extended Armstrong's total of wins in the final time trial of a Tour he has won from four to five.
Ullrich finished second to Armstrong, but will miss the podiumIt most probably would be six of six had the heavens not opened over Nantes last year when Armstrong - again in yellow and assured of victory - eased up the pace after hearing that his nearest challenger, Ullrich, had crashed on a slippery traffic circle.
On a course whose difficulties included many rises, dips and turns, the stage was made even harder to conquer by a blanket of humidity and heat that swept over the France Comté region, especially in the late afternoon.
Basso gave it his all, but slipped back a spot on Armstrong's winning time of 1:06.49 on the circular course came at an average speed of 49.389kmh, and with the fastest split times at each of two intervals before the finish line.
-jw