Tour de France

It's my second year of following the Tour and I'm loving it! Jovan and I made sure that we taped the Prologue, which is an individual time trial. It was important for Lance (Armstrong) to send a message to his competitors, and indeed he did! He clocked a very respectable 6 minutes and 52 seconds, only 2 seconds away from the leader, Cancellara (who, I must say, is such a cutie!). What's more impressive is that Lance is way ahead of the major contenders from the general category (GC for short). Ullrich and Hamilton, two of strongest contenders this year, were more than 15 seconds away, at 16th and 18th place, respectively.

The next stages are gonna be a bit boring, 'cause no one can really pull away in the flat stages. The battle starts in the mountains, still stages away. I hope that Lance can maintain his standing, until the mountains. There, I hope he leaves everyone else behind.

I'm sure that some of you are wondering who Lance Armstrong is. He's a cancer survivor who beat all odds to win the Tour de France 5 times (in a row). Yes, you read that right, 5 in a row. And yes, you also read that right, he's a cancer survivor. He was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer. He was told that his chances were less than 50-50 (I think it was 2o or 30 percent). The cancer had already spread to his lungs, and even his brain. But he made it, and he became a champion. 5 times.

He's hoping to win his sixth Tour this year. If he does that, he will be the only man with that distinction. Currently, he holds the record of 5 Tours with 4 other cyclists, some of whom are his idols.


Go Lance!
(Photo from the Lance Armstrong website.)